I would like first to send my greatest warm condolences to those who lost their loved ones at the hands of those hooligans and barbarians. It saddens me to see our so-called people spitting in the same hands that gave us shelter in the times of apartheid, supported us in their best possible way, for us to enjoy the freedom we are abusing.

May the Lord protect our fellow brothers and sisters against evilness.

’’Never spit to the hand that feeds or once fed you because calamity and catastrophy will be upon you.’’

Today I’m ashamed to be a South African.

We South Africans lack the understanding of what is it to be Africans, so we only think of being a South African.

We "black South Africans" should learn to appreciate our fellow Africans and nothing more. Most if not all of the foreigners in our country are here because the political situations in their countries is unendurable, and they are contributing to our GDP by establishing businesses and employing most of South Africans. We South Africans don’t even have the skills to run businesses like our foreign brothers.

My last words are: "Let’s not forget that the same might happen to us tomorrow".

If this is the way we should die or the price of being in this country ..so let it be. Above all let God have mercy on all the South African brothers and sisters who believe that killing us will solve the problems of this country.

I am very much disappointed on my fellow South Africans. Where is the Ubuntu as Africans? We are in Africa and we are killing our fellow Africans, which is inhuman and unacceptable. We are all Africans so let us unite and treat our brothers and sister equally.

I am afraid as they say they want to kill all Shangaan, after that they will get to the other tribes and the minority will suffer. Shangaan are people from Limpopo which is part of South Africa, so why kill them as they are South African?

I hope the government will do something.

What is happening here is not right. We must just think about our people (fellow brothers and sisters) who are abroad, if something like this can happen to them.

And I think our president has turned a blank eye about this.

The energy that people are putting into this, they should be using to find jobs.

I think there is a group of people behind this, and those are the ones who don’t want to see South Africa progress.

What we must look @ is that people are desperate to succeed as this country is growing, (but some of them are) hopeless, so they blame people who also need to survive. This thing makes me sad.

This is really sad.

These are people like us, regardless how dark they are or where they come from.

But my question is where is our protection force (police) when these thing are happening?

Right now there is chaos in the streets of Jozi, at this very moment. This is ridiculous!!!!!

Right now I feel ashamed of being Proudly South African.

I feel so much pain when I see the effect of apartheid colonization manifesting in our country. Apartheid: divide and rule. Democracy: divide and kill.

This is very un-African, it’s something every normal South African should be ashamed of.

We should begin to teach the history of the SA struggle. Those mindless people should know that our democracy came though Africa....

Please let’s teach our fellow South Africans.

South Africans are lucky that we, by a miracle, managed to avoid a civil war. We were almost there and with our current political situation, we could still end up there.

It’s amazing how quickly we have forgotten our past. We were assisted by our brothers and sisters from foreign lands and they supported the end of Apartheid.

Think back to the genocide in Rwanda, the wars in DRC Congo and all over Africa. Imagine that was you or your loved ones suffering. Wars start quickly and South Africa is not immune, we could find ourselves in the same suffering.

These people have battled all kinds of odds to come here with a dream for a better life which is shared by all human beings, they eke out whatever living they can and they take whatever job they can get. We lazy South Africans then accuse them of taking jobs and whatever else.

While this happens our incompetent, lazy government does nothing, they are protected by their bodyguards and high walls while, we, the people, will have to face whatever we find on our ways home through the city. There was apparently no crisis in Zimbabwe, then why are all the Zimbabweans here? Home Affairs doesn’t give skilled foreigners the right papers so they have to take whatever job they can get, maybe that job could have been for a South African.

It’s sad, though, that we have become animals.

Human beings are made in God’s image, and there is no hate in that image.

People: stand up against evil.

I’m lost for words. I don’t understand why people are heartless. How do you look a person in the eye, hear their screams and still continue to inflict pain on them?

That is just barbaric and not the way of life. How do these people sleep at night knowing that you have taken someone’s life?

It is like they have just turned into predators hunting down animals.

Come on people, this is not fair. They need our help, not to be killed.

This is really an outcry - our government should do something, and not tomorrow, but now.

The whole world is watching, What about 2010 and our sisters and brothers living on the other side of the world?

Why kill our own?

I am very much saddened, disappointed and very angry with what is happening in South Africa now, xenophobic attacks on our own brothers and sisters.

Those who blame the government for these attacks are just making this matter worse.

We all ask ourselves where is this hatred coming from?

This is clearly a criminal mind, because those of us that know the history of our continent, regard our fellow Africans as our brothers.

Parents and teachers must play a vital rule in teaching the youth and children about brotherhood.

Police must arrest those criminals and put them behind bars.

We are one blood, one skin and one nation. Right now I am just disappointed at being South African. Nkwame Nkrumah, Bob Marley, Samora Machel, Oliver Tambo and all that preached and hoped for a United AFRIKA, should be in Shame now. Africa Unite for the sake of our future, unite for the sake of our children. SAY NO TO XENOPHOBIA, SAY YES TO AFRIKA.

The country is no longer South Africa. It is now Zimbabwe, Ethopia, Ghana, Nigeria etc. They must just go back to their countries without being hurt.

The situation is gonna get worse if nothing is done about the number of illegal immigrants in the country. It also sends a message to those who wanted to jump the borders to get into the country. The president must do something before more people die. There’s too much illegal immigrants in the country.

My appeal to South Africans is to let them go back to their countries, don’t hurt them in any way and don’t destroy their property.

They are also humans just like us and they have the same blood colour.

Dear Editor,

When our people have genuine concerns about their plight, they should dig deep why and find ways to air/vent those concerns, without inferring that foreigners are the source of these concerns.

Apartheid and the “rooi gevaar” (“red danger” propaganda in reference to the communists in South Africa) was based on the same warped principle.

We tend to forget very quickly, we do not engage in debates anymore and, recently, tend to have less intellectual curiosity of where we come from. If you call a political meeting, few, if at all any, attend; but let there be a half-naked girl gyrating on stage and alcohol flowing, the venue is filled to capacity.

Migration is an ancient phenomenon that we cannot reverse and for whatever reasons people will move from one place to another for better opportunities.

What sickens me is that it is our own "ilk", fellow Africans, that is bearing this senseless violence and in that madness, South Africans are also victimised.

13 or so years ago, in a taxi to Soshanguve me (a Muvenda) and my then future wife (a Muvenda with strong Sesotho background) were conversing in Tshivenda and a passenger, with the driver and other passengers joining in, made disparaging comments about us being "makwerekwere" and that we came here to take South African jobs and do other unprintable things. I was accompanying my fiancée to the then Technikon Northern Transvaal.

I responded in Sepedi, mixing with Setswana and my wife backed me up in her deep Sesotho, until the driver and those irate passengers apologised. We were incensed by such shallow thinking and stereotypes.

Who knows, what if one of them suggested to "deal" with us? Fortunately it did not happen.

For the recent spate of violence against foreigners, I say, the law must take its course and all who care to listen must continue in their quest to care for each other.

How many times do we learn of our own people protecting criminals within their families?

Yes, some immigrants are not to any good, but generalising and reacting the way people have done in Gauteng and other provinces, is simply not right.

I feel sad and ashamed about all this. I just returned from Dakar, Senegal last Friday and, my… oh my, I made so many friends. From taxi drivers to market women. My basic French was my passport to more friendship.

South Africans (the thugs) say that they are coming to get their jobs and are increasing the crime statistics of South Africa…….. Correct me if am wrong….. Why then are they looting and taking the hard-earned stuff of immigrants??? To me they are just lazy bastards that want things for free and not willing to work hard for it. They want a job to be given to them on their laps…..why can’t they go and get the jobs themselves… they can start by getting a qualification and then improving themselves maybe if they did immigrants would not stand a chance to be the preferred candidate when applying for jobs!!

How many years have passed since 1994? It’s not about apartheid anymore……. They have had enough time to transform themselves since then but they sit back and expect manna from heaven…. Life doesn’t happen like that you strive to achieve. Nothing is for mahara these days, you have to support yourself academically as well to get anywhere in life.

South Africans went into exile the times of apartheid and it’s these people’s countries that supported them and looked after their people in the time of struggle… now they are too good for their own shoes!!!!

I lived in SA for a good 7 years, went to high school there and I left because of people with mentalities like those that think if one is an immigrant… they are all in the same boat …they are all makhwerekwere!!

That attitude has to stop, South Africans…..

It’s amazing how a fellow African attacks another fellow African.

We need to urge our people to go and get some education.

Let’s urge our people not to rely on government to make a living.

Parents have to play a role too. Our people need to know that attacking foreigners wont solve their problems but rather get them in jail.

Why can’t we just live together and get along.

I was in Musina this weekend and I must say I was impressed with the way people tolerate each other there, taking into consideration Musina is the reception and entry point for most foreigners from Zimbabwe, Malawi and other northern African countries.

We would all like to travel abroad at some point, even for a vacation with family, (yet we) can’t even treat people (right) in our own country. This is sad and revolting to us as South Africans.

I don’t think it’s xenophobia anymore. Now it’s criminals attacking all nationalities and hiding their criminal act behind the xenophobia issue.

This has opened doors to all criminals around the country; this so-called Xenophobia has spread to Soweto area. People are being mugged in broad day-light, people are being killed for no reason, people are being attacked inside their homes...

The next thing we know It will be South African nationalities attacking each other for no reason.

It’s about time we put an end to these criminals acts.

Straight talk.

The problem is with Home Affairs because they allow foreigners to come in unlawfully in this country. If all the foreigners were allowed to come through the border gate I think it wanna be easier for the country to manage and control.

Crime is high because we close our eyes as if we don’t see the main cause. To show that we close our eyes, today I heard even the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs commenting about Pornography instead of Xenophobia in South Africa.

My input is: Let our Home Affairs try to come up with ways of dealing with the control of our borders and even liaise with Defence to make sure that our laws are being followed, especially in and out movement. They should even curb the corruption we are hearing about every day.

Because we don’t even know who commits crime in this country.

I believe each and every country has its own laws to be followed, but ours seems as if there is no laws, it is only a BANANA Country.

I think it’s very wrong, this thing that is happening. If they didn’t want to stay with those people, they could have warned them to say ‘we are giving you up to this day you must be gone’. Now they just attack and kill. It’s very sad. I didn’t think South Africa will end up like this.
- Mapitsi Diniso

I am very sad and disappointed to see the Africans killing and hating each other like this. It makes me lose hope in the African Renaissance.

I hope our government is doing something about this. It is really bad to treat our brothers and sisters like this.

I think it’s just a bunch of criminals giving the whole country and its good citizens a bad image because they know our justice is not tough enough and they will get away with this.

I know our government is looking into this and trying to see what triggered these attacks.

I think they must provide proper shelter to those people staying in police stations and come up with a proper system from the border gates ASAP.

I really feel sorry for all of them, especially young kids.

Where are the community leaders in these places? Where were they when these attacks were planned? I suppose even now they are nowhere to be found, whereas their constituencies are in turmoil.

This situation was perpetuated by lack of progressive leadership in these places.

The so-called councillors did not pay attention to the needs of the people. They shifted the blame to foreigners for a lack of service delivery. If these foreigners were jumping queues on the housing lists, who was helping them?

This not to say our fellow Africans are saints but South Africa’s social ills are not to be blamed entirely on them. Most of them are poor, just like the majority of us. Many of them are hard working, honest people, we should embrace them and learn from them.

And please fellow South Africans, we must not celebrate when our fellow Africans are being victimised by criminal elements in our country.

These elements are moving to the next level, that one of tribalism. Soon South Africans are going to turn against each other, Xhosas will be told to go the Cape, Zulus to KZN, Pedis to Limpopo etc.

We want progressive leaders to talk to people on the ground to try and change their attitudes.

I just want to let my brothers and sisters know how much this is hurting and how horrible this is. I am very ashamed of my fellow black brothers. It hurts just to think how inhuman our chocolate coloured people are. It sends chills down my spine!

We have children my GOD why do we have to subject them to this?

African Brothers and Sisters you are hurting me deeply, I am feeling the worst pain than the brother from another mother you necklace, all because I am still alive and burning inside, where I cannot reach out and cool down.

The fire of pain and helplessness inside my heart is so unbearable to bear thinking that someone out there is homeless today yet I have a shelter, only because I am still lucky and tomorrow it might be me.

When is this going to stop?

When is my heartache going to stop?

Will I be able to remove the memory of the burning human being from my conscience?

Tell me my South African Brother! Tell me my South African Momma?

Tell me my South African Papa

How do I explain this to the next generation?

How do I explain this to my children?

I feel like I have failed my country just because I am black and ashamed!

We have failed! We have failed!

- BERTHA SEREKWENG

I’m just so deeply disturbed by this barbaric behaviour, which has been displayed by my fellow South Africans. To see people being treated this way is totally unacceptable. My best friend is from Zimbabwe and I love her dearly - she is human just like anyone of us. They are also hurting. It’s not like they have no feelings..... So please stop these senseless attacks and brutal killings.

South Africans continue to find themselves in a war with their black brothers and sisters from neighbouring countries.

The current state of affairs in most of our townships regarding the war between locals and foreigners takes us back to the black-on-black war which saw many of our people losing their lives. During those days, we had no idea why there was such a war and this is also no exception as we are fighting each other in the name of where one is from.

It saddens many of us to bear witness to the way in which foreigners are treated in the midst of all the crisis in Zimbabwe (even though Thabo Mbeki seems certain that there is no crisis in that country) and how government seems to be stuck not knowing what to do.

While the war against foreigners is not necessary at this stage in our country, maybe it is time for government (especially Thabo Mbeki as Mugabe’s PA) to utilize Lindela Refugee Centre for the benefit of foreigners because the current situation leaves a lot to be desired.

I strongly condone the violence against foreigners including Tsongas and Vendas. Not all foreigners are criminals or stealing jobs for South Africans, but we also need to find a way of dealing with foreigners who are committing crimes against our fellow South Africans.

I hope the recent violence will reduce the influx of Zimbabweans into our country as the government has been failing for decade to control the situation.

All these celebs and big shots who are complaining in the media about unfair treatment of foreigners, they must take this foreigners into their homes in Sandton or Houghton, then they will feel how irritating it is to be with these Zimbabweans.

I think that South Africans are promoting racism with this kind of behaviour. Violence has never been a solution for anything, we know that for sure.

Zimbabweans,Malawians etc. are all human beings. I don’t even understand the reason for attacking these people. They are getting killed in their country.

By running to South Africa they only want to save their life, not to take anything from us.

What happened to good South African people?

Where do we want to go? How are we going to establish new relationships with other countries? What type of image are we getting?

It touches my heart to see people being treated like that. I hate what I saw/heard on the papers,tv & radio. South Africans should stop this because we also have brothers and sisters in other countries who are being treated with respect.

We are ALL AFRICANS.

Why should our fellow Africans be treated so badly and killed so brutally by we South Africans?

This xenophobic thing has helped thugs who are busy taking valuable properties from this innocent people.

I was shocked on Saturday when these thugs were bullying street vendors at Tembisa station - spilling their food, destroying their shelters.

As a Christian, we must all love each other as we are all Africans.

May the Holy Spirit come upon us.

I don’t like what they are doing to our brothers and sisters. This so heart-breaking. I wish something can be done about this situation.

As a young South African living in the United Kingdom as an immigrant, I feel sad to have read in your newspaper about the brutal attack on our fellow African brothers by few ignorant illiterate South Africans. At first, it was crime that turned me off from coming back home to South Africa and now it is this....!!!

In the United Kingdom we have many ... immigrants coming from Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the rest of Europe but not even a single day have I heard of xenophobic attacks on them. Why? Because the people were informed about immigration and the reason for immigration and the benefits of immigration to the country, which is economic development.

In South Africa this violence is caused by ignorance and the failure by the South African government to train people about immigration.

It is not their choice for them to immigrate to South Africa. They were forced by their political situation in their countries.

It’s a shame that this violence is happening to a country which has just got its freedom, where many freedom fighters were immigrants to the African countries. Government should encourage these people to read the books about the history of South Africa to see the contribution made by African countries to our freedom.

I think the government must deport them, to save their lives!

I think the police are wasting time on keeping people at police stations.

They must be taken back to their countries cause they no longer feel safe in South Africa. For how long are the police stations going to be their home of safety?

They will be afraid to go back to the township now. They are in big shock over what their brothers and sisters have done to them.

Our SA law must be blamed for this attack as we all know it easy to become a SA citizen, even the jobs here are easy to get without... work permits. The Department of Home Affairs together with the Department of Labour needs to employ people to start (inspection visits to stop companies employing foreigners).

According to my individual opinion... these monsters are lazy while others are diligent. You take them to school; they drop out coz they are too lazy to study. You give them a job that requires physical strength, they down tools and vanish. They are only good at vandalism, serial killing, raping, ATM bombing, shoplifting, looting, eish the list is endless. Meanwhile I also suspect poor governance of our country by leaders and others within the sphere of the government (like) in the Dept of Home Affairs...

Nevertheless, the hard core issue is to ensure that all of us South Africans should ensure that we distance ourselves from xenophobic onslaught.

If today we beat up and kill the foreigners, then tomorrow it is gonna be a Zulu versus Xhosa, Tsonga versus Mopedi, Venda versus uMswati to name just a few.

This is what I think we need to be aware of:

We need to be aware of what we are saying because by our mouths we can also make a very big contribution on the current situation.

The present talking is “this thing is going to spread” why as a child of God you say such thing? We need to say positive words and plead to God for his intervention. If we say is going to spread as others say, to whose brother, sister, Mother, Father is spreading too?

Let’s love one another
Let’s protect our county’s image
Let’s be kind to each other
Lastly,
Let’s all pray for peace and I know the Lord will give it to us.

I don’t think this is the right way, because this is affecting even fellow South Africans.

I appeal to those who really have powers to put a command in this matter to stop with immediate effect.

Apart from that, we are too lazy to work for ourselves but we need to shine and claim that the foreigners took our jobs.

This is not about the foreigners; this is affecting the dignity of our country as well.

I must start by saying I do not condone the attacks on fellow human beings from other countries.

I feel that South Africans are validated in their anger and frustrations.

We come from the background that did not encourage blacks to go to school, and so on. Today, in our own country, it is a SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. Life in our country is hard. Now, for those South Africans who did not go to school, who are not working, what must happen to them? Should they go and die?

I feel that it was too soon for our country to want to be a global player. I believe we, South Africans, do not have enough skills to allow us to be a global player, hence the inclusion of foreigners in our country. We depend on them to sustain our economy. When are we going to invest in human capital? We were out of the race for about three hundred years. Why can’t we take 20 years to develop our own people?.... Look things through the eyes of South Africans for once.

It’s a shame SA citizens are baying for the blood of people who gave them shelter in apartheid era.

Yes, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans are committing serious crimes but that is for the police and government to sort out; not you.

Women and young children are also victims and it’s heartbreaking to see them suffer like that.

You can raise your voice but let the law take its course.

Please STOP it.

I was stuck inside the mob in Benoni on Sunday and I just prayed to the Lord that I would see my loved ones again.

The police came and I was able to drive off.

It was the closest to death I ever got.

I sympathise with our neighbouring brothers and sisters but comments like "these people helped us during apartheid" are not helping. As some of this attackers are Born Frees (who only know a post-apartheid South Africa) they don’t know what you guys are talking about. They face different challenges altogether. Having matric is no longer (enough) to get someone a job (but) progressing with education is not possible for a majority of South Africans due to financial problems. So a majority will (only get low-paying manual work like in construction, farming, factories etc)... So if aliens come and get employed easily ’cause they are desperate, this is not helping South Africans who want to force bosses to pay better. Those who say let’s share, they are clearly not living with these people on a day-to-day basis.

Those who are fighting want to force Government to deport these people and implement measures to keep them there.

I think what South Africans do to those people from outside the country is not right.

I think if they don’t want them to stay here, they must make a plan to tell them to go back were they belong. not to kill them the way they do. It is very painful to see a man crying like a baby.

I think this is being stupid, fighting against our own brothers and sisters. Apartheid is over now. It’s black against black crime legendary. It is about the language? Our origin? At first it was about xenophobia but now thieves got a way of doing crime.

I feel sorry about what is happening to these people but the government must also understand our frustration. We are paying tax to feed these illegal people, they are selling (goods) on the street and they don’t pay tax. The government tried and fails to send this people back home safely, and they said it on national TV that immediately they drop them home they came back the same day. How do you think that will make them leave? We also have issues that needs attention in our country. Unemployment, everything is expensive, the petrol is up, these are the things that we must solve in our country. Let them go home to fight for their rights like us here.

If (our President) feels sorry for them he must organize immediate transport to take them home, not to build tents in the police station and still give them food for free....Unemployed South Africans have no food now in their homes but foreigners are getting free food and blankets at the police station. This is what makes people crazy. That is not the solution, just take them back to where they come from.

My heart bleeds to see what is happening in our country. I’m even ashamed to be an African, right now. We’ve got so much self-hate and an inferiority complex.

Why do you have to hate your fellow brother just because he comes from the other side of the fence which was erected by Germans, Dutch, etc. who came to colonise our continent? Other races are probably laughing at us right now, I’ve never seen a white South African hating another white from France, Italy, etc. I’ve never seen an Indian hating another Indian from India or Pakistan.

To Thapelo Mana who thinks more than 70% of South Africans hate foreigners, don’t assume everybody (thinks the same as you)... How many SA citizens are in UK right now, how would you feel if they had to be killed only because they are from SA?

I’m a South African who was born in Zambia because my parents were involved in the Struggle.

I grew up in Zambia because the ANC head office was in Zambia and people from Zambia were very warm to South Africans.

There were hundreds and hundreds of South Africans who were accommodated in proper houses not shacks.

This is shameful.

I’m even disappointed our leaders are not doing enough about this situation.

I’m a very angry South African... My father helped in building what South Africa is today. We were helping to fight within the country whilst others were exiled and if I may quote, during 76 we were fully committed to the struggle, we were mobilised to fight the oppressor.

Today we don’t live to celebrate, let alone enjoy, the outcome of the struggle.

...Government was supposed to STOP these attacks when it started in Pretoria... Why don’t they send the army to guard .... (the vulnerable areas where attacks are happening)?

I feel shame to poor people of God. Guys, we are all African, why are we treating our bradas like that?

Please South Africans, let’s think twice . can we put the GUNS downs. Let’s join our hands together so we can make a difference.

I believe as South Africans we have lost a sense of humanity (ubuntu).

It all started with people losing respect for others for e.g. in old times your child was also my child.

There are many issues happening because of the lost respect like rapes, the Noord taxi rank and the violence in Alexandra, which is the worst on the list.

We are biting the hand that fed us, I mean back in our Struggle (apartheid) we were refugees in their countries.

We are a lost nation.

The whole issue makes me angry because not only is it immigrants but also our own South Africans. So what is the really problem Alexandra? I believe the people doing this are not working because where do they get the time to do all this.

This must come to an end.

To say that I am shocked and disgusted would be an understatement. What is going on in our country? Have our brothers and sisters forgotten that our neigbouring countries were assisting us during our apartheid era? Why can’t we just be human and do the same?

How many white people are foreigners in S.A? Do we plan on asking for their identity documents to see their nationality?

How many South Africans are foreigners in other countries like London, Australia, England and Canada?

How would we as South Africans feel if our brothers and sisters were treated this way in other countries?

This is not Xenophobia but just plain Thuggery and laziness of South Africans to work. We expect things on a silver platter and seek attention from the government in wrong ways.

Killing, raping and robbing our foreign brothers won’t bring the price of bread down.

We have our South African citizens that are overseas illegally, they also regard them as foreigners but they don’t kill them….

It is not fair for foreigners to be treated like that, I’m highly disappointed……not all of them are criminals…like our brothers and sisters here, there are criminals and they don’t get burned. Why not deport them?

So please South Africans let’s practice…………….UBUNTU

How can we turn our backs on our own brothers and sisters? They need help from their fellow Africans, not for us to abuse them.

How do these people sleep at night?

Why do we call our fellow Africans foreigners, they are African just like the rest of us.

I don’t think those heartless people who are busy killing innocent people, saying they are criminals, are using their mind. There have been criminals here in SA before those people came in here.

It’s really sad that we have to be so cruel as a nation.

We are only bringing a curse on our nation and God will judge us.

If we really were fed up with foreigners, why not find better means of chasing them rather than murdering? We are murderers, thieves, selfish, full of hatred and it now is a shame to call oneself Proudly South African.

The government on the other hand is taking its time in trying to put a stop to this. The army should be out there putting law and order in place.

May God give peace and comfort to those foreigners who’ve lost loved ones. I wonder if they will ever forgive a South African for the rest of their lives. We have made ourselves an enemy to every African in this continent.

This is so sad & very gruesome, my heart is bleeding.

How could somebody do something like this? There is a phrase that says "Love your neighbour like you love yourself".

People don’t have respect anymore. They’re lost because they what are they are fighting for, they’re killing innocent people. The people who are doing such things, they really to be penalised.

South Africa is in Africa, where are all these fellows suppose to go if not South Africa.

We South Africans, we like to make funny issues & most of us we are very lazy especially when coming to work related issues. For e.g. We South Africans can’t go out & look 4 the job because we have this perception of saying ‘Government said there’s gonna be more jobs created so we think that government will come to our houses & deliver jobs 4 us’, which is wrong.

Our fellows are here to make a living & they don’t deserve to be treated like this, I must say.

We had voted for freedom & democracy -- where are those 2 things? Why did we vote for Democracy & Freedom if we are still fighting with each other?

I believe the people committing this injustice are criminals attempting to acquire assets belonging to foreigners illegally.

The one thing that people do not realize is that for all these people they are violating; you can take away their homes and property but you will never take away the experience they went through to build their lives.

So when the dust settles, these people will go back to their country or start afresh and will become just as successful again.

The question is: where will the person who did the looting and killing be?

I also hate them as well - actually I’m afraid of them.

Let them go back to where they belong, SA is our country and we want to enjoy the benefit of our struggle alone.

However, I don’t think the solution is to kill them.

I should think the government needs to come up with the strategy of how to remove them ASAP.

Killing is murder and is a sin in front of God.

Please stop killing them, nevertheless let them go back.

What is happening at the moment is totally without sense.

Our country is not ready for such barbaric acts.

Do those involved ever think about the bad reputation our country is gaining, and my question is: ’Are those involved ready for the after-effects?’

I really think this is not on. Yes they are in our country illegally but who gave the South Africans the right to kill anybody.

Look at these guys selling fruit, veggies, sweating their lives away. These poor people do not choose the jobs they do - they take anything that can put food on the table.

What I would like to say to the South Africans who do this is: when the wheel turns, their turn will come.

Where is ubuntu, guys? Leave God’s children, they deserve to be alive like you and me.

I don’t think this is fair and democratic. People gave up their lives for this country to be where it is today. Our late politicians must be very ashamed of us. We fought very have to live free and fair.

We ruled out apartheid against whites, so why are we doing the same thing we fought very hard to take away.

Let us give our fellow Africans a chance to live in our country. They work very hard to make a living.

Believe me, innocent people will die because of some selfish people of South Africa.

Give them a chance, they are good people.

My heart has an immense vacuum.

I don’t really understand why should we fight our brothers and sisters. They are trying to make a living here in our country same as our brothers and sisters who are trying to make a fortune in United Kingdom and America etc.

How would South Africans feel if their families can get kicked out in the foreign countries?

Our politicians were well-treated in the neighbouring and overseas countries. They could do anything they wanted to do freely.

What infuriates me the most is that our leaders are not doing enough to stop this violence. Instead of going out there to speak to these angry people, they are sitting and making comments from their offices.

Our president as a leader of this country should leave whatever he is busy with, and attend to attackers and victims before it’s too late. Our leaders must lead by example.

I saw the clips Flames of Hate. The next thing, a drop of tear fell off my face…

How on earth can I sleep at night when I have witnessed (or those who participated) in such an act?

I call upon HIS name I ask HIM to lay HIS holy hand above every SA citizen who has lost their conscience.

Let their conscience be re-awakened so that they can feel the pain I feel about them.

They are human and victims of unforeseen circumstances from their home of birth... the next thing to be killed heartlessly…

I plea to all who has power and voice to put a stop to it with immediate effect!!!!!!!

Please what is happening around us!! Not all of the Zimbabweans are criminals, why can’t they give them a certain period to leave the country if they want them out so badly.

Stop the killing of innocent people!!! I saw the photos that was on the news on 19/05/08 - Poor children and women, shame on you

This is very disturbing to see our fellow neighbours dying in this fashion.

I will say the Home Affairs Department has still got a lot to do in this issue. The control for who gets in and goes out is not effective. Enough is not done on our borders. I think police need to control the situation as soon as possible.

Each time I think about the word Xenophobia, I think of hooligans using this opportunity to commit crimes such as rape, looting and killing of innocent people.

It is very unfortunate because even our political leaders are having their own problems amongst each other that will lead to ethnic fighting which no South African is willing to experience, it is not funny when you are told to go back to your mother country like Zimbabwe where people are killed ...

Unfortunately we don’t have a state president in our country and therefore will be very unruly.

The freedom that our brothers and sisters fought for in the apartheid era, we use to kill today.

The rainbow nation has now turned their backs on their needy African neighbours. The right to life and dignity does not only apply to SA citizens but to all human kind. By taking their lives we imply that they do not deserve to live not only in our country but anywhere else? But it makes it okay when we go to other countries to empower ourselves and we are treated with the utmost humanity.

The thing that foreigners are taking our jobs is not true because we are too arrogant to start at low jobs, we rather settle for stealing people’s hand bags and cell phones. Even if foreigners are all dragged out of the country, conditions will not change for as long as the attitudes of people do not change! South Africans are lazy and blaming it on the foreigners.

We must start learning to use our brains because nothing is free and hard work pays.

I am not encouraging illegals to come to our country, but my cry is against the brutal killings as a result of Xenophobia.

Do the people in South Africa still want SA to host the Soccer World Cup? Violence against foreigners is sending out a negative message to the world.

The people whom are attacking and killing foreigners are murderers.

I think in SA we would rather want the good foreigners than criminal South Africans.

Instead of taking the law in your own hands, let’s petition the government, to start a campaign to send foreigners back to their own countries.

Using violence is not the right thing to do, as a lot of innocent people are killed.

We have had the great fortune of having someone who took our country from chains into freedom without plunging us into a war, these unfortunate people did not have such a leader.

I beg you as once-proud South Africans to listen to your hearts and have a bit of compassion.

If you believe that there are some foreigners who are causing problems, help the police in identifying them and apprehending the and leave those hardworking ones alone.

I don’t think this is about Xenophobia any longer, but just very bad behaviour. So sad indeed to see such violence close to 2010, and what kind of example is this to the youth of South Africa.

South Africa can’t afford to cater the whole of Africa. It is believed that we have 10 million illegal immigrants in our country, this is unacceptable and what about another 15 years to come, these people will out-number us. The worst part of it is that Home Affairs don’t have their profile: some might be ex-rebels, ex-soldiers, ex-police, criminals, rapists etc. It is dangerous to have these un-profiled people in our country… Believe me or not, almost 70% of South Africans don’t like these people; so this violence will spread to other parts of the country and can also destabilize the country.

When are we going to look at our problems today, without continually blaming Apartheid?

Until we stop justifying our dreadful crime rate (which is what this dreadful situation is) can we only then move on to a better life for all our people. Please realize that the powers that be need this constant referral to apartheid to exonerate them of action that is needed. Make no mistake I am not minimizing the dreadful atrocities committed in the apartheid era, but do have a problem in finding excuses for crime. It reminds me of the clever lawyers who get evil disgusting perverts reduced sentences or freedom on the fact that they had a bad childhood, yeah right. I came from a bad childhood but I didn’t go out and commit the same crime. Stop these excuses and reasons for criminals. Please as journalists use your voice against the real problems facing us and our society and push forward for the changes needed to condemn our crime-ridden country. Don’t give our criminals written reasons to behave like animals.

From a proud immigrant to our wonderful Country, who stayed to make a difference through Apartheid.

I am deeply concerned about the ongoing violence against the foreigners in South Africa. It happened in Olievenbush, south of Pretoria, Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria, Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, and now it is happening in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg.

I live in Mamelodi and I have witnessed it myself.

I think that lack of employment is one of the factors contributing to this.

I also believe that the government must do something (educating people about the plight of the foreigners who are staying in our country). Some of the foreigners have fled their countries because of the ongoing violence in their respective countries hoping that they will find a life in South Africa but that is not the case.

It’s very bad that some South Africans are beating foreigners, especially blacks. I think they forgot the days of apartheid when they used to live in other countries peacefully even in Mozambique.

What could have triggered this?

Should we treat South Africans who live in our countries like that too?

I don’t think an educated person does what this people are doing.

They should be ashamed.