May 2008 South Africa riots

2008 South Africa riots
Part of the Xenophobia in South Africa

Map of South Africa
Date12 May 2008
Location
Gauteng, Durban,
Mpumalanga
South Africa
Result 62 people dead, several hundred injured, voluntary deportation of immigrants to home countries, destruction of immigrant-owned property

The May 2008 South African riots was a wave of xenophobic riots starting in Alexandra, Gauteng (a neighborhood of Johannesburg) on 12 May 2008 and then spreading to other locations across South Africa. The violence started when South African residents of Alexandra attacked migrants from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, killing two people and injuring 40 others. Some attackers were reported to have been singing Jacob Zuma's campaign song Umshini Wami (Zulu: "Bring Me My Machine Gun").

In the following weeks the violence spread, first to other settlements in the Gauteng Province, then to the coastal cities of Durban and Cape Town. Attacks were also reported in parts of the Western Cape, Mpumalanga, the North West and Free State.

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