The 2007 Country Review Report on South Africa, produced by the African Peer Review Mechanism, pointed out that ‘high levels of xenophobic tendencies, especially against foreigners from other African countries, exist’, and described this as one of the country’s key challenges. The government’s response to this was to deny it (these comments are appended at the back of the report). The following year, South Africa was convulsed by xenophobic rioting, which left 62 people dead.
