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Mr Mbeki’s government has overseen economic growth which has created an emerging black middle class, but some 40 percent of the population - 80 percent of which is black - is little better off than at the end of apartheid in 1994.

But it is the return of “neck-lacing” - when “traitors” had rubber tyres draped over their necks and set on fire - which has most appalled liberal commentators as well as many ordinary citizens and triggered a bout of soul-searching as to why the country has veered so far off course.

Once again, Mr Mbeki - whose “quiet diplomacy” towards Robert Mugabe has seen him derided at home and abroad - finds himself in the firing line. For years, the government has been warned that the influx of Zimbabweans into the country was straining relations among the poorest sections of the community to breaking point.

An estimated three million exiles from Zimbabwe, most of them illegal immigrants in that they do not have asylum papers, are now competing along with large numbers of Malawians, Somalis and Mozambicans for scarce jobs. Poor South Africans also accuse them of jumping housing queues through paying bribes to corrupt officials.

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Mr Mbeki has ordered an inquiry into the violence, but his critics insist that what is needed is action

Jonathan Clayton

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The situation contributed to him losing the ANC Presidency to his rival Jacob Zuma, a populist, at the end of last year. Mbeki's reaction to the current crisis - to call an inquiry - is dismissed as typical “Mbeki fudging”.

“People want action, on jobs, on Zimbabwe, on crime - instead we get reviews and inquiries. We know the causes of these problems, it is a failure of leadership,” said one political commentator.

A radio talk show host accused Mr Mbeki and his “denialist” cabinet of not having the faintest idea what is happening in the townships while the ANC’s own Treasurer-General Mathews Phosa even called for Mr Mbeki to step down early - a call from which the ANC leadership later distanced itself.

“Mbeki could have probably not done that much to stop this influx, but he could have used a language which better conveyed a sense of crisis,” said Mr Seephe.

“The school system is crumbling, the public health sector is in crisis and the HIV/AIDs epidemic is taking scarce resources and this feeds a perception that nothing is improving.”

Mr Mbeki’s government is blamed for failing to grant many of the Zimbabweans refugee status, leaving them few options but to work as illegal immigrants and in some cases opt for crime which has fuelled “anti-foreigner” sentiment.

Jody Kollapen, the chairman of the Human Rights Commission in South Africa, said that the fury on the streets was so strong that it may be time for the army to be sent in to help the over-stretched police to put down the violence.

"If we are going to secure cities and townships... we should be asking now whether we need to bring in the military," said Mr Kollapen. "The feelings of hatred that are coming out at this level takes us back to the horrible days of apartheid."

Emmerson Ziso, a former teacher from Zimbabwe who was chased out of his home by a mob, said: " The police and the army can’t control it. Most of the Zimbabweans want to leave. It is better at home than here."

Michael Khondwane, one of the demonstrators in Cleveland, said that he blamed foreigners for South Africa’s drug and crime scourge. He said the violence would send them “the message that they must go”.

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