Xenophobic violence flares in South Africa
Sep 14th 2019JOHANNESBURGWAVING FIGHTING sticks, improvised spears and shields, they advanced like an army through the streets of central Johannesburg, chanting and singing in Zulu: “Foreigners must go back to where they came from.” As they went they looted and burned shops, attacked a mosque and killed two people. The murders on September 8th came after more than a week of attacks—mostly by South Africans against migrants from other African countries—that had already led to ten deaths.This is not the first time South Africa has experienced such horrors. Dozens of people were killed in anti-foreigner riots in 2008 and 2015. But the most recent outbreak of violence shines a particularly harsh light on the rabble-rousing of South African politicians, some of whom have blamed migrants for supposedly taking jobs from locals and committing crimes.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address