South Africa Challenges WHO Claim on 10 Foreign Deaths as Police Probe Organized Crime
Updated
Updated · Business Insider Africa · Jun 16
South Africa Challenges WHO Claim on 10 Foreign Deaths as Police Probe Organized Crime
3 articles · Updated · Business Insider Africa · Jun 16
Summary
Pretoria said it will formally engage the WHO to correct what it called inaccurate claims that recent foreign-national deaths in South Africa were xenophobic attacks.
At least five Ethiopian and five Mozambican nationals were reported killed, but South African officials said the Ethiopian cases point to organized crime and that all incidents remain under active police investigation.
The Presidency backed the foreign ministry's position, while reiterating that only authorized law enforcement officers can enforce immigration laws and rejecting vigilante action.
The dispute lands amid rising anti-foreigner tensions tied to unemployment, strained public services and competition for jobs, even as the UN urges any response to stay lawful and rights-based.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had framed the violence as a betrayal of South Africa's liberation legacy, and the agency said it would keep supporting social-cohesion and anti-misinformation efforts in hotspots including KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape.