The Secretary General of the Ghana Federation of Labour, Abraham Koomson, has strongly condemned the recent xenophobic attacks targeting foreign African nationals in parts of South Africa.

His comments follow the circulation of videos on social media showing some South Africans warning non-South African Africans to leave the country, sparking concern across the continent.

Speaking on Ahotor FM on Saturday, Mr. Koomson described the attacks as unfortunate and unacceptable, stressing the need for Africans to coexist peacefully and uphold the principles of Pan-African unity.

According to him, South Africa inherited relatively advanced infrastructure and economic systems after the end of apartheid, unlike many African countries that had to endure years of struggle to build their economies and institutions.

“The whites developed South Africa before handing it over to them, so they did not suffer the same hardships some African countries went through to build infrastructure and develop their nations from scratch,” he stated.

Mr. Koomson also criticised claims that foreign nationals are taking jobs from South Africans, describing such arguments as misplaced.

“They are just lazy because they do not want to work. If they had gone through the struggles some countries faced in developing themselves, they would think twice before blaming foreigners,” he said.

Using Ghana as an example, the labour leader noted that the country hosts nationals from several African countries, including Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Togo, yet Ghanaians have continued to live peacefully with them without resorting to xenophobic violence.

He said Ghana’s long-standing commitment to Pan-Africanism and peaceful coexistence has helped foster unity among people from different African backgrounds.

“Ghana has Nigerians, Burkinabes, Togolese and many other nationals living here, but Ghanaian youth have never risen against them.

Ghanaians understand what Pan-Africanism means because of what the country has been through,” he added.