ANA reports that the United Association of SA (Uasa) on Tuesday demanded decisive action from President Cyril Ramaphosa to contain a wave of violence targeted in the main at mostly-African foreign small business owners.  

Police arrested dozens of people in and around Johannesburg recently over the looting and burning of foreign-owned shops, in what was the latest wave of xenophobic attacks that have plagued SA in recent years.  The attacks in Johannesburg came in the wake of similar attacks in Pretoria last week following the shooting of a taxi driver allegedly by a drug dealer.  In a statement on Tuesday, Uasa spokesman Stanford Mazhindu said:  "Nothing can justify these illegal and criminal actions.  Instead of making use of circumstances to commit crimes, South Africans should stand together against those who take advantage of the situation to loot and burn."  The union pointed out that the violence had set the country back by years, as it had seen the destruction of the very businesses needed to boost the economy and ultimately reduce rampant unemployment.  "This is not how we make South Africa prosper or the economy grow," Mazhindu said.

• Read the full original of the above report at Business Report

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page