There are days that I am embarrassed to call myself a South African. At the moment the black communities in the Gauteng area seem to have turned into monsters and demons. I hesitate to call them animals, because I believe that animals wouldn’t do what they’re doing to each other.
So the “problem” is immigrants. People from our neighbouring countries, ie: Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Malawi, Namibia are coming into our country and finding employment and/or failing that, turning to a life of crime. Sure, as a white, female South African the crime in our country is a big issue for me. But then so is BEE… For those of you who have been living with your head in the sand BEE stands for Black Economic Equity or Empowerment. Meaning that in order to get a job in just about any large corporation in South Africa these days you have to be a black man or woman. Please note that BEE actually, in many cases, does not extend to Indians and/or Coloureds… So before you get on your high horse and call me a racist, I’m not. I’m simply stating the facts as they stand. However, the point I’m trying to make is that I am not about to go out and kill someone because I believe they are taking a job away from me…
I am disgusted at what has been happening in our country. Being the kind of person that I am I tend to avoid the news, because it is always full of doom and gloom but today the reality of the situation hit home for me when I picked up the Mercury sitting on my desk, and on the front page was a man kneeling on his hands and knees… burning to death. The image was worsened by the policeman standing behind him, smiling for the camera, instead of attempting to put the flames out.
What kind of person is sick enough to watch someone burn to death? Where is the spark of humanity that says “stop, this is wrong?” I can understand someone taking a gun and shooting a person, it’s an instant death. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not agreeing with it, or condoning it, but I understand it. I can’t understand, can’t process and certainly can’t accept someone pouring petrol on someone and setting them alight… watching as they scream and eventually murmur through the pain because they can’t do anything other than moan because their vocal cords have been burned away.
So as I sit here in tears, crying at the horror that I see on the news, I ask myself and the world, how far have we actually come in the 14 years since apartheid ended? We are a sick-to-the-core country. If you live in South Africa and you have the money… leave… Run as far and as fast as you can, because the question I ask after watching the news and reading the newspapers is… who’s next?
The following images come from News 24
There are more photos in the slideshow.
It's images like this that make me look to the heavens and ask "why?"
This is our only hope, isn't it?
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