This call for an evidence-based response to Xenophobia was made by Ingrid Palmary of Witwatersrand University at a seminar of the Institute for Security Studies.

After killing at least 20 people in 2008, Xenophobia flared up again in some South African townships last month, with foreign-owned shops looted.

The government dismissed it as criminality.

Jean-Pierre Misogo of Witwatersrand University says that Xenophobia is a feeling. It is the manifestation of that feeling that causes violence and that’s what has to be fought.

Misogo says the violence is a factor of weak or usurped government – sometimes spurred by people seeking to replace elected officials for their own gain.

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