A lot has been said in the media about the ongoing violent attacks on foreigners, described as ‘Xenophobia.’ However, in accordance with the elitist method of news making, adopted by almost all mainstream media outlets, which puts too much emphasis on ‘expert’ opinion, mainly petty bourgeois analysts and commentators have been invited on major talk shows to analyse the situation and suggest solutions. Of course, their views, while very narrow and shallow, vary vastly.

Some Pan Africanist ‘Azanians’ feel that ‘black consciousnesses’ could be the solution. Blacks are killing each other because of a colonial mentality, the argument goes. Many others have linked the attacks to the country’s socio-economic conditions. Typically, the analysis on the root cause of the country’s scandalous poverty fails to bring in the necessary structural element. Others, including the DA, have blamed it on, amongst others, our immigration policies and failure to ‘protect our borders.’

While all this discussion is going on, we are losing out on a wonderful opportunity to get to the bottom of the issue. Mainly, because, the people at the centre of all the violence, both the foreigners and the ‘xenophobic’ South Africans, are not part of the debate.

And, in true denialist South African style, the government has absolved itself from any responsibility and has vehemently condemned claims that this is as a result of frustration linked to poor service delivery.

Instead, going as far as attributing the chaos to a ‘third force’ and the IFP, they have vowed to bring to book the ‘hooligans’ and the ‘thugs’ that are behind the atrocious attacks. In the midst of this, as part of the ongoing struggle for power between Luthuli House and the Union Buildings, the new populist ANC leadership has contradicted the government and has linked the attacks to government’s ‘failures.’

The politicians, pundits and everyone else has spoken. But, strangely, the people at the centre of the dispute have not. None of the radio or television talk show hosts which have been discussing the matter for more than a week now have bothered getting the opinion of the people at the centre of the dispute. In newspaper columns, the usual columnists have written page long philosophical, sometimes abstract, analysis of the problem.

In Alexander for example, to get to the bottom of the problem, should the media not be attempting to secure the views and opinions of people who attended, or organised the meeting that decided foreigners should be driven out of the impoverished township? And, surely, in all the other areas where the violence has spread, there are ‘ringleaders.’ Should these people not be the ones at the centre of media discussion around the issue? Why are they attacking foreigners? Should we not be striving to hear it directly from the ‘horse’s mouth’? Has anyone in the press even attempted to locate the perpetrators?

Clearly, if we are to resolve many of the widespread socio-economic problems of the ‘new’ South Africa, there must be a departure from the current method of news gathering. For far too long, we have been listening to ‘intellectuals’ and to fat cat turkey necked cabinet ministers, very out of touch with reality, in their chauffer driven vehicles and designer outfits. And, given that many of the problems have remained and even worsened, most of their talk has proved nothing but ‘cheap’ and populist.

Is it not about time we listened to the people at the centre of the news whose desperate pleas to the government, in the last fourteen years, have fallen on deaf ears? Or are we too afraid what they might say may be too ‘politically incorrect’ and ‘counter revolutionary?”