ABUJA, – A Nigerian group called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday to investigate Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini for “hate speech” blamed for a wave of violence against immigrants in South Africa.
South Africa this week deployed soldiers to try to quell anti-immigrant unrest that has killed at least seven foreigners, after being criticised by China, Zimbabwe and Nigeria for failing to protect their citizens against armed mobs.
Zwelithini was accused of sparking the trouble with comments in which he urged South Africans to “pop our head lice”.
“We must remove ticks and place them outside in the sun. We ask foreign nationals to pack their belongings and be sent back,” he told supporters at a stadium in Durban a month ago.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Nigeria’s Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project in a statement called on the ICC to “investigate allegations of hate speech by the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, which has resulted in killing, violence and discrimination against Nigerians and other African citizens.”
Zwelithini has since defended his speech as having been taken out of context, saying attacks on immigrants are “vile”.
*(Reuters)*