I am sure by now the whole world has seen our shame. So, there is no need to try and utter words I am too sad to express.
Beneath all the horror of the past days lies the deepest sense of shame that the people, most of them young men who were too young at the time of the struggle against apartheid to have any appreciation for the fact that our neighbours aided us and accommodated our cadres for decades when they were forced into exile, could do this.
Shattered lies the jewel of Africa...
Here is a link to a slide show. Please beware that these pictures are not fit for sensitive viewers.
http://www.24.com/media/news/Xenophobia_22_May/index.html
3 comments:
Krokodil
I heard about this on the news and immediately thought of you and your daughter. Is there no way to curb the violence? Forgive my ignorance, but what is the root cause for all this violence?
Take care.
Hi JD,
My heart is so broken over this that I am too numb to speak. The causes of this are so many and so complicated (like most things African these days it seems)that it is difficult to pinpoint one in general.
Our people are still poor and unemployed after 14 years of democracy during whick Thabo Mbeki and his cronies created a rich black middle class in stead of concentrating on reconstruction and development as they promised us they would. They dis not respect the Freedom Charter as they should have.
At the same time crises reigned in various other African nations and our authorities allowed these refugees to stream to SA unchecked and uncontrolled while our own people are almost 50% unemployed - these immigrants competed for the few jobs that are available and was prepared to work for a song and a loaf of bread. Our leaders felt we owe them because they accommodated us during the struggle when our cadres had to go into exile for 2 decades to fight apartheid from outside the borders of SA. In the process they didn't keep control of immigration and endangered both our own people and the refugees - a quarter of our population consists of illegal immigrants/refugees while SA herself has only limited resources. Thabo wanted to be the champion of Africa beyond his means.
There is also rumours that this was stirred by rival factions who try to undermine each other before our next election in 2009.
Thabo also waited to long to send the army in - he is more famous now for denial and procrastination than any other thing.
I think it is a combination of all these and many other things. The heartbreak, however, remains the same no matter what the cause.
"congratulations" mr Thabo Mbeki...you are a "great" leader....i hope he's clever enough to know i'm actually sarcastic...but never mind, he won't read here..
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