South Africa has never been a place where ethnicity and violence did not tie itself into politics and protests. A third explosive dimension to the local ethnic tensions has developed in South Africa in the last 12 days, where immigrants from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Somalia and other African nations were attacked by local South Africans east of Johannesburg. Now spreading towards Cape Town and other South African cities, more than 10,000 migrants who came to Africa's most prosperous nation for employment are being targeted for taking away local jobs and preventing local South Africans from obtaining work in their own country.
Much of the tensions arose from area of South Africa where lower income residents and those areas that were neglected during the apartheid are located outside of South Africa's largest cities. Many of those communities have had a difficult time reintegrating into the South African economy and are often linked to specific ethnic groups residing in the country. Many of the migrants were found due to their accent and their intermediate knowledge of the Zulu language, according to IHT.com's article Mob Violence Achieves its Aim in South Africa. While more than 10,000 migrants plan to escape the mob violence in the country, to date 42 migrants have been killed and more than 6,000 have been displaced in Johannesburg alone, with a further 25,000 leaving their homes.
Suspicions of the cause of the tensions have placed accusations on local political leaders and organizations, but the response from South Africa's government has been to send in the police and anti-riot forces to quell the violence. The reputation of South Africa is at stake and as the Foreign Minister commented, it gives the country a "Very Bad Image", to say the least. As violence continues, many will think twice before taking residence in Africa's most prosperous nation.
