This is xenophobia!

For the past week, there has been looting in Soweto and nearby Kagiso in Gauteng. 

It all allegedly started when a teenage robber was shot dead by a Pakistani shop owner. 

I have always had a problem with South Africans telling foreigners to "go back to their countries". 

If you think back to circa 2008 when the last xenophobic attacks happened, it has been a common thread where South Africans say that the foreign nationals are taking their jobs. 

The majority of foreign nationals leave their countries for various reasons but the most common thread is that they come to South Africa to seek a better life. They then arrive in South Africa and start making means for themselves to survive and the majority of them come here and make their own opportunities. South Africans (especially the looters) should learn from the foreigners and make their own opportunities to flourish.

I came across this image, where people are looting at a spaza shop and these metro cops seem to just be looking away and acting as if there's nothing wrong. Surely the police are meant to protect those living in South Africa from crime - whether they are South African citizens or not?

One can't help but think that maybe the cops have their own xenophobic issues and don't want to get their hands dirty.

In an official statement the SAPS said that its officers were "taking strong action and would not allow lawlessness to prevail" but all I see in this image is lawlessness and the police allowing it to prevail

Oh, and as much as government has said that this isn't xenophobia, I do not agree. This is xenophobia. 

(Photo: Gallo Images)