We should be ashamed

The recent xenophobic attacks stem from a bloated sense of entitlement. If the shopkeepers closed shop, the thugs would be unable to run a successful business in their stead.

The foreign shop owner who allegedly shot a 14-year-old robbing his store was wrong to take the law into his own hands, but how does that justify criminality and the terrorising of other foreigners?

Since when do two wrongs make a right? South Africans need to learn to be tolerant and understand that violence does not solve anything, but only makes matters worse.

Every time there are differences, we resort to violence - be it labour disputes, service delivery marches or minor arguments in shebeens. What happened to resolving conflict through talking? We need to deter this from spreading to the rest of the country.

What we are doing to fellow human beings is wrong.

We are treating foreigners like apartheid treated non-whites. How better are we if we continue to treat others as outcasts? - Busi Kheswa, Gauteng Community Safety

"THEY came for the Jews and I never said anything. They came for the communists and I never said anything. They came for the foreigners and I never said anything. They came for me and there was no one left to say anything."

How is it that we allow mass attacks on a handful of foreigners? Have we forgotten the terrors of apartheid and Rwanda?

During the apartheid years, African countries provided a haven for South African exiles. Can we not provide a haven for fellow African shop owners who are attempting to earn a living far from their homelands?

Is there not a healthier way to vent our rage? Is this rage even necessary?

Why don't our leaders discourage and even condemn these horrors? Political and religious leaders need to stand up against xenophobia. Newspapers could also be doing more, as could teachers. - Martin Zagnoev, Sunningdale Ridge

AS A nation, we ought to be ashamed.

Inasmuch as our leaders steal, so the indigenous population emulates those leaders by raiding, destroying and looting the shops and businesses of foreigners.

Our president was at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, probably with the begging bowl. Can you imagine what the other delegates must think about our country?

The problem is amplified by certain police officers who have allegedly aided the looters or taken loot themselves. - Nathan Cheiman, Northcliff