The Big Read: Xenophobia can come in handy

The government calls it Operation Fiela. "Fiela" is a word in the Sotho group of languages meaning "to sweep away; to clean up; to remove dirt". Last week, the police, the army and Home Affairs officials moved into Hillbrow and elsewhere in South Africa, set up virtual roadblocks and asked "foreigners" to produce documents proving that they were in the country legally.