Anyone know about the political situation in South Africa?

[Socci]

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with respect this does sound a bit ludicrous to me. I take it your dd's tutor is a white Afrikaaner?

I have to agree with donnie here - while there are still some troubles between White and Black SA I honestly can't see this being the case.....

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well yes, there is a lot of violence in SA - Johannesberg is the murder capital of the world I believe ( apart from places which officially are at war). There is a great deal of poverty, much of which is a legacy left to the blacks by Apartheid. However, some mass uprising like the one unleashed on white farm owners by their Zimbabwean neighbours seems far fetched to me.

unfortunately this teacher is correct and this is widely believed to be true. I grew up in South Africa and still have many friends over there and I was recently sent a document by a friend giving details of what is apparently going to happen upon the death of Nelson Mandella.

The plan which is translated as "night of the long knives" is rumoured to have been set in place some years ago. When Nelson Mandela's death is announced, large groups of people will descend on the white population and will murder as many of them as is possible.

It sounds hidiously far fetched as I write, but the details I read about it were horribly chilling, so if it is true it will be horrible beyond words.

South Africa, while in parts a wonderful country, has an extremely high crime rate, and the murder of white south Africans is actually not far from on a part with that of Zimbabwe, but it is not made so public. In fact I have a friend whose husband was murdered on his farm two years ago purely because he was white.

Cape town is one of the safer places to go though as it's a large tourist area and steps have been taken to fight the crime there.

what was the document? who wrote/printed it? I am intrigued.

tbh I don't know who wrote it, but it was sent to me by a friend. At the time I read it and then deleted it as, tbh, as I don't live there it doesn't really affect me personally, although I would be happy to offer a place to stay for any friends of mine who felt compelled to leave the country in such a situation.

I will have to ask friend if he can let me have another copy.

Wasn't the "night of the long knives" the massacre of the SA'a leadership in Nazi Germany in 1934?

have just found some info on google. it's known as

UHURU. this translates as "night of the long knives" or "nag van die lang mes" in afrikaans.

the piece I've found was an extract that was printed in a newspaper so it would appear not to just be rumour and hearsay. it's in Afrikaans though so I'll need to translate it first.

have a look at

this
it's from a couple of years ago but this gives a basic outline of the rumours doing the rounds.

if it's true, it's terrifying.

one can only hope that it is just rumour and speculation

worldnet daily

conwebwatch

andrewhagan

this caught my eye as I have some family in SA and havent heard anything about it. Googling it brings up quite a bit of info but I dont know the reliability of any of the sources. Have attached some here. I know for sure I wouldnt want to be living there with these kinds of rumours.

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My Dad and step-mum were out there this summer and said that though they had an amazing trip they can't see how the country can continue as it is. Having spoken to locals as they travelled my Dad really thinks there will be HUGE problems along these lines and not far in the future . He said it is the most beautiful country he has been to but he would not be going back .

this is vile. this is the first i've heard of it and i have family and friends in sa. i hope this is just rumour and at best it's fear-mongering. doesn't the country have enough problems to deal with? how about focussing on aids and ending mugabe's tyranny? southern africa has seen so much bloodshed over the last 40 years it would be really nice if it would all be over.

I'm South African and it is absolute crap. Yes there is violence like in any country, yes the farm killings are very brutal, so are all kinds of killings including war related killings. Please tell your teacher to go back on a holiday for at least 2-3 months and see for herself. The country's economy has never been this stable or growing so steadily as right at this moment, I've just returned from a long holiday and I can tell you, it is still a marvelous country with the unfortunate teething problem befitting any brand new democratically run country.

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But mum2funkydude the violence is not like in any other country. The comparable murder rates speak for themselves.
My Dad did the very touristy garden route and there was alot of security at the places they stayed and there were certain occasions they did not feel safe. They went for a tour along the coast with a driver and wanted to stop for some photographs and were told that he would not be able to stop for them as it was not safe. That is not like any other country. They had a wonderful time, but my dad said there were moments when he wanted to come home. He found it quite stressful on occasion. My step-mums boss is South African too and rang her the night before the trip to warn them about XY and Z so it is fair to say they were a bit anxious but even so .
My BIL is due to go to J'burg to work for 6 mths in May and it has made us nervous I am afraid in a way that him working in America for example would not.

I understand your concern, and yes I would certainly feel like a soft target when I go back and yes it did take me almost six months living n the UK before I stopped locking my car door, but unless she will be working and living right in the middle of it it would be as safe as i.e. going out alone at night in London. Would you feel any safer?

The only thing I can tell you is that the Night of the long knife is a spoof. She should go back on a short stay, How long has your friend been here?

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FWIW I sit next to a South African girl at work - she goes back to see her family every 6 months or so, her last visit was in Feb, she seems cool about it. (I don't know which part though.)

I'm South African but left 6 years ago. I live in the UK. My younger sister lives in ireland. My older sister and my mother live in New Zealand.

My father, stepmother and two half brothers still live in South Africa. They live in a tiny rural village that is predominantly white - a carry over from apartheid - but it is surrounded by 'townships'. They pay for a private cop to patrol the village and as a result have incredibly low crime rates. But they live in a little bubble and I do fear for them terribly because they are so remote and so surrounded should this awful rumour be true.

But I don't believe it is true. I know that the country is in a weird state - the crime is completely out of hand. The Aids rate is completely and utterly staggering. The economy appears to be booming - but I think it's a bubble waiting to burst and prices for everything continues to soar (particularly property) but salaries aren't rising at the same rate. Poverty is getting worse.

But when I've gone out there, I don't see the same racism that existed previously. It's still there - on all sides - but there is also a friendly comraderie and a national sense of pride. I just don't see the population - other than hard core pockets - turning on 'the whites'. I think there is massive dissatisfaction with the state of affairs but - I hope and I believe - that it's not going to be mass slaughter of white people for retribution.

The murders that are currently taking place are largely black on black (obviously there are white murders too)and sadly I think that that will continue regardless of Mandela being alive or not.

And just to show you how not normal SA is, this is an extract from an email my dad sent me a few days ago:

Even SA, hardened as it is to bloody mayhem all day and everyday (this week they abducted some poor sod, removed R160000 from his bank account, killed him, chopped him up and burnt the remnants, behind a pub at the bottom of Mount Road, under the noses of Karen?s Escorts, who were not impressed) is shocked at Bob Woolmer?s murder.

I was surprised to see this, as I have (white) relatives in South Africa and (white)friends who've been working there recently, and none of them have expressed any such fears to me. So I've just done a bit of googling. It's clear from other material on them that EVERY website that gives ANY credence to these rumours of black-on-white genocide is coming at the question from an extreme right-wing position. Which leaves me wondering about the political views of people who are eager to believe these rumours.

This is not to say that there aren't problems with violence, inequality, and injustice in SA, as there have been in most post-colonial countries which have had to learn to live in the aftermath of violent, unequal, and unjust colonial regimes. But not one website puts forward any plausible evidence for these conspiracy theories about genocide.

good point z - who is publishing this info on the web is indicative of whether it's plausible.

i go back regularly, and while i am alarmed at the crime and violence i don't see any evidence of this rumour. i have not seen any racism from white or black for years.