By Andrew Tudhope
As an educated person, I think it is possible for me to lose touch with the reality of the world around me while I search for abstract truths; be they mathematical, economical, philosophical or literal. I can use such education to find many attacks on Vlismas’ article. His tone is too severe for me, a little too condemnatory considering his position as a white man attacking white people. I pick out a possible grammatical error and start to build a picture of an angry man slowly losing grasp on rational argument. But, my God, I read “how quiet you go when our government authorises the execution — on a shit-strewn koppie, via their own law enforcement — of people who pose a threat to the profitability of their silent partners” and I am forced to admit how true it is of my own reaction.
I can barely bring myself to read past “shit-strewn koppie” — this isn’t my country is it? This is surely a scene from the Apartheid Museum somehow resurrected; the spirits of the innocent come back to haunt our corrupt hearts? And I do mean “our”. Vlismas is absolutely right: the ANC government’s and their silent partners’ corruption is equal in scale only to my own corruption in thinking that, having been born just three years before the official end of apartheid I am guilt-free. Yet, if I ignored Marikana, if I didn’t read a single report on it until a month after the actual event, am I any better than my father and grandfather? These men were certainly not the “perpetrators of apartheid” but we’ve all had enough lessons on what happened to know that white (especially English) denialist discourse was a very big contributing factor to the upkeep of apartheid.
This is my biggest worry. We may have had so much apartheid shoved down our throats that we are desensitised to the horror it really constituted. Read “if your child was in that mob, you would agree to a sentence of three in the back, and a final breath on a bed of turds?” and hear what Vlismas is actually saying, without concentrating on how it’s said. This is horrific, in the fullest possible meaning of the word. How can I have passed over something like this as if it barely happened?
I, like many respondents to the article, also want to assert my right to individualism which my western education has told me I have, over and over again. I want to scream that I’m not racist, that I try to help, try to understand instead of simply dismissing. But I’m guilty of not having heard about Andries Tatane; murdered by police in Ficksburg last year and of not caring enough to even read anything about Marikana until yesterday.
My grandfather, who is undoubtedly a good man, made the mistake of forgiving the boers because he “knew some of them, and they weren’t so bad”. How similar does this sound to the modern phrase you hear in almost every affluent white home; “I have lots of black friends. It’s the other blacks that the cause the trouble”. What we really mean by “other” is “poor” — that angry face we see on the side of the road which scares us so because we pretend like we can’t understand where the anger comes from; when really we know that the same separations still exist. Now we just discriminate in terms of class.
“It’s these uneducated blacks” I’ve heard some friends claim, “ruining the country”. Yet we, the elite, continue to ensure that our children get the best education, by setting up systems outside of government control, and not caring in the least that the majority of children don’t receive anything like an acceptable education. I want to ask these friends if, sitting in a politics or economics or philosophy lecture, the words “democracy is based on a majority rule” are hollow to them. These people, our people, the people striking at Marikana, and in Cape Town, and Ficksburg and a hundred other places are the majority! We cannot use our education selectively; we, the white and black elite, are not the majority. So if we truly believe in the free-market, democratic system our supposedly “beautiful” Constitution so upholds, now is the time to start acting on it.
Most white people in SA can read so I suggest using this ability to find out about Marikana. Read some of the new political rhetoric arising from the Marikana crisis. Some of the terminology (“post-neoliberalism”) is a bit too much for me and PAC-like calls of “blacks first” quite frankly scare me, but I believe it to be important that I am aware of its existence. Only if we start to attempt to understand the anger of the working class and actually treat these people with some common decency and respect, despite their being less educated and consequently less world-wise than us, will we be able to heal the wound Marikana has left.
I want to cry out and ask if whites realise just how close we are to a serious breakdown. Look at what people are saying in the wake of government brutality to its own people and one cannot fail to notice that working class unhappiness is again overflowing into the avenues of revolution. We naively think that we should not be the targets of such a revolution. Surely it should be the ANC elite who get the axe (or panga, if you prefer) we ask, playing the innocent choir boy? However, I feel as complicit as the ANC in the plight of these people after reading Vlismas’ article. How can we kick up such a fuss about Woolworths (a private business which should be able to do what it likes by our own ideology!) when our country teeters on the edge of another working-class uprising?
Again, if you don’t like his tone, remember the man is trying to stir up opinion. This is the key. We must all become informed before we can generate such opinions. Even if I disagree with Vlismas (which I don’t), I feel I owe it to any conception of South Africa that I have to at least read the material and find out about what’s really happening before I dismiss him as a “comedian” or some other such absurdity as a few respondents do.
Others argue that it has been 18 years since the end of apartheid so when will all the playing fields be level? I want to ask these people if they remember how long apartheid officially lasted for (1948-1994 or 46 years) and how much longer black people have been oppressed for (1913 Land Act etc). True, this is not a game of tit-for-tat, but BEE and AA and all the other acronyms are still in existence because, despite the lapse in time, the playing fields are still not level. You are truly living in another reality if you believe otherwise and should read no further than this. We can only have done with these acronyms when they have been effective, and the only way they will be effective is if we actually act like one group of people instead of a rambling bunch of incoherent, albeit individual, idiots.
We need to take responsibility for our country, and realise that “our” is the intersection of “theirs” and “mine”. If we are not to be excluded by another working-class struggle, we must open our arms first. Nelson Mandela cannot help this time and there are no third chances, so I say it’s time to finally take responsibility for our white legacy. This is not to say we should be ashamed of our legacy, but we should not be proud of it nor should we seek to replicate it in our, and future, generations.
How many times must we learn that discrimination, ON ANY GROUNDS, is a basic human-rights abuse?
So wake up, white South Africa! Wake up and actually smell the “bed of turds” upon which your imported English roses precariously cling to life! Don’t forget that the rose cannot grow without the soil just as the soil can aspire to nothing without the rose. Instead of condemning violent protests, we should attempt to understand the real reasons for the anger behind them. The ANCYL may have incited some of the protests in Cape Town, but people need to be angry already to join such protests with the vigour they have. It is this root anger we should try and come to terms with and heal. Don’t just turn the page, feel the implications of Vlismas’ article. Guilt is not a weakness, it’s a distinguishing sign of moral understanding in a country where too few are ever wrong and the majority ceaselessly suffers.
My name is Andrew Tudhope. I am a Rhodes University third year student majoring in physics, applied maths and English. I grew up in Johannesburg, but now live in the Eastern Cape. I am 21 years old.
@ Richard P – Dave Harris does make some good points, he just converys them in such a poor one-sided way that it riles most intelligent people, especially those who strive to be objective.
He’s right – White SA could have done a lot more to help transform the country? See the Creator’s comments, they are valid. But who are we really talking about here? Sure, each individual has a responsibility to be part of the change, but the real shift in power can only be transformed when lead by leaders, glaringly lacking in both public and private sectors. The BEE status of the big banks and big corporate SA remains shockingly low, yet the ANC allow them to get away with it by forcing their suppliers to prove high BEE status. Of course, when the people who want you to make all the right moves in their favour but insist on insulting you and throwing the past in your face the desire to work in their favour wanes very quickly.
Hey, if your attitude is that you don’t like me, resent me being here, resent me for the past, want me to share my wealth with you while you regard me as an enemy then don’t be surprised if I don’t think you are worth helping,,,
@BKC
“My simplistic view of things that may not be a wholesome solution to the current crises is that the elitist class reffered to above should be made to pay for the betterment of the working class,”
Tax the middle class until the pips squeak and then dole out cash to the so-called “working class”?
Calling your view simplistic is to flatter it.
@Richard P. I apologise if my metaphor offended you; it was not my intention. I admit your right to comment on issues in the country from a foreign perspective; with modern technology up-to-date information on anything is available almost anywhere. I even admit to being interested in hearing what you have to say, so I will concede the metaphor as a poor choice of phrasing. Instead of getting hung up on this decidedly academic issue, as I urge in the main body of the article, lets discuss Marikana and the tragedy it entails instead of who has more right to voice an opinion based on the mere fact of their geographical location.
@ Claire – it is relevant that Richard P says where he lives because it enables us to realise he is seeing things from another perspective, and perhaps if we are open minded enough we will see what he is saying.
The problem here is the strong Nationalist background to SA politics and political parties. Nationalism and Patriotism cause sane people to act insanely….
Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. ”Patriotism” is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say, that by ”patriotism” I mean that attitude which puts the own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice; not the loving interest in one’s own nation, which is the concern with the nation’s spiritual as much as with its material welfare –never with its power over other nations. Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one’s country which is not part of one’s love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship.
ERICH FROMM, The Sane Society
OR
Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
Bertrand Russell
And don’t fool yourself, the ANC are NATIONALISTS just like the NATIONALIST PARTY that ran the country before them and climbed into bed with them shortly after the end of Apartheid (and the ANC welcomed their former oppressors like long lost brothers – the GNU training helped….)
There’s already a movement afoot in Australia to impose sanctions on South Africa because of its employment discriminations.
@Richard Pee, as we commemorate Steve Biko on 12/09/2012, your comments once again remind us of this ”superiority” complex that Ta Steve so eloquently articulated. By some perverted logic, you intimate that you have this right to degrade us even if you are sitting across the waters. It is quite ironic that this is your logic, when we are referred to as refugees in our own country when we migrate within our borders. And YOU keep quiet. Also, this perverted logic lends itself to a particular memory of bantustans when our parents were torn from their places of birth without having any ”right” to raise their voices and speak about their homes. But lets take this perverted logic further, as we build and strive towards the emergence of a new society and our own identities, you in particular play no part. Even if you do not play any part, you show absolutely NO solidarity with this painful emergence. Now the superiority complex as understood by the teachings of Steve Biko, tells us that people like you have this logic that somehow you need to tell us what is good for us. We, according to you, are unable to come into our own. You feel that we have to be the perpetual child and you the perpetual parent. What experience do you have other than this glass house perversion? You come from an apartheid society. You come from an unequal society. A society that you quite readily participated and enjoyed all its ill-gotten spoils. And now you have elevated yourself as our teacher…
@The Critical Cynic
“White SA could have done a lot more to help transform the country”
What exactly? For example, in my case, should I not have left, so that my skills and tax payments benefitted SA instead of the UK? And what should those whites who have remained done This is not a wind up question, but genuine curiosity.
Otherwise, your post seems pretty much on the money.
@ Andrew #
“I apologise if my metaphor offended you; it was not my intention.”
It did not offend me: I simply was unable to understand it.
What did slightly irritate me was your apparent desire that white SAns wallow in guilt. I note that you are 21 years old, which means that you barely lived during the apartheid years and certainly will not remember those 3 that did experience before 1994. So, frankly, you it’s not for you to tell those whites who were around under apartheid to wallow in guilt.
“I admit your right to comment on issues in the country from a foreign perspective; with modern technology up-to-date information on anything is available almost anywhere. I even admit to being interested in hearing what you have to say”
Yet I saw nothing in your article denying me that right. It is others on this thread who have argued that I should not be commenting, following my initial post.
“lets discuss Marikana and the tragedy it entails”
Yes, let’s. But first let’s agree that this not something for which the white community can be blamed.
@The Critical Cynic #
“it is relevant that Richard P says where he lives because it enables us to realise he is seeing things from another perspective, and perhaps if we are open minded enough we will see what he is saying.”
I cannot claim any special perspective, but I can claim an ongoing interest in SA.
btw, Marina received extensive coverage over here.
“The problem here is the strong Nationalist background to SA politics and political parties. Nationalism and Patriotism cause sane people to act insanely….”
One thing that living outside SA has made me realise, is the over-sensitive and thin-skinned insecurity that underlies the SA psyche.
SA, in many respects, does not seem to have moved on a great deal from the days in which anxious journalists would ask a visiting foreign celebrity, as they walked through international arrivals at Jan Smuts (as it was then), “What do you think of South Africa”.
And the days when emigrants were only to be tolerated if they remained “proudly South African” and continued to fly the flag in their new countries, but otherwise to be scorned as “chicken runners” (an epithet unique to the-then Rhodesia and SAns).
Anyone here who banged on about being “proudly British” and draped him or herself in the Union Jack (outside of very specific occasions like the Jubilee and the Olympics) would be mocked. Ostenatious patriotism is, so far as the Brits are concerned, something the Americans do. And so do the…
Ran out of space …
Anyone here who banged on about being “proudly British” and draped him or herself in the Union Jack (outside of very specific occasions like the Jubilee and the Olympics) would be mocked. Ostenatious patriotism is, so far as the Brits are concerned, something the Americans do. And so do the SAns.
Nothing wrong with patriotism per se, but when it becomes “in your face” and a measure of who is a “true” SAn or not, and whose views are to be tolerated, then it becomes contemptible.
Whenever the ruling elite in SA demand a “patriotic” press, you know exactly what they mean, and it ain’t good.
Correction:
MARIKANA received extensive coverage over here.
Claire: you are being so excessively childish you make me ashamed of sharing your gender. Please grow up.
ntozakhona: must agree that the writer’s education has failed him completely; it took him nearly a month to come out of his coma!
Tudhope: I can assure you that several light SAns realise what this eruption of violent protest could spell for our collective futures. You wouldn’t need my assurance had you been awake.
@Richard P. Quite right; it’s not for me to tell you or anyone who did truly live through Apartheid what or what not to feel. I think I was explicit in saying this was the point on which I disagreed with Vlismas. I merely want to say that from my white, young, rich perspective both myself and the people I most have experience of are apathetic in the extreme. For this apathy, I do believe guilt an appropriate response. This is obviously a generalisation and so must suffer the scathing disapproval this blog shows to such constructs, but it nevertheless holds true in my own experience.
Quite right too that nothing in my initial post denied you right to comment, I just felt I ought to make it clear given some of the comments.
Unfortunately, I still cannot agree with you. Marikana is as much the result of a corrupt system we invented and then handed over with very little explanation to people we knew to be insufficiently trained as it is the result of ANC corruption and inability to lead. The blame is not entirely with us; I never claimed it to be. But we cannot bleat “It wasn’t us! How were we to have known it was so bad?” again, when some of it justifiably comes home to roost in our own eaves.
@Tofolux
As you are simply projecting your delusions on to me, when there is nothing in my posts which even vaguely substantiates what you claim my views are, I propose to ignore your silly little rant.
I find it ironic that you, Andrew, exhibit much of the racial glasses you so vociferously warn against, but at the tender age of 21 you might be forgiven as John and other commentators might be as well.
You see, with all the racial hubbub surrounding the tragic events at Marikana and the despicable circumstances leading up to it, including British rule if you want; certain facts of life and these events are conveniently ignored to make an argument.
Until an official report proves otherwise, I believe that the 34 miners who were killed in the shoot-out with police were part of a violent mob that charged at the police. This is not to say that they ‘got what they deserved,’ but that they are in some way at least justifiable.
I also believe that I don’t give a shit about the skin colour of the person ‘serving’ me at Woolworths, because to me all that matters is a quality product and an acceptable level of customer service. End of discussion.
What I do not believe is that the lamentable existence of Apartheid should disqualify me from living my life to the full extent of my intellectual, educational and by exstention economic capacity. I also do not believe that Apartheid and previous/current racial discrimination absolves black people of their personal responsibility to abide by the law and to help in the process of uplifting themselves and each other.
@Andrew.
“For this apathy, I do believe guilt an appropriate response.”
OK, that narrows the reasons for guilt down.
And how are white SAns expected to rise above this apathy? I assume by becoming more politically enaged. They have the following options it seems:
1) Become more critical of the ANC from a liberal perspective, which effectively means joining and supporting the DA. Which then leads to outraged howls from the usual suspects.
2) Join the ANC. That is now more a step taken for career advancement and self-enrichment than any genuine ideology. The ANC is now so institutionally rotten that there can be no other reason for joining.
3) Become more critical of the ANC from the “left”, which effectively means making common cause with Malema (God forbid) or shiny-eyed socialists who still believe the only reason Communism failed in Europe was because it was “not done properly”
” Marikana is as much the result of a corrupt system we invented and then handed over with very little explanation to people we knew to be insufficiently trained as it is the result of ANC corruption and inability to lead. The blame is not entirely with us”
So, because whites started the SA mining industry and gave it the form it now takes, the Marikana shootings are somehow “our” fault? The ANC has had 18 years to do something about it, but decided instead to feed at the trough.
@Richard Pee, hit a nerve did I? Suggest you read the works of Steve Biko, absorb, respect and acknowledge his contribution to society at large and be mindful of not behaving like a little dictator from across the seas.
@Andrew
“The blame is not entirely with us; I never claimed it to be.”
Your article seemed to be headed in that direction.
“justifiably comes home to roost in our own eaves.”
Why “justifiably”? Is that some sort of suggestion that “whitey has it coming”?
Call me a middle-aged cynic, but most people simply want to get on with, and focus on, their own lives, without having to wring their hands or get outraged on behalf of people with whom they feel little in common. In the case of Marikana, the fact that the miners had themselves killed union rivals and policemen, in a brutal fashion, does not exactly make them natural objects of sympathy.
Frankly, I do not know what is expected of whites in SA now. Are they now to engage in endless self-flagellation while handing all their money and assets over to the “disadvantaged”?
What do you believe they must do? Make a more conspicious show of wringing their hands?
What I am saying is that the miners killed at Marikana had some responsibility in their own deaths when they stepped outside the confines of the law and accepted channels for conducting wage negotiations.
What I am saying is that many poor people have a hand in their own poverty, just like the rich have a hand in their own wealth. True that I don’t know dick about being poor, but I don’t know dick about being rich either. I am what you might call middle class, albeit at the lower end of that scale, but I know that I am still responsible for my own financial wellbeing. So no, I am not buying that new R300k car because I can’t bloody afford it.
I have empathy for the desperation many black people feel and the conditions they are still being forced to live in, but I can never condone the destruction of infrastructure because of the lack of infrastructure or preventing children from attending school because people are unhappy with the mayor they elected; there is no logic in that and it directly contributes to their own poverty and desperation.
Since we’re on the subject, what would you and John have me do here?
Should I give half my monthly salary to my housekeeper or should I send her grandchild to private school while my own keep attending public school? The fact is that I am currently doing the only thing I can; living as an honest citizen of this country and paying my fair share of taxes so Government can use pooled resources to do things like better…
What are you doing, Andrew, to help people like the Marikana miners? What has John done to help them? I’d bet my bottom dollar that the only thing you’ve done is the same thing I do; pay my taxes and try my best not to be biased. In addition to writing articles like this, of course.
If only reason could breed reason as fast as violence breeds more violence.
@Andrew
Another point.
When the ANC makes it repeatedly clear that the only basis on which whites can legitimately engage, is on its terms and according to its rules, you can hardly be surprised when many whites turn their backs on SA politics, concentrate on their own lives and hope for the best.
The bright, shiny, inclusive future promised by the ANC lasted about as long as Mandela’s presidency did. Then Mbeki arrived on the scene and started flashing the race card at every opportunity.
As for Zuma. The best I can say for him is that at least he is not Malema.
@Andrew
And another point.
If whites are somehow to share a collective responsibility for what happened at Marikana because they happen to share the same skin colour as some of the mining executives, then blacks must share the same responsibility on the same basis.
Andrew and all the others on this site, have you seen pictures of the dead 10 before the police killings. I made a point of reading/seeing as much as possible of the TRC reports/pictures to make sure i knew the truth of what happened, it was terrible. Well the pictures of the hacked, mutlated, burnt bodies was the worst i have ever seen and make sure you know that most of the police saw these most most terrible killings so were hardened, angry, scared and full of revenge.
Dave Harris where the Govt went wrong was not going in then and there with massive show of force and brought things to a calm situation where the murderers could be publicly bought to book. There is no way that a private company has the means of authority to do this.
Brent
PS – it amazes me that hese pictures have not publised by the MSM and the blog sites, censored?
Brent
@MLH. I can only agree with you. You quite rightly point out all the things I find myself guilty of. In this sense, I am forced to agree with; my education did fail me.
Fortunately (‘I thank whatever Gods may be’) I am beginning to become a part of those who are aware of “what this eruption of violent protest could spell for our collective futures.” For you who got there before long me, the question is, what do we do about it? Some would have us believe that no matter what we do, it will be but a drop in the rising ocean of working class unhappiness. I do not believe this, although am more than aware that our influence as the educated elite may be far smaller than we deign to acknowledge.
This is not, at least for me, an easy question to answer. Personal charity, although highly worthy (in my experience) has too little effect. Perhaps (note the suggestion), our sense of community will have to overwhelm our almost religious individualism so that we can actually learn to accommodate people who don’t fit into our idea of “good neighbours”. Community is a key African concept; one that I think we must all adopt if we are to survive as some form of a united country.
@The Creator, who says: “Mr. Sparrow, whites control the JSE and most of the mining, manufacturing and agricultural activity in South Africa. They also control the press and the second-largest party in Parliament. The question is, why are they not using the enormous influence which this gives them to develop the country?”
Actually, ignoring your unverifiable allegations (for instance “they control the second-largest party in Parliament”) they are doing a heck of a lot. They are building this country through productivity, which is the only real way to build a country’s economy.
They did try to engage with the ANC to please NOT mess up the country through poor education, incompetent cadre deployment, corruption, non-accountability, and the like – but gave that up after many tries and being FALSELY painted as “not believing blacks can do it.”
As mostly intelligent, they heeded Albert Einstein’s adage: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
If the ANC insists on screwing up the country, and refuses to listen to voices of reason – what can you do except what you can: Continue building the strength of this country’s economy.
By the way: Kudos to many whites – they still try to engage with government (NEDLAC and such), but it seems the ANC is hell-bent on destroying this country.
The ANC cannot create wealth, because it only knows how to feed off wealth and to blame. Too bad for ALL South Africans.
@Tofolux
“hit a nerve did I?”
Hardly. You would have difficulty hitting a barn door, given the quality of your arguments.
“be mindful of not behaving like a little dictator from across the seas.”
Which rather leads me to believe that you were projecting when you were talking about hit nerves.
Next year we will be commemorating 100 years of the Land Act which according to ANC founding father Sol T Plaatjie made an African find himself in the country of his birth.
One has gone used to a stubborn refusal from some in our society to acknowledge historical injustices and learn from history and international trends. We all know that they wer skunks in the international community till the ANC rescued them.
The Land Act, job reservation, mining, property and a host of other draconian laws are a historical record that exposes as blatant lies that the obscene wealth in the hands of a very but violent minority has been acquired through merit.
The theft. deceit, arrogance and moaning has unfortunately seemingly become genetic in some of our fellow South Africans. The National Credit Act, the Consumer Protection Act and many other laws have been passed to protect the poor from the thieving classes. Their survival depends on theft and deciet.
They have of course attracted the like minded from all walks of life and turned them into what Simphiwe Dana calls the buffer. Honest (Black and White) South Africans have exposed and defeated apartheid. They will defeat this chasm of extreme wealth and degrading poverty that keeps us apart.
Hey Richard P wherever you are, rlelax man. Ubuntu has ingrained in us a forgiving spirit, enjoy the loot, we will not come after you.
@ntozakhona
“Hey Richard P wherever you are, rlelax man.”
I am super-chilled, bro.
“enjoy the loot”
No loot – I earned it all over here.
“we will not come after you.”
Not even in my most paranoid and irrational moments, do I think that is likely to happen.
However, the following is not beyond the realm of fantasy:
1) Legislation that SA citizens cannot be dual nationals (which will, unfortunately, mean that I will have to give up my SA citizenship).
2) Some sort of reparations “entry” tax payable by SAns (whether or not still citizens) living in other countries, each time they visit SA, with them not being allowed to leave until they do so. That would take some serious Stasi-like activities and one helluva database, but not an impossibility.
@ Richard P.
Ok, so now we get to the real meat of the discussion. The three options you provide are well-thought out, and I agree with you to an extent on the devil versus the deep blue sea nature of all three of the options.
I am buoyed by the fact that you can refer to yourself as a middle age cynic, I think it vital we all admit to the limitations of our own arguments. However, I must still disagree with “but most people simply want to get on with, and focus on, their own lives, without having to wring their hands or get outraged on behalf of people with whom they feel little in common”.
My argument is that instead of just standing by and saying “We’re simply not like them” we need to actively find and emphasise that which we do have in common to achieve some basic humanity in the way we treat these people and their views; even Julius. I think he’s a clown personally, but this doesn’t mean I should dismiss him as he represents a part of the population of a country I desperately want to see survive.
@Brent. Read Antjie Krog’s “Country of My Skull”. Anyone who comes across this text cannot doubt the value (albeit it incredibly hard-earned and emotional) of reconciliation.
@Andrew
” even Julius. I think he’s a clown personally, but this doesn’t mean I should dismiss him as he represents a part of the population of a country I desperately want to see survive”
I could not care who Malema claims to represent. The man is deeply worrying. I would be more frank in my views of him, but I would like this post to get past moderation.
The only reason I will not dismiss him is the very real danger he poses to SA. He is a Mugabealike with many more miles in his tank. For the rest, he is beneath contempt.
Not too long ago I went to a funeral in the West Rand, and as I was early at the graveyard – I walked around to see the graves.
In the MRC annual reports – the Burden of Death is classified and measured.
The fact that people are still arbitrarily murdered daily is a statistic that has reached over 25,000 per annum nationally.
More than a quarter of a million have died like this since 1994.
The graveyard reflects the hurt of the families – there is no such thing as a ‘white’ – so why does this vitrolic still appear from students is amazing.
The country suffers from incorrectly held perceptions statements and posturing – to death!!
The title of this tirade would be better if it were “Wake Up South Africa” – that also could have provided for a thoughtful, constructive discussion.
@MLH Ashamed to be of the same gender as someone. Just wow. Seiously, what kind of contribution was that…. oh wait… troll.
I can barely bring myself to read past “Wake up white South Africa!”
Wtf is that bro?
and again,
“white man attacking white people”
Nooitus toitus?
yet again?
“Yet, if I ignored Marikana, if I didn’t read a single report on it until a month after the actual event, am I any better than my father and grandfather?”
Ok, let me get this straight.
So you think by reading a report or three somehow makes you a better person?
Think again
It’s quite simple actually, as soon as South Africans start seeing each other as equally human and quit with this “White and Black” nonsense. Then we can start moving forward. At the moment we as South Africans are going nowhere, seriously.
If people really want change, it starts quite simply.
With a free smile, consideration, compassion, understanding etc.
Intellectual rolling of the dice, I’m afraid, is not the way forward as much as certain people would like it to be.
Let’s move forward and stop hating each other based on our conditioned prejudices.
If we personally need to change in order to move forward, then so be it.
The title should have been “Wake up South Africans”
Why?
Because lets be real – All South Africans need to wake up.
This is the reality, but it needs to start somewhere and excuse the cliche but I think it’s appropriate here,
“Actions speak louder than words”
Peace Out and One Love
Andrew Tudhope, very well written article, well thought out, insightful! I majored in Sociology and agree fully with what your argument.
@Andrew Tudhope – maybe they are just slightly more jaded than a 21yr old? Nicely written though.
@ Andrew, you are quite correct. let’s support the Ubuntu party started by mr Tellinger and unite the broadest democratic non-racial front behind its principles and tackle the corruption of our our monetary and banking system. The root cause of all the problems engulfing us is the system of fractional reserve banking, compound interest and debt slavery to the banksters who create 97% of our money from thin air when they issue loans.