South Africa should stop xenophobia

In this photo taken in 2015, immigrant men armed with machetes make their way onto a Durban, South Africa, street during clashes with police and in search of locals that attacked foreign shop owners in the city center. (AP Photo)

South Africa is in the throes of xenophobic attacks akin to those witnessed in 2008 and 2015. The 2008 clashes claimed at least 60 lives. Reports indicate police had a hard time last Friday controlling anti-immigrant protesters in the towns of Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Sadly, the immigrants, blamed for job losses by the locals, have not taken it sitting down. The violence that targets and destroys small businesses impacts the economy negatively and negates the concept of South Africa being a ‘rainbow’ nation as it is popularly known.