Security expert, Prof. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, has stated that South Africa’s rejection of Ghana’s version of a Ghanaian man’s killing in Cape Town was a standard diplomatic move, and argued there was nothing out of the ordinary in the back-and-forth between the two states.
Appearing on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Thursday, July 2, Prof Antwi-Danso noted that Ghana acted correctly by requesting a probe into its citizen’s death, while South Africa’s effort to separate the case from xenophobic violence was also an expected aspect of diplomatic messaging.
“This is not uncommon in diplomatic communication when such things happen. If someone has been killed, a foreign national, the country demands an investigation and calls for proper things to be done.
“What Ghana did is the normal thing to do in international relations, international communication, diplomacy — calling for swift investigation, to bring perpetrators to book and to let the international community know that we are hurt by what the other country has done,” he stated.
His remarks come after a strong reply from Pretoria to statements by Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Cape Town killing. In a release on Thursday, July 2, South Africa’s Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi, who heads the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration, described Ghana’s version of events as “factually incorrect” and unsupported by police evidence.
Ghanaian officials had previously indicated that the Ghanaian citizen was fatally shot on June 30 during anti-immigrant protests tied to continued xenophobic incidents. South African officials, however, dismissed that account, saying the man was assaulted at his workplace on June 29 in what police believe was a criminal act not connected to any protests. The Western Cape Police said the deceased was shot inside a barbershop in Nyanga after unidentified men allegedly entered, demanded cash and opened fire before escaping.
Police say they suspect extortion as the motive and the inquiry was still underway.
Commenting on the matter, Prof Antwi-Danso said South Africa’s stance seems intended to unlink the killing from xenophobic violence due to the global fallout such a tag can bring.
“What they want to let the world know is that this incident is a robbery incident, some altercation that happened and has nothing to do with the xenophobic attacks,” he explained.
“Certainly, this is their aim. They want to delink this incident from the xenophobic attack because xenophobic attacks have a connotation which is not accepted by the international community.”
He stressed that Ghana has every right to seek explanations and an official report on its national’s death, no matter South Africa’s view.
Prof Antwi-Danso played down the chance of the diplomatic spat worsening, saying he is sure it will be settled via normal diplomatic routes.“So I don’t see anything serious about this. Nothing is going to happen out of this. Diplomacy will solve it,” he added.
