The tragic fire that engulfed a block of flats in Central Johannesburg in August and left 48 dead, many of them foreign nationals with various degrees of documentation, has again become an issue where blame has been laid at the door of undocumented foreigners and civil society organisations. The scapegoating of foreigners has become one of the most dehumanising and demeaning signs of the times in contemporary South Africa. Some of the statements bore a strong xenophobic branding.
Refugee Digest 79 – Migrants, Refugees and Displaced Persons by Peter-John Pearson