I have been silent in the past two weeks. Why?
I AM ASHAMED OF MY COUNTRY!
Our country’s thugs have started murdering people not born here in a violent spate of Xenophobic attacks.
Our National Sunday Times front page shows the murder of Emmanual Sithole yesterday. A man from Mocambique. What did he do to deserve to die? He was born in another country!!!!!
This shocking state of affairs have cost the lives of 7 people so far. I would not be surprised if the actual figures are much higher.
THE Xenophobia started in Kwazulu Natal with some very unfortunate remarks by the Zulu king and a son of Jacob Zuma. Both these gents now say their words were taken out of context.
Fact of the matter is: South Africans are extremely violent people. With some exceptions to the rule.
And it sickens me to the core…
The violence against foreigners is happening in our cities. But what would I do if it starts flaring up in our town? The nearest foreigner owned shops are just around the corner from my home. Less than 200 meter away. In a sense they are my neighbours! What will I do if people start attacking them? If the barbarians start pouring petrol over the Pakistani businessman to set him alight?
it is an extreme moral question. Do you only use words to protest? Do you use violence to try and protect?
The fact is: I am shocked by the behaviour against fellow Africans. Yes, I am white, I have found that out in the maternity ward years ago- no choice in that. SO yes, I am African too, I was born here. I AM NOT A COLONIST-there is no other country that would “take me back” as a citizen. I have been to Europe a few times. I am not a European! I have much more in common with the Zulu and Sotho than the German and Dutch from where my ancestors came.
So, I state for the record that I am ashamed for our country’s hatred and violence against foreigners. I am angry that so many people get killed daily in our country. And that includes all forms of hatred. The killing of Emmanual Sithole and all other Mozambicans , Zimbabweans, Somali’s and Ethiopians who lost their lives here. AND the killing of my tribe on the farms, the police said 80% of farm attacks are done by Zimbabweans…
I HATE the hatred and the violence. I wish Africa could grow beyond race and all those other bounderies we have used to segregate people, to a new future of… a basic respect for one another as human beings would be a good enough start for now! 80% of South Africans identify themselves as Christian, and one of the most basic principles of Christianity is to treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. I do not see that in action around here!
So, people of Africa, FFS grow up! You choose to hate and kill. You can also choose not to…
The Rider 
Cry, yes, cry! The hatred has forced many to flee as well! I long for the country of my birth but I cannot take my family back because their lives are more important to me than sunshine! I long to return and to help make a difference but at what cost? Yes, cry… because the dark ages has not left the souls of so many! When that happens and light enters the place will change! Wees sterk broer.. die Here seen!
Sadly, this is why I too write less on my blog of my beloved South Africa. Ashamed and Horrified! Two words that dont mix well with Beauty and Blessed, and those of us who had and have that country to live in are blessed! Sad
The title of the way back book is now more relevant than ever – “Cry beloved Country”.
So true, newsy. 😦
Hello my Brother and colleague. I am so sorry for the tension currently facing there. I grew up in the Deep South of the U.S.A. and know all too well the damage of generational racial prejudice and hatred from both sides. However, I have also experienced the beauty of reconciliation and harmony that comes from the unity of the Spirit. Continue to proclaim the hope of the good news that Christ has abolished the divisions between us and God and between one another (Ephesians 2:1-22) “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household” (v.20). And as I preached yesterday, God has intended this good news to be demonstrated through His church “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:10) Any witness that is powerful enough to make it into the cosmos is powerful enough to be witnessed by those around us! Praying for you and your country!
Sadly there is racism and xenophobia and violence everywhere. I , too, wish that everyone could/would live by The Golden Rule, that of treating others as well as you would want to treated. I hear the cry in this post and I weep for you, for those whose lives are blighted, for those lost in the Mediterranean trying to leave their country, for those murdered in the name of religion and for all those with so much hate that they wish to do harm to their fellow humans.
“AND the killing of my tribe on the farms, the police said 80% of farm attacks are done by Zimbabweans…”
I find this difficult to believe.
The South African farm killings have been carrying on for decades, since long before Zimbabwe’s melt down and the subsequent migration of millions of Zimbabweans to the then ‘relative safety’ of South Africa – mostly to escape torture and brutal killings being perpetrated on them by their own government. The South African police cannot tell the truth by mistake and making statements such as these will only perpetuate the horrors of the current xenophobic attacks.
The brutality of the current attacks shock me to the core and has sent me into a spiraling depression. I cry for my people who have fled one brutal regime only to end up in a far more dangerous situation.
That the government is so slow in putting a stop to it all speaks volumes. IMO it’s all part of their agenda to keep the focus off their own thievery and ineptitude. To find a helpless scapegoat.
Sorry for the rant. I usually try to stay away from poilitics but this is a subject close to my heart. I too would be ashamed of my people if if was a South African.
Sadly this violence is worldwide…
I visited South Africa many times. It’s so sad hearing and seeing people died due to stupid reason, not only in RSA but also in other part of the world. Hope the peace will come soon…
Reblogged this on Uncle Spike's Adventures and commented:
I had intended to post about another pleasant African themed subject tonight, but after reading this, I thought twice. Even as we face turmoil and unrest in our country and our region in general, it seems dwarfed by the problems faced in other parts of the world. And for those in developed, settled countries, I’m sorry, but this may also shock you. May we join in sending our collective thoughts to our friends in SA.
SPIKE
I hope you stay safe. And, please, love thy neighbor; no matter how difficult thy neighbor may make it to do so.
I don’t pretend to understand how things have played out in South Africa since Apartheid was struck down, but I recall that we got a lot of white South African doctors in my province in my native Canada shortly after Nelson Mandela left office and his successors took the reigns. I’m told things went into a quick tailspin socially and in regards to infrastructure and services after the Mandela administration ended.
Basically, I’m told that those who took over from him have not stayed faithful to his visions and that the country is no longer on the road that he would have it on.
Hartseer en ontstellend
I am a black man not born in Africa, but with African roots. I feel for you when you say you, as a white African, born on her shores, hate the killing and the violence against those not born there. The depth of my knowledge concerning the atrocities connected to the policies of apartheid is not thorough, but I do know a bit about it and can’t help feeling at the root of what is currently happening in South Africa, this hatred against foreigners, well, you can see what I’m getting at?
I say it again; I am a black man with African roots who has yet to see the ‘motherland’ with my own eyes. My fondest wish for South Africa… for all Africa… perhaps for all places in the world where policies were put into place allowing hatred to breed unchecked is real dialogue begins to grow. My hope is people in South Africa and many other places experiencing the same phenomena come to realize… hate can only breed more hate.
From this understanding real communication and healing will have a chance to sprout seeds…
Thank you for your time and God Bless.
Thanks K’lee! We do have a very bad history in South Africa, and I can’t do anything to change history. But I firmly believe I do have a choice in how my part of the future’s story will look like. I have a choice to hate and kill, or be a man of peace towards all… Learn from history- and change the future… that is what I am trying to achieve through my life…
I respect you for this desire to make a better future, while acknowledging the errors of the past. I heard someone say, ‘It’s why steering wheels were invented- so we could say I was going the wrong way, let me correct that.’
Might I suggest a very small thing to you which I believe holds the potential for massive change in your present and future?
Never… and I do mean never allow yourself to use the word HATE again…
…just a thought?
God Bless
I really feel for you my friend. These are empty words I know, but as tensions steadily brew in our land with polarizing rhetoric dished out everyday, I kinda understand the picture. Keep safe. SPIKE
Thanks Spike! Last night I watched The Water Diviner with Russell Crowe in the lead, taking place in Turkey at Gallipolli- really had a yearning to visit beautiful Turkey once again! Wish the world had much less politics and much more tourism!
Indeed an excellent film, with a well-balanced cover of the events.