JOHANNESBURG - Protester's anger is misguided, says Prof. Loren Landau, co-director of the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab.
Most of the people under attack or chased from their homes ordinary people who may have started businesses and are hiring South Africans, he adds.
This, however, he says does not underscore those perpetuating actual crimes.
READ: 'We are ready to die for our safety': Foreign nationals spend night outside Durban centre
"If our issues are joblessness, housing, electricity and crime, this is not who we should be going after," Landau says.
Violence broke out in Durban on Tuesday after some foreign nationals went to the Durban Central police station seeking protection.
They alleged that they were being kicked out of their homes and they feared for their lives amid marches calling for undocumented migrants to leave the country.
After they were moved from the police station, many camped outside of the Diakonia Centre in the Durban CBD and by Wednesday had refused to move.
He says government must work to regain public trust.
WATCH | Refugees march to Durban police station for protection
"What has failed is that the government has lost the faith of the people," says Landau.
"Immigrants are now being made a scapegoat for government failures," he adds.