Abstract
M.A. (Industrial Psychology)
South Africa is a diverse country with people from different races, cultures, and socio-economic backgrounds. Yet the differences that exist amongst its citizens are neither embraced nor accepted by all its people. Alexandra Township was chosen as the research site to investigate the xenophobic attacks of May 2008 as this was where the attacks first started. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of Alexandra residents towards the attacks of May 2008 in order to determine their attitudes towards black foreigners. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted in different sections of Alexandra. Interviews were conducted with twelve males and eight females. The findings revealed that lack of service delivery and competition for scarce resources was the major factors that contributed to xenophobic attacks on foreigners. Other factors that played a role included frustration and anger by residents about a feeling of entitlement, i.e. things they felt were owing to them but they had not received such as houses and employment. The study found the views differed between perpetrators of the attacks and observers of the violence. It is clear that xenophobic sentiments are rooted in multiple factors.