President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Thursday said that 10 persons have so far been killed including two foreigners in the latest violence to hit the country.
The three-day World Economic Forum, which was supposed to be Co-chaired by Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, was supposed to be an opportunity for Ramaphosa to sell the country’s struggling economy to investors but unchecked killings that climaxed into looting and vandalisation of foreign-owned shops on Sunday, spoilt that plan.
Ramaphosa however, stopped short of naming the nationalities of the slain persons, according to Reuters.
He said, “Over the past few days, our country has been deeply traumatised and troubled by acts of violence and criminality directed against foreign nationals and our own citizens.
“People have lost their lives, families have been traumatised. We know that at least 10 people have been killed in the violence, two of whom were foreign nationals.”
Ramaphosa was forced to cancel his speech at the economic summit Thursday, to address protesting women outside the venue of the conference.
Official voices in the country have begun to shift from their claim that the killings were all about criminal element and not an intentional targeting of foreign elements.
Sahara Reporters