When I first heard that people of Zimbabwean, Mozambican and Malawian descent had been attacked in Alexandra, I did what I always do when I hear such news. Not to be callous or anything, but I shrugged and wondered out loud why people always seem amazed when these things happen.
I have received a lot of flak when I have made my two favourite assertions:
Human beings are idiots.
Human beings are racists.
One such human idiot castigated me for this declaration and pointed out Mahatma Gandhi as an example of a human being not afflicted by the natural love for people of his own race and some level of contempt for other races. I wasn’t particularly moved or impressed and but merely shrugged and left it to other irrational, racist idiots to send me a link pointing me to a Wikipedia entry that seems to support my assertion that bigotry is universal.
But of course there’s bound to be someone else who sends me a link proving just what a nitwit I am for believing that rubbish in Wikipedia. And, being the irrational idiots we all are, we’ll have a jolly ole e-fistfight over this and call each other by unsavoury names. Great, wholesome family fun will be had by all.
It goes without saying that I think that people who go around killing people because of where they were born have a name. Yeah: idiots. And there are lots of idiots around, even when they are not the skull-busting kind. Some are more obvious than others and I thought perhaps I would share with everyone just who I think is an idiot where this whole xenophobic idiocy is concerned.
Gloried bloggers with a know-it-all attitude
I thought it fitting that I should listen to Michael Jackson’s words of wisdom and start with the man in the mirror. Let’s list all my great qualifications for writing about xenophobia and ask ourselves the question: Is this particular blog helping the situation in any meaningful way?
I have a PC and, on account of possessing opposable thumbs, can work the keyboard.
Despite my impressive ignorance on what informs xenophobic feelings, I have very strong views on the subject matter. Read as: I’ll be damned if I’m going to allow Trapido’s views to dominate proceedings around here.
I believe that I harbour absolutely no xenophobic feelings whatsoever, which, I appreciate, makes me a one-in-a-billion individual. In fact, some of my best friends are amakwerekwere.
Society at large
This morning, the Eighty20 website, obviously piggybacking on the groundswell of acute love for all foreigners brought on by the bruisers of Alexandra, sent me this “fact”: “Two-thirds of South Africans agree with the statement ‘Most of the problems in South Africa are caused by illegal immigrants/foreigners.’ (FutureFact 2006).” Oh wow, who would ever have thought?
I have no reason to doubt the veracity of this statistic despite my natural scepticism for that haphazard gathering of only the “facts” that support one’s preconceived ideas commonly known as research. I guess someone sent some 20-year-old starving student out armed with a clipboard and the promise of R500 to ask 3 000 people what they thought to get this useful information. My only conclusion here is that the one-third of correspondents who said they didn’t agree with the statement were sophisticated enough not to have wanted to appear like xenophobic morons to the starving R500-a-day researcher.
I personally do not know any of the people in that one-third of the population who do not think that the level of immigration in South Africa is causing some kind of problem, unless of course those people are recent immigrants themselves. I have a friend who’s a naturalised South African, having been here for 17 years. He was born in Nigeria and even he has problems with the levels of immigration into the confines of these borders.
Because I can be such a crappy writer, especially on Monday mornings, I feel the need to specifically state the point I’m making here. South African society in general harbours collective negative feelings about immigrants. In my book, this phenomenon has a name: xenophobia. Oh yes, and this phenomenon has a surname too: idiocy. But more of that later — I’m not at the preachy part yet. I’m still fingering the idiots.
The state
Millions of words have been written about the state’s failure to deal with the immigration “problem”. Hundreds of smart people have conducted extensive “research” and come to the conclusion that what we are seeing happening in Alexandra, Diepsloot, Thokoza, Tembisa and everywhere was inevitable. The struggle for meagre resources was always going to lead to the ugly scenes of the past week or so. The double-chinned, well-fed, high-calibre individuals (otherwise known by the misnomer of “leaders”) took the smart documents and shoved them in the “Eskom and Other Mundane Matters” file and concentrated on serious matters of governance such as squabbling over floor-crossing. Enough said there — we have a capable opposition to attend to this one. Or do we?
The opposition and other general parliamentary types
Some arbitrary double-chin called Vasco da Gama (I know) who claims to speak for some other obscure entity called the Johannesburg DA caucus had this to say (among other things): “It is also clear that people are angry that the government cannot control immigration.” Yes, genius, the crack squads of skull-busters in Alexandra have a valid excuse for their general idiocy. And it’s all the government’s fault.
It doesn’t end there. A document, compiled by the entity called the DA, has also made an appearance. Apparently the DA has solid proof that the angry mob’s initial gripe that started all of this — that is, that foreigners were stealing South Africans’ RDP houses — has merit. It seems that a Mozambican national was, in fact, assigned an RDP house in Section 7 of Alexandra. One can only conclude that this is proof that this government is not in control of this immigration situation and may, in fact, have caused it. This is the type of revelation that I like to call “well, duh”.
But I think I may have another more important question. Is this revelation helping the situation or making it worse? Let me ask the question differently. If I’m part of a mob that has clearly lost its goddamned mind and we are in hot pursuit of a random illegal immigrant and someone with a loudhailer interrupts us to share this news with us, are we likely to put down our pangas and form a human chain of peace with our Mozambican brothers?
Not to be outdone, ANC president Jacob Zuma found space in his condemnation speech to protest over the theme song the skull-bashers were using as they went about cracking skulls. Zuma seems to think it is a pretty serious matter that the idiots were humming Umshini Wami as they went about in the grips of their madness: “That is a serious matter, for that song belongs to the ANC, it doesn’t belong to unknown people.” By show of hands, who thinks it’s important what song the murderers were singing?
The nation is forever indebted to the astute journalist who gave us this scoop, assigning the “Attackers using my song” title to the article and then proceeding to write a story specifically quoting Zuma as saying the song belonged to the ANC. That point naturally leads us to the media.
The media
Just like the glorified bloggers (see above), I cannot help but wonder whether the media, in general, are helping this situation.
On Friday morning, Talk Radio 702’s ordinarily sensible John Robbie went on air and in his usual excitable voice embarked on a 60-second rant about how Jacob Zuma had been silent on the matter and how he hadn’t condemned the attacks in the strongest possible terms. He went on and on about how Zuma was just a populist who wouldn’t be brave enough to speak strongly on the matter.
And now this idiotic, over-glorified blogger, stuck in the traffic, was confused. He was pretty sure he had seen Zuma doing just this on the news. In fact, he thought he had just driven past a newspaper poster screaming “Zuma: Stop the attacks”, or something to that effect.
Then this nonplussed blogger was relieved when someone called in a few seconds later and made this correction. To his credit, Robbie humbly accepted that he may have had it wrong. But then cognitive dissonance kicked in and grabbed Robbie by the nuts: he went on another rant about how it really didn’t matter that Zuma had made these statements, especially from hundreds of kilometers away in KwaZulu-Natal, and how he should have been there on the coalface of it all and how … well, Zuma is still just a populist anyway, he concluded. The blogger wondered again if this rant was helping the situation or whether the plight of the immigrants had ever been the real reason for the veins-bulging-in-the-neck harangue in the first place.
On the same Friday morning, the Times led with a story about Zuma condemning the attacks — but with a sidebar about how Mbeki was still quiet on the matter. This generally ignorant and now seriously confused blogger was quite concerned about his sanity at this point. He was pretty certain he had read somewhere (perhaps reading is not a compulsory requirement before one writes articles?) how Mbeki had condemned the attacks. Sure enough, 10 seconds into his Googling, he found tworeferences containing Mbeki’s condemnation.
And this is ignoring the fact that condemnation seems to be the cure to all of our societal ills in this country. When our “leaders” do not condemn stuff, we get really upset. Our president could take two minutes between the 17th and 18th holes of his golf game to condemn the burning of innocent people and do bugger-all about it and we’ll all let out a collective sigh of relief. “Phew! Well, he condemned it in the strongest possible terms.” These are the great analytical angles emanating from our newsrooms; compiling a Great Condemners’ list.
Now here comes the obligatory preachy bit. It may seem that I am treating this serious matter in the same fast-food, flippant manner with which I treat everything else. And perhaps I am guilty as charged. But I just cannot help myself. All I ever see is the absurdity that is inherent in any situation. I’m just another human idiot and I’m just tweaked that way.
I just think that history will judge our root-cause analysis skills very harshly here. We’re busy fiddling while Alexandra burns — literally. But for as long as immigration is seen as a “problem” that the government must tackle only where immigration pertains to people of Zimbabwean, Mozambican, Nigeria and Congolese extraction, to name a few, we’re just a bunch of irrational, idiotic racists. The whole lot of us.
Most of us who are here were immigrants at some point or the other. What is the cut-off date for being a legitimate South African? Let’s not hide behind technicalities about who is here legally and who is not. Quite frankly, that’s a sideshow. Deep down in places that people don’t talk about in polite company, people just hate that people cross these presumably very legitimate borders and try to make a life for themselves. Even if not a single crime in South Africa were attributable to a Zimbabwean, people would find other excuses. But we never deal with these issues honestly, do we?
I wish people would just say what’s on their minds; that they wish that the Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Somalis would just go home — ignoring the fact that people tend not to find any reason why the Eastern European, Indian, Chinese, British or any other kind of immigrants should leave. Then some of us would start wondering if this was pure xenophobia or xenophobic racism or racist xenophobia. From people of all colours. And then we would have a jolly good time engaging in South Africa’s favourite pastime: bickering about it. I cannot even begin to imagine how fascinating the exercise of figuring out who came from where and when would be.
I bet it would only be a matter of time before someone told Vasco “The People Are Angry” da Gama that he got here on a ship on Christmas Day of 1497 and that he must also voertsek from here. And then we’d have an excuse to bicker about that one for weeks on end until it ceased being topical and joined Aids, poverty, unemployment, racists pissing in people’s food and whiteys with acute passion for FBJ membership as former flavour-of-the-month excuses for us being generally disagreeable with each other.
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86 Responses to “Xenophobic racism and other general idiocy”
Good piece Ndumiso but my brother all i can say to you is that Its easy to put labels like idiots on others if you know that you are going back to your warm classy appartment and xpectin a huge salary from M&G for writing anything you feel like. Our fellow South Africans are aggravated by relevant issues like unemployment, lack of promised service delivery by the government and corruption within the government. However I believe that the anger should not be channeled to the foreign nationals, the mistake is in our system. For a start there is no attempt to limit the number of foreigners coming to this country, secondly an increasing number of illegal immigrants is making it hard to integrate them peacefully to communities, thirdly permitting some South African franchises to employ people that are in this country illegally is a huge mishap, the last point is that of corrupt officials who sell RDP houses illegally to foreign nationals. All these incompetencies in our system cause the problem we are now facing with South Africans feeling like they can not take any more. Our government should stop sweeping things under the carpet and act as if there are no real problems!
On the serious side - no country in the world can afford uncontrolled immigration. These are not immigrants - they are refugees, and should be looked after as such, by admitting that there is not “no crisis in Zimbabwe”, and getting UN refugee aid.
A racism expert from Holland, speaking on SAFM, said we are the only country that calls this Xenophobia. Everywhere else it is called New Racism or Neo Racism. It is about the poor refugees being dumped on the poor South Africans and being left to fight each other for scarce resources. Together with corrupt Home Affairs, corrupt housing allocations etc etc
Just a thought. How would residents in the UK respond if 3 million refugees - came into their environment?
The issue here is that the South African Government needs to address the issue. But they have not.
South Africans are not alone in their idiocy. Countries like Russia, Germany, France and England have all experienced xenophobic riots in the past few years. Immigration is a political hot button everywhere. The Rudd government in Australia is calling for more migration, leading to predictions of a resurgence of the right wing. South Africa’s problem is that we are not an island (our borders are more permeable than a pair of fishnet stockings from Mr Price) and the vast majority of immigrants are unskilled and desperate. Compare that to our favourite migration destinations, Australia (see above), New Zealand and Canada, which have all introduced draconian points systems in order to make it difficult for even skilled individuals to get in. The Canadian immigration process is now around 3 years, another way to reduce the influx.
Then again, I don’t see Canadians rioting even if the entire world landed on their doorstep.
“Foreigners are stealing” so hey lets go steal (rape,kill) from them……..
All african foreigners should be given citizenship - this would enable them to stop being “ilegal”.
This would place greater pressure on our govt to assist neighbouring states ensure that the opportunities provided are of sufficient standard to stop people from migrating.
Hey this argument should apply to the world - why should capital and goods flow freely while people are not?
Phew! What a lengthy post! by the time you get to the last paragraph, you find that you can’t even remember what is written on the 1st and 2nd Paragraph. Ndumiso give yourself a break you can’t write the biography of the country in one Blog. Its unfair for your brain, fingers, eyes and for the space you get on M&G.
Anyway I did get your point there and there.
Siphiwo Qangani with Kangaroos on May 20th, 2008 at 7:42 am
I am not one to march, toyi-toyi or even do rallies. However, I think the only way as South Africans can show our revulsion at this repugnant neanderthal behaviour is to hold hands, with the foreigners and show them that we still care, despite the failures of several departments in our country.
When Germany was under the grip of skinheads, Germans marched to show solidarity with the targetted groups and I think as South Africans we need a similar action to salvage the image of this country both in Africa and elsewhere.
It might not mean much, but simply walking outside of your work place during lunch and holding hands with other fellow human beings in solidarity with humanity, we can achieve more. We can show the rest of the world that we abhore violence and that the actions of these thugs does not represent who we are.
We have lost that humanity to be side with the underdog. We prefer to heap blame on one person or one group, but this is our chance to say “enough is enough, will will not tolerate this sort of hatred in our country”
All it will take is all South Africans across the country and the world to go out into the streets at 12pm on Friday and form a chain holding hands. No need to march, simply stand in your street with your colleagues and form a chain and support humanity in China, Burma, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
Those who are driving, can hoot at Midday on Friday again in support of humanity especially our own crisis.
Bitching and moaning will achieve something, but millions of South Africans holding hand shows only one thing, not all south africans are criminally minded thugs.
Umntu ngumntu ngabantu
South Africans never fail to shock me with their lack of moralilty and concern for their fellow human beings.
Sarah:
True, there have been riots in the countries that you mention, but the crucial difference is that NO ONE WAS KILLED! The shocking disregard for peoples’ lives in this country is what shocks me, not the riots themselves.
The security guard strike is another example of people here following a course of action that can be compared to other countries, striking, and then KILLING more than 50 non strikers!
porous borders ensures we get a steady income of refugees. but since there’s no crisis(thanks to Thabo) we can’t declare these incomers as refugees. so until they find the correct home affairs/immigration official to bribe, they setup a shack in nearest township and find something to do.
problem won’t really stop till we have some decisive policies to tackle these issues.
Black South Africans need to reflect, why do we attack fellow Africans when we know that they are coming here to make a living? Come to think of it does it really matter why they here? I understand immigration must be controlled, but why so much hatred for fellow Africans? Americans, Europeans, Chinese, Indians, and Pakistanis live blissfully in this country whether they are here legally or not, they never live in fear of being attacked just because they are foreigners,reminds me of one of Mbongeni Ngema’s songs. If it were white people who were attacking blacks we would be screaming racism, but we give excuses when black people attack other black people. I agree with you Ndumiso that it is RACIST XENOPHOBIA!!! Hating people because of race, nationality and/or any stuff you are born with or into - makes me sick to the core!!!!
Thanks Ndum for saying what I couldn’t. I wish they could all come stay with me - I mean I only have a four-room with an outside kamer and no real ‘facilities’ but when I see people hiding out with little kids in police stations - hell man they can have my house I’ll go sleep at a friends place
Sarah until you have spent your first Australia day looking for people who look Muslim Lebanese on Bondi beach, to point out to your keen australian skinhead mates to beat within an inch of their lives,please don’t lecture us on your new countries lack of Xenophobic attacks, even with the worlds worst Refugee rights records (yes they put the fugees in camps in the outback, you should visit them while you’re looking at Ayers rock)…
Well put Silwane! The real problem is ‘racism’ here, not just ‘xenophobia’. I mean really now, why have no shops belonging to Indians/Pakistanis/Chinese etc, been looted? How hard is it to find a Chinese/Yugoslav immigrant in Jo’ burg?
Black South Africans need to wake up to the fact that throngs of white South Africans are leaving the country for Australia & Europe everyday - taking much needed skills with them. We need to relax the stupid immigration laws to make it easier for our Black brothers from up north to come in and grow the economy of this country.
The fact is, most immigrants are not criminals. And of those who turn to crime, a large number do so due to a lack of opportunities to make an honest living. Africa needs South Africa, and South Africa needs Africa.
peter: it is physically impossible for 3 million refugees to show up in the uk, because of that whole “being an island thing”.
streams of refugees that were headed from the former yugoslavia were set up in camps. as mbeki continues to refuse to say there is a crisis, that will not happen in matabeleland east/masvingo/manicaland/limpopo.
in a sickening sign of just how detached from reality the people running the show are — on the worst day of this mess, our stock market hit an all-time high. given that one can physically walk from alexandra to the JSE in under an hour, it is further proof that south africa isn’t really an african country but a latin american one.
It has always taken years for an application for entry into Canada to be processed. Australia once took almost as long, but they have streamlined the application process. None of Australia, New Zealand, Canada or the UK has a draconian points system. Each has a system intended to allow entry to workers whose skills are required. Not one of these countries is trying to keep skilled people out, whether they be engineers or plumbers. The only significant change made recently is requiring proof of competence in English. Certainly not an unreasonable requirement.
“Everywhere else it is called New Racism or Neo Racism.”
What is the purpose in calling xenophobia new racism or neo racism?
I have just watched the 1 o’clock news - it is getting worse.
Sorry - I change my mind. This is being orchestrated. You Zulus better wake up. The ANC news is trying to implicate you by refering to the attacks being around hostels and only non Zulus being attacked.
There was a discussion on SAFM this morning with various experts on the panel.
The representative of the S A Institute of International Affairs had some very interesting things to say.
She said that the African Peer Review Mechanism had identified growing Xenophobia as a problem in SA. Our ANC government had denied it - like they deny every problem!
Also that attacks had broken out in DIFFERENT provinces in the country on the following dates :
8 January 2008; 8 February 2008; 8 March 2008; 8 April 2008 and now in May. Breaking out systematically all on the same dates? That can not be spontaneous, can it?
Has Operation Vula been activated again, pre next years elections?
Are the people being given an outside “enemy” to blame for poverty, unemployment and lack of housing and jobs ?
I agree with Lyndal we are treating refuges as if they are immigrants it’s not going to work like that, the only way to survive for these chaps can only be to resort to crime.
We’ll soon be a country at war with ourselves due to falling into the western trap. This is how it works: They trap you, you fall prey and you ‘vet got yourself to blame at the end, exactly what happened with the Lancaster agreement in Zim. The same time bomb is waiting to explode in Mzantsi where we were diplomatically expected to exercise our veto power in the Security Council against the Iranian innocent nuclear program in favor of the western selfish goals (Probably because we need Engineers from France for our Eskom troubles). What we are essentially asking for from the OPEC guys is: increase your crude oil tariffs and look further to the east for friends; the economic consequences of that are enormous, made worst by the west retaliation of resorting to food as an equivalent of crude oil. Such a move can have very devastating effects; have you checked lately what the price of cooking oil is? Who’s to be blamed for that, your guess is right George Bush of course, he is messing up with the oil rich chaps, and when he coughs we all catch flu. You cannot fight a faceless enemy under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction, calling freedom fighters Terrorists; by the way the ANC is still registered by the US as a terrorist organization, what an embarrassment for an ANC lead country with a veto power in the UN.
The temporary solution is, send the army to Mugabe for a peaceful re-run, encourage all the Zimbabweans in Diaspora to vote and lets pray Mugabe looses presidential elections against Morgan, Since the latter chap is a British puppet, the Brits will start pouring money into our northern neighbor through investments that were withdrawn against Mugabe; this will help to rebuilt Zim, thereby alleviating some of our problems.
We also need to investigate all the businesses that hire non South Africans on the basis of cheap labour because they are in principle a third force fuelling the whole thing up.
We are moving too fast and thereby leaving the whole continent behind, this can only lead to everyone flocking down for greener pastures, therefore, big business need to invest in some of these stable places so as to pull together.
Katse… what an idiot…. its morons like you who are looting and murdering with your stupid Conspiracy behind every tree Rheteoric from your commie masters…..
Hlengiwe would it be alright if they were attacking everyone equally, is that what you are saying ?? You know very well that the people you wish were also getting a good kicking are a lot more protected than the average Mozambican living in the township and as we have discussed, South Africans are pretty lazy…
Not to compound on your obvious pessimism about humans, but to state that it is that reason why we have religions; laws; and most importantly, DEMOCRACY. I am on the view that religion is and was meant to tame the savagery of humanity, laws for a ‘just’ co-existance, and it is equally in my view that any state can do without both if it has a sound comprehention of democracy. Our Government clearly does not and neither does the political leaders. South Africans, especially the presently disadvantaged had made it vividly clear that ‘foreigners’ were not welcomed in SA. The unfortunate manifestation of bestiality in Alex and Diepsloot could have been avoided, or at least tamed, had the government created policies to integrate immigrants into our societies. Instead, they turned a deaf ear and dismissed the causes of the resentment simply because they could not relate to them. The so called political leaders went on and on about how they were treated with dignity in exile, while we were rebelling against the viscious apartheid regime. To cut it short, even though violence has become a mortif of everyday life in SA, it is not warranted. Even if we have a government that is oblivious to the fact that in a democratic state, leaders have to be loyal to the electorate, even when such loyalty transcends foreign moral inclinations.
I cant believe that some ignorant South Africans will still be so heartless as to condone or rejoice in the harming of human beings especially with our history. Are we not suppose to strive for a better more peaceful South Africa? I also believe that in most cases xenophobia equals racism and if you can stand by and say that it doesnt affect you or you dont care, then you are just as guilty. Yet these ignorant heartless souls would expect to be treated very well if they or their loved ones visit other countries. Has anyone heard about the xenophobic attacks on the 2 white South African men in London 2 years ago? Although the politics around those stories and what is currently happening in South Africa is not the same one fact remains unchanged - the motive is still xenophobia! What happened to our need to preserve human life irrespective of race, religion or nationality? Violence should NEVER be justified under ANY circumstances.
Just a head’s up for this surprisingly well-mannered debate.
This link is for the online version of The Herald, the er.. thoroughly un-biased organ of ZANU (PF), on the violence in Guateng.
Apparently it’s all the MDC’s fault.
Yes. Making political capital of awful violence in which Mozambican, Zambian and ethnic South Africans have been killed and beaten, The Herald is saying it’s all the fault of the Zimbabwean opposition. Apparently they’re so desperate to sell the country back to the British they’re making us kill each other to drive Zimbabwean exiles back to vote against ZANU (PF).
I officially don’t like the Zimbabwean government anymore. They’re making me feel bad about being South African. I’ve had enough incentive this week already.
I see that this debate has become one regarding Government’s failure to police immigration effectively. I take the point that we need to fill the skills gap that is caused when our skilled citizens up the stakes and move off to shores on the other side of the world. However, we are not experiencing riots in those areas where skilled workers have come in (irrespective of where they come from) and settle here. Where a person comes in “legally” for a particular purpose (such as a skilled person), they inevitably do not have to squat in someone’s outer-building, or worse still, in as shack and try to get their lives in order. No, they come in because chances are they will already have a job, and a house, and all the trappings that go with it.
These people have job security, a home, and generally a decent lifestyle. They are not competing with limited resources.
What we find in the townships (and it is noteworthy that the rioting is not throughout the township, but rather in those informal settlements on the fringes of the townships, or at RDP houses) is a population resorting to the very fundamentals of human behavior to express their insecurity, their frustration and their inablility to rise above their circumstances.
The argument has been punted that some SA citizens are complaining that foreigners take their jobs. On this score, we must be careful not to generalize. In some instances we as SA citizens believe that certain jobs are beneath us, or, worse - due to some policies being bandied about - that we are entitled to certain basics without having to work. The former is not a situation unique to this country. By way of example, no matter how much the US Government screams about sending Mexicans and other South American people back, they need them. These are the guys that do the jobs that the US citizens won’t touch. In Britain, much as they wish to get rid of the East European people, they can’t because these guys are prepared to do the work that the British believe is beneath them.
In this country we too have a bit of an attitude of superiority. We as South Africans believe that certain jobs are beneath us - so we need the Zimbabweans and the Malawians and the others to come in an do what we won’t do. But being vulnerable (and I am not talking about those skilled workers who come in legally), they take those jobs. And then we complain.
Having said all of this, however, we cannot condone the violence against these people. We use them when we want, and when it doesn’t suit us - we turf them out. That is manifestly unfair.
An open boarders policy would only work if there are enough resources to go around - otherwise, we as SA citizens cannot afford the luxury of having our dirty work done by foreigners. Coupled with an open boarders policy though, one needs efficient administration - that way we can identify who is in the country, what resources are required and we can ensure before opening the gates, we are adequately prepared for the flood.
The Herald’s site is basically steam-driven slow and very flakey. I’ve copied the whole thing. It’s not long, and worthy of attention, even if not wholly appropriate to the topic under discussion here. Here it is anyway:
“Reject these shameless puppets
EDITOR — Allow me to comment on xenophobia that has gripped South Africa, claiming the lives of 22 foreigners among them Zimbabweans.
I believe those targeted are Zimbabweans “not foreigners” as the media are putting it.
Remember that just before the elections some MDC supporters living in South Africa said they would sponsor Zimbabweans living there to return and vote in the harmonised elections in order to effect regime change.
The opposition said they would provide transport from Johannesburg and Pretoria and other parts of SA to Zimbabwe, mainly Harare, Bulawayo and other major cities.
Now the major obstacle they encountered was that some of the people targeted did not have proper documents to allow them to live and work in SA and could not opt to come back to vote and try to sneak into SA again across the crocodile-infested Limpopo River.
It appears MDC-T resorted to this plan of violence to force the people to return regardless. I hear the opposition paid groups of South African lumpens to beat up Zimbabweans to force them to flee SA and come back in time for the run-off.
Their hope, the traumatised immigrants would vote out President Mugabe.
Now fellow Zimbabweans, why should you support an opposition that can even sacrifice other people for sake of power?
It’s high time we rejected these shameless puppets.
I will be happy to hear from the anonymous retards like the one behind the mask called “ME” to point out the rhetoric in my posting, I doubt if you understand where I am coming from, you need some level of education to get on par; right now you are still crawling.
@ me, I wonder what you are doing in a country built by lazy people. I don’t think you are being honest with yourself.When are you going to start reading between the lines and understand what the posting says before you go bananas with everyone.
Chapter 1 – From the mess, dark clouds threaten in the form of trials:
Zuma’s Lawyers Propose New Date For Corruption trial - Attorneys for the president of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) Jacob Zuma are proposing 2010 as the new date for a possible corruption trial. This follows a meeting between the prosecution and defense team, which was chaired by a High Court judge to find a new date for a possible prosecution of Zuma over various allegations of corruption. Some political analysts say if the court agrees with a defense proposal, Zuma would be president by 2010.
(http://voanews.com/english/Africa/2008-05-19-voa1.cfm)
Chapter 2 – The mess is generalised. In the country’s last mismanagement-related, riots happen in Jo’burg, Durban, and some other places. Then:
ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa called at the weekend for an early election to end Mbeki’s rule. The South African leader lost the ANC leadership to Zuma last year and has to step down in 2009. Zuma is the frontrunner to succeed him
(http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=339642&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/)
Chapter 3 – In the mess, something comes up:
‘Third force’ involvement in attacks - The police have “concrete evidence” of a suspected third-force involvement in xenophobic attacks in and around Johannesburg, the Gauteng Legislature heard on Tuesday.
(http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=339661&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/)
Chapter 4 – In the meantime:
Zuma lawyers, NPA discuss trial date - The ANC and its labour and Communist Party allies have accused Mbeki and other government officials of using the corruption case to smear Zuma’s reputation
(http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleid=339263&referrer=RSS)
Brainstorm:
1 - Could it be possible that this whole situation had been created to justify the demand for The Lord of The Hill to step down?
2 – In this case, the objective would have been to accelerate the new election. With a sooner election, there would be time for The Conqueror to achieve his main target before the threats (trials) came.
3 – The paladins defend their conqueror, accusing The Lord of The Hill and his allies of provoking the situation, in order to smear the conqueror’s reputation. Now he’s a victim.
4 - Afterwards, could we find out that The Conqueror prepared it all in an attempt to definitely frame The Lord of The Hill?
5 – Later, counter-intelligence could possibly prove that The Lord of The Hill had himself set the whole thing in order to discretely accuse The Conqueror, finally knocking him down once and for all.
Brainhead:
After all, nothing of this is really happen. This is just a bad dream, a nightmare provoked by the coincidence of too many people being at the wrong place doing nothing for too long (…).
Or maybe Mugabe’s agents could be shaking everything in order to (i) Take people to forget what’s going on at Zim; (ii) Let his own people be afraid and stop pouring into SA, and so, giving his mate Mbeki a hand on the long criticised migration situation; (iii) Making Zim migrants in SA to worry about “other” things besides protesting against ZANU-pf.
Or… maybe everything could be a maneuver by Tsvangirai’s men, in order to force Mbeki to finally act.
whats great about the M&G thought leader blog is that people get to express themselves, we need to talk about what we are all feeling. intelligently. we invite you to join our conversation at youth culture website www.represent.co.za but to a broader audience. We have info on what you can do to help, where you can go to protest, and slowly our readers are starting to talk up. We don’t want to hear hate speech or blame, we want to hear how you are feeling right now. Speak up. Stand up. Rise.
Top drawer stuff this. I am still, as I told you earlier, ashamed to be South African right now because of the criminal behaviour that my fellow South Africans (whatever that means) are perpetrating on fellow Africans.
Just heard this morning from a Congolese friend that a doctor from up Nawth was abducted frm a state hospital - for, you guessed it - ‘taking our job’. IN a country where we have a shortage of doctors nogal (and I bet the perpetrators of the crime don’t even have matric and therefore cannot vaguely be said to have a job that’s been taken from them by a medical professional). Eish. may be we really need a collective cleansing that we should have done pots-1992.
Pogroms.
The word is “pogroms” to qualify what is happening in some poor urban areas of South Africa. The word has been used in Le Monde and Liberation in France, next to the cute pics of stars climbing up the steps of Cannes. Yes Ndumiso, you can call it a manifestation of idiocy and racism. But pogroms they are, and I’m sure Wikipedia will confirm this.
And Sarah Britten, the recent rebellions in France, England and Germany were not about crowds finding, raping, killing and setting alight individuals from certain ethnic groups or nationalities. They were the manifestation of discontent from those minority groups against the state and the establishment. Not quite the same. But go back to 15th century Spain, 19th century Russia, 20th century Germany and Rwanda… so yes, I’m sure you’ll find similarities there with what’s happening in Alexandra and elsewhere.
Ndumiso, this goes way beyond idiocy, don’t you think?
As i write this contribution, I do not mean to sound intelligent and resonable or assume to understand what is happening. Nor do i want to apportion blame, but maybe i can with justification say that your article has spoken for many of us. Most of us have done nothing to assist our society to understand our relationship to the continent and the world. And in doing so, those of us, especially those who have access to information and mediums such as the internet we may have unintetionally become accomplices in the unfortunate turn of events in Gauteng.
South Africa is a country with history and that history continues to be writen. I hope as we engage with the developments of the past few days a new future will also be writen. Part of our history is painful and we thought we would never again experience such pain where amongst ourseleves we inflict so much pain against fellow human beings. The important lesson from these “xenophobic” attacks is that we must never again allow conditions for such cruelty to exist. We call people of different names and origin all sorts of things. We make untested allegations that they are the source of crime, they take away jobs and all manner of allergations as if all foreign nationals are a homogenous grouping. Yet some of the most successful foreign nationals involved in crime are given refuge in our homes. So if indeed these developments are purely Xenophobic why is it that the victims are poor, houseless, malnourished and all these attacks occur in arreas that are historically deprived of development.
I have witnessed an occurance that has influenced my on the subject. I think the replication of the attacks starting in the Tshwane area is a copy cat of sorts. I observed that a group of young boys I had come across on a work assignment were talking about why should they not act in the same as it was happening Attridgeville/Laudium at the time.
Apartheid, the holocaust survived long because the majority in the world spoke about it and did nothing, and in the same way, the brutality in Palestine and Burma is given space to flourish.
Without lifting a finger, most of us are just as guilty. But also, let us agree that South African people are good people. so many are talking and acting against the barbaric acts that have captured the nation. The horror must end.
Donate to South African charities if you have any spare cash at all! It is evident the government does nothing to alleviate the plight of the poorest amongst us, and their problems are fast becoming ours.
Whether you are in SA or overseas, become involved in uplifting the country of your birth, and help the future to be somewhat better than the present.
Charities actually DO something, and the government denies any problems exist.
We need to take social responsibility for what goes on in the country, no one else is.
Katse
I hated apartheid and its injustices. But to be fair food was cheap and farmers were protected - like they still do in France, Italy, the rest of Europe and the USA.
“investments poured into Zimbabwe” in the 1980s already, mainly from Britain. Mugabe squandered them. Morgan is no puppet. I have the greatest respect for his courage. I would have given up this uneven war long ago. I don’t think I could be so brave.
As for the ANC being a terrorist organisation - people in London and New York are beginning to say that. My daughter tells me they say neither Mugabe nor Mandela should have been let out of jail. They really can’t tell the difference between SA and Zim. A friend of a friend when asked where he comes from and says “East London” gets treated with derision and told his accent can’t be from EAST London! They think Africa is one country!
Anja
So true. Some of my farming friends tell me no South Africans will work on the farms - except incompetant alcoholics who can get no other jobs - which is why they resort to illegals, whom I am told work very well.
In a country where there is high unemployment,poor education,racism,HIV, Aids orphans, rising food prices leading to hunger…decency and morality tends to be reserved for the priviledged.
I dont know why we are all suprised at this. Which country has the capability of accommodating the whole world when it does not have enough resources for its own people?Its simply unsustainable.African, Chinese, Indian, European…everyone who is not skilled and is not paying tax must be sent home.Zimbabweans should be considered as refugees and we should create camps for them near the border. Punish employers who employ illegal immigrants and atleast 90% of the staff must be South Africans.We need solutions not condemnation and whining???We dont have the time to do silly things like holding hands and hugging, immigration is a problem and it is causing these social problems. Put yourself in a poor South African’s shoes - you have no house, no job, no money,or even orphaned.Your own children died for this country so we could have this freedom,before you even enjoy it there are millions of people who come into this country and who dont understand your struggles but are here to live in these RDP houses, and have that job as a maid/waitor/petrol attendant and have not sweated for these opportunities. This is the issue, but has anyone bothered to listen to the poor people…NO…cos our thoughts are more important than the realities of the poorest South Africans.We feel better when we condemn without LISTENING!!!
my dear spear-chugger…again you hit the nail on the head….with deadly accuracy….as always. it’s quite a nice ikea collection you have so far. i’ll buy a tv stand if you have one going.
you debate like a king. pity the great minds have devalued to just white noise. everyone knows about the white noise that comes on after 12 in the evening, but no one really cares. it’s something corny to chuckle about for 5 seconds.
my point is…(like dr frasier crane always said)…”i’m listening”.
and sarah britten…(with all due respect senora) you’ve obviously given up a bit with what the reality is all about here (based on recent blogs you’ve done). face it and get on with it. it’s not about immigration. not even close. despite skilled immigration to first world countries being pretty freakin’ difficult and ridiculously expensive (i’ve done my research, too), it is nearly impossible to “skilly” migrate to SA. so please don’t run with that.
the point is that the pie crust has eventually crumbled. low quality ingredients and a too many fat cooks made the pie fall flat. very pessimistic don’t you think? (whoo haha) now it’s time to rebound, learn from our mistakes and be willing to learn from those who know. can our politicians learn to stick their pride in their pockets? who knows. let’s dream of a killer quiche together.
Thanks for this…
It is a most serious and scary issue.
But people can be wak about things sometimes. My favourite was the etv news presenter today who basically said “there have been no more attacks today… BUT THERE STILL COULD BE!” Hmmm… not so much for sensible reporting, I feel.
Humans are idiots around the globe. In Japan, they import foreigners to give locals a break (and a bit of a laugh!) from the homogeneous Japanese society. The nationalist party in Japan still drives around shouting insults at the foreigners telling them to go home. And you know what, I am.
Killing people for a cellphone, killing someone for being a so-called foreigner - it all feeds back into the same toxic culture of complete and utter contempt for life. If this was the sort of behaviour the characterised Europe back in the 1500s (the St Bartholemew’s Day massacre comes to mind), does this mean that we will have to wait another 500 years before we’re able to exhibit decent standards of behaviour?
Thanks Dumiso for your thought provoking article. My submission is that this situation has been created by President Mbeki’s approach to some regional issues. A case in point is the Zimbabwean crisis which President Mbeki has quite frankly failed to handle. South Africa is the regional leader and by the same token, its President is expected to show the leadership qualities necessary to handle a region with such a diverse cultural and ethical setting.
What goes through the mind of an unemployed youth in Alexandra or Tembisa when he or she reads comments attributed to his/her president, “there is no crisis in Zimbabwe” and yet his neighbour is from Zimbabwe and is gainfully employed in South Africa?
So I would say President Mbeki is indirectly contributing to the xenophobic idiocy!
Are these riots and killings an automatic outcome of a so-called ‘psychology of the oppressed’ like Frantz Fanon once said? Or is it human nature, being idiotic and racist like Ndumiso puts it?
I know I stand firm in my belief that being humane and empathetic to a fellow brother’s plight may be a positive start and a temporary solution which will certainly stop these barbaric killings.
Ndumiso its amazing how you left out Thabo Mbeki from your idiot list, could you please explain that?
And could you quote the exact words he used to condemn the riots in Alex and other townships and then tell me if they would make any sense to a stampede of angry, hungry ,”got nothing to do all day but hunt foreighners” people.
He made absolutely no effort to make his address understandable to us who didn’t attend Harvard Unirversity, and he expected people to stop and go look up what he said in a dictionary.
This guy should be your BIGGEST IDIOT… Right after you for making him look all good
People in SA are feeling robbed, they feel they deserve more (money, land, opportunities etc.). They don’t want to blame the government, or even the ministers in charge of any specific thing they are unhappy with, instead they turn on foreigners, easy scapegoats for all of the problems of the poor man. If people instead channel their energies into something more constructive the world would be such a better place.
As I sat back in my comfortable couch at my peaceful Cape Town southern suburbs residence and watched the horrors unfolding on television I was once again struck, not by lightning (as is the case here these days), but by the bubble-like faction of South African society that I have been part of since coming to this country 10 years ago. After clicking past all the thought provoking programs that etv has to offer, I inevitably came ‘face to screen’ with the reality of TIA (“This is Africa”) – a concept I often forget when driving past a Ferrari outside a Camps Bay mansion and Clifton beach on a summer’s day.
The context of South African society in which us ‘bloggers’ exist is but another fortunate and well-off minority in an African country whose leadership has yet again failed to rise to the demands and expectations of its citizens. The citizens I refer to are not Ferrari drivers whose main concerns revolve around shopping, drinking, and getting nice photos at speed traps but the men and women who search the highs and lows for opportunities of employment to offer their children a dream of a better future, away from a life of crime.
What shocks me is not the violence itself but the persistent nonchalance of the South African community I am associated with, towards social and political issues. As a student at the University of Cape Town my deep worries about the future of this country lie not only in the appalling display of leadership within the ranks of government but mostly by the lack of interest among students in political and social issues. The presence of such nonchalance in a place of higher education where tomorrow’s leaders are created is highly detrimental to the preservation of democratic values the people of this country have been fighting for long and hard.
The new generation of South Africans with who I spend my days with, seems to be more worried about the alcohol percentage of their drinks than national issues. The only problem they seem to have an opinion about is the failure of authorities to combat crime in the areas where they reside and party. The irony of the arrival of democracy seems to have been the death of student action in South Africa. Student action seems to have also died through the identical reflection of internal political problems of government in the means of governance of the Student Representative Council: a body so crippled by its power-seeking individuals, and issues that do not stretch beyond the borders of the Jammie steps.
Students in this country no longer have clear and straightforward political objectives, such as the attainment of democracy and the abolition of Apartheid. Many have thus fallen back into their comfy couches of their quiet residences to exercise their brains through the thoughtful prime-time television programming (usually involving beast-like men in speedos slapping each other) before heading out for a couple of drinks hoping tomorrow’s hand-in about current social issues will be best written hung-over.
The xenophobic attacks the country is currently experiencing goes, I believe, way past the simple idiotic nature of human beings. It forms part of natural political and social evolution given the Southern African context. South Africa’s failure in helping to resolve the Zimbabwean problem for the past 10 years, mixed with the arrival of the popular and militant figure of Jacob Zuma, has led to the collapse of the patience of South Africans who have seen little change since 1994. “Umshini wami” resonating through the crowds of assailants shows the awakening of a militant mindset that had been dormant since the end of Apartheid and once again brought to the forefront South African politics by the new ANC president.
The democratic future of South Africa is only growing in precariousness as a result of these current atrocities. The rainbow over our nation may well fade out over time as the rains of ethnic tensions begin to pour and the new generation fails to rise against the failures of the state.
Why is it though that the attacks are directed at black foreigners … there’s a lot of white foreigners here and no one sees them being burnt on the streets of Houghton and Camps Bay.
Why are we fighting each other (black on black violence)? Funny how we always preach about Ubuntu but when we have to be on the giving end, we just turn a blind eye.
Whoever suggested the should be a sport called scapegoat hunting was right … south africans would be unbeaten world champions
What is happening in SA is only remotely connected to lack of opportunities and poor immigration policies. Givent that by law no foreigner can get a job before a South African (and more so a black SAn), and employers would hardly employ some unskilled foreigner that doesn’t speak any of the local languages as the other South African unskilled workers often do, the arguments about taking our jobs (and our wives??) just doesn’t hold water. It is outright/bone laziness and as someone said in another blog, “unrealistic expectations” and a spurious sense of entitlement. These bunch of unwashed rioters that have vehemently refused to be educated or to educate their kids (which is an excellent long-term solution) believe they must be given food, money, houses, cars AND WOMEN simply because they are nationals.
It is strange that no one has asked this million-Rand question:
When they’ll turn around and not see any foreigner to attack, who’ll be the next target?
It’s a petty that this remarkable blog entry has been tainted by a buncha racist whites who sees this as an oppertunity to promote their ideal of replacing the black government with a white government that will show us Africans how to act civilised when scrubbing the masters toilets.
Before asking rhetoric questions, have you ever bothered to find out what the PW Botha Bursaries’ requirement was then? It went like: you must be of European origin, with some military background?
Now whilst you and your fellow refugees where in class somewhere in Bulawayo, the fellow toyi toyers were not vehemently refusing education, but rather denied at all costs by their masters. They toyi toyied for the then system to be abolished, now you come flocking down to spew on their faces how best your education is; you know what? You are just pouring petrol on the fire by doing so.
Check your records, since 94 a lot of blacks have been getting educated through the TEFSA’s and so on, that black neighbor of yours in that suburb is one of them.
And for your information our women are one of the the most beautiful in the world I don’t blame you for dieng to get them; I just feel sorry to your own ones back at home, as they are left behind to suffer the Mugabe regime whilst you are in haven.
the above post goes to @ Question for this remark “These bunch of unwashed rioters that have vehemently refused to be educated or to educate their kids (which is an excellent long-term solution) believe they must be given food, money, houses, cars AND WOMEN simply because they are nationals.
It is strange that no one has asked this million-Rand question:”
It’s sad when we, the current enormously priviledged custodians of the cradle of mankind, lose sight of our own origins and refuse succour to our brothers …
I appreciate the need for social scientists and human behavioral analysts to try and get to the “root” of this problem and find the historical or environmental ill that has plubged us into this dark time of the soul and blah blah blah.
Everybody needs to take a step back and remember that someone who kills another person in cold blood is a sociopathic murderer. Now once you accept that premise then it changes the nature of the discussion. You can then ask the right questions like what drives a sociopath? what do they eat for breakfast? and then you can write your own version of “Silence of the Lambs”
Society at large will always have it’s ills and it’s problems, and it’s social castes (overt or covert) and there will always be hves and have nots. Yes we must work to correct these imbalnces as they are a refelctions of our own shortcomings as human beings, but fir the love of God do not explain away cold blooded murder as an outpouring of frustration. There will always be frustrated people but that does not give them Carte Blanche to take their frustrations out on random individuals.
Once you realize that these people are sociopaths, then you will accept that these are crimes of oppurtunity. These instigators and murderers have had hostility and disregard for life and law inside them all along. They saw a crack in the wall of society so they broke the wall and walked right on in.
There are so many things that make so many of us upset, but I can say with confidence that I have not taken my anger and killed someone who had nothing to do with anything i was feeling. The thought never even crossed my mind. Why? coz I am not a sociopath. I possess a sense of rationality that prevents me from descending into neanderthalic rage of destruction and death.
I admit alot of people just get sweot up in mob mentality, but really folks personal accountability has to come in somewhere and you must realize on some level that I am about do some Kak. If you don’t have that inner voice you may be a sociopath.
Accordingly every single particpant should be treated with same indignation and punishment as you would any other murderer and those that didn’t get their chance to kill but went along for the ride should be charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Then let the law deal with them accordingly. Too Harsh? what is going to happen when they find something else to be upset about and you unhappily fall into that hated demographic.
Come on guys… Xenophobia? Racism? really we’ll hash out the why on an individual basis when each person can explain to the judge what their specifi problem was with that guy that they wanted to burn, and why they should be spared
@Ndumiso or any other Blacks that have an opinion on this issue:
Can someone please answer the following questions from a Black SA perspective:
Why is it that Mbeki and the ANC have no real problems with arms shipments to Zimbabwe or Mugabe killing Zimbabweans in their own country (while he stays silent), yet he doesnt want it happening here? Does he really care about zimbabweans or anyone?
The arms have reached Zimbabwe and Mbeki refuelled the ships, so guess the SA taxpayer foots the bill for more murder in Zimbabwe.
Why is it that the ANC can call out the army so quickly for 42 dead foreigners in one week, but when that many SA blacks are killed each day in the townships (as well as white farmers and white ciovilians in their homes) he does nothing and denies it is a problem? Are the lives of illegal aliens more important than those of South Africans? Worse he calls out the army AGAINST his OWN PEOPLE.
Why is it that on the media persistent allegations are left that the culprits are Zulus? Why do so many of those interviewed say it was Zulus? is there any proof? Of the 500 arrested, are they predominantly Zulu? I doubt it. What is to be gained by raising such doubts except more factions fighting. Also they keep referring to Zulu hostels as being the hotspots, which to me seems they are finger pointing but dont provide evidence.
Does anyone think this is an attempt to undermine Zuma and his Zulu followers (raising doubts like this is what we can expect from Zulus)?
I for one think the objectives of the xenophobes (send the illegals home) is correct, but I dont agree with the methods. Does anythone agree with the objectives and the ends, but not the means?
Hey wena! If you say that a researcher who earns R500 a day is a starving, what does that make us? Peasants? We work for a very distinguished professor and earn less than that(the two of us), doing his research and photocopying, does that mean he exploits us? Guess you got lots of money. How much do you earn? Do you get pain for blogging here?
Sorry Ndumi, we didn’t edit. We meant to say; do you get paid for writing this blog? If so, how much…hope that is not too personal a question. If you can talk about other people’s salaries, sorry you don’t mind talking about yours. Also do you stay in Durban.
We must also say that we won a copy of your book in a magazine competition. Have a nice weekend.
I’m Afrikaans, married to a Zulu woman. I’m must admit she’s not highly educated … one may use that as an excuse for some the opinions she holds. We never talk about this, because it always leads to an argument: She holds the opinion that NO Xhosa is to be trusted. No even Mandela? I ask. No one, she answers. And then we argue. That’s why this topic is now taboo in our house. I just wonder how widespread this attitude is among Zulus. My wife is as brain-washed when it comes to Xhosas as we as Afrikaners were in the aprtheid days about black people in general.
Liansky
“scrubbing the masters toilets”
Are you American? They did not used to call them master - they used to call them baas.
J-H
“They don’t want to blame the government” so they blame the foreigners? Best argument I have ever heard as why Africa should have had a qualified franchise, and not given “one man one vote” democracy to a tribal people.
Jose
“Who does all this benefit”?
Looks like the ANC to me. Can blame someone else for lack of delivery and unrealistic exspectations. Blame the foreigners or blame the Zulus - but just don’t blame the government.
It was probably orchestrated for “The Lord of The Hill” to come in as saviour. However, whoever started it has lost control.
Someone
“no student politics”
You are joking! Have you seen what the ANC Youth League is up to on the Vasity campuses?
Consulting engineer - I totally agree send the illegals home, the illegals know the risk they undertake when they get into SA and make all the necessary adjustments to stay under the immigration or authorities radar. However the method is not by mob violence. And most certainly some illegals are refugees and that distinguishment needs to be made.And this should go across the board, illegals are illgeals despite what race or country origin, the target should not be just the zimbabweans, zambians and mozas.
Fanie…LOL@ your wife. Funny enough, it’s not just “uneducated” black people who harbour major intolerances (if i can call it that) towards “the other” black. I’m 25 and I have friends who won’t trust a Xhosa, wont marry a Xhosa. Friends who would never befriend foreigners and so on. It’s sad actually and I’m sure Biko is having a mini fit in his grave.
It seems to me they have also been targetting pakistani and other illegals who have shops in townships.
Some of my black workers have bought on lay-by from these indian shops, and the terms are usurous. Its disgusting how they rip-off the poor. If they miss one payment they forefeit all their payments and the price they pay is more than twice what the same thing can be bought for in a normal franchise shop on credit.
I now buy it for them cash and deduct their salary until the goods are paid for and tell them to never go to such shops again, to ask me and I will buy it for them. Im not suprised the poor get fed up of being cheated and torch the place. Cant say I feel sorry for these people either.
Ezekiel 18:13 - He lends at usury and takes excessive interest. Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head.
we as south africans have to stop this babaric act of xenophobia as it will bring bad publicity for s.a and also foregin investors will lose interest in investing in our country let us try to welcome anyone to s.a with open arms.and foreigners will not stop getting higher positions at the work place because they are not bibliphobes (concerened student)
I can understand the hate for the asian shopkeepers it really goes across borders on this. Asians in malawi have been propoerous on the backs of the locals patronising their shops of which are many for years on end . But I do not see an black malawian owned hardware store or cloth shop etc but these are the very things rural folk in their numbers trek into the towns/cities to get little items to sustain their existence. So hate the asian is not going to give the blacks the initiative to open their own stores and reap the same rewards….mindsets are different we be still in the fields trying to reap a good maize harvest.
Consulting engineer - who allowed that pakistani shopkeeper to open the shop and impose those kind of pricing of goods on its customers whether by lay-by or not. And why are your workers going there if they know the prices are exorbant. Its all good and humanitarian of you to fork the cost of the goods your workers want, kudos, but what about all the other black folk patronising those stores?
Its ecomically frustrating but I guess we all have a right to protect what we think belongs to us, our turf, our backyards, our territory, so if strangers keep coming into your backyard, they are going to be a few many reactions and drastic ones if it has been an ongoing for some time.
The ordinary Brits in her pub in London. She doesn’t approve - she is only telling me how ignorant they are about anything to do with Africa. She takes the p..ss out of them all the time. Tells them I hear elephants at night (which I do - the Knysna Elephant Park is nearby), and thatsnakes hibernate in my house - which has only happened once!
The truth is always hard and we are not ready for the truth. If you want the truth please put R50.00 rand into a envelope and send it to ” I Love Amkwerekwere troos Bob”…
Silwane has gone AWOL. His last post was published a century ago. Silwane, the masses are waiting impatiently. Maybe I should ask your fellow Zulus, those lovely people who love order and focus, to drive some urgency into you? Sikhokhile la, wena ungadlali ngathi!
I once owned a house in Westdene - overlooking the park, with an old coal stove and a fruit garden, when it was still very much a lower class area. Many times I wish I had not sold - but then I would never have had the money to hitch hike around Europe and to go scuba diving in Mozambique!
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Once upon a time, Ndumiso Ngcobo used to be an intelligent, relevant man with a respectable (read: boring-as-crap) job which funded his extensive beer habit.
One day he woke up and discovered that he had lost his mind, quit his well-paying job, penned a collection of hallucinations. A bunch of racist white guys published the collection just to make him look more ridiculous and called it 'Some of my best friends are white'. (Two Dogs, ISBN 978-1-92013-718-2).
Nowadays he spends his days wandering the earth like Kwai Chang Caine, munching locusts, mumbling to himself like John the Baptist and searching for the meaning of life at the bottom of beer mugs.
The racist publishers have reared their ugly heads again and dangled money in his face to pen yet another collection of hallucinations entitled 'Is It Coz 'm Black'.
He will take cash, major credit cards and will perform a strip tease for contributions to his beer fund.
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A few weeks ago I was invited to an ANC election rally in Sandton's trendy Taboo nightclub. I think they called the rally the Fikile Mbalula Birthday ...
I believe that there is a dearth of insightful, incisive yet irreverent and witty social commentary on these shores. Look, our publishing houses churn...
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Good piece Ndumiso but my brother all i can say to you is that Its easy to put labels like idiots on others if you know that you are going back to your warm classy appartment and xpectin a huge salary from M&G for writing anything you feel like. Our fellow South Africans are aggravated by relevant issues like unemployment, lack of promised service delivery by the government and corruption within the government. However I believe that the anger should not be channeled to the foreign nationals, the mistake is in our system. For a start there is no attempt to limit the number of foreigners coming to this country, secondly an increasing number of illegal immigrants is making it hard to integrate them peacefully to communities, thirdly permitting some South African franchises to employ people that are in this country illegally is a huge mishap, the last point is that of corrupt officials who sell RDP houses illegally to foreign nationals. All these incompetencies in our system cause the problem we are now facing with South Africans feeling like they can not take any more. Our government should stop sweeping things under the carpet and act as if there are no real problems!
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