The Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation has threatened to summon Eswatini’s ambassador over utterances by a senior official from the neighbouring country that South Africa is infested by a “cancer of criminality from head to toe.”
Ministry spokesperson Clayson Monyela told journalists that the South African government wanted Eswatini’s high commissioner to South Africa to explain the “insults” by the government spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo.
In an interview with radio station SAfm on Tuesday, Nxumalo denied allegations that the Eswatini government was linked to the murder of Hillary Gardee, the daughter of South African opposition politician Godrich Gardee.
This followed sensational claims by Gardee that Eswatini’s King Mswati III had ordered the hit on the politician’s daughter in April.
“It is a very unfortunate development in SA, but not a new one. SA is infested with a cancer of criminality from head to toe,” Nxumalo told SAfm presenter Sakina Kamwendo.
In response, Monyela told reporters on Wednesday that his ministry took “a dim view of the comments made by Nxumalo.”
“It was an unfortunate statement to make. We will seek to ascertain if this is the view of their government, or of an individual. We want to know what they are going to do about it,” Monyela said.
He insisted that Nxumalo’s utterances were “a wrong characterisation of South Africa.”
“No country is immune from crime. That’s why we all have criminal justice systems. We won’t tolerate insults.”
JN/APA