The South African presidency has criticised Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the country, Femi Fani-Kayode, over his reaction to the omission of his speech from a livestream of a diplomatic ceremony attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson to Ramaphosa, accused the Nigerian envoy of misrepresenting the circumstances surrounding the incident, insisting that the South African president neither controlled the broadcast nor intervened in the matter on his behalf.
Fani-Kayode had expressed displeasure after his address was left out of the livestream of a ceremony where he and 14 other diplomats presented their letters of credence to Ramaphosa on Friday.
The event, held at the Sefako M. Makgatho Presidential Guest House in Tshwane, Gauteng, was broadcast on the South African presidency’s YouTube channel.
The broadcast reportedly experienced a technical interruption while French Ambassador Antoine Michon was delivering his remarks, shortly before Fani-Kayode was scheduled to speak.
The livestream subsequently switched to footage of Ramaphosa addressing the diplomats, leaving the Nigerian envoy’s speech out of the transmission.
Reacting to the development on his personal X account, Fani-Kayode said he raised the matter with Ramaphosa, who directed him to relevant officials to address his complaint.
He also disclosed that he declined an interview request from South African public broadcaster SABC News because of what he described as the “deplorable way we were treated”.
However, Magwenya said Ramaphosa had no authority to interfere in the operational or editorial decisions of public broadcasters.
“In South Africa, the President does not intervene on operational matters at the public broadcasters, neither did he intervene on your behalf,” the presidential spokesperson said.
He explained that Ramaphosa merely referred Fani-Kayode to Sophie Mokoena, SABC’s acting political and foreign editor, who could provide clarification on the broadcast interruption.
Magwenya further claimed that the Nigerian envoy declined to engage with Mokoena, despite her being better positioned to explain what happened.
He stressed that SABC, as a public broadcaster, operates independently of the presidency.
“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 said.
The presidential spokesperson also described Fani-Kayode’s handling of the disagreement as inappropriate, arguing that the matter was a minor operational issue that could have been resolved through the appropriate channels.
“Frankly, your approach in this regard on a minor operational issue which you misunderstood was grossly inappropriate,” Magwenya added.
He urged the Nigerian envoy to engage constructively with the broadcaster and other sections of South African society, while maintaining mutual respect and professionalism in the discharge of his diplomatic duties.
Hours after Fani-Kayode raised the complaint, the South African presidency uploaded a separate video of his speech on its YouTube channel.
