The Media as Architect of Public Opinion: Fanning the Embers of Xenophobia in Post-Apartheid South Africa

South Africa is a country endowed with human and material potentials to chart the course of African renaissance and also define the continent’s development agenda in the 21^st Century. Since its independence and transition from minority rule to majority government in the early 1990s, the country has seen the influx of immigrants – in droves - from different parts of the African, Asian and European continents and many other parts of the world. Of course, the attraction is the abundant resource endowment, infrastructure and functional institutions the country is blessed with. Unfortunately, the history of Post-Apartheid South Africa is blemished by the incidences of ‘intolerance’ often culminating in xenophobic attacks on ‘strangers’, especially those of African descent. The paper interrogates the role of the media in fanning the embers of hate against the victims of these attacks. The manuscript depended on desktop research; the content analysis of existing literary materials in the humanities and social sciences traditions to weave the thrust of the arguments articulated. In its recommendation, the paper suggests tolerance between and amongst both nationals and immigrants as this is the panacea and recipe for the institution of organized societies, national stability, and the entrenchment of a viable blueprint for sustainable growth and development. It is expected that this agenda and initiative should, of course, receive traction and life from South Africa’s mainstream media institutions.