Migration is a global occurrence and new diverse nations have both positive and negative effects on its citizens. The historical, political and socioeconomic context of South Africa makes the country particularly interesting to investigate. Due to this, a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews has been conducted in two communities with different socioeconomic status to investigate attitudes towards African immigrants. One community is overcrowded and has a high unemployment rate. The other community is a middle class suburb with low competition for resources. The results have been compared to previous research to identify similarities and differences in the reasons for attitudes towards African immigrants. Previous research states factors within the institutional and political structure, economic competition and the discourse in media to be the main reasons for negative attitudes and xenophobia. The result of this study suggests that these factors, in fact, have meaning for how one views and expresses feelings about African immigrants, but that socioeconomic status affects the attitudes. In areas with high competition for resources the attitudes towards immigrants tend to be more negative in contrast to a middle class community where the respondents see African immigrants as being part of a mismanaged structure and society.