Migrants and violence in South Africa : the April 2015 xenophobic attacks in Durban

Abstract: In 2015, a wave of xenophobic attacks swept across South Africa. The violence was at its worst in Durban, where thousands of immigrants, mainly from Africa, were attacked by their fellow South Africans, their businesses looted and people killed. This article looks at the sparks for the violence, while unpacking the complex relations between locals and African immigrants against the backdrop of an earlier episode of violence in 2008/9. The latter part of the article focuses on the struggle of civil society to build a strong anti-xenophobic front against the background of growing inequality and a government determined to pursue high-end mega projects