The first lesson is what this newspaper warned about on Tuesday when it wrote that the whole crisis arose from “the overarching policy philosophy of South Africa’s governments since the formation of the country in 1910, that the people within the borders must be grouped into categories: […] those who pose the problem […] and those who need to be helped by the state to overcome it.”

That needs to stop. Many commentators and organisations were quick to rush to the defence of immigrants even as those same organisations routinely cast aspersions on groups ranging from white males, to the middle classes, farmers, Jews, business owners, Indian South Africans, Democratic Alliance supporters, and a host of others. You cannot pick and choose which groups you want to stigmatise and which you want to defend – and think you will have peaceful future.

The world can be thought of in a binary way. Either it is a community of groups in constant conflict with each other, where the role of the state is to advantage the one over the other, or it is a community of individuals whose merit and status is sourced from their character and contribution to society.

The second lesson is that the key political and social tensions in the country arise from its very low rate of economic growth. As Bheki Mahlobo says on these pages today, had South Africa maintained an economic growth rate of 5% since 2008, which it easily might have, had business not encouraged the government down a path of net-zero and wealth redistribution, the unemployment rate today would be closer to 15%.

It is easy, therefore, to get the country right and head off the risk of violent collapse. Treat people as individuals and welcome all skills, capital, and entrepreneurial talent into the economy, regardless of the group they come from. And then remove all obstacles to the investment of capital – argue against any of that and you’re part of the problem and have set the clock ticking again on the next countdown to violence.