In 1994 South Africa was once again reinvented, this time as the new democratic of the Republic. For the first time since the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, all South African citizens have been able to vote, participate in the life and affairs of the state, and have equal access to its resources. The elections of 1994 allowed the African National Congress (ANC) elected government to embark on a nation-building project to bring together the diverse population of South Africa, a population that had been actively fighting against each other in the struggle for liberation. As on all previous occasions when South Africa has undergone significant change in its national identity and national form, the question of immigration has come to the fore.

The reinvention of South Africa as a country with a strong commitment to diversity and human rights stands in stark contrast to the images transmitted across the world of a Mozambican, Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave, being burned alive in Johannesburg on 18 May 2008 for being a foreigner. He was one of over 65 black Africans (mostly migrants, immigrants and refugees) who were killed in a wave of xenophobic attacks on black African foreigners across South Africa in 2008. The attacks led to thousands of others being forced out of their homes and into camps, community centres, mosques and churches or back to their home countries. These were not the first physical attacks on foreigners since 1994. The first took place in the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg in late 1994 and early 1995.