A xenophobic wave, emerging in townships and working-class neighborhoods, has placed immigration at the center of political debate.

Professor Loren Landau (African Centre for Migration & Society, Wits University) explains the deeper dynamics:

“This isn’t simply a movement against immigration. [There’s] enormous frustration with a state that has spent years failing to address very real problems. Immigration has become the vehicle through which that frustration [is channeled].”

The phenomenon reflects the accumulated frustration of South Africans who feel that the state has failed to deliver on post-apartheid promises. Migrants have become a visible target for that discontent.

Read the full article.[Image Credit: El Pais]