President, Nigerian Union South Africa, Adetola Olubajo, confirmed the death but described it as an isolated incident.
A Nigerian man identified as Emeka has been killed by unknown persons suspected to be drug dealers in South Africa.
Gory pictures of the deceased, who was stabbed to death, were being circulated on social media on Saturday but the incident was said to have occurred the previous day.
Nigerians living in South Africa are still living in fear of possible xenophobic attacks but sources in the foreign country told SUNDAY PUNCH that Emeka’s killing was not connected with the recent attacks on foreign nationals in the country.
According to the sources, Emeka received a phone call before meeting up with his suspected killers, who stabbed him to death and took his car away.
One of the sources said, “The way he was killed suggested that he was one of those drug dealers. He was stabbed to death on Friday but I doubt if his death had anything to do with xenophobia.
“He was working in Lagos before. He was one of those Joburg (Johannesburg) boys. He was stabbed to death yesterday. He went to see his customer.”
Another source said Emeka was “stabbed to death in Brakpan, east of Johannesburg, a suburb dominated by whites”.
“I knew him; he was one of those drug guys. His killing had nothing to do with xenophobia. There is no xenophobia in Brakpan; it’s an old area dominated by whites,” the source added.
President, Nigerian Union South Africa, Adetola Olubajo, confirmed the death but described it as an isolated incident.
“It’s not connected to xenophobia; we don’t want this to raise tension,” he said.
Meanwhile, some of the victims of the latest xenophobic attacks have described feeding as difficult following the destruction of their means of livelihoods.
One of them, Alfred Giwa, told our correspondent that he now depended on some of his friends who could still spare him some money to feed.
He said, “Most of us don’t even have what to eat now. I spent everything I had to stock my club and I lost everything. Feeding has become difficult and I have to depend on friends. The situation is the same with a lot of us.”