South Africa said it was aware that two African leaders would not attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa underway in Cape Town and the current xenophobic attacks in the country were not the reasons for their absence, diplomacy said on Wednesday
This development comes following media reports that Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Malawian counterpart Peter Mutharika would not attend the investment conference due to the current xenophobic attacks underway in the Rainbow Nation since Sunday.
South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said his office had received official correspondence from Kigali that Kagame would not travel to Cape Town for the three-day meeting that ends on 6 September. But none had come from Malawi, he added.
However, Malawi Information Minister Mark Botomani said Mutharika’s absence was due to “logistics reasons,” and not due to the current violent and bloody xenophobic attacks towards Malawians and other African migrants in Johannesburg and its environs.
Mutharika, re-elected in a controversial May 2019 presidential poll, has not travelled abroad in the wake of fierce demonstrations that have accompanied post-elections protests after the opposition alleged massive vote rigging in the exercise.
Refusing to recognise Mutharika’s victory, the opposition Malawi Congress Party of Lazarus Chakwera and Saulos Chilima of the United Transformation Movement have since dragged the president to Malawi’s Constitutional Court to demand that the presidential poll results be annulled.
Mutharika, citing international observers as his witnesses and the announcement of the Malawi Electoral Commission that he had won the presidency, maintained the polls were free and fair, and urged the opposition to wait for the court ruling.
The three-day WEFA is expected to discuss economic development, including investment, integration, industry and innovation of the underdeveloped continent. The forum ends on Friday.
NM/jn/APA