South Africa P.I.G.: XENOPHOBIA

Showing posts with label XENOPHOBIA. Show all posts

MOB JUSTICE - Innocent Man Bludgeoned to Death

Warning: This video contains graphic scenes of violence. Surrounded by a jeering mob, a 26-year-old Zimbabwean man was bludgeoned to death in Diepsloot, his horrifying final moments captured on a video that thrust South Africa's violence back into the international spotlight. This footage has never been released in South Africa, but made headlines in one of the world’s most influential newspapers. <iframe id="nyt_video_player" title="New York Times Video - Embed Player" height="373" marginheight="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/bcvideo/1.0/iframe/embed.html?videoId=100000000845074&playerType=embed" frameborder="0" width="480" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> Farai Kujirichita was still alive when a man in a white cap methodically destroyed his face and skull with a heavy wooden plank. He was probably dead or dying when another man grasped his belt and punched him repeatedly in the groin and a grinning teenage girl raised a large chunk of cement above her head. His "crime"? - Being Zimbabwean! His murder in January this year in Diepsloot - a community of 150 000 in northern Johannesburg, where instances of mob violence are commonplace and growing ever more so - was quickly forgotten. It would have remained that way but for a New York Times Magazine cover story last weekend and the grainy cellphone video of his final moments, excerpts from which were published for the first time on the paper's website. The article appeared just days after UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Jorge Bustamante, highlighted xenophobic attacks in South Africa and called on the government to implement more stringent hate crime legislation. The story of Kujirichita's killing made international headlines last week, including in newspapers in Zimbabwe, Taiwan and New Zealand. In Diepsloot, the killings continued. Two weeks ago, two Zimbabweans were kicked and beaten to death after being accused of robbery. In another incident, a suspected thief narrowly escaped with his life when police arrived just in time to prevent a mob from killing him. See full story here: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/magazine/watching-the-murder-of-an-innocent-man.html?_r=2&ref=magazine">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/magazine/watching-the-murder-of-an-innocent-man.html?_r=2&ref=magazine</a> <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Horror-of-a-mob-murder-20110612">http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Horror-of-a-mob-murder-20110612</a> <a href="http://www.news24.com/Galleries/Video/Videos/South%20Africa/Mob%20murder%20in%20Diepsloot/0210ab51d67e469f9b3cbae65c6d7394/Mob-murder">http://www.news24.com/Galleries/Video/Videos/South%20Africa/Mob%20murder%20in%20Diepsloot/0210ab51d67e469f9b3cbae65c6d7394/Mob-murder</a>

MOB JUSTICE - Innocent Man Bludgeoned to Death

Warning: This video contains graphic scenes of violence. Surrounded by a jeering mob, a 26-year-old Zimbabwean man was bludgeoned to death i...

1:42 PM

South Africa: 'Flawed Democracy' Slips in Governance Rankings

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzA1GFxrc6-RQcH2YQsEDdMMpedGSFeM-gJKebqARFbx1rkfPbtQqQGQchGP0wdtemeBiZjAW4LZdkLXpwAt_s4SBKxqkwtWRcCVe-F8cHj-Gt7a_oCIRtGTsDU0V4QXYZ8gPMNlF81HX/s1600-h/hello-africa-tell-me-how-we-doing.bmp"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417735727773054498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzA1GFxrc6-RQcH2YQsEDdMMpedGSFeM-gJKebqARFbx1rkfPbtQqQGQchGP0wdtemeBiZjAW4LZdkLXpwAt_s4SBKxqkwtWRcCVe-F8cHj-Gt7a_oCIRtGTsDU0V4QXYZ8gPMNlF81HX/s400/hello-africa-tell-me-how-we-doing.bmp" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 356px" /></a>Yarik Turianskyi and Steven Gruzd Which way is governance going on the African continent and particularly in South Africa? According to the newly released 2009 African Governance Report (AGR-II), put together by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, it seems that many of the continent’s newly-established democracies are suffering from an authoritarian hangover. Overall, progress is marginal at best and mixed, and worryingly, South Africa is sliding slowly down the ranks. South Africa has many internal problems that it seems not willing or able to solve, which bring into question its aspirations for leadership in governance in Africa. How much governance change can we really measure in four years? The answer is: not much. The AGR-II, which covers 32 African countries, states that compared to the findings of AGR-I in 2005, indicators on political representation, independence of the electoral process and power distribution remained flat across the continent as a whole, while on political party freedom and security the index reveals a one percent slide, and an increase of three percent on the rule of law as well as on the independence of civil society and the media. Overall, no dramatic shifts either way. In only three countries did more than half of the experts surveyed agree that the democratic framework is accepted by all social and political groups, suggesting that democracy has shallow roots. Limited respect for the rule of law and constitutionalism is evident in many African countries, and written rules are undermined by unwritten practices. How then, does South Africa stack up against its African counterparts? Truth be told, although it is consistently in the top 10 on AGR-II’s rankings, there are some rather worrying trends. In terms of acceptance of a democratic framework, South Africa ranks tenth, with less than 38 percent agreeing that such a framework is accepted by all. Furthermore, it is behind states like Sierra Leone and the Republic of Congo, which hardly epitomize democratic rule. South Africa is ranked at number seven on respect for the rule of law, with less than half the experts agreeing that there is adherence in the country. A similar percentage believes that the police and government always respect human rights in South Africa, placing it behind states like Benin and Morocco. On corruption, South Africa is ranked as the fifth least corrupt in the executive branch, but eighth in the judiciary and tenth in the legislative branch, coming in behind Malawi and Tunisia. The fact that South Africa, a leading state in Africa and one that often seeks to promote good governance and democracy in the rest of the continent, is not in pole position in these rankings is worrying. It is important to bear in mind that the AGR-II is mostly based on expert surveys, grounded in opinions and perceptions. One could therefore argue that surveying a different set of experts might have produced a very different report. Yet other international governance rankings support AGR-II’s findings. The country has been slowly losing ground. According to a November 2009 report published by the Democratic Alliance, <blockquote>South Africa has dropped 10 places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions index; five spots in the African Governance Index; 24 places on the Global Peace Index; and two places in the Index of Democracy, which also classified it as a “flawed democracy</blockquote> These figures should ring alarm bells. South Africa faces many governance challenges. These were highlighted in the country’s 2007 African Peer Review Mechanism report, and include “unemployment rates; capacity constraints and poor service delivery; poverty and inequality; land reform; violence against women and children; HIV/Aids pandemic; corruption; crime; racism and xenophobia; and, managing diversity.” Combined with the fact that South Africa has been making international and African headlines for all the wrong reasons lately (corruption trials of high-standing public figures, xenophobic attacks, refusal of a visa to the Dalai Lama, accusations of abuse of state organs), sinking rankings negatively affect its international image. With all the plethora of governance reports, indices, monitoring frameworks and tracking tools in Africa, one can only wonder why governance on the continent is not improving at a faster rate. While the AGR-II tells us little that’s new, it echoes what is being said by others: governance in Africa is variable and South Africa is doing worse than it used to. Although a long way from catastrophic, this trajectory is going the wrong way. If South Africa wants to be a continental leader in governance matters and help others, it first needs to get its own house in order. It is important that the Zuma administration tries to turn this trend around.

South Africa: 'Flawed Democracy' Slips in Governance Rankings

Yarik Turianskyi and Steven Gruzd Which way is governance going on the African continent and particularly in South Africa? According to the ...

8:49 AM

Cape refugees 'cheated UN'

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhewNdMOaqp9DosbERCMX1j7b0c5i-GXntqUDYychGzAL0tGBPssrdVE0J6-bnH1dN5lgSFnP3-L9-PTrxjr3AX-hSBt9s_1Wem5BgAJ9lnnQzah4kK3dVqbFML-nRKsNaYISgp8tCSq7VV/s1600-h/xenophobia01.bmp"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340193464176107378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhewNdMOaqp9DosbERCMX1j7b0c5i-GXntqUDYychGzAL0tGBPssrdVE0J6-bnH1dN5lgSFnP3-L9-PTrxjr3AX-hSBt9s_1Wem5BgAJ9lnnQzah4kK3dVqbFML-nRKsNaYISgp8tCSq7VV/s400/xenophobia01.bmp" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 233px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a>Why are we not surprised? Fooled by deceit, manipulation, and bullshit. Help these scavengers and they stab you in the back. They were given shelter, food, electricity, hospital treatment, even court lifelines were set up for them. From the beginning of June to September last year, the city had spent more than R120 million on catering for the displaced foreigners and this is how they repay you for having an interest in their safety and future. These parasites have done nothing but complain, always 'unhappy' about what was provided for them. 'Unhappy?' show them 'unhappy', bring on the pangas, chop them up, burn them! Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Give them a finger and they take an arm! The UN is getting its just deserts. Go home kwere kwere, fokof kaffir! <a class="newshead" href="http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=318377" target="_parent">City urges court: Kick out xenophobia cheats</a> Some xenophobia refugees in Cape Town cheated the United Nations of relief funds in 2008, according to an affidavit filed in the Cape High Court. The affidavit, by city housing director Hans Smit, forms the basis of an application for the eviction of just under 400 people from the Bluewaters safety site on the Cape Flats. They are the last refugees remaining on city-owned property. Smit said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had given financial assistance to people displaced by 2008's wave of xenophobic violence, for relocation or reintegration in the communities they left. This had been R1 500 for single people, and R3 000 for families of more than one person, paid in instalments. The payments were made to "DFNs" (displaced foreign nationals) only when they left the city-run safety camps. "Shortly after the implementation of the scheme it was discovered that it was being abused by some DFNs who, by altering their names, fraudulently procured the payment of allowances to them repeatedly," Smit said. "In addition, it was discovered that some DFNs were returning to live in the camps even after they had collected their relocation allowances." When this emerged, administration of the payments was taken away from the staff of the Cape Town Refugee Centre, an NGO, and transferred to the city's camp managers. The eviction application lists 236 refugees at Bluewaters by name, and asks for an order against them as well as anyone else living there. City spokesperson Pieter Cronje said the names listed on the order were those of the adults. Children brought the number at the site to 397. Smit said in his affidavit that the city gave them notice in October 2008 it wanted them off the property, meant to be a holiday camp for members of the public. About 20 000 displaced people had already been reintegrated into the communities they had been living in, but the Bluewaters group had "steadfastly refused to move". He said that by refusing to reintegrate or relocate, they were trying to gain an unfair advantage over people on the city's housing waiting list, which had a backlog of 400 000. Giving them houses would set a bad precedent, he said. From the beginning of June to September 2008, the city had spent more than R120-million on catering for the displaced foreigners, Smit said.

Cape refugees 'cheated UN'

Why are we not surprised? Fooled by deceit, manipulation, and bullshit. Help these scavengers and they stab you in the back. They were give...

9:31 AM

The New Apartheid

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8mAFR_euQ_dFGY_vQ2RP0P3GTQuf8ZY1y-RwYioETU2uQuK0ToiygzGpwsuspLm6CFkFOpQtBj_vffP8e2iV8NmC-6nz_qbtC1ii9YkYHu-3qkZeMl1RBiQzDtvw9IEj8NH-tPxI3deug/s1600-h/2509406853_1bac59ba38_m.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215403555717166274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8mAFR_euQ_dFGY_vQ2RP0P3GTQuf8ZY1y-RwYioETU2uQuK0ToiygzGpwsuspLm6CFkFOpQtBj_vffP8e2iV8NmC-6nz_qbtC1ii9YkYHu-3qkZeMl1RBiQzDtvw9IEj8NH-tPxI3deug/s400/2509406853_1bac59ba38_m.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>K-words are still alive (anti-xenophobia posters found on Flickr) <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV3VCG0JnTlqmDbhMo7ti_JXRHKC5uxGUv1GgCpXL4PgAWS085Q-bGEbbRttm-ig1EOcovi6ZbpCs4RgjUKutoeZ5EvwZvBqfqDbN961YC2SrLzXCIqv7a6GN-haPgx5GgidhFDyabGtNJ/s1600-h/2509406853_1bac59ba38_m.jpg"></a>“Our problem is political. We were told before Polokwane last year that the time has come for kwerekweres (foreigners) to go back home. Before that foreigners were killed during the security-industry strike two years ago. Somalis were attacked and killed."MaKwerekwere is the derogatory onomatopoeic word black South Africans use for foreigners. The biggest defense for the racism of South Africa's black people is the racism of South Africa's ANC government! 'The signs were there in 2004' President Thabo Mbeki insisted that he had no prior warning of xenophobic violence, even though a group of refugees said they repeatedly wrote letters to Mbeki, the ANC and Cosatu alerting the government to the growing ill-treatment of foreigners in South Africa. One of the letters, written by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) citizen Deo Kabemba Ngulu to ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe, reads, in part: “We’re asking you to recognise that there is a crisis between us and the people electing the government ... The authorities must protect us because we are under threat.” Below is an incredible three part documentary made two years ago by Channel 4 UK. Startling in fact. And in the context of what has happened recently - the xenophobic eruption - even more compelling viewing. Part 1 <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rlrTtc50PR0&hl=en"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rlrTtc50PR0&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Part 2 <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GK20uHWTGdQ&hl=en"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GK20uHWTGdQ&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Part 3 <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gitr8KtuLPc&hl=en"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gitr8KtuLPc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

The New Apartheid

K-words are still alive (anti-xenophobia posters found on Flickr) “Our problem is political. We were told before Polokwane last year that t...

5:43 PM

ANC’s failed policies

This report includes graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised. <object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/w61uQTBYQA8&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/w61uQTBYQA8&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> What caused the terrible scenes unfolding in South Africa today: children beaten and displaced, women raped and men left with pieces of flesh hanging from their faces, homeless and hungry and desperate?What led to a situation where young men were unashamed to stand in front of television cameras and say they will kill foreigners?We should not be surprised. For the ANC, led by Zuma and Mbeki, the chickens are coming home to roost.A cocktail of factors, mixed by the ANC over the past 10 years, is responsible for the barbarism.These people are behaving like barbarians because the ANC has failed — despite numerous warnings — to act on burning issues that are well known for having sparked similar eruptions across the globe.This cocktail is made up of stubborn denialism on Zimbabwe, an increasingly incompetent and corrupt police service, poor service delivery and corruption in government departments.The crime-does-pay culture fostered by the ANC — criminals such as the Travelgate fraudsters walk away scot-free — is a central ingredient of the cocktail.But the bulk of the cocktail comprises the failed state that is Zimbabwe. The country’s economy has collapsed. Its political leaders, security services and agents are looting the treasury. Zimbabweans are fleeing.When a state fails, crime goes through the roof. Corruption, characterised by bribery at every turn, becomes the norm. Crucially, crime is exported across the borders of the failed state to neighbouring states.The Mbeki government’s refusal to even acknowledge the crisis in Zimbabwe has resulted in as many as 3-million Zimbabweans walking the streets of South Africa.If Mbeki and his deputy president, Zuma, had acted decisively on Zimbabwe nine years ago, when they were told repeatedly by fellow leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Durban to do so, these Zimbabweans would not be here today.Mbeki’s resolute refusal to address the crisis in Zimbabwe — and his friendship with President Robert Mugabe — has brought them here. His block-headedness is directly responsible for the eruption of xenophobia.Add to the cocktail the fact that the SA Police Service has become so incompetent and overstretched there is no way that any of the perpetrators of the past week’s atrocities will be brought to book.Ordinary citizens predicted last week that these riots would spread to the Joburg CBD. When violence erupted downtown on Saturday night, the police were unprepared.The police have no intelligence- gathering capacity and can hardly explain what is happening today, let alone contain it.Their failure is rooted in the fact that many of them are taking bribes from foreign refugees anxious to avoid being deported.Their incompetence is also responsible for the culture — entrenched during the Mbeki-Zuma regime — that crime goes unpunished. After all, these marauding hordes know that Mbeki protected his crony, Jackie Selebi, for years.There is no respect for the law. These hordes can rape and loot without fear of arrest, let alone prosecution.The endemic corruption among government officials is an integral part of the cocktail. There is so much corruption in the construction and allocation of government housing that resentment, misplaced or not, is inevitable.There are no quick fixes to this mess. The removal of Mbeki, as suggested by Mathews Phosa, is not a solution. The problem is that the ANC’s policies have failed.In the short term it would be an idea for the incompetent minister of safety and security, Charles Nqakula, to get his charges to come down harder on perpetrators. Better intelligence-gathering, including the early identification of potential trouble-makers, would help.Government leaders such as Mbeki should visit the communities afflicted by this xenophobia, instead of issuing condemnations from Mozambique.In the long term, some cool heads, efficiency and moral fibre would help. But asking that of the ANC today is asking a little bit too much. These are the same people who are disbanding the Scorpions. Asking them to act in the interests of the country, and not their own narrow interests, is useless.

ANC’s failed policies

This report includes graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised. What caused the terrible scenes unfolding in South Africa today: childre...

4:22 PM

'Necklace' lynching returns to South Africa

'Necklace' lynching returns to South Africa

11:58 AM

Xenophobia: Is it too late?

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_3U6LP020kE-2LHkEA4TjbzsihoFzXYj-aBo7se5n-EIFOl23E8uMKWBDWatLznyFtIylov7-d5omDhe28CuiQimg7nwE7JM5HpnsYGu5m9dIS7cBjdhyphenhyphenjZbHeEo6PJzUVgitRmLJfc1/s1600-h/StopIllegalAlienInvasion.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204471056656575906" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_3U6LP020kE-2LHkEA4TjbzsihoFzXYj-aBo7se5n-EIFOl23E8uMKWBDWatLznyFtIylov7-d5omDhe28CuiQimg7nwE7JM5HpnsYGu5m9dIS7cBjdhyphenhyphenjZbHeEo6PJzUVgitRmLJfc1/s320/StopIllegalAlienInvasion.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The senseless xenophobic slaughter in Alexandra could have been averted a very long time ago, had public representatives played an honest role and played open cards with citizens. There are various reasons for the unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants into South Africa - from Eastern Europe, Israel, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, many parts of West Africa, and all over the SADC countries. Some have fled because of political unease, religious tension, starvation and the search for the proverbial greener pastures. <div> The ANC government allowed millions of foreigners into the country, especially from the African continent. The rationale was that many African countries had given South African exiles succour during the times of apartheid tyranny. So, in effect, the new government was paying back these countries.</div><div> But the new government was also supposed to contend with more immediate and pressing matters at home: past wrongs had to be redressed, infrastructure had to be strengthened and extended to those the apartheid regime had deliberately marginalised, the housing and health sectors had to be improved, and more and better sanitation and water facilities had to be provided. Electricity had to be supplied to millions of new households.</div><div> Such a mammoth infrastructural upgrade, taking in large communities across the country, could not cope at the best of times; with countless millions of immigrants, for whom zero provision had been made, there just was no way in which the country would cope.</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div>Adding to the malaise, the immigrants brought along with them some unsavoury and unacceptable practices: many were drug pushers, thieves and fraudsters (read many Nigerians), and Pakistanis, in particular, "married" local women fraudulently, with the active connivance and co-operation of corrupt officials of the local home affairs department.</div><div> The newcomers, in most instances, were better educated than the average black South African. Many had entrepreneurial skills, which our people simply lacked, and the relative ease with which they appeared to start small and medium-sized businesses was bound to leave the sour taste of jealousy in the mouth.</div><div> In many poorer and less sophisticated communities - such as the North West villages of Mafikeng, Sannieshof, Delareyville, Ditsobotla and Mooidorpie - Pakistanis and Somalis, mainly, took over non-performing shops and displaced the original owners. That was viewed in a very dim light by the affected communities, and latent xenophobia was stoked to the surface.</div><div> This week's Alexandra uprisings were just a further manifestation of the simmering hatred. The foreigners are being accused of stealing jobs from locals and contributing to the high prices of food and other commodities.</div><div> The government's abject failure to address the uncontrolled entry into South Africa is chiefly to blame, and the arrogance of many foreigners doesn't help either.</div><div> The way things look, it may be wishful thinking to imagine that somehow the phenomenon of uncontrolled immigration can be capped. </div>

Xenophobia: Is it too late?

The senseless xenophobic slaughter in Alexandra could have been averted a very long time ago, had public representatives played an honest ro...

8:16 AM

War On Our Streets

War On Our Streets

Police say at least 22 people have been killed in South Africa's city of Johannesburg since the violence first erupted a week ago in a w...

12:04 PM

Flames of Hate

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUshJ18YTr1lJ4KtsOUu1zHuH6HJYRKWYHHbKumnHehnBS_kw8qlvNlyTTqmAZfnumXNxjBaJlXUqpQplE8htuS80x2qbdQnL3zcZtGTnc4oxX9Zp7dYNBtL2jNQkQN3-8qQ6eeKD1Fvp/s1600-h/510de796.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202202162159012386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUshJ18YTr1lJ4KtsOUu1zHuH6HJYRKWYHHbKumnHehnBS_kw8qlvNlyTTqmAZfnumXNxjBaJlXUqpQplE8htuS80x2qbdQnL3zcZtGTnc4oxX9Zp7dYNBtL2jNQkQN3-8qQ6eeKD1Fvp/s320/510de796.gif" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> If you have been labouring under the misconception that this murder, rape, assault, thuggery, robbery and brutality (hiding behind Xenophobia) was a million miles away, this weekends violence in Central Johannesburg was a huge wake up call for most. The streets and flat lands of Johannesburg exploded this weekend. <div> <div> <div> <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202204520096057922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTfXqLRIaxe9yrAmD5Eq44RsUDwPxMvwSadeaDFjXWtr7mRZxh7B4bQuK8WA8c_GOSXWE3yUbFBYQf8QBbIM9fJGO8PyIp8Byig_tO-bQQbnL8Dw-rQ1ylUvvwJelXgdZFO4g-zOjP1iK/s320/7334c59c.gif" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" />At least 13 people died this weekend, hundreds were injured and thousands displaced in what has brought back memories of the worst of years long forgotten by many of us. It is difficult not to sympathise with people who feel that the spiralling crime, housing shortages and high food costs are a result of our almost non existent border controls and for the government it must, at least from a PR point of view, be more preferable that the foreigners and not their own short comings and policies be blamed for the woes that have befallen their constituents </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdsVP_T7GFJk1o5k7jSDOBGvROjOmLSA4RoVOSAWvDTjf8KCMqnOebT3JTM4LWcs2viSC6n9nGxZYDzcrv3Z91bSNvZk4G13EVjIv7Dn9M9X04KORWDvBq-ie9iBMPPIFHCu-V_5WihBD/s1600-h/9488ae60.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202201861511301650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdsVP_T7GFJk1o5k7jSDOBGvROjOmLSA4RoVOSAWvDTjf8KCMqnOebT3JTM4LWcs2viSC6n9nGxZYDzcrv3Z91bSNvZk4G13EVjIv7Dn9M9X04KORWDvBq-ie9iBMPPIFHCu-V_5WihBD/s320/9488ae60.gif" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> But nobody could have anticipated the level of violence and anarchy that has descended. The police seem unable to stem the flow and leaders making speeches behind television cameras and large desks are having no impact. Our presidents call for calm will have about as much effect as mine. What is needed right now is troops on the ground! Police, Army or even the friggin Navy who have nothing to do but polish those submarines we bought with the billions of rands that could have been ploughed into housing and job creation.<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFqumMSSez8ISlSWTlClx-CCKQ4nlVV3US_MsKArZyee5uAN_Tl6PSgJEpG3iDrtyVqyretU3S8fKHG8oMEfY4YUxmwfb60Fq9E9bDlbCGxtCCG7Rf4oRv9dy6AMIy1SNph1Sm-yQbpjPO/s1600-h/a9229517.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202203429174364722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFqumMSSez8ISlSWTlClx-CCKQ4nlVV3US_MsKArZyee5uAN_Tl6PSgJEpG3iDrtyVqyretU3S8fKHG8oMEfY4YUxmwfb60Fq9E9bDlbCGxtCCG7Rf4oRv9dy6AMIy1SNph1Sm-yQbpjPO/s320/a9229517.gif" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> </div>Stem the violence first and then start making speeches about what changes we can expect (and make them quickly, the elections are close). Foreigners surfing the net for accommodation and restaurants for 2010 must be having second thoughts, must be wondering whether they will be subjected to the same violence? How do we explain to them “Not to worry we only kill Zimbabweans, cause they took our homes and jobs!” <div> </div>Now if you are feeling up to visit <a href="http://multimedia.thetimes.co.za/photos/2008/05/flames-of-hate/" target="_blank" title="Flames Of Hate">FLAMES OF HATE</a>. This pictorial essay of violence this weekend is available from The Times and the pictures displayed here are from the essay. WARNING - The images are extremely graphic and viewer discretion is advised. <a href="http://multimedia.thetimes.co.za/photos/2008/05/flames-of-hate/" target="_blank" title="Flames Of Hate">FLAMES OF HATE</a></div></div>

Flames of Hate

If you have been labouring under the misconception that this murder, rape, assault, thuggery, robbery and brutality (hiding behind Xenophob...

2:12 PM

South Africa P.I.G.