A third of those killed in xenophobic attacks in South Africa in May 2008 were local citizens

Gangs of attackers mistook them for people from other parts of Africa. Twenty-one South Africans died in the riots. About 20,000 displaced people were still living in fields and halls. The violence, blamed on unemployment and scarce resources, was the worst since the end of apartheid in 1994. Non-governmental organisations estimate that about 85,000 people were uprooted in the violence - many thousands fled to their countries of origin.