In a South African Neighbourhood, ‘All Hell Broke Loose’

Xenophobic violence is a common phenomenon in predominantly poor, black areas of post-apartheid South Africa, where jobs are scarce and locals blame entrepreneurial foreign communities - their numbers swelled via the country's porous and corrupt borders - for the prevalence of drugs, crime and unemployment.

More than 60 people died in 2008 in the deadliest anti-foreigner explosion to date, and at least five were killed in similar incidents in 2015, when the phenomenon again drew media attention.

The most recent spate of attacks against African and Asian immigrants in South Africa erupted on September 1 in central Johannesburg. It has continued for more than two weeks, leading to more than 700 arrests and an official and disputed death toll of at least 12 - two foreigners and ten South Africans who died in the riots or at the hands of foreigner business-owners defending themselves.

As on previous occasions, a tumultuous crowd of Zulu dwellers of the massive, all-male red brick residences used during apartheid to host the native mining workforce descended into town shouting xenophobic slogans; they ransacked businesses owned by Nigerians, Somalis, Pakistanis and other foreigners in the area.

The chaos spread like wildfire across other areas of the city before reaching Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and the provinces of Mpumalanga and the North West.

An un-named Mozambique women carries her child on her back at a refugee camp, in Johannesburg, South Africa, 12 September 2019, set up for those affect by the recent violence against foreign nationals living in the country. EPA-EFE/KIM LUDBROOK

'All hell broke loose'

One of the most affected areas was the neighbourhood of Turffontein, eight kilometers south-west of Jeppestown....