KW 51/1

Moin zusammen,

immer mehr weiße südafrikanische Liberale, die sich aktiv für das Ende des Apartheid-Regimes eingesetzt haben, geben zu, dass sie einer Illusion erlegen sind:

The rainbow is a shattered mirror

Written by Breyten Breytenbach

…

After 1994, for a period, there was an inclusive will to unite around the dream of a new nationhood that could embody the morality of forgiveness and even perhaps mutual trust, but it quickly drifted into the sewer of betrayed expectations and predator politics, of fear and uninhibited greed, immorality and racism. Nothing was done to promote inclusiveness. How then could “healing” have taken place?

After the initial transitional phase of cohesiveness it quickly became clear that the One Nation as a promised land would be directed by hegemonic Black Nationalism and a deep desire to excise the past and rewrite history. In practice, the ruling party’s demand that “it is now our time, it is our turn to eat” – which manipulates nationalism based on skin colour as the last refuge of the scoundrel and a way to excise the past – means the ruthless enrichment of deployed cadres to the disadvantage of the remainder of the population.

This “disadvantage” – impoverishment and lack of service delivery – has now made the country hostage to crime and ethnic populism. And everyday reality makes it increasingly clear that it is expected of Afrikaners to transfer their skills, farms, schools, banking cards, shares, cell phones, arms, liquor, and gardening tools, quietly, in guilt, before they themselves disappear from Africa and history, and that they have no moral right to object to their fate.

...

Quelle 

Jetzt fangen die schwarzen Gangster auch noch an, ihren weißen Opfern die Augen auszustechen:

Brutal attack on eye surgeon

...

The couple's daughter, Hannelie Warren, said on Monday they also tried to gouge out her dad's eyes. The robbers apparently said they didn’t want him to see again and identify them to the police.

...

Quelle

KW 50/2

Moin zusammen.


Schauen wir heute einmal auf Südafrikas Nachbarn, Zimbabwe. Vor zehn Jahren konnte sich niemand auch nur im Entferntesten vorstellen, was heute Realität ist. Wenn sich nicht schnellstens etwas in Südafrika ändert, werden wir das in zwölf Jahren auch über Südafrika sagen. Wer wettet dagegen?

Absolute poverty, total tyranny – why are we still talking?


http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Written by The Zimbabwean
Wednesday, 09 December 2009 10:21
It is now ten years since the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy got underway
in earnest, writes EDDIE CROSS. It actually started in 1997. but only really
began to slide two years later when the effect of policy changes took root.
It is perhaps time that we looked back on this lost decade and ask ourselves
what sort of price have we paid?
The numbers are astonishing – if you assume an average potential growth of
five per cent in GDP over this decade, then the actual cost in terms of lost
GDP earnings is more than $76 billion. In human terms, life expectancies
have halved and over three million people have died at a younger age than
they would have died in the decade before. In human terms, the collapse has
been nothing short of a catastrophe – a third of our population has left the
country – nearly four million going to neighbouring states. About half a
million people have lost their jobs and nearly two million people displaced
internally.
Absolute poverty is now the norm, with average Zimbabweans receiving less
that a dollar a day on which to subsist – the international measure of
living below the level required for essential needs. This is confirmed by
the fact that over 70 per cent of the national population was being supplied
with their basic food needs at the beginning of this year.
On Sunday, I attended a meeting where I was told of an incident where a
woman encountered a man who was clearly insane wandering about a shopping
centre. She was told he was a former member of the security forces who had
been involved in torture. I understand there are thousands who are haunted
by the crimes they have committed under state direction.
The consequences of the genocide in many areas of Matabeleland have not been
addressed and remain a shadow over many communities. So too the effects of
Murambatsvina in 1995, when 1.2 million people were displaced by a state
campaign to force people back into the rural areas. Thousands died in the
aftermath and hundreds of thousands are still homeless.
All of these are the consequences of a political tyranny that has sought to
defend its hold on power and privilege. While the country slid into poverty
and collapse accompanied by joblessness, homelessness and despair, a small
minority who came to power in 1980, have become wealthy beyond their
imaginings. They shop in Dubai and Johannesburg and holiday on the ski
slopes of Europe. Their children go to the finest universities and schools
in the world. Many have homes in Zimbabwe that would do the wealthy in the
West proud.
They conduct a clever and professional campaign to cover up their crimes. In
offices in Toronto, London, Washington and Johannesburg, highly paid experts
counter the attempts by the victims in Zimbabwe to tell their stories.
Dozens of websites spew out their propaganda and people with false names
correspond across the globe.
Inside Zimbabwe, they are terrified of any independent sources of news and
information.
Attempts to reform the media and allow new broadcasting and TV channels have
been met with total resistance even though they agreed to the reforms in the
GPA.
Only 12 per cent of the reforms negotiated over two years under the
facilitation of SADC have been implemented in nine months of political
squabbling. No progress on democratic conditions for elections, no progress
on the rule of law, freedom of assembly and association, no progress on the
enforcement of contract law and respect for property rights, no progress on
media reform. Instead we are faced with a flood of propaganda about “pirate”
radio stations, “sanctions” (shopping restrictions) and “regime change”; as
if elections are not all about regime change by democratic means.
In place of real reform we continue to see harassment of the political
opposition, illegal arrests and prosecution, the use of the legal system,
(not for justice) as a mean of suppression.
Political violence continues across the country with thousands of militia
deployed and active, and communities fearful of a knock on the door at
midnight. We are waiting, like everyone, for some news of the discussions
that have been taking place over the past two weeks. These talks were not
about negotiations – they were about a timetable for implementing what all
the parties have already agreed and signed up to in the GPA. Why they have
taken so long is a mystery to me – what is there to talk about? They signed
up to the deal; all that remains is to get on with the job of implementing
the agreement and in full.
It is obvious that once again we in the MDC are being asked to compromise.
Quite frankly it is difficult to see any reason why we should. We won the
2008 election – hands down, we clearly control two-thirds of the country
through local authorities. Everyone knows full well that in a genuine
election with free and fair conditions that the opposition to the MDC would
be miniscule. We have suffered under a tyranny for 30 years. Believe me, we
are quite prepared to suffer for a bit longer if at the end we can elect a
leadership that we can trust with our future under a system that will allow
us to dismiss them if they fail us or abuse our trust. After all that is
what democracy is all about.

KW 50/1

Moin zusammen,


jetzt, wo alles für die WM gerüstet scheint, sollte man sich jedoch nicht von der vielleicht einsetzenden Vorfreude auf schönen Fußball mitreißen lassen, denn...

…an den realen Lebensbedingungen in Südafrika hat sich nicht geändert. Es hat sich auch nichts daran geändert, dass Berichte, wie der nachfolgende, von der englischsprachigen Presse überhaupt nicht erwartet werden können, da sie als „nestbeschmutzerisch“ aufgefasst werden können, und das wird von der Politik nicht so gern gesehen.

Robbers shoot at tourists


Another one of those small incidences of crime in South Africa, which is only reported in Afrikaans.




The question begs, why?


Below is a translation of the article.






Marloth Park, 2009-12-02


Buks Viljoen of Beeld newspaper reports that four elderly Dutch tourists were shot at enroute to their Marloth Park holiday cottage near the Kruger Wildlife Reserve and robbed of about R100,000’s worth of electronic equipment and personal documents.


Their rental car was hijacked and they were left stranded at the roadway in the pitch-dark. The attack happened at 20:30.


“It was a shocking incident but fortunately we are still alive,” said one victim, Robert Haagenaars, 66.


The group arrived on 23 November in South Africa for a countrywide tour.


Haagenaars, his wife Will Haagenaars-Segers (66), her sister Anna Segers (61) and her husband Aloysiun Verhoeven (62) were attacked at 20:30 in Plaston near the Kruger Park international airport.


Haagenaars said they had left the wildlife reserve through the Kruger gate and were enroute to the Marloth Park holiday-cottage resort via White River.


The armed gang started driving alongside the Dutch tourists in a white VW Golf and gestured for them too move over and stop.


When Verhoeven – who was driving – stepped on the gas pedal, the gangsters fired shots at them.


One of the bullets cracked open the front windshield, just missing Verhoeven’s hand and hitting the control panel,


Police later found three bullet-holes in the abandoned car, Beeld writes.


Verhoeven stopped and two armed black men jumped out and forced the four tourists from their Nissan vehicle.


“They shouted that they were looking for money,’ said Haagenaars.


After looting the Dutch of their valuables, the two armed men drove away with the Nissan and the VW Golf at high speed, back in the direction of the petrol station – leaving the tourists stranded next to the road.


They straggled to a farm house about 100m from the scene and sought help – and the police found the rental Nissan about 2km from the crime scene, abandoned next to the road.


The car had three bullet holes and police picked up a spent cartridge from a 9mm handgun at the scene.


The tourists lost all their belongings: cameras, cell phones, video cameras, handbags, wallets and personal documents.


This was the third time the Haagenaars visited South Africa. They were going to leave for Cape Town on Thursday, but will now remain in the Lowveld while they wait for another rental car and their replacement passports from the Dutch embassy.


They plan to return to the Netherlands on 18 December.


White River detective-captain Erhard Ströh said no-one has been arrested.


“Our investigation is hampered by the fact that there are no security cameras at the petrol station, ‘ said he.

Bezogen auf die WM sollte jeder Besucher sich darüber im Klaren sein, dass das größte Problem für ihn nicht die Sicherheit in den Stadien sein wird. Das größte Problem wird der sichere Transport zwischen der jeweiligen Unterkunft und dem Stadion sowie der Transport zwischen den Spielorten sein. Darüber hinaus finden die Spiele der deutschen Nationalmannschaft in Durban und Johannesburg ab 20.30 Uhr statt. Und das in einem Land, in dem Touristen davon abgeraten wird, nach Einbruch der Dunkelheit unterwegs zu sein.