EDITOR’S NOTE

NATIONAL Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole must immediately institute an investigation into the horror deaths of two brothers from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Adams Mission.

It is alarming to hear that the police did nothing when the 10111 emergency line was called.

Sitole needs to take decisive action to show that he will not tolerate mistreatment of foreigners by his officers, by act or omission.

In a country where undercurrents of xenophobia still run strong, it is vital that police lead by example in their treatment of foreigners on our soil. It would be tragic if, as in 2008 and in some subsequent years, police deny that attacks on foreigners are xenophobic and, as human rights activist Vanessa Burger reminds us, dismiss them as ordinary crime.

This was the attitude which allowed the horror of 2008 to explode into the now infamous orgy of violence against foreigners.

The SA Human Sciences Research Council said that before the 2008 attacks there had been a steady increase in the expression of xenophobic sentiments by government officials and at community level.

The Daily News has repeatedly reported on threats against foreignowned businesses particularly in Durban townships, where owners have been told to close their shops or face violence. More recently, foreign business are being extorted.

We need to see people brought to justice for crimes against foreigners before we have a repeat of 2008.