JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Experts said the South Africa should work with its African counterparts to finally tackle the underlying root causes of the xenophobic attacks.
Speaking with Xinhua about the matter, Somadoda Fikeni, a political analyst with the University of South Africa, said the issue of limited resources in poor communities could not be ignored and the governments should be serious about getting to the bottom of this.
"There's no doubt that if the underlying issues are not addressed, the next attacks are as certain as the sunrising in the morning. The government has not dealt with the source which is fuelling the attacks which is the struggle for resources in poor areas," he said.
Since 2008, South Africa has been dealing with sporadic attacks on migrants which have claimed over 70 lives.
Trust Matsilele, a political analyst told Xinhua that it was clear that other African governments were not pleased with South Africa's actions to stop the attacks.
"If the government ensures that the rule of law is obeyed, it would help to restore its image." However, he agreed that if "we're failing to address the push factors that are pushing citizens from other countries to South Africa we would fail to deal with this."
After President Cyril Ramaphosa sent a team of special envoys to Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia to apologize for the attacks, Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu admitted that root cause behind the anti-migrant sentiments must be tackled.
"We fully agree with our president that the xenophobic violent attacks on our fellow African brothers and sisters has damaged our reputation and our standing as a country. We must stop these attacks whilst at the same time addressing the underlying factors," Mthembu said on Twitter.
Fikeni said that South Africa wouldn't be able to address the problem without involving other nations.
