The African Dream so evocatively sung at the Ndlovu Youth Choir debut on America's Got Talent seemingly lies in tatters as our government and its' continental counterparts fall out over local xenophobic murders and looting. The violence, burning and pillaging is no longer confined to South Africa as revenge attacks on SA businesses and rock throwing at one SA consulate threaten to spread, sullying the long-standing solidarity, shelter and succour offered our current ANC leaders during apartheid. If you thought 10 local murders and 450 arrests were the sum of it, brace yourself for the detail in an intra-continental fall-out way beyond any in recent history. Here's a retrospective dream with future promise; imagine if all the African nations present at the recent World Economic Forum in Cape Town created a session to hammer out and a sign an anti-xenophobic pledge with future action steps? Instead we have boycotts, suspended flights, cancelled soccer matches, recalling of envoys and mutual finger-pointing. Few African leaders seem to have the introspective ability to see how rampant unemployment on their doorsteps is driving the crisis. Read here how the influential Wall Street Journal is accurately portraying us and tallying up the economic cost of greed, corruption and maladministration. – Chris Bateman

Anti-foreigner attacks strain ties among African countries

By Alexandra Wexler

(The Wall Street Journal) – A spate of attacks in South Africa this week against foreigners from other African nations has highlighted the failures of governments continent wide to tackle deep inequalities and crippling poverty, observers say.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___