Xenophobia has a long and tumultuous history. During the apartheid era, foreigners from neighbouring African states were also regularly subjected to discrimination and violence, made possible by the institutionalised racism of the time.
After 1994, incidents of xenophobia continued to occur with disconcerting frequency, culminating in the wave of xenophobic violence that engulfed the country in May 2008, resulting in the deaths of 62 people and causing thousands to flee.
Source: Pretoria News