“We should ask what caused the foreign nationals to be in South Africa‚”said President Jacob Zuma addressing thousands of people at Freedom Day celebrations.

Zuma’s off-the-cuff comments were made as a diplomatic spat played out between South Africa and Nigeria after the latter recalled its envoy in protest in the wake of the xenophobic attacks.

Zuma seemed to take exception at suggestions that SA alone was to blame for the attacks on its foreign residents‚ and that said African leaders outraged by attacks in here should shoulder some of the blame.