South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday urged all sectors of the society, including business, religious and civic organisations, to work towards eradicating xenophobia in the country.
"So the issue we're dealing with today, was what is it that we are all going to do as a country, as citizens, as different sectors, to ensure that it will never happen again," Zuma said after a meeting here on how various sectors can work with the government to promote orderly migration and good relations between citizens and foreign nationals, according to a Xinhua report.
He added, "We have immigration laws that are unique in a sense because the way we handle refugees is not by creating camps, but by integrating them into society."
Zuma said that the government had in the past ruled out the possibility of setting up refugee camps.
However, following the latest spate of xenophobic violence, the government has set up camps in Durban and Johannesburg to house thousands of displaced refugees.
At the meeting, representatives from religious and civic organisations as well as business and labour committed to helping the government halt the violence.
The discussions followed the recent inflammatory comments by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and Zuma's son, Edward. Both men allegedly said foreigners should leave the country.
The Zulu king's comments are believed to have sparked attacks against foreign nationals in Durban city and certain towns in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province in March from where it spread to other parts of the country. Zwelithini subsequently sought to stop the violence.
President Zuma last week condemned the violent attacks on foreigners, saying they contributed to the country's development.
"The meeting is part of building lasting partnerships with stakeholders in the country to ensure that the shameful attacks on foreign nationals do not recur in the country. Foreign nationals have for years been successfully integrated into many communities in the country and (the) government thus seeks to gain lessons from these successes," presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj said.
Meanwhile, the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) raided a hostel in the Jeppestown suburb of Johannesburg on Wednesday and arrested 11 men for suspected involvement in acts of violence.
According to the national police spokesperson Solomon Makgale, police also recovered stolen goods and an undisclosed quantity of dagga during the raid.
The attacks were believed to have been undertaken by jobless South Africans who blame foreigners for taking their jobs away. The unemployment rate in the country is 24 percent, according to the BBC.
South Africa is home to about two million foreign nationals, including Indians, according to official data. But the number of immigrants could be much higher.
South Africa on Tuesday deployed troops to anti-immigrant hotspots to quell the xenophobic violence, and four men linked to the murder of Mozambican Emmanuel Sithole in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra were arrested.
Seven people, including three Mozambicans have so far been killed in xenophobic violence in South Africa.
