Every now and again
we are reminded of how random acts of ignorance and unchallenged stupidity can
cause simpletons to act out an alternative reality. As I put fingers to keyboard
(not pen to paper) I am ashamed for the average “club-wielding” South African
and at how the misguided utterances of King Goodwill Zwelithini simply
reawakened a near-retarded sense of entitlement among a select majority. I am even more ashamed of
those who have a chance to speak up and end this madness, but who feel that is
it is not in the interest of their political future to intervene.
Quick history lesson;
at the collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa, within the native
black communities a few schools of thought emerged. School 1 or
the first group who saw the opportunity to change their lot
and chart a new course for themselves and their families. This group focused on
getting the right qualifications to ensure they advanced, quickly on the
socio-economic ladder. Today, they make up the middle and emerging
middle class; they are restless and hungry for success; and we all know a few
of them!
Then there is School
2 or the second group who have an entitlement mentality; they
are the uneducated/semi-educated critical mass who still live under the
illusion that the South African government and the ANC owe it to them to
basically breastfeed them out of poverty and penury. They have little or no
skills or do not see the need to acquire any. Interestingly, to them, it is
their right to drive fancy cars, dress rich, and have the prettiest girls and the
most modern cell phones, hence they resort to armed robbery, rape and other
atrocities in a bid to show to society that they are disgruntled and deserve
better. These are the Almajiri of modern South Africa.
Then there is
the third group: School 3; a hybrid of one and two, this consists
of individuals who seek to improve their lot, but who also feel a sense of
entitlement based on years of repression. They are the lucky
class who have benefited largely from BEE initiatives (Black Economic
Empowerment). They are in positions of influence (some well deserved
while others simply blacked their way to the top – no offense meant).
It is with this
backdrop that one should review and consider the 2008 attacks and ongoing
xenophobic attacks being perpetuated by the Second Group on
mostly harmless hardworking individuals who just happen to be working and
contributing their own quota to the development of an obviously ailing South
Africa.
From the interviews
videos circulating on social media, we can summarise the grouse of simpletons as follows:
They are poor and
impoverished and lack the basic means for subsistence
- They are poor because they have no job
- They have no jobs because of foreigners
- The foreigners are hardworking and more competitive and seem to be taking up all the opportunities that should be the exclusive preserve of school 2 South Africans
- Fueled by the perhaps misguided and misinterpreted utterances of King Goodwill Zwelithini, if they killed all the foreigners, they will suddenly have an abundance of jobs and opportunities
The 1972 Ugandan Experiment: In August of 1972, Idi Amin ordered the Asian/immigrant minority out of Uganda; at the time, “the Ugandan government claimed that the Indians were hoarding wealth and goods to the detriment of indigenous Ugandans and "sabotaging" the Ugandan economy. Indians were labeled as "dukawallas" (an occupational term that degenerated into an anti-Indian slur during Amin's time), and stereotyped as "greedy, conniving", without any racial identity or loyalty but "always cheating, conspiring and plotting" to subvert Uganda. Amin used this propaganda to justify a campaign of "de-Indianization", eventually resulting in the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Uganda's Indian minority. This expulsion of an ethnic minority was not the first in Uganda's history, the country's Kenyan minority having been expelled in 1969”. (Wikipedia)
Clearly, besides
triggering a wave of xenophobic/barbaric attacks, the expulsion achieved
nothing; instead, the businesses left behind were mismanaged by Amin/his cronies
and their friends; within a few months, it was clear to all that the problem
was with the Ugandans and not the seemingly smarter Asian
minority.
The simpletons in the second school of thought, in their murderous rage, believe that the expulsion
of the foreigners (limited to the Black foreigners, who have now become their
sworn enemies) will start an automatic chain reaction that will up-skill,
up-place, and up-shift them from their current socio-economic subset, without
any effort on their part.
More disturbing, King
Goodwill Zwelithini has missed several opportunities to calm his subjects,
denounce the violence, and explain in rational terms the potential of their
misguided actions; I kinda wish there was a Jega for every
misguided Orubebe on the planet.
As I write, I cannot but wonder, where will these simpletons
draw the line? Let us imagine that through some stroke of evil genius, all the
foreigners are expelled, and a few months on, they still remain unskilled,
jobless, and hopeless, who will they turn to next? The Chinese who are taking
over the construction sector? When all the Chinese and other
Asian migrant-worker groups have been expelled, what next?
Ah yes, they must turn
their attention to all non-black south Africans along the social pecking order;
since for all intents and purposes, they are all foreigners! With all the
Whites, Indians, Chinese, and all non-South African blacks gone, guess
what…. The simpletons will someday wake up to realize that nothing
has changed; same shanties, the same issues, and no capacity and capability to
generate income and improve their lot, time for their masterstroke!
Attack all the
Colourds (oh yes! Colourds foreigners too in the larger scheme of things), and
then attack and murder the black educated middle class, and hope to usurp their
jobs, roles, titles, and material possessions.
With
the government of South Africa remaining passive and lacking the political will to take
decisive action, the simpletons will now rule over south Africa, run the
businesses to the ground, cripple the economy and eventually turn on each
other, catapulting towns and cities back into the blackest days of
apartheid-level suffering.
At this point, after
a successful uprising, after everyone and anyone else has either been expelled,
killed or imprisoned for taking the jobs and opportunities, perhaps we will
witness the first ever nation state of street urchins, thugs, rapists armed
robbers and pillages; still poor, still without jobs, with a shattered/crippled
economy and with absolutely no hope for the future, who will the simpletons
turn to/on next?
End the violence now!
Credits: www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk
Wikipedia
www.malawi24.com
www.jozincolour.wordpress.com
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