Xenophobia is like racism - it's always wrong and can never be justified.
Xenophobia is like racism - it's always wrong and can never be justified.
Sure, the good people of Soshanguve blame much of the crime in their area on foreigners. They might even be right sometimes. But just as often they will be wrong.
Attacking foreigners at random because of their perceived threat to the local community is contemptible.
Under apartheid those kinds of banal generalisations led to untold suffering and South Africa being held in contempt by the world.
We must ensure we never fall into that trap again.
Our government is too clumsy in the way it handles immigration.
But we can never indiscriminately blame foreigners for our woes.