South Africa has rejected Nigeria’s request for compensation for citizens who abandoned homes, businesses and other belongings after fleeing renewed xenophobic violence in the country.
The Nigerian government had indicated plans to seek compensation for affected returnees by documenting businesses and properties left behind during the evacuations.
Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, Temitope Ajayi, previously disclosed that authorities were compiling records of assets abandoned by evacuees. He explained that the documentation would serve as the basis for discussions with South African officials over possible compensation.
However, South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, dismissed the proposal during a press briefing on Friday, insisting that the government would not compensate affected Nigerians.
According to her, legally owned properties are officially registered and can be sold by their owners through the country’s property market, regardless of whether they are movable or immovable assets.
“There’s no compensation that will come from the government,” Ntshavheni said, adding that owners of legally registered properties remain free to dispose of them through the appropriate legal channels.
The minister also challenged Nigerian authorities to provide information about locations allegedly linked to drug-related activities involving some Nigerians in South Africa.
“We’ll be interested to know where the drug dens of Nigerians are, so they can show us where they have been holding the drugs so that we can clean the drugs in South Africa quite urgently,” she stated.
Ntshavheni further argued that structures in informal settlements could not be regarded as properties because such settlements are illegal under South African law.
She maintained that anyone claiming ownership of a shack in an informal settlement was already in violation of the country’s laws.
The minister added that the South African government had approved measures to ensure that informal settlements demolished by authorities are not rebuilt.
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