We have been outraged, some of us have gone so far as to collectively declare all of us within these borders as barbarians. Politicians and church leaders led marches and the king held an imbizo during which he told his subjects to end the killings and looting.All of that, hopefully, has driven the point home - xenophobic attacks have to end.As has been the case every time South Africa has experienced such attacks, this wave of mayhem shall soon pass.We will all go back to our normal lives and act as if nothing happened, only to be "shocked and outraged" when another cycle of violence erupts a few months, or years, down the line.We will wonder again as "expert" after "expert" appears on our television sets to give us one unconvincing theory after another.The ruling elite will be as defensive as it has always been when such riots erupt.The opposition will opportunistically blame the government and keep mum on the unfair private-sector labour policies that contribute to xenophobia by pitting the local poor against their counterparts from other parts of the continent and other developing countries.Academics will once again write long reports on the possible causes and solutions that will be read by no one.Analysis, outrage and condemnation are good. But we have done all of that every time our townships and the neglected parts of our inner cities erupt in violence.But the point, as one philosopher once put it many years ago, is to change it.We have got to go to the root causes of this kind of criminal behaviour and action.There is no use preaching to the people who carry out such dastardly acts that neighbouring countries gave shelter to our exiles during the dark days of state repression against those who bravely stood up against racial oppression.They know that and clearly do not care that much about it.The fundamental problem we need to confront frankly is the South African exceptionalism that breeds this "superiority complex" within sections of society - making some of our people look down on those who they consider to be from countries that are "beneath" us.Just because our economy is stronger and more diverse than the rest of the continent; just because our infrastructure is modern and of superior quality, they think our nation is "better". We are the "envy of all Africa", the closest thing to Europe.Of course, it is a culture that can be traced to our dark past - where the state sought to dissuade those it oppressed from fighting for independence as they would "end up like the rest of Africa".In the schooling system, there was no effort to teach people anything positive about the rest of the continent. Sadly, 21 years after gaining freedom, the situation has hardly changed in this regard.Link that with the entrenchment of a largely racially based socio-economic order that has whites at the top; Indians and coloureds in the middle and the black poor at the bottom - then you have trouble.Sections of those at the bottom see the influx of foreigners - many of whom start their own informal businesses - as the introduction of a new layer that would push them further down the caste system.We have to address this attitude. Through education, yes, but also through dismantling our apartheid-development patterns, which have permanently consigned large sections of our society to nothing but reserves for cheap labour.The emerging two-tier labour system in which undocumented foreigners get paid much lower rates than the locals has to be stopped in its tracks if the South African social compact is to remain intact.But we are not the only country in the world to experience such high levels of xenophobia. What makes ours stand out is the level of violence that often accompanies it.The culture of impunity, the belief by those who carry out such acts that they will never be punished, is to blame for much of the violence.The four criminals who attacked Emmanuel Sithole in broad daylight, and in the full glare of the media, firmly believed nothing would happen to them.Fortunately authorities proved them wrong. They were arrested and appeared in court yesterday.Now the justice system has to play its part by ensuring that the criminals are successfully prosecuted and given appropriate sentences for their murderous actions.The same has to happen to all others who participated in the riots of the past three weeks - including those who may not have attacked anyone but incited others to do so.Such convictions will send a much stronger message than speeches, izimbizos and vigils. It will tell everyone that South Africa does not tolerate xenophobia.But if we fail to address the fundamental issues that those who instigate havoc exploit, and if we fail to punish those caught for committing crimes - we will be here again in future, "outraged" and calling ourselves names...