South Africa’s influential Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, has described recent anti-immigrant attacks as “vile”, defending himself against claims that previous comments he made about foreigners had fuelled the unrest.                 

At least seven people have been killed in the latest wave of anti-immigrant violence to hit South Africa, which began almost three weeks ago in Durban, a coastal city in the Zulu heartland.

The Zulu King addressed a traditional gathering called Imbizo at the Moses Mabhida Football Stadium in Durban. The meeting was schedule days ago, as one of the strategies that the South African government is exploring to end wave of attacks.

“We need to make sure no more foreigners are attacked. We must stop these vile acts,” Zwelithini told thousands of supporters at the stadium on Monday.

While he spoke, some hostile sections of the crowd were singing and calling for immigrants to leave and booed an earlier speaker who said foreigners had a right to live in South Africa.

Zwelithini has been accused of fuelling the xenophobic attacks after local media quoted him as saying that foreigners should leave South Africa.

He said his comments were taken out of context.

“The country has only been shown a portion of my speech, which has been selective,” Zwelithini said.

“If it were true that I said ‘foreigners must go’ this country would be up in flames.”

While no death of a Nigerian had been reported, Nigerian lawmakers had last week asked the presidency to recall the nation’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Martin Cobham, to hold talks on the best actions that would ensure safety of Nigerians.

There were also demands for the evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa.

But the High Commissioner on Saturday ruled out chances of immediate evacuation of Nigerians and called for calm.

South Africa’s Higher Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr Lulu Mnguni, said the anti-immigrant protests were triggered by limited resources in the area for locals and foreigners to share.