Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Malawi’s Peter Mutharika pulled out of the conference at the last minute, prompting speculation in South African media that the no-shows were linked to the attacks on foreigners.
But WEF spokesman Oliver Cann said Kagame and Mutharika had informed conference organizers that they could not attend by Saturday, before the attacks had started.
Zimbabwe’s foreign minister, part of a large Zimbabwean government contingent including president Emmerson Mnangagwa, said the recent attacks were “unfortunate”.
“It is unfortunate that African brothers go against each other neck on neck in that kind of scenario, in an environment where we are looking forward to regional integration and co-operation and where Africa as a whole has embraced the continental free trade agreement as a bedrock of integration,”
Sibusiso Moyo told Reuters.
“We just implore our brothers in the region to note that peaceful co-existence is one of the key fundamentals,” he said.
There are a significant number of Zimbabweans living in South Africa and they have formerly borne the brunt of attacks on foreigners, along with Somalians and Nigerians.
Hundreds of University of Zambia students dressed mostly in black and chanting “No Violence” protested outside the South African high commission against the attacks on foreigners on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) called off the country’s friendly soccer international against South Africa in Lusaka on Saturday, citing “prevailing security concerns in South Africa”.
Hundreds of mainly female students protesting about violence against women tried to storm the conference center in Cape Town where the WEF conference was being held, but they were restrained by a heavy police presence.
The protesters shouted slogans like “We want justice” and sang songs from the struggle against apartheid while conference delegates peered through the glass to watch the spectacle.
