A potent cure for xenophobia
when economic growth grounded to a halt in the aftermath of the global recession in 2009, competition for scarce resources intensified between South Africans and immigrants, contributing to the resentment of the latter, who are often accused of stealing jobs from the locals. This resentment sparks sporadic xenophobic attacks, some of which have been deadly and resulted in the displacement of foreign nationals.
These attacks, which occurred in 2008, 2015, and 2019, are more pronounced in poor communities who live in squatter camps, townships, and the
