Diepsloot remains on a knife's edge as tension between locals and foreigners continues.

And community leader Papi Sathekge is concerned that xenophobia-related violence could flare up in the area.

"I can see it coming," Sathekge at the government's commemoration of Africa Day in Diepsloot on Tuesday.

Among the concerns he raised on Tuesday was that there was a lack of employment opportunities in Diepsloot.

"There are no accurate statistics of how many foreigners reside in Diepsloot. The only audits conducted are those looking at how many South Africans live here. When government sends their budget, it only caters for South Africans.

"We are sharing government services with foreigners. Those services cause an overload on everything."

Sathekge added that Diepsloot residents were not xenophobic but frustrated.

"Sometimes, when frustrated, you tend to do things without thinking about the repercussions. Some agreed with what happened last month (a reference to the murder of Zimbabwean man Elvis Nyathi). Others disagreed. Some thought [attacking foreigners] was not a good approach, and others thought it was good."

Nyathi was attacked as Diepsloot residents protested against crime in the area. Many community members claimed foreigners were behind a spate of crimes in the area, although there was no evidence to show that.

Sathekge added, "This is not the end. If the government doesn't confront this matter, it will resurface because of the frustrations on the ground."

Sathekge also said residents believe foreigners took jobs that were meant for locals.

He called on government officials to visit hotspot areas in Diepsloot. 

"They must come and sit and plot a solution with the residents. Residents must be involved in the planning of security implementation strategies.

"We are going to see other attacks on foreigners. Government must speak directly to people who are affected," Sathekge said.

A resident, Josephina Mello, said that after Nyathi was killed, they were told that more police officers would be deployed to the area.

"We were told there will be officers knocking at our doors at night. We haven't seen that. We only see the police patrolling during the day, only on main roads. We feel unsafe," Mello added.

"I am among those who don't sleep at home. We are afraid of criminals. I can't say those criminals are foreigners or locals because they speak isiZulu, Sepedi and other languages.

"There is lawlessness here. People do as they want," Mello added.

Deputy Minister in the Presidency Pinky Kekana said government officials were in the area to listen to residents' concerns.

"The president (Cyril Ramaphosa) spoke about creating a social compact with people. We listen to communities where the government is doing sufficiently on expected services from the government.

"We want to measure impact on what services are rendered across three spheres of government. Some challenges emerged. People residing here are locals and those from the continent. We want to improve our engagement.

New relationships

"There is a new relationship created here. There are communities put together to mitigate on challenges confronting residents. The missing link is how courts handle illegal immigrants - that is the biggest outcry.

"Residents are saying xenophobia is not the big issue. The biggest challenge was the killings confronting them. We want to join hands and bring other [government] services. They demand mobile home affairs services.

"Communities are calling for them to be prioritised and we should adhere to that," she said.

Kekana added that there was a joint approach by Minsters Aaron Motsoaledi (home affairs) and Thulas Nxesi (labour) to investigate locals' claims they were not able to find jobs because illegal immigrants were being employed for lower wages.

"Very soon, the two ministers will present a report that says what the actual issues are. We know that the biggest issues are scarce resources in the country, how the level of unemployment is skyrocketing, and how our people feel that some illegal immigrants are probably taking their jobs," she said.

She added that she hopes Nxesi and Motsoaledi will develop a consolidated report that will guide the government on how to avoid tension.

"Those tensions (between locals and foreigners) can affect diplomatic ties between South Africa, Zimbabwe and other African countries. There are engagements between South Africa and other countries in the continent to address those tensions," Kekana said.