New Delhi, July 13 -- As betrayals go, South Africa turning its back on its continent is particularly brutal. Between 1960 and 1994, when South Africa's liberation movements were banned and leaders like Nelson Mandela were imprisoned by its apartheid government, African countries established camps and schools for the diaspora and gave money and military aid to the resistance.

Yet, last week, a months-long violent campaign of anti-African immigrant protests in the country by the newly minted organization March and March culminated in attacks on homes and property and the shutdown of major cities.

Although these rallies did not descend into wholesale violence, shameful scenes of South Africans attacking alleged illegal foreigners and citi...