11–26 May 2008
Xenophobic violence
Attacks beginning in Alexandra spread to townships and informal settlements, targeting foreign nationals and some South Africans perceived as outsiders; 62 people were killed and many thousands displaced.
Violence began in Alexandra on 11 May 2008 and spread to other parts of Gauteng and then several provinces. Groups attacked, robbed and expelled foreign nationals—especially African migrants—and also targeted some South Africans identified as outsiders. Sixty-two people were killed and many thousands fled their homes.
Participants and local organisers often blamed migrants for scarce jobs, housing, services and crime. Investigations found no single national cause: unemployment and deprivation interacted with anti-immigrant prejudice, local political contests, criminal opportunity, weak municipal government and failures to resolve earlier warnings.
Police responses varied and were sometimes delayed or inadequate. The government deployed the army, opened shelters and assisted displacement, but prosecutions and longer-term accountability were limited. South African residents also protected neighbours and organised relief, demonstrating that affected communities did not respond uniformly.
Significance
The violence exposed failures of local governance, policing and accountability as well as the use of migrants as scapegoats for unemployment, housing shortages, crime and competition over informal livelihoods.
Why it matters
The violence exposed failures of local governance, policing and accountability as well as the use of migrants as scapegoats for unemployment, housing shortages, crime and competition over informal livelihoods.
Disputed interpretations
No single cause explains violence that varied by locality. Economic hardship, local political mobilisation, criminal opportunity, weak governance and anti-immigrant prejudice interacted in different proportions.
Perspective notes
Residents' concerns about jobs, housing, services and crime should be reported as part of the context, not as evidence that foreign residents collectively caused those problems or that attacks were spontaneous and unavoidable.