Enough is enough!

THE time for prevarication and speeches has passed. Durban and South Africa are on the brink of mayhem and bloodletting. The xenophobic powder trail has caught fire and it is racing to the keg.

By the time you read this, the keg may have exploded.

The arrival of the theatre of violence in the heart of Durban means no one can continue treating the matter as peripheral, happening in township communities and to foreign-owned shops.

The copycat nature of these attacks suggests that this can be easily replicated in other cities. If so, it will have economic implications and long-lasting effects on relations with African countries.

To note that the hate and fear of foreigners does not emerge from nowhere does not justify this abhorrent trait that is fast emerging.

This is not the time for academic and political debates defining what is before us; who is to blame; how to control the influx of foreigners; or their contribution, be it ill or good.

There are long-term and short-term decisions to be made to resolve whatever any of us might believe is the root cause of the situation we find ourselves in.

In the short term, the state and community leaders must stabilise the situation and restore order. A failure to deal with what is emerging in the streets of eThekwini will have unimaginable implications for other cities.

After that there will be no guaranteeing that it will not reach any locality where foreigners are to be found. Put simply, the hate and the violence might be coming to your neighbourhood unless we all take a stance and say: Enough!