Some legal experts say South Africa has no obligation to pay for losses stemming from public unrest.
This as the Nigerian government formally seeks compensation from South Africa for properties and businesses that some Nigerians have lost following protests against undocumented migrants.
Nigeria has told citizens to document assets they have left behind. South Africa’s International Relations Department says it will assess Nigeria’s request for compensation.
Lawyer, Lynette Cherry Singh says, “Success of any claim would depend on whether the losses resulted from a breach of a legal duty owed by the state. The state is definitely not liable because they did not perpetrate the damage themselves. They actually have to go against the perpetrators, but the difficulty is that these perpetrators are either unidentified, insolvent or impossible to trace. It would be a task for to actually prove the damage against away individual or individuals.”
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