The South African presidency has described Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode’s accusation that South African authorities deliberately excluded Nigeria’s introduction from a livestream of his presentation of letters of credence to President Cyril Ramaphosa as “grossly inappropriate” over a minor issue.

Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for South Africa’s president, responded to Mr Fani-Kayode’s post in a series of social media posts on Friday.

“Frankly, your approach in this regard on a minor operational issue which you misunderstood was grossly inappropriate,” Mr Magwenya said, quoting Mr Fani-Kayode’s post.

The South African presidency spokesperson said, “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.”

In another post, Mr Magwenya said, “I wish you well on your tenure and I hope you begin to engage the various aspects of South African society and its constitutional tenets constructively.”

This was in response to Mr Fani-Kayode’s post, in which he alleged that while the introductions and speeches of the other 14 ambassadors were broadcast live, the South African presidency omitted the introduction of the Nigerian delegation and his speech.