‘Violence is not activism’: NatJoints talks tough on anti-foreigner mobs after xenophobic unrest. South Africa’s top law enforcement structure has issued the strongest rebuke yet by authorities to those inciting xenophobic violence. But critics say that without arrests and a shift in government narrative, little will change.

Professor Loren Landau (African Centre for Migration & Society) told Daily Maverick that the response must include two shifts.

“First, hold accountable those leading the violence, not because it’s against migrants, but because it’s gangsterism; it’s robbing the police and the government of their sovereignty over neighbourhoods and townships. If you hold those people accountable, you make it less profitable to mobilise in this way.”

Second, create a different narrative, one that ceases to link migrants with South Africa’s societal ills.

Read on the Daily Maverick.

[Photo Credit: Gallo Images / Lee Warren]