It is unfortunate that innocent people are being caught up in this cycle of violence & nobody wants to objectively address the problem/s; see .
Historically, South Africa has a record of ethnic violence; we had the Zulu, Xhosa, Anglo-Boer & other wars; being painted as war mongers. The 1949 riots by Zulus against Indians in Durban is a case in point. The Group Areas contained further outbursts to an extent, but Indians and Coloureds have remained outside the domain of bona fi...read more
It is unfortunate that innocent people are being caught up in this cycle of violence & nobody wants to objectively address the problem/s; see .
Historically, South Africa has a record of ethnic violence; we had the Zulu, Xhosa, Anglo-Boer & other wars; being painted as war mongers. The 1949 riots by Zulus against Indians in Durban is a case in point. The Group Areas contained further outbursts to an extent, but Indians and Coloureds have remained outside the domain of bona fide SA inhabitants. SA African blacks remain subconsciously prejudiced against other groups whilst (by stark contradiction) 'gel' with their former oppressors, the whites.
There are numerous forces at play that have to be identified, eg., Lenasia & Chatsworth for Indians; District Six & Springfield for Coloureds; Soweto, Kwa-Mashu, etc for Blacks (for want of a better term). The ANC has not bothered to address these iniquities which promote tensions & are exarcebrated by cock-eyed BEE and AA- Indians and coloureds are not perceived as 'blacks' & the murdered by-line surfaces like a monotonous refrain; 'During 'apartheid' we were not white enough; now, we are not black enough!' This divide has culminated in an era of entitlement which sees anyone outside this 'black' kraal as threats & dispensable, resulting in the mass, spontaneous 'xenophobic' actions we see. Next? Indians, Chinese, Pakistanis,... but, not whites (Israelis, Russians, Greeks, etc, many of whom are just as much 'foreigners'!)
Yet, on the other side of the coin, many of these foreigners are seen to have contributed towards this xenophobia; arrogance, illegal entries, involvement in scams, hijackings, drug peddling, rape, etc (another topic altogether!) It would serve them if they got together as a representative body to engage the SAPS, Home Affairs, NGO's, CBO's, etc with their problems, and also intervened to expose the bad eggs amongst them. Right now, for many S Africans, Hillbrow is a no-go area- that says a lot! We must consider that during the term of our cadres in exile, they were in camps and conducted themselves with respect; don't we deserve the same?
