The role of migrants in township economy

Recent incidents of looting against 'foreign-owned' shops in Soweto, Kagiso and other parts of Gauteng, have sparked fears of xenophobic violence similar to that of 2008 resurfacing.

It has also raised a number of pertinent concerns as to what the state of play is in the township economy. Who owns what? To what extent are migrants involved in small scale or informal retail?

What do we know about the contribution of ‘foreign-owned’ businesses to the township economy and South Africa?

eNCA's resident economics analyst Trudi Makhaya and her guests, Sally Peberdy from the Gauteng City Region Observatory, Abdirizak Ali Osman from the Somali Community Board of South Africa, Lenyaro Sello of eNCA, Anjuli Leila Maistry from Lawyers for Human Rights and a Soweto businessman Dumisane Mathebula will be debunking the myths and discussing solutions to the economic causes of xenophobia.