Wednesday 25 June 2008

Mandela - The Legend and the Legacy. Part 2


In the second of two articles examining the life of Nelson Mandela, in advance of Friday's concert in Hyde Park celebrating the living legend's 90th birthday, I shall look at his legacy and the new South Africa which he created after coming to power on a surge of worldwide optimism and hope in 1994, when, following the end of Apartheid, he and his followers promised a new dawn for what became termed the Rainbow Nation.

Today South Africa stands out as one of the most dangerous and crime ridden nations on Earth which is not actively at War. In 2001, only seven years after the end of Apartheid, whilst the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands with 5,6 murders per 100,000 population was declared the "murder capitol of Europe", Johannesburg, with 61.2 murders per 100,00 population and remains the world's top murder city.

In South Africa as a whole, the murder rate is seven times that of America, in terms of rape the rate is ten times as high and includes the ugly phenomenon of child rape, one of the few activities in which South Africa is now a world leader. If you don't believe me, you can read what Oprah Winfrey has to say about it here.

All other forms of violent crime are out of control, and Johannesburg is among the top world cities for muggings and violent assault, a fact seldom mentioned in connection with the 2010 World Cup which is scheduled to be hosted in South Africa.

As always with black violence the primary victims are their fellow blacks, however, the rape, murder and violent assault of whites is a daily event, and there is more ...

As with the Matabeleland massacres, news of which the BBC, together with much of the world media suppressed for twenty years to protect their one time hero, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, another secret genocide is being ignored by the world media, the genocide of white Boer farmers, thousands of whom have been horribly tortured to death in their homes since the end of Apartheid. Anyone who clicks on this link should we warned that it includes some very gruesome images as the savagery of these attacks belie the authorities attempts to dismiss them as nothing more than a "crime wave".

Given that it is now all but illegal in South Africa to report the race of either victim or the perpetrator of a crime (unless the perpetrator is white and the victim black) and as modern South Africa's official crime statistics are notoriously massaged, it is impossible to know the exact numbers of farm murders that have taken place. Many reliable sources estimate the figure as close to 3,000, but even if we take the more conservative figure of 1,600 quoted in the politically correct South African press (but not quoted at all in ours) this is three times the numbers killed by the South African security forces over a period of 43 years, and which the UN calls a crime against humanity.

To put this in perspective, the population of South Africa is 47 million, (13 million less than Britain despite its far greater land mass) of which the 4.3 million whites account for 9.1%, about 1% less than the immigrant population of Britain. Can you imagine the outcry if 1,600 (let alone 3,000) members of a minority community in Britain were tortured to death by the native population?.

Yet when the victims are white, there is hardly a peep in the South African press and silence from the international media. Compare this to when a white youth is the killer, such as in the case of Johan Nel, who shot three Africans, a story which became instant world wide news with the predictable screams of racism and machete wielding mobs baying for his blood.

(And they accuse us of hate?!! Don't such people nauseate themselves with their hypocrisy?!)

Crime aside, Mandela and his ANC inherited the strongest economy in Africa, indeed, despite economic sanctions, South Africa was still one of the richest world nations, and indeed initially there was a brief post Apartheid boom, resulting from the lifting of sanctions and due to the fact that until affirmative action forced most of the whites out of their jobs to be replaced by under qualified blacks, those who had built South Africa were still in place.

However, any optimism was to be short lived. Now, after just 14 years of rule by Mandela and his grim successor Mbeke, corruption is rife, the country is beset with power cuts and the infrastructure is crumbling.

The nation's great cities like Durban and Johannesburg, which could once rival the likes of Sydney, Vancouver and San Francisco, had descended in to decaying crime ridden slums within a decade.

And in the last few weeks we have seen the so called Rainbow nations ultimate humiliation, as xenophobic anti immigration violence spreads across the country. (“xenophobic” is what the media call racism when blacks do it) As poverty and unemployment explodes and is exacerbated by the floods of immigrants flooding in to escape the even more advanced Africanisation of the rest of the country, the mobs turn on those they blame for stealing their jobs, their homes, and their women.

Thus the cycle turns, and, like watching some barbaric version of “back to the future", on the news we see exactly the same scenes we saw on our televisions twenty years ago, wrecked buildings, burning vehicles, mobs brandishing machetes, axes and knives hacking at everything and everyone which comes within their reach. Most horrific of all, we see the return of that most savage symbol of African brutality, the necklace where, to the cheers of a blood thirsty crowd, some poor trembling soul, with a tire around his neck, is dragged from his home and set alight, exactly as all those other poor souls were set alight throughout the Apartheid years, when we were told it was all the evil white man's fault.

As nothing else the return of the necklace exposes the failure of Mandela's revolution, and those who fought for him should weep.

Under Apartheid, blacks and whites went to separate hospitals but they received world class health care, whatever their colour, now the facilities are collapsing or non-existent. Black children went to different schools than white children, but they received an education, something which is now a privileged luxury. When they grew up, their bosses may have been white, but they had jobs and a living wage, as the recent violence shows us, such security is but a memory for most South Africans.

Eighteen years after Nelson and Winnie made their historic walk towards the cameras, and 14 years, since Mandela assumed power on a tide of optimism, a once proud South Africa slides like a crumbling, crime ridden, wreck towards a precipice created though greed, corruption and incompetence.

For all his gleaming smiles, grandfatherly hand gestures, and folksy sound bites, tomorrow night, when crowd cheers the retired terrorist in the gaudy shirt, they would do best not to focus too closely upon his much admired legacy, as they might just find that the Xhosan Emperor has no clothes. For Nelson Mandela's lasting achievement is that, in the face of a wold wishing him well, he, and the party he leads, have shown the world that, for all its flaws, Apartheid was a more benign system than what replaced it, and that the average South African was immeasurably better off under the hated white rule than they are under the alternative which black rule has created.

That is quite an achievement, Mr Mandela, happy birthday.
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Click here for Part one
or back to the Home page
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These articles was also posted as a single article at the back up blog Sarah Maid of Albion II. As with the articles posted here, the single attracted a significant number of comments, in addition to those posted here, many were positive, but also some were negative. Those who wish to read the further comments can do so by clicking here.

33 comments:

bernard said...

Well written Sarah.

When I flew out to Zim, I got into conversation with a white South African passenger. She told me that some 20 families a week were leaving Jo'burg then. That was in 1999- god knows what it is now!

alanorei said...

Excellent post, Sarah, thanks

One thing that was so obvious on Mandela's release most commentators at the time seem to have overlooked it.

That was how fit and well Mandela looked, especially considering his age, over 60, after having spent 27 years in an African gaol, and having been convicted as a terrorist.

He even received good hospital treatment while inside, I believe.

I don't think this would have been possible in any other part of the continent at that time.

So just how 'evil' was Apartheid, one wonders?

Anonymous said...

Well. Frankly I'm astounded at how well this post was written. I'm really pleased to see that at least some people in the UK are starting to wake up to the realities of SA. Congratulations.

Anonymous said...

Mandela: Speaking to reporters after singing to kill whites

Anonymous said...

Excellent article !

mianwil said...

Sarah,
I spend a lot of time reading comments by South Africans living in South Africa. This is the first time I have actually read somebody's web site who sees the picture clearly from the outside.
keep up the good work, maybe the world will at last start to notice what is going on there.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Sarah. If a South African had written this it would have been labelled 'racism'.

Unfortunately, what the world was conditioned to believe of 'apartheid' was the civil war that existed in South Africa as a result of the ANC's declared 'armed struggle' and their aim to make the townships ungovernable (and of course the heavy handed militaristic response made by a ruling power that was easy to demonise because of their heavy accents and laager type mentality).

The violence and thuggery of the movement lead by Mandela seems to be inherent in the African psyche as seen in the innumerable conflicts in post colonial Africa and is an inverse proportiion to the success of their governments.

By ignoring it, the Western press is silently endorsing it, and, like with a child, no boundaries are set as to what is or is not acceptable behaviour.

If every vicious kleptocratic thug that has ever lead an African nation knew in no uncertain terms that his behaviour was going to be punished by the Hague with an extremely long and uncomfortable stay in a cold sparse room, there would be fewer African failures.

There are always two sides to a story and, at last, more and more people are beginning to find out about the unsavoury side of Mr Mandela and his Marxist organisation, and see what can happen to a country under their mismanagement. Despite all that, Mandela remains a charismatic and likeable figure which can surely benefit the African cause by drawing attention to its problems.

Anonymous said...

Good article Sarah,

Sadly, I believe it's too late for South Africa and the next Zimbabwe is only a few years away. South Africa will be a lot bloodier though with many tribes wanting to call the shots, mainly the Zulus & the Xhosa tribes.

Any prospective reader that does not believe the author, come visit South Africa and be sure to go to the Apartheid Museum. You will get a glimpse of the urban terror that the ANC orchestrated in South Africa before 1994. Just be careful and don't carry too much cash, it's dangerous Joburg.

Thanks again fair Maid of Albion!

Anonymous said...

I cry as I read this.. not because I'm sad about the nasty things you said about Mandela.. rather because what you said is so achingly true! I am forced to leave this wonderful country that my ancestors worked so hard to create for me and my children. How can anyone understand what a hard decision it was to make for an african born and bred afrikaans farm girl. I love so many things about South Africa.. but at some point I looked at a 'joyful' New Years crowd of people and after years of equalising (they now arrived in fancy cars and were no longer bussed in) this crowd threatened everything i held dear. I will miss Africa with my whole being, I will long for it for many years to come still! BUT as a mother I have to keep my children's safety, education and future prospects in mind. And sadly staying in South Africa guarantee that ALL of those will be under constant threat. I hope I can keep alive the "Barefoot across the Drakensberg" Pionering spirit of my Great Great Grandparents! In years to come.. maybe when they have distroyed it all, my kids can comeback once again and make somehing of this wholesome land!

Cosa said...

I am a South African. South Africa has been pushed over the precipe of of choas. It is only a matter of time before South Africa will join its northern neighbour, Zimbabwe, as laughing stock of the world.

And "apartheid" is the cause of all evil!

Last week our national police force, the SAPS, was in a gun battle with the Metropolitan Police Force of Johannesburg. The Metro police was on an unlawful strike for better wages, and blocked some highways around Johannesburg.

Cosa said...

Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
29 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad cheques
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
373 in total or approximately 70%
Can you guess which organization this is?
Give up yet?
its the 535 members of the SOUTH AFRICAN PARLIAMENT -
(The same group that cranks out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line!)

Cosa said...

"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." George Orwell, 1984

WHY I'M FLEEING SOUTH AFRICA
by Anne Paton (widow of Alan Paton)
(London Sunday Times)

I am leaving South Africa. I have lived here for 35 years, and I shall leave with anguish. My home and my friends are here, but I am terrified.

I know I shall be in trouble for saying so, because I am the widow of Alan Paton. Fifty years ago he wrote Cry, The Beloved Country. He was an unknown schoolmaster and it was his first book, but it became a bestseller overnight. It was eventually translated into more than 20 languages and became a set book in schools all over the world. It has sold more than 15
million copies and still sells 100,000 copies a year.

As a result of the startling success of this book, my husband became famous for his impassioned speeches and writings, which brought to the notice of the world the suffering of the black man under apartheid.

He campaigned for Nelson Mandela's release from prison and he worked all his life for black majority rule. He was incredibly hopeful about the new South Africa that would follow the end of apartheid, but he died in 1988, aged 85. I was so sorry he did not witness the euphoria and love at the time of the election in 1994. But I am glad he is not alive now. He would have been so distressed to see what has happened to his beloved country.

I love this country with a passion, but I cannot live here any more. I can no longer live slung about with panic buttons and gear locks. I am tired of driving with my car windows closed and the doors locked, tired of being afraid of stopping at red lights. I am tired of being constantly on the alert, having that sudden frisson of fear at the sight of a shadow by the gate, of a group of youths approaching - although nine times out of 10 they are innocent of harmful intent. Such is the suspicion that dogs us all.

Among my friends and the friends of my friends, I know of nine people who have been murdered in the past four years. An old friend, an elderly lady, was raped and murdered by someone who broke into her home for no reason at all; another was shot at a garage.

We have a saying, "Don't fire the gardener", because of the belief that it is so often an inside job - the gardener who comes back and does you in.

All this may sound like paranoia, but it is not without reason. I have been hijacked, mugged and terrorised. A few years ago my car was taken from me at gunpoint. I was forced into the passenger seat. I sat there frozen. But just as one man jumped into the back and the other fumbled with the starter I opened the door and ran away. To this day I do not know how I did this. But I got away, still clutching my handbag.

On May 1 this year I was mugged in my home at three in the afternoon. I used to live in a community of big houses with big grounds in the countryside. It's still beautiful and green, but the big houses have been knocked down and people have moved into fenced complexes like the one in which I now live. Mine is in the suburbs of Durban, but they're springing up everywhere.

That afternoon I came home and omitted to close the security door. I went upstairs to lie down. After a while I thought I'd heard a noise, perhaps a bird or something. Without a qualm I got up and went to the landing; outside was a man. I screamed and two other men appeared. I was seized by the throat and almost throttled; I could feel myself losing consciousness. My mouth was bound with Sellotape and I was threatened with my own knife (Girl Guide issue from long ago) and told: "If you make a sound, you die." My hands were tied tightly behind my back and I was thrown into the guest room and the door was shut. They took all the electronic equipment they could find, except the computer. They also, of course, took the car.

A few weeks later my new car was locked up in my fenced carport when I was woken by its alarm in the early hours of the morning. The thieves had removed the radio, having cut through the padlocks in order to bypass the electric control on the gates.

The last straw came a few weeks ago, shortly before my 71st birthday. I returned home in the middle of the afternoon and walked into my sitting room. Outside the window two men were breaking in. I retreated to the hall and pressed the panic alarm. This time I had shut the front door on entering. By now I had become more cautious. Yet one of the men ran around the house, jumped over the fence and tried to batter down the front door. Meanwhile, his accomplice was breaking my sitting- room window with a
hammer. This took place while the sirens were shrieking, which was the frightening part. They kept coming, in broad daylight, while the alarm was going. They knew that there had to be a time lag of a few minutes before help arrived - enough time to dash off with the television and video recorder. In fact, the front-door assailant was caught and taken off to the cells.

Recently I telephoned to ask the magistrate when I would be called as a witness. She told me she had let him off for lack of evidence. She said that banging on my door was not an offence, and how could I prove that his intent was hostile?

I have been careless in the past - razor wire and electric gates give one a feeling of security. Or at least, they did. But I am careless no longer.

No fence - be it electric or not - no wall, no razor wire is really a deterrent to the determined intruder. Now my alarm is on all the time and my panic button hung round my neck. While some people say I have been unlucky, others say: "You are lucky not to have been raped or murdered." What kind of a society is this where one is considered "lucky" not to have been raped or murdered - yet?

A character in Cry, The Beloved Country says: "I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving they will find we are turned to hating." And so it has come to pass. There is now more racial tension in this country than I have ever known.

But it is not just about black-on-white crime. It is about general lawlessness. Black people suffer more than the whites. They do not have access to private security firms, and there are no police stations near them in the townships and rural areas. They are the victims of most of the hijackings, rapes and murders. They cannot run away like the whites, who are streaming out of this country in their thousands.

President Mandela has referred to us who leave as "cowards" and says the country can do without us. So be it. But it takes a great deal of courage to uproot and start again. We are leaving because crime is rampaging through the land. The evils that beset this country now are blamed on the legacy of apartheid. One of the worst legacies of that time is that of the Bantu Education Act, which deliberately gave black people an inferior education.

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that criminals know that their chances of being caught are negligible; and if they are caught they will be free almost at once. So what is the answer? The government needs to get its priorities right. We need a powerful, well-trained and well-equipped police force.

Recently there was a robbery at a shopping centre in the afternoon. A call to the police station elicited the reply: "We have no transport." "Just walk then," said the caller; the police station is about a two-minute sprint from the shop in question. "We have no transport," came the reply again. Nobody arrived.

There is a quote from my husband's book: "Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much."

What has changed in half a century? A lot of people who were convinced that everything would be all right are disillusioned, though they don't want to admit it.

The government has many excellent schemes for improving the lot of the black man, who has been disadvantaged for so long. A great deal of money is spent in this direction. However, nothing can succeed while people live in such fear. Last week, about 10km from my home, an old couple were taken out and murdered in the garden. The wife had only one leg and was in a
wheelchair. Yet they were stabbed and strangled - for very little money. They were the second old couple to be killed last week. It goes on and on, all the time; we have become a killing society.

As I prepare to return to England, a young man asked me the other day, in all innocence, if things were more peaceful there. "You see," he said, "I know of no other way of life than this. I cannot imagine anything different." What a tragic statement on the beloved country today.

"Because the white man has power, we too want power," says Msimangu. "But when a black man gets power, when he gets money, he is a great man if he is not corrupted. I have seen it often. He seeks power and money to put right what is wrong, and when he gets them, why, he enjoys the power and the money. Now he can gratify his lusts, now he can arrange ways to get white
man's liquor. I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men, desiring neither power nor money, but desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it.

I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find we are turned to hating.

Anonymous said...

I live in South Africa, I’m 25 years old, but believe me, scared as hell. I’ve got a son that is 2. I believe there is no future for my son in sunny South Africa as they call it.

The sad thing is, even after 14 years of a non-apartheid government, the white people are still richer than the blacks or the colourds. We spend so much money to put our children in the best schools, the best universities to try and give them a future, but at the end of the day, for nothing. They sit for months without a job, and then finally settle for a job with less income and not something near what they studied for. Because in this country when applying for a job, the black gets the work first, even though he is less qualified.

We as parents still pay a fortune to put our kids in the best school and universities, knowing, they will leave the country to go and live out their degree.

What is becoming of this once admired country? What is becoming of the people in this country? When I was in the UK for a year, I worked at a website directory company. I wanted to do a focus on security companies. I was astonished by the fact that the Brittan people didn’t know what burglar bars was. Here in South Africa, you can’t live without them. Brittan sure does have its crime, but not like here. Here they will kill you for the 50c in your pocket. They kill you even before they know what you have on you. And I will blame it on poverty. In Brittan, if you don’t have work, the government still pays you an x amount of money to help you through. So they don’t need to look at crime as an income. Stealing is one of the best paid jobs in South Africa. Corruption is overlooked in a whole. We have the Scorpions, a wing of the South African Police Service (SAPS) that only focuses on corruption, but the government is busy shutting them down and their reason for this is that it’s a waste of money. CRAP. Its that they can’t be caught out for their corruption anymore.

Here in the town that I live, a big clothing retail store was mugged one afternoon and then again a few months later. After investigation, they found it was members of the local police. They called the police station with a false alarm and all the vehicles were sent to site. In the time that all the vehicles were occupied, they robbed the store. Many of the police members are involved in drugs, abuse, theft, murders and the list goes on. These are the people supposed to protect us, serve us. But in fact, they are doing more harm than good. They let dockets just “disappear” that their friends won’t get evicted.

I’m sorry, but the first opportunity that I can get, I’m taking my very talented son out of this country and making a new beginning else where.

Anonymous said...

'Sarah Maid of Albion' that post was full of so much bilge that I actually do not have the time to comment on all of it. As per your concluding paragraph the gist of your post, it seems, is that "Apartheid was a more benign system than what replaced it, and that the average South African was immeasurably better off under the hated white rule than they are under the alternative which black rule has created" Wow, I think you may be on to something there. Let's think about that for a second: you're saying an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination of the majority of the population (average South African) based on race including deprivation of physical liberty, forced relocation, violence, and persecution was more benign and better for the majority than the democratic, free and fair country South Africa now is? Do you even *know* what the word benign means?

Now I know what you racist fools will turn around and say, so let me save you the effort. You will say "but South Africa isn't free and fair for us whites, there's so much crime, I don't feel safe blah blah blah". Sure there is a lot of crime, it is a very real problem that needs to be dealt with, but that's not the point. The point is that what you should have in fact said 'Sarah Maid of Albion', for that is what you intended, is "Apartheid was a more benign system than what replaced it, and that the average *W-H-I-T-E* South African was immeasurably better off under the hated white rule than they are under the alternative which black rule has created". Who cares about the blacks! Our skin colour is white and therefore we are more intelligent and important! Oh how we miss the lovely apartheid!

Unfortunately for your racist little selves white people only had it so good during apartheid because they were living in a fake 'wonderland' that was built on the back of morally incomprehensible racist subjugation and was in fact a ticking sociological timebomb, one that was disgustingly wrong on so many levels.

Unsurprisingly your readers fare no better than you do:

alanorei it was great to see how well Mandela looked after finally being released from 27 years of imprisonment, but you use this as a justification for asking "just how 'evil' was Apartheid, one wonders?" Your logic boggles my mind alanorei. I can only assume you actually have no idea what Apartheid was, do yourself a favour and go look it up in a dictionary.

But I haven't even got to the good part yet. In what can only be described as a stroke of pure unadulterated genius 'anonymous' (if I were ever to write such utter nonsense I too would refrain from using my name) writes: "There will never be peace in Africa whilst black Africans rule the roost. A recent article by some psychologists has stated that the IQ level of sub saharan africans is only about 70.
This would explain why they need white people to help them understand the way in which the world works, but unfortunately, being africans, they never will!"

Anonymous, your post is full of such unfounded racist drivel that it deserves no comment or further thought, however I invite you to publish the link to your "recent article by some psychologists" so that we may all fairly and objectively (of course) analyse it.

You know, I think you guys might actually be right, Mandela was such an asshole terrorist for fighting against this wonderful regime the National Party implemented. He should have thanked the kind, wonderful white folk - they only had his best interests at heart, silly Mandela!

*Sigh*

They say that misery loves company, although in this case it seems that sad, bigotted white people with no intelligence and backbone love company. I suggest you people all do some research and reading about apartheid and Nelson Mandela. I'm sure you don't like being ignorant racists - so try do something about it hmm?

Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason. ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sarah Maid of Albion said...

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your contribution, it is often educational to be reminded of how the deeply stupid and ill informed view the world, and, as such you perform a service, of sorts.

If were not locked away in your ivory tower, where the realities of this world can't quite reach you, and where you can pretend that things are as you would like them to be, you might just grasp quite how ludicrous the views you have just expressed are. The whites in South Africa may be having a difficult time, but the blacks (the average South Africans) are having a far worse time. Many of the whites, although certainly not all, can escape, the blacks have no such option, they are stuck with the new South Africa, and it is a hell hole.

My article was not a call for the return of Apartheid, I doubt that such a system could survive at this point in history, nor was it written to praise Apartheid, I do not claim that it was a good system, just that, what has replaced it is infinitely worse, and that, reviled as Apartheid may have been, the average South African citizen, black as well as white, had a better life then than they do now.

You dismiss one of the highest crime rates in the world rather lightly, but you should remember that it is the blacks who suffer the most from crime, which in South Africa is mostly black on black. It is not just a matter of crime, in every respect their lives are diminished. Where they once had education, top rate health care, employment, law and order and a world class infrastructure there is now a situation where all those features which are vital to modern life and the pursuit of happiness are collapsing around them. However, you are so blinded by Politically correct smugness that you either can not see the truth, or refuse to acknowledge it.

The same applies across Africa where, apart from a few massively rich dictators and their cronies, the people are poorer, not just in “real terms” but in actual money, less healthy, more poorly educated and less secure than they were prior to independence. In most instances they do not even have a vote, and where they do it is generally meaningless. In reality they have exchanged one form of oppression for another, and the new oppressor is far crueler.

As for Mandela, to call him a “living saint” or even a “great man” is an obscenity, he was the leader of a terrorist organization which killed 40 times more of its own people than the so called oppressors did. Given that he apparently believes in an after life, it is hardly surprising that he clings so doggedly to this world, knowing what he will probably face in the next.

You can chant your slogans Paul, and make your tired old allegationa, you can even use the magic multi purpose “r” word and call me a racist, it may make you feel self reiteous, and you will probably get applauded by your buddies in Hoxton, but it will not change the fact that the reality is not on your side.

alanorei said...

Re: "alanorei it was great to see how well Mandela looked after finally being released from 27 years of imprisonment, but you use this as a justification for asking "just how 'evil' was Apartheid, one wonders?" Your logic boggles my mind alanorei. I can only assume you actually have no idea what Apartheid was, do yourself a favour and go look it up in a dictionary."

Re: apartheid, the word means separate-ness, as is evident from inspection of the word itself - 'apart-ness.'

Naturally, the original meaning of the word has been distorted by individuals such as yourself to mean 'whites exclusively persecute blacks and blacks never (or hardly ever) hurt anyone, including members of their own race.' Which distortion is obviously a lie, as even a brief study of African history over the last 50 years undeniably shows, e.g. 'Zimbabwe,' Rwanda, Uganda etc.

Naturally you were very selective with your quotation and the rest of your diatribe displays a level of irrationality that borders on hysteria.

If you were honest, you would have appreciated that my question was aimed specifically at highlighting the appalling nature of the current regime in South Africa compared to the one it replaced.

As Sarah has also pointed out.

However, you are clearly not honest and that explains why, typically for your ilk, you signally failed to address anything factual in any of the previous posts, or in Sarah's article and instead engaged in the usual kind of turgid leftie rant.

I suggest you try to refute, with evidence, any of the actual information given so far on this topic. You might find the exercise instructive.

Sarah Maid of Albion said...

Note regarding my earlier post, I meant to suggest that our charming visitor Paul might feel a tad self righteous, not "self reiteous" LOL!

alanorei said...

Wrong key at the right time, Sarah and in the correct context. 2 out of 3 is still a good result.

Unknown said...

I was born and bred in South Africa. I am an African, I will always be an African. I love this country.

Sarah, I'm pleased to see that we are not alone in the world wondering what the big "hoo-haa" is about mandela. I have tried hard to find evidence of his "achievements". I don't consider running a terrorist organization and approving killing as an achievement!

I too live in fear in this, my Beloved Country. My sons have to make a life here. It becomes more and more difficult to stand by my decision to stay here and make it a good place to live. How sad is this: I have told my children that if they have an opportunity to leave the country and make their way elsewhere in the world, I will do my best to help them go.

I could go on and on, but I will end here.

Thank you for your insight and honesty.

Sarah Maid of Albion said...

Commenting on these articles on another forum a blogger called Richard C Defended Mandela saying that he was a soldier and facing an enemy "armed with Mirages and Ratels - not exactly a fair fight on an even playing field"

However he ignores the fact that despite the superior weaponry of their enemy, during the years of Apartheid Mandela and the ANC succeeded in killing 40 black Africans for every one killed their "enemy".

That is taking "death by friendly fire" to Olympic extremes!!

David Ben-Ariel said...

How Evil was Apartheid?
How does one measure evil? Is there such a thing as a universal 'index' according to which deeds of evil can be judged? If we, for example, take the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the final arbiter of what is evil and what is not, how could we then judge Zimbabwe as being more evil than, for example, China and Saudi Arabia – two countries enjoying marvelous ties with the West despite their abysmal human rights records.

NonnyMouse said...

I am English, but lived in South Africa for 18 years. Any thoughts of feeling sorry for the average suppressed African was quickly killed off, believe me.

We had a maid who quite clearly stated that she was far better off during the Apartheid years than ever she was post 1994. If I had been able to record it, I would have as so many people don't believe it.

This is the most clearly reported and concise article I have ever read.

Paul - mate, you don't know what you're talking about.

I shall not miss Mandela when the time comes. I personally witnessed a Wimpy bar full of innocent people being blown to bits by the hands of Umkhonto we Sizwe. Don't talk to me about Saint Mandela. He never existed.

Anonymous said...

Onwa from Namibia said

Thanks Sarah,

Sam Nujoma from Namibia also approved mass killings such as the caves of Lubango and the Camps in Tanzania. RSA and Namibia would not have been the same had the previous reigime not take both countries out of the guerella and freedom figting years of the 50's to late 60's.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm a South African Citizen. For almost 40 years.
I just want to say that you did your homework and that you have GUTS!!!
I don't remember much of the time before Mr. Mandela was released since, as an ignorant youth, I just wasn't that interested. The only thing that is stuck in my head is that the word "APARTHEID" was never written in our constitution. The phrase was "Seperate Development" That only meant that they have their areas and we have ours. Schools, churches etc. It worked though. The cultures were too different to mix. It still is. Even among the different African tribes the cultures are so different that they have trouble even visiting another tribe without some form of rejection or misunderstanding.
I work in a predominently black province, Limpopo. I am one of 5 white people working in a 5 floor building, filled with blacks. I have conversations about culture & politics with some of my colleagues. There is some friction between the African tribes in SA. Very subtle, but the friction is there. It's a power strugle. They will never be satisfied. Aparteid is being blamed for EVERYTHING. Even the high unemployment rate is still blamed on apartheid.
Rediculous. But as the saying goes: Death has a cause, even if it is a toothache! (Translated from Afrikaans if it sounds funny)

PS. Where can I get your mail, I would love to send you a paper clipping.

Sarah Maid of Albion said...

Hi Anonymous 00:32

Yes, I am sure that Aparteid is still blamed for everything, nut there will have to come a point where the precsent government accept responsibility for their own mistakes.

You can e-mail me at sarahmaidofalbion@gmail.com but I am advised that it would be unsafe to publish my offline address here.

Regards

Sarah

Anonymous said...

A brief note:

1. thanks for telling the truth about mandela - simply a communist terrorist like Che Guevara who is now idolised - this syndrome has brought misery to millions who would be better off under competent management/governance
2. Africa has a clear pattern and track record of nation destroying and chasing whites out - so after each handover, the writing is broadly on the wall - whites should pack up and disinvest and take as much with them as they can - not leaving by haste but having a careful exit strategy. Black politicians will alwasy play the race card and stir up race and class warfare at election time, whites will always be 2nd class citizens in Africa and blacks will always envy white success. Blacks will broadly remain more brutal due to a culture and heritage of darkness. Democracy is the worst form of govt and in Africa a sure recipe for disaster.
3. be thankful for the good old days - the old SA - pre-UN and pre-communsit atheist society were vice was outlawed and people lived in a proud Christian country and enjoyed a very good balanced life iwth faith, family, sports, education, ETC Be proud to be a South African and honour the true old flag (of the republic) but disregard the new ugly flag which represents a takeover by communist terrorists and immoral idiots. Every new calamity caused by the ANC is a tribute to the competence and effectiveness of the Nationalist/apartheid government - hoora for the boers and shame on the ANC idiots.
4. people will debate until the cows come home about SA and Africa - but we all know where it's heading...now that it is under black management...it's a waste of time to debate the current or future state of Africa - clearly it has regressed as a continent since being handed over to black management. Therefore - I repeat 1-3 above and say amen!

for future reference - we all need to be more vigilant and not taking our blessings for granted - people were brainwashed by the mass media into white guilt, into focusing on the hole instead of the donut, into handing over a great country to a prison gang of total idiots - the joke is on us. How could we be so naive as to exepct anything but a disaster?! - by giving people with kindergarten mindsets and criminal natures the levers of power??!!!

John said...

I can't tell you how sad I am to have had to leave the country that I once loved simply to ensure that my family would have an opportunity to live out their lives without being raped, tortured, murdered and mugged.

Most of the people I went to school with that have degrees are out the country now earning great incomes in the rest of the world where being white isn't a crime. Where we are not blamed for everything that happened during apartheid simply because of the pigment levels of our skin.

It is actually quite amusing that the ANC started as an organisation with membership limited on the basis of race with the sole purpose of "protesting against job reservation on the basis of colour". It is interesting that they now legally enforce exactly what they were formed to oppose...

Anonymous said...

Thank you Sarah for having the guts to speak the truth.
I have been living in South Africa for 38 years. I know the "good old days" and if I compare it to the current rainbow nation I can only say that ever single South African was off much better before. Just to feel secure and safe was a blessing. Where else in the world has one family had 5 break-ins, one car-jacking with a gun held to the head, 2 cars stolen and numerous hand bags and cell phones stolen in just a few years.
This is such a beautiful country and it is destroyed by crime, corruption, incompetence and hatred.

Anonymous said...

hi

thank you for a very good read.I am a south african and it is nice to see someone else understanding it like i do because i was starting to think i was going mad. the problem is that because of all the past and present problems south Africa faces we ( White - South Africans) can no longer pack up and leave as many of us would like. no one will have us and because we are not "at war" we cannot even become refugees. in the last year Ive been mugged twice, my handbag was stolen on 2 separate occasions as well, and i am one of the lucky ones.
i would advise anyone thinking of coming here for the 2010 world cup to prepare mentally for it beforehand. don't be surprised if u get mugged, your room or is broken into, your luggage is stolen or you become involved in a accident because these happen on a daily basis. This is a beautiful country with lots of promise and potential, but shamefully this is all being washed down the drain. the ruling president of the ANC is currently up on fraud and corruption cases, he has 12 wives, and he slept with a woman with aids and explained he took a shower after to prevent getting aids himself. now i ask you if this is our next president, what type of a role model is he to the youth and what message does he send out to the rest of the world?Sadly things here will get much worst before they get any better. But as they say: "Africa is not for sissies"
thank you again

Anonymous said...

Excellent read, Mandela is going to die and have to answer for his actions. He is no saint. He's sat back while thousands of people are killed, not one word about crime. He's as good as Mugabe. South Africa is at heated point, Whites have had enough, The worst thing to happen to South Africa is giving power to the ANC, They should be nicknamed Zanu-pf. Time to hang a few!

Anonymous said...

AT LAST
SOMEONE THAT SPEAKS AND KNOWS THE TRUTH .......THANX SARAH ,ONLY SOME KNOW THAT ONE DAY WE WILL FACE GOD AND THE WORD ...ACCOUNTABILITY

Anonymous said...

Unequivocally, excellent answer

Anonymous said...

You can never step into the same river twice.