My heart is bleeding for my country tonight

[TrixieLou]

Name changed and posting here for traffic.

I have been resident in the UK for 15 years but I am originally from Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. My country is on fire. It has been mentioned on the news today but the football has completely overshadowed the story. My family live in the worst hit area. Shopping centres have been looted and destroyed. Thousands of criminals have been shooting, looting, throwing grenades and setting off bombs. I had my father on the phone earlier and could hear gunshots in the background. The police and the military are doing nothing. My brothers are currently blocking off their roads with their vans. They are armed with guns. Most of their neighbours are there too. They are watching thousands of angry protesters approach from the valley below. Gunshots. Fire. Bombs. There is black smoke billowing in the air from trucks and cars being set on fire. Thousands of people are walking on the streets carrying merchandise from destroyed shopping centres. People are shooting at each other. They have said that this is only the beginning. Private homes will be next. The homes that house my family and friends. My family are scared for their lives tonight. I just had my father in tears on the phone, telling me he doesn’t know what is going to happen tonight and that he loves me. He never got to meet my new baby.

Please pray for South Africa tonight. Or send good thoughts if you don’t pray. They will never recover from this. They were already on their knees.

Trixielou you and your family have been on my mind since i woke up this morning. Your post really brings the important things in life into perspective. I will keep praying for the safety of your family and everyone affected. God bless you and your family

@SouthAfricaMama they are all currently sleeping. They got in early this morning. They will be heading back out tonight to take over from those that have been on guard today. My father was physically attacked by three of the rioters but he is ok. Just a bit sore and bruised. The community is very worried about getting food and petrol. Absolutely everything is closed and/or completely bare. I am praying for your boys too. Please let us know when you have an update on where they are ❤️

I’ve spent the morning with my beautiful SA friend.
She’s been working in the UK for years and hasn’t seen her family since the start of the pandemic.
She is so worried about her family, friends and the whole country.
She showed me some of the footage and it is truly shocking.
Thinking of everyone with loved ones caught up in this and hoping and praying for their safety.

@Hobnobswantshernameback thank you so much. I am praying for your friends and their families 💐

@Bettysnow that is incredibly kind of you. Thank you ❤️

[quote sqirrelfriends]@Allington I suggest you start your own thread.

It's very noble of you to bring up these issues but that's not the purpose of this thread.

Some of us are terrified for our families, please respect that.[/quote]
Yes, I am terrified for DD1 who lives in SA.

These 'issues' cannot be disconnected from why people riot.

Because they have been dispossessed and oppressed for generations

@Allington I agree with what you're saying about racism and that black people in SA suffer terribly on a daily basis but saying people are having a 'pity party' when they're scared for their families lives is really distasteful.

@UmpteenthTime Thank you for your post. The footage really is shocking. It feels so surreal seeing the place we grew up engulfed in flames and completely destroyed 😔

[quote shouldistop]@Allington I agree with what you're saying about racism and that black people in SA suffer terribly on a daily basis but saying people are having a 'pity party' when they're scared for their families lives is really distasteful. [/quote]
I am sorry to offend. But my 15 years in SA showed that the vast majority of white South Africans wanted above all to maintain their standard of living for their children. I understand that. It's natural. But their standard of living was based on excluding 90% of the population.

So you are faced with accepting that you have been unfairly advantaged and your children will have fewer opportunities. Or trying to play the system with the resources you have unfairly acquired.

Still waiting for @mnhq to explain why they won't allow reference to the 'C' community. Have offered to introduce them to members of this community who adopt the word as their identity.

Please Allington start your own thread.

I do understand where you are coming from but this is a thread from a poster 1,000 miles away from their family in a very scary situation. Posting on this thread does not help the millions that are suffering everyday but it does help the op and others in the same situation.

[quote SoHereWeAre01]@Allington - you have hijacked the thread and made it about you and your views.

Regardless of race, there are a lot of scared and anxious people in SA worried about their personal safety and the direction the country is going.

Please have some empathy for the OP and remember etiquette goes a long way.

You are most welcome to start your own thread; pls don't hijack someone else's.
[/quote]
Exactly what I was going to say, but you've put it better.

Maybe Allington should start her own thread to discuss the issues she wants to.

I am 6,000 miles away from DD1. And DD2's wonderful godmother, who mothers dozens of children in need. And friends under attack regularly because they are living in a township (because can't afford a nice suburb) but are from the DRC. Etc etc

If I started a thread about them, how many of you would have responded?.

@Allington if you had posted at a specific time when your family and your friends were in specific direct immediate danger, you were worried for their lives at that precise moment because rioters were attacking their homes, their neighbourhoods RIGHT THEN, with a threat of death, I'm sure people would have responded with kindness and thoughts for you and your family.

Not incessantly tried to educate people who know and understand the climate in SA on a thread that is not intended for that discussion.
You say you understand; so understand and have sympathy.

Otherwise please, please go away. You are not wanted here.

Well, my family and friends are in constant danger. Which specific moment should I choose?

Yes, I realise the danger my family and friends are in are unwelcome. They are poor and black, and live with constant danger.

So they don't deserve any support?

@Allington

I am 6,000 miles away from DD1. And DD2's wonderful godmother, who mothers dozens of children in need. And friends under attack regularly because they are living in a township (because can't afford a nice suburb) but are from the DRC. Etc etc

If I started a thread about them, how many of you would have responded?.

If you started a thread about your daughter I would respond and I would care, because I am responding on a personal level, I have no idea of the colour of posters nor you of mine.

A few messages on here will not make any difference to the political, social and racial injustices of the world but a hand hold in the night, a message to say that people are thinking about the op might just help them feel a little less alone.

Allington I don’t know much about the situation in South Africa and I would welcome a discussion where I could learn and understand. On another thread?

I've seen footage of the riots in KZN on Twitter, OP, and watched with my heart in my mouth. It looked beyond terrifying and the innocent people caught up in this explosion of violence are in my prayers.

I don't understand why this is happening either. I get that there's huge poverty among the black population of SA, but why attack the shops and businesses that provide jobs, food, services for their community (among others)? Surely it just makes things worse for everybody. And why such support for Zuma, when he did such harm to SA?

OK. My DD1 has been in unsafe accommodation since her university locked down in March 2021.

My lovely friend and DD2's previous carer/godmother has been in insecure housing for years. She is scared for her life when she has to go home after dark - several times per month.

I have numerous ex-colleagues (lovely women) who risk their lives every day to come to work. Because violence against women is the norm.

Please think of them as they battle this on a daily basis. If you want to support them practically (financially) let me know. I am afraid this is an ongoing challenge.

Hello everyone. We're getting several reports about this thread and it's clear that things are becoming heated. Can we please keep things on track?

Zuma's is corrupt, as far as I can see.

However, he also risked his life by opposing apartheid, which was way more corrupt in prioritising not only white companies but Afrikaner companies.

So, for many people the one outweighs the other.

And then when white people make an issue of 'corruption' the question is why they voted for apartheid when they were supposedly in favour of equality.

Having lived (a white person from the UK) in SA from 2005 to 2030, it was amazing that NO white person I met voted for the National Party. Yet the NP won all the elections since the 1940s!

Sorry until 2019. Obviously not 2030!

And while I was there studied SA history and sociology with the equivalent of the Open University