Comments by the Zulu king that foreigners should go back to their home countries because they are changing the nature of South African society with their amanikiniki or goods and enjoying wealth that should have been for local people have horrified foreigners, IOL reports.

King Goodwill Zwelithini made the comments in a "moral regeneration" event in Pongola days ago.

IOL reports that the Somali Association of South Africa (SASA) chairman Ismail Ahmed said the statements could spark violence that would cause irreparable damage to the relationship between South Africans and the rest of Africa.

A representative of Congolese people in Durban, Shako Kuminga reportedly said the king's statement came while Congolese nationals were mourning deaths caused by a series of xenophobic attacks - naming as an example, Noel Beya Dinshistia, who was doused in a flammable substance before being set alight while on duty two weeks ago.