South Africa Presidency blasts Fani-Kayode over diplomatic misteps, says “approach wrong”

The South African presidency has criticised Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the country, Femi Fani-Kayode, over his handling of a complaint concerning the interruption of his speech during the presentation of his letters of credence to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for Ramaphosa, described the diplomat’s approach as “grossly inappropriate”, accusing him of misrepresenting the incident and wrongly suggesting that the South African president intervened in the matter.

Fani-Kayode presented his letters of credence alongside 14 other envoys on Friday at the Sefako M. Makgatho Presidential Guest House in Tshwane, Gauteng.

The ceremony was livestreamed on the South African presidency’s YouTube channel. However, the broadcast appeared to suffer a technical glitch while French Ambassador Antoine Michon was delivering his speech, shortly before Fani-Kayode was scheduled to speak.

The livestream subsequently cut to Ramaphosa addressing the ambassadors, prompting Fani-Kayode to express his grievances in a lengthy post on X.

The Nigerian diplomat claimed he raised the matter directly with Ramaphosa, who, “in fairness to him”, took him to the relevant officials and acted with dispatch.

He also disclosed that he declined an interview offer from the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC News, over what he described as the “deplorable way we were treated”.

However, responding to the allegations, Magwenya said Ramaphosa had no involvement in the operations of the public broadcaster and did not intervene on Fani-Kayode’s behalf.

“In South Africa, the President does not intervene on operational matters at the public broadcasters, neither did he intervene on your behalf,” Magwenya said.

He explained that Ramaphosa merely directed Fani-Kayode to Sophie Mokoena, SABC’s acting political and foreign editor, as the appropriate person to address his complaint.

According to him, Fani-Kayode declined to engage Mokoena, who could have clarified the misunderstanding.

“The SABC is a public broadcaster. The President carries no legal or political mandate to interfere with its operations or intervene in its editorial processes,” he added.

Magwenya further faulted the Nigerian envoy’s handling of what he described as a minor operational issue.

“Frankly, your approach in this regard on a minor operational issue which you misunderstood was grossly inappropriate,” he said.

The presidential spokesperson urged Fani-Kayode to engage with the SABC to establish a mutually beneficial, respectful and professional relationship as he begins his diplomatic assignment in South Africa.

“I wish you well on your tenure and I hope you begin to engage the various aspects of South African society and its constitutional tenets constructively,” he said.

Hours after Fani-Kayode published his complaint, the South African presidency uploaded a separate video featuring his speech on its YouTube channel.