The South African Tales
The South African abroad is invariably looked at with awe! "But you aint black" and an American might drawl or more appropriately loudly utter "gawdam boy, you a white nigga?".
South Africa has had a troubled past, one might mutter "from which it has recovered admirably", although others would not agree. Through White rule to Black empowerment, from having no friends except Taiwan and some tinpot dictatorships to having many (minus Taiwan and those same tinpot dictatorships) the country today is a mixture of beautiful landscape, fresh air, excellent food at suitable prices, choice wines and bountiful harvests!
And just across the road are the Townships, the slums and the areas of mass poverty that defines that other half! Crime is sky rocketing (worse than Zimbabwe's inflation), most people live behind steel doors and shutters with armed security on rapid response to a call. Rotweillers or Bulldogs fed on human flesh are the favored pet! Car horns are dangerous, honk at the wrong person and you will be chased, beaten up, knived or worse still raped, murdered or left wishing you were dead. And don't wander the streets after dark, it might be the last thing to wander about!
But there is a future. It might not come in the form of a bulldozer to shift the slums, it might not be through the full pockets of the politicians but it will come when the blacks and whites say with one voice "enough is enough". That might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but one fine day all colours will realise that the future lies not by differentiating between black and white but between the good and bad!
"Believe it, this dog doesn't bark it just bites"
Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster at Seadolby.Com
|