Friends have proposed group travel to South Africa, others have invited me to weddings there. When i get such invites, my first reaction is shock and disbelief mainly because I cannot bring myself to understand the kind of mental state an AFRICAN/NIGERIANS put themselves in to ignore the plight of their “BROTHERS’ on their own land. Is it ignorance or just utter shallowness that leaves people bereft of empathy? Most people focus on the beauty of Cape-town and its organization. They take in table mountain views whilst sipping wine in beautiful vineyards.
The nail in the coffin of the Pan African ideal is our attitude – “NOT MY BUSINESS” until it becomes our business as seen with Ebola.
BUT
In the situation with South Africa, Nigeria stood up against apartheid not just diplomatically, financially too.
So why are our people and African brothers and sisters being killed in South Africa? A lot of criticism has been made against the people, they have been called animals, uncivilized brutes.
BUT
Please permit me to offer a different narrative.
There was a young girl whose house was broken in to by strangers completely different and unfamiliar to her. She watched them kill her parents. She was subject to rape and abuse for most of her life. At some point her abusers stopped only on the condition that they keep majority ownership of the house and she cannot retaliate or engage her anger in anyway. This young girl is now an adult… do you imagine she would be able to have a normal relationship? What does she do with all that anger and hate stored up inside her, do you presume you can understand the mind state of a person that has been oppressed in their OWN HOUSE and still made to feel less than human..
What we see today is a direct failure of the Mandela dream. It was a success for him (whilst we appreciate his sacrifice) It was not a success for his people. The only reason he is so celebrated by the world was because in doing what he did, he protected western interest, they literally got away with it all.
The most vexing thing for me is NONE OF THESE LEADERS OR PEOPLE WHO APPLAUD MANDELA would ever emulate him.
Xerxes burnt down Athens in 480BC , 150 years later Alexander the great burnt down Persepolis. Most Persians that suffered Alexanders wrath were not even born neither was their conception even thought of. Ask King Ferdinand how he dealt with the Moors. Founders of Andalusia (the light of europe) who conquered and ruled Iberia for over 800 years up until their complete expulsion or annihilation.
Ask the Jewish special forces that went after Nazi fugitives and war criminals. tracking them all over the world and dispensing their justice to them. The Jews have gone as far as getting reparations.
Why wasn’t there a call for forgiveness of the NAZIS, a new and peaceful co-habitation in which they keep all stolen resources. Why didn’t this occur in Poland, Austria or France?
Ask America and the Scots how they dealt with the British, research French and British wars and occupations… SO WHY IS IT THAT THE BLACK MAN IS THE ONLY ONE THAT IS SUPPOSED TO FORGIVE AND FORGET…They tell us JESUS was white with blonde hair and blue eyes, YET they don’t seem to do the “turn the other cheek” thing . These same Nations started a WORLD WAR because a monarch was killed!! A Truth and Reconciliation committee would have solved that problem, NO? At least millions of soldiers wouldn’t have had to die.
A terror group bombs a building in America, they destroy an entire country. The Japanese air force bombs their ship at sea, they drop an ATOMIC BOMB on an entire City, killing innocent civilians. These are the people that celebrate Mandela. Surely if Mandela is so great shouldn’t these countries proffer rainbow solutions to all their conflicts?
People have said the South African economy would have collapsed if Mandela towed the path of Robert Mugabe, they tell south Africans to look North to Zimbabwe.
The thing is this – We as Indigenous Africans need to define what development means to us. We cannot continue defining development based on invaders values (when we are not savages like them,motivated by greed to appropriate at any cost, butchering and killing ). If truly we want to develop like them, then we should go and kidnap them and use them as slaves for free labor to build the foundation of our economy, we should also invade their lands and steal resources, killing many of them in the process.
BUT
This is not the African way, lets stop trying to measure up to societies built on GENOCIDE AND SLAVERY. It is lazy to continue to sub-contract our thinking to invaders while running a puppet government. Development should not be a life based solely on consumption of the latest electronics and gadgets, In a capitalist society of GMO foods that make you sick with health care and drugs to cure sicknesses brought about by “developed living”.. Living in which the African family structure is completely destroyed because people spend their whole lives searching for money… This is foreign to us and isn’t African. Lets look to Singapore and China, people that built their country on their own backs and hard work while maintaining their culture. Lets define our own economic and governance systems.
EURO- African Apologist blame ANC for the plight of South Africa citing poor leadership and corruption. On the surface that seems rational, but they leave out that till today, 93percent of the countries land and wealth is controlled by the EURO-invaders. This analogy summarizes it very well.
“If South Africa was a company, 90% of the capital will be owned by the white minority.
Even if the CEO of the company is a black man, he has no power except representing the interest of the majority owners.
The problem with white ownership in South Africa is that it was acquired through violence and theft.
The goal of the historic liberation movement was to correct that injustice.
Unfortunately, Mandela was falsely convinced to avoid addressing the injustice problem.
Mandela and the ANC treason is at the root of the current events in South Africa.
The future of South Africa is bleak. The cycle of violence is unlikely to stop.” -M.K
That awkward moment you realize Mandela is only celebrated as the darling of the world because in the end …..He sold out his people…. let that sink in,There was a time when President Robert Mugabe was the darling of the west, way above Mandela. Europe and America loved him because he fought for independence of his country and said that everyone was welcome to stay including the colonizers. Meanwhile Mandela was considered by the west, Europe and America, as a terrorists that deserved death sentence. The fate of both leaders switched when Mugabe started demanding full independence both economically and in land ownership. While Mandela only asked for social freedom and allowed the colonial masters to retain the lands and economic dominance. Mugabe became the instant devil and Mandela became the instant God like personality. But we believe Africans should learn for themselves who is a hero without what cnn or bbc says
Mandela put a flimsy bandage on a fatal wound and it is starting to unravel.
Cecil Rhodes statue defaced and being pulled down.
People criticize Mugabe and have so many different labels for him…but you know the great thing , with all the economic hardships and misrule …. he will die eventually..him and all his people… When that happens the zim people would have a chance to build a zim they want and if they fail, they will try again till they get it right..and when they do it would be theirs and on their own terms. They will never be second class citizens in the only place they can claim as their own. China’s greatness today was not built by enslaving other people or occupying peoples lands and stealing their resources. It was built over time INDEPENDENTLY, they made mistakes , many lost their lives but look at them NOW.
This democracy thing is not our invention its a system that has been forced on us, Its a system that will take time to master if it perseveres. To be great we should never be afraid to build from scratch to start again. Civilizations are not built during one generation ..it takes time.. IT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE to OWN your LAND..Africans are treated badly everywhere in the world, it should not be happening on their own continent.
Now back to the Xenophobia and onslaught against Africans in south Africa. While I condemn the statements of both the King and the presidents Son, especially considering the kings lineage and how his forefathers fought to protect the Zulu nation, breaking a British square armed solely with shield and spears against heavy gunfire and ammunition.
It is a disgrace that today the descendants of Shaka make such statements from the comfort of their palaces.
The suffering masses on the other hand, when one considers all they have been through in the hands of the Boers, how mentally fucked up it is to live like a servant in your own land. All that anger all that hatred pent up inside them, no justice and everyday they have to see reminders of the atrocities against them and their people. Like the girl i spoke of earlier it would be abnormal to expect a healthy relationship with a victim of such abuse. You cannot tell people to just get over the mental and emotional damage caused through illegal occupation of their land, stealing of the land and then Apartheid.
We Indigenous Africans can only co-exist with them on the long term, if we try to understand , if we try to help and if we try to dialogue. To expect a normal behavior from them is not only stupid but very DAFT. I pray the new generation coming up do the needful and take the destiny of their country in to their own hands FULLY. The fact is Land is the only thing that isn’t being made anymore and that in itself makes it worth dying for.
the hopeful nigerian 
Good read Patrick. How do you propose we help? As you have observed, these people are not exactly rational right now. I cannot recall how many articles I have read explaining to the South Africans that they need to seize economic power from those who hold it. We cannot continue to deal with xenophobic attacks in which people die needlessly when the real problem is not addressed.
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I read this very insightful comment earlier.
Mawuna Remarque Koutonin – the root cause of trouble in South Africa is simple: the part of the pie left over for the majority to share is too small.
Mandela himself needs rehabilitation after prison before becoming a leader. But he did not feel the need to restore himself to a clear head person before leading his people. he was in rush to fulfill his dream to become the first black president of South Africa.
The ANC failed to initiate a people rehabilitation program for the populations after the end of Apartheid. They did not take in account the physical and psychological damage apartheid has left on the people.
The whole back population worldwide need intense care to clear their head after centuries of oppression. Without that any progress we would make could easily be reverted.
I think Africans need to come together to work on this… a mental orientation and a proper redistribution of wealth starting with the lands. People should be encouraged to go in to agriculture and industry..lastly a proper education that takes everything the continent has been through in to account goes without saying better governance than what zuma is currently doing.
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We basically just wrote the same thing at the same time, just that mine is much shorter.
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Great read!!!
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Pingback: South Africa: A Case Of Unraveling Wounds And A Nail In The Coffin |
can this made into PDF, it needs to go into archive
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Unfortunately, the stark truth is hard to swallow. South Afrika is still the property of Westerners. The ANC is just simply hired to manage the corporation on behalf of the shareholders. When the livelihood of the true beneficiaries of the system is threatened, that’s when the hidden becomes evident.
Whites in South Afrika earn 6 times more than Black South Afrikans, and they seem to channel their hatred towards people who have no economic control and just want to earn a living. Educated Blacks in South Afrika know Mandela was a sellout. Sad ;(
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For years when I think of SA bad behaviour, the words that come to mind are
” the way that I hate myself” – Martha Wainwright
Post-apartheid there’s a lot of healing that hasn’t happened. White folks complain when the violence extends to white people, but these South Africans have so much violence to share, they been hurting themselves, black-on-black, with nobody seeming to notice. We can change it. Love can heal it.
Meanwhile, there was a hate crime in the purported preaching of the traditional ruler. Right?
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Just read the article, wasn’t moved at all cause its by an outsider who makes a diagnosis without understanding the patient! Didn’t mention that small pie left for sa blacks they now have to share it with foreigners who want the benefits without paying tax! Why not cover why immigrants and asylum seekers feel the need to heed for SA only, why those from big economies need to come to SA in the first place! How can you applaud mugabe when only the elite there own the land, it moved from whites to his cronies? How is that a success, why isn’t he writing abt what’s wrong with his country that nigerians have to be all over the world?
Only SA has people just come and set up businesses without paperwork and pay no tax.. That is wrong…But what the world doesn’t understand is that SA companies that operates outside SA are legit… Its not informal shops like what we see mushrooming in SA , not regulated dealing in cash with no accounts and paying no tax… This case study is lacking!
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Just read the article, wasn’t moved at all cause its by an outsider who makes a diagnosis without understanding the patient!
Thats fine but the first problem which has led to this violence is your perspective and classification- “Outsider”
Didn’t mention that small pie left for sa blacks they now have to share it with foreigners who want the benefits without paying tax!
I understand how that might be frustrating but is that justification to set fellow africans on fire? maim and kill people? People that spent in excess of 50billion dollars fighting for South African freedom-
“Mandela and the ANC did a very poor job explaining to south Africans how all Africans fought on their behalf for the end of apartheid.
While countries like France were supporting the apartheid regime, the people from Ghana, Ethiopia, Guinea, Egypt, Nigeria were giving money to support Mandela. But, today French people don’t need visa to travel to South Africa while shops opened by Nigerians and Guineans are burnt down with chants “Foreigners out”
——– but these things happen —–
I am attaching excerpts of a letter Obasanjo wrote to Magaret tatcher to set the tone historically-
Olusegun Obasanjo’s brilliant open letter to Margaret Thatcher in 1986
by Olusegun Obasanjo
August 1986
Dear Margaret,
As you know, I came to the EPG (Eminent Persons’ Group) mission with reluctance. It was difficult enough for me as an African and especially as a Nigerian to contemplate exchanging pleasantries with those responsible for the institutionalised oppression of so many of my brothers and sisters.
My repugnance was exacerbated by the widely held perception that the EPG was a substitute for action won by you at Nassau for the benefit of P.W. Botha. However, I persuaded myself that whatever the odds, the prize was so great that I should overcome my personal feelings.
Not that I was prepared for what we found. As you know, even Tony Barber – a frequent traveller to South Africa – was appalled by what he was to see in that other South Africa which visitors seldom see. We jointly expressed our shock and dismay in our report.
I have seen extremes of poverty and of oppression in many parts of the world. But South Africa unashamedly moulds both elements into a system which enables the white minority to enjoy a “Dallas” lifestyle at the expense of the great majority forced to endure conditions as degrading as anything I have seen anywhere.
As we emphasised, to begin to dismantle apartheid, the Population Registration Act and the Group Areas Act must be repealed without being replaced by some measure designed to achieve the same ends under a different guise.
Nor have you any appreciation of the issue of violence. The apartheid system has an inherent violence which, through forced removals and the creation of barren homelands, has created the fiction of a white land and through the barrel of the gun, denies blacks any form of legitimate political expression.
We are all opposed to violence other than in self-defence. Why should blacks not have a right to defend their own families, homes and freedoms?
Your “moral revulsion” for sanctions struck me as unconvincing. The economic sanctions you so energetically pursued against Poland, Afghanistan and Argentina were brushed aside in your determination to withhold their application to South Africa. Yet to many of us there is only one significant difference: the victims in South Africa are black. Is sauce for the Aryan goose not sauce for the Negroid gander?
Your concentration of the economic effectiveness of sanctions is disingenuous if not hypocritical. Sanctions were imposed against Poland, Afghanistan and Argentina as political expressions of outrage.
Nor can your opposition be based on any assessment of where the best interests of Britain lie. Your country has considerable trade with South Africa, but this is dwarfed by that enjoyed with the rest of Africa: it cannot be in Britain’s interests to encourage them to place their orders elsewhere.
Further, your appearance as an apologist challenges the democratic forces in South Africa to seek help from whatever quarter they can. The longer-term consequences for Britain, the United States and the West could be considerable.
But most of all, I was dismayed by your lack of vision. You offered no action as an alternative to sanctions. You insisted that nothing whatever be done – even though in the final analysis you moved a little. There is no vision of a way ahead; simply a forlorn hope that P.W. Botha would experience a “Road to Damascus” conversion on the road to Soweto. Such hopes are in vain.
Sooner or later, Botha or his successor will be driven to negotiate meaningfully. Sir Geofferey’s visit again confirmed that Botha is not yet under sufficient pressure to do so – despite a dwindling rand, escalating inflation, a declining economy and mounting violence. More pressure must come.
I must tell you that many people around the world view your continued opposition to sanctions as founded on instinct, not logic and as displaying a misguided tribal loyalty and myopic political vision. The consequences of such perceptions are far-reaching for a country which has traditionally claimed the high ground of principle.
Not only does the mental laager of the Boer seem to be mirrored in your own attitudes, but his fatal concessions of too little, too late are paralleled by your actions.
I am glad that the Commonwealth has moved on without you and I know that sooner rather than later, Britain will have to join us. I also know that apartheid will end, and its demise will be the product of a combination of internal and external pressures. The equation is a simple one. The less the external pressure, the greater will be the price to be paid internally.
Those who seek to minimise sanctions and their effect will have the blood of thousands, if not millions, of innocents on their hands and on their consciences. My heart will be heavy but my hands will be clean. Will yours?
(General Olusegun Obasanjo was Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria 1976 – 79 )
************
Why not cover why immigrants and asylum seekers feel the need to heed for SA only, why those from big economies need to come to SA in the first place!
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we are a 170million people, My entire network that visits SA operate at the highest levels of society.. others would not … BUT THE MOST SHOCKING THING IN ALL THIS IS…..YOU SPEAK ABOUT EVERYTHING BUT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM…. WHY IS YOUR PIE SO SMALL…. GETTING RID of small time shop owners is not going to put back 93percent of your country in your possesion?shouldn’t your focus be on the boers who consistently rob you and own all the resources of SA.? Isnt this actions being exhibited a classic case of penny wise pound foolish?
How can you applaud mugabe when only the elite there own the land, it moved from whites to his cronies?
Elite africans, that will die and eventually the land will be redistributed, the land cannot go with them to the grave… it is a process of restoration that has started … SA is no where near even starting.
How is that a success, why isn’t he writing abt what’s wrong with his country that nigerians have to be all over the world?
It is unfortunate that you equate people traveling and living all over the world with failure… people from all over the world are enterprising they travel they embrace opportunities… the boers that stole your land and rape your country are they failures?
Only SA has people just come and set up businesses without paperwork and pay no tax.. That is wrong…But what the world doesn’t understand is that SA companies that operates outside SA are legit…
Really you are going to compare a white owned MTN or Dstv to a one man business? … do you believe there are no million dollar Nigerian businesses in SA??? come on …. I am sorry to burst your bubble but most of africa believe our brothers in the south are suffering from Stockholm syndrome… BOERS ARE NOT AFRICAN….Our South AFRICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS are welcome to Nigeria…Our PIE IS BIG ENOUGH….. we do business with the whole of AFRICA from the one man business to the BIG Telcos and oil companies… WE PRAY ONE DAY YOU WILL TAKE YOUR PIE BACK so my south African brothers and sisters will stop scrambling for crumbs and be reduced to the most basic state of humanity of killing and burning fellow human beings alive…. we all sang free Mandela and fought for your freedom don’t take out your anger on us… focus on the people that steal your country from under your nose and still are…
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South Africans were promised manna by the current government, currently public institutions run by the government are now worse than in the previous government(e.g. Health, education, etc.) People are angry and frustrated and poorer. Now before anyone starts with that ‘they must create their own opportunities argument and not wait for govt’ hear me out. I’ve been observing these xenophobic actions for quite some time now. Listening to stories, reading and watching. Last week after foreigners were attacked in Isipingo I spoke to someone who was mugged by a foreigner. When he went to the police station to report the matter he spotted the guy who mugged him sleeping on the floor seeking refuge. He immediately told the police yet they wouldn’t do a thing. They made some excuse that they couldn’t arrest him. Problem here is – incompetency. Second issue, People complain about foreigners taking ‘our jobs’ Yes most legal foreigners are skilled. Most South African’s aren’t. Zimbabweans even having just O and A levels are better equipped. Problem- our government is not providing exceptional education or vocational training. Third issue: This includes both afrikan foreigners and pakistanis/somalians(local small business owners in the township complain that foreigners prices are lower therefore causing local businesses to fail). Reasons, their prices are cheaper because their expenses are less, they live in their shops, they don’t pay taxes, majority of them are operating illegally, not paying levies because their business are not registered etc. Problem – There isn’t enough control with regards to trading regulations. Again someone isn’t doing their job. Fourth complaint: Foreigners are increasing the population and diminishing resources, eg, they go to the free clinics and hospitals yet they don’t pay tax(medication for the first time in the current Administration has ran out, government hospitals can no longer manage the influx(lots sent home instead of being operated cause the lists are long = frustration); foreigners are procuring houses that are built for the citizens. Problem – corrupt municipal officials making money off desperate illegal immigrants instead of allocating houses to the poor. There is no boarder control, every second or big drug bust and sex trade a west african is mentioned, you go to former great places like Hillbrow/Yeoville, Parktown now called Lagos due to the current population, you feel like a foreigner in your own country! Because of the anarchy houses have lost value(asset depreciation) – business has moved out I doubt there is Soweto in Nigeria! All this were not part of the case study and they are there for anyone who cares to dig deeper than their rape theory!
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again fair points…. and again the elephant in the room …how much do you believe a south african president is ever going to be able to do with the current status quo…. “The ANC accepted responsibility for a vast apartheid-era debt, which should have been cancelled. A wealth tax on the super-rich to fund developmental projects was set aside, and domestic and international corporations, enriched by apartheid, were excused from any financial reparations. Extremely tight budgetary obligations were instituted that would tie the hands of any future governments; obligations to implement a free-trade policy and abolish all forms of tariff protection in keeping with neo-liberal free trade fundamentals were accepted. Big corporations were allowed to shift their main listings abroad.
It was a dire error on my part to focus on my own responsibilities and leave the economic issues to the ANC’s experts. However, at the time, most of us never quite knew what was happening with the top-level economic discussions. As s Sampie Terreblanche has revealed in his critique, Lost in Transformation, by late 1993 big business strategies – hatched in 1991 at the mining mogul Harry Oppenheimer’s Johannesburg residence – were crystallising in secret late-night discussions at the Development Bank of South Africa. Present were South Africa’s mineral and energy leaders, the bosses of US and British companies with a presence in South Africa – and young ANC economists schooled in western economics. They were reporting to Mandela, and were either outwitted or frightened into submission by hints of the dire consequences for South Africa should an ANC government prevail with what were considered ruinous economic policies.”
As result, nowadays the white minority in South Africa which makes less than 10% of the population still owns more than 80% South African lands and economy. More than 90% of the board of the South African Central Bank are white.” Between 2012-2013 the government used 1,2-trillion to buy the Land from Whites for 100 000 Blacks.
we still have millions of landless Blacks.
As you can see, the White Apartheid government passed and Act in Parliament and take our Land by force. The ANC government passed a parliamentary Act and give White people Trillions for the same land. Let me tell it like it is…. Some people are still enjoying the benefits of Apartheid even now. (via Bali Mthembu)
Why didn’t the ANC government just send the police and military to take back the lands as it was done in the first place? By what right did they own the land to be paid for it in the first place… —you should read that————-http://www.siliconafrica.com/three-deaths-of-an-idol/
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So 90% is owned by whites and 10% by the blacks who make a big percentage of the population! Now tell me those countries with more than half a century of democracy where 90% are poor and the few in public office are extremely rich does that make it right/justifiable since they are black? So its comforting for the poor when those with 90% of the pie is black? I suppose all african countries with the exception of south africa have gotten things figured out, then question is shouldn’t south africans be moving into those countries and not the other way round? Shouldn’t south africans be foreigners there since those countries have had time to build their countries and have gotten rid of the white man and everyone there owns land and self loves? With Nigeria being the biggest economy now, how many actively share the pie? Does it mean that everyone now can return home?
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Nozuko – Land and resources are owned by Nigerians… people can come in to wealth not forever cast in to poverty… land ownership in Nigeria belongs to Nigerians… so many own lands so many own their farms… poverty is seen when a lot of people come to the cities…If you speak about corruption…that is a process that will be destroyed eventually as we are already seeing…. corruption was once endemic in scotland yard… judges in england at a time would write two judgements and the higest bidders won the case… as i type this i am reading our former petroleum minister has just returned 16billion dollars to the treasury…. you see …. the foundation must be set for a nation and its people to rise….No matter how long it takes that foundation must be set if not the people are forever damned to poverty no matter how good your leadership becomes…
Lastly – you should understand not all people feel trapped by boundaries imposed on us by white men, people travel looking for opportunities it does not mean that their home country is burning down… i guess to keep the people of SA at bay the boers had to make people believe the rest of africa is a jungle infested with famine and all these horid things….. we are a 170 million people… some people the world calls poor own hectares of land thats been in their family for generations…. they farm it …they survive of it…Chinese are all over the world is china on fire? since their economy is so good why dont they go home… the german economy is good why not tell the boers to go home? I pray one day South Africans stop seeing themselves as the Other or the exceptional and focus on TRULY owning their country….stop justifying the harsh reality of life in SA for my african brothers and sisters by comparing it to life in Nigeria or your imagination of what life in Nigeria might be. My article was not a comparison or a competition to see which country has it better…We all have our realities and problems as nations, LETS FOCUS ON THE REAL PROBLEMS the REAL ISSUE….
…..The shock of this whole debacle is how Africa came together to stand for SA….but it seems there has been a failure to communicate that…. its a very sad day for africa that africans now feel more boer than african.
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The anger we see today is a symptom of a bigger problem…and People have just found scape goats… i guess when these “Africans” leave. these people killing and destroying property will become rich overnight? Soweto will cease to exist? miners will cease to be shot in broad daylight…? May God help our continent…. May we someday realize to be great we have to be one…Nations are forming continent associations to protect themselves , currency to strengthen their economy, Alliances for Wars, we are here squabbling and burning shops fighting tribal wars… sigh
Insightful read- http://www.siliconafrica.com/three-deaths-of-an-idol/
“To fully appreciate Garvey’s model of African prosperity, one has to look at the by products of Zimbabwean education based off Garvey’s model. Zimbabwean managed to produce a 75% pass on O-Level Cambridge papers, considered by most to be the hardest Secondary school exam board.
Mandela never did anything to raise the value of the African in order to bring us closer to true integration. He was content leaving Africans to their own devices whilst allowing African liberals to acquire more wealth by diluting themselves with European identity. Worse of, he maintained the discriminative Apartheid education system that helped created a larger gap between white people in South Africa and the Africans along economic lines.
Evidence points to Mandela as an abject failure. To a large degree I agree with it. That agreement does not stop me from appreciating the works he did to spread message of a possible world where the black man could live free along the white man. After all, it was his name that inspired the class of 1976 to fight Boer oppression from the class room. It was his legacy that motivated thousand to enroll into Umkhonto Wesizwe.
Yes, Mandela tenure as President washed away the lustre of his pre prison days. His days as a freedom fighter have been forgotten in favour pushing his message of forgiveness. Through praising that as Mandela greatest attribute, they’re undermining the efforts of courageous women who risk the wrath of the Boers as they transformed their leaving rooms into ANC meeting halls, their bed’s into young liberators hiding spots from the Boers and the young students who stood up during an era where the killing of Africans demanded less emotional responsibility than slaughtering a chicken.”
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These are the messages making rounds in South Africa that the world doesn’t get to see as they paint everyone with the same brush:
Quote:”Truly it hurts to be painted with the same brush, knowing that we oppose the inhumane actions that are being perpetrated against our brothers and sisters, however they have a right to be angry, and unfortunately it is South Africans doing these things, albeit a small percentage. From the outside looking in, the world cannot differentiate between the perpetrators and those that condemn these terrible acts, so we have no choice but to take collective responsibility.
But we have to keep pushing the message against these attacks, affirm through positive messages on social media, peace marches against this, and just continue speaking out against these attacks.”
Another quote”South Africa has not yet healed from the wounds of our past…we, as the youngest democracy on the continent sold ourselves as ‘the miracle rainbow nation’ that has moved on from a very violent past whereas the truth is that we are still captives of our masters. The only difference is that our current masters possess more melanin in their skins. The Apartheid system was never eradicated, it morphed. In our past, the population was set against each other where white was turned against black by instilling fear so that we never questioned the system. The Zulu were set against the Xhosa. Hostel dwellers against township twellers. Currently, people in power are setting SA citizens against foreign nationals that were welcomed into the country during the advent of democracy. This is to move attention from the REAL burning issue in our land…the fact that the promises that are continualy made by the ruling party during elections are not upheald & so a scape goat must be found to quel the rising disillusionment, resentment & rage of the masses. It is better for those in charge to blame foreign nationals for ‘taking our jobs’ as opposed to addressing the fact that they have failed to bridge the economic gap & have instead created Zuma millionare tenderpreneurs. They will continue to blame foreign nationals, apartheid, rhino poachers & so on all in the knowlege that the masses will never turn their rage towards them, but will turn their rage where it is directed. The truth of the matter is that SA is NOT the miracle dream child. SA has far deeper problems than what is being brought to light. Had violence not been insighted on forein nationals, it would have been insighted on something else. The tragedy here is that we have once again exposed our lack of rational thinking as a nation & have sent ourselves right back to the state of emergency. Foreign nationals are not the source of our problems here, WE ARE. We need to introspect & fix OURSELVES. I cannot apologise enough for the actions of my people, no words could ever be enough. All I can do is do my bit to rectify the fuckedupness that is my homeland so that less & less people think that any form of violence is the answer to anything. It will take a while for us to reconcile, but I believe that it will be done. Xolani bakwethu.”
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AMEN….AMEN……AMEN.
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Mahliphutha the attacks will be with us for many years to come! We just react when they begin but afterwards we never go back to the root cause and address it! Me and you talk abt the government and its failures in addressing things, we hold it accountable but come elections we vote driven by fear, we don’t vote for a strong opposition in the hope that they will challenge the ruling party and force it to begin to be accountable. We are emotionally blackmailed with memories of apartheid. Too much has happened but little has changed, in a few years we will be addressing this matter again unfortunately…
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How will equity between black and whites be created in south Africa. It pains my heart that the leaders of the south African people have not crafted a solution to this. All I see from this bold onslaught against foreign nationals especially Nigerians by the black Africans is a failure to deal with the inferiority buried deep in the skin of the average unenlightened black south African . Let the government balance the economy justly between the black and white south Africans. Nigerians are not your problem and can never be. The average black south African is unequipped and only has the choice of embracing poverty and the post -apartheid caste system . Let the ANC tell their people the truth and correct this misnomer.
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