The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa has declared the travel ban imposed on his country and others by some western countries, as discriminatory, arbitrary, and unscientific.
The United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), the European Union (EU), and Canada had imposed a travel ban
on South Africa and some of its neighbors over the detection of the COVID-19 Omicron variant by South African scientists.
Since early evidence suggested that it has a higher re-infection risk, the Omicron variant has been classified as a “variance of concern”.
Over the last two weeks, the variant according to the World Health Organization has been responsible for most of the infections found in South Africa’s most populated province, Gauteng, and the number of cases appears to be increasing in almost all provinces.
However, President Ramaphosa, while speaking at a news conference in Nigeria, observed that the decision to impose a ban on his country and others would be counterproductive in the long run.
He applauded Nigeria and other African countries that had not shut their doors against sister African nations over the discovery of the COVID-19 strain.
“I think it is important that I emphasize this in the light of the discovery by South African scientists of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus and subsequent imposition of extremely harsh and unfair travel restrictions on flights from and to South Africa as well as on several other African countries.
“President Buhari, the solidarity expressed by yourself and the Government of Nigeria sends the strongest message. It says that as African countries, we are standing united against the imposition of arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions that are not only unscientific but counterproductive in the long run.
“Indeed, the leaders of Cote d’Ivoire, where we are traveling to later today, as well as the leaders of Ghana and Senegal, have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the travel ban against South Africa and our sister countries in southern Africa.
“This is a global pandemic. And overcoming it requires that we collaborate and work together as a collective. The resulting damage to this travel ban to the economies of the countries affected will be considerable and long-lasting.
“So, I want to use this opportunity to once again call on the countries who have imposed this ban to reverse their decisions, whether they are in the northern, more developed economies or other parts of our continent and elsewhere,” he said.
