legalaliensa12-24-06
Christmas is one of the more confusing periods in South Africa for a Canadian fellow, the temperature is in the high 30’s and low 40’s most days, warm evenings by the braai socializing in that ever so unique South African fashion. During my six South African Christmas(s) not once have I felt a connection to it being Christmas. Although the commercial component has increased since my arrival in 2000 it is noticeably absent in the village of Montagu. Perhaps my perception is enhanced since my only adult years living without a clutch of children have been here. Christmas in Montagu is still primarily church and worship. However, consumerism is rising fast in the heavily populated urban areas. Our bank governor who I had the pleasure of dining with two months ago is constantly warning against the level of debt rising. It now constitutes 70% of every rand for the average family.
Living in the middle of South Africa’s wine belt, the longest in the world, has its benefits; wine, boxed in 5 litre containers, and of the same quality as that which is exported sells for as low as two Cdn dollars a litre, so it flows in seemingly endless quantities.
High quality meats of every variety both wild and farm produced is likewise inexpensive relative to North America and vast amounts are consumed by all the privileged but myself. I tend to nibble bits of this and that with ostrich being one of my favourites. On average I imagine I serve about 10 parts of meat for every 1 part I consume myself.
Braaing is such a distinct South African pastime. On average I braai my evening supper 4 or 5 days of the week under the two large trees of my courtyard during the summer months. I suppose that a braai (pronounced ‘bry’) is similar to the barbeques taking place in much of North America and Europe but somehow it has a different feeling to it here. My braai is two metres wide, built of brick a metre and a half high, with a steel screened grill I designed and had built. At the soup kitchen the grill will be 3 metres wide.
In addition we potjiekos (pronounced ‘poy kee kos’) a lot. I have two 25 litre pots and one 10 litre pot which are used weekly. Potjie pots are black and look like those pots in cannibal cartoons. I have one on order which is 70 litres. That is big enough to hold a human. It weighs over 250 pounds I believe and will be mounted on a special swing stand for the women to prepare food with at the soup kitchen we are building.
I find it ironic that being a Canadian I probably potjie (poy kee, here used as a verb) more than anyone else in Montagu as we use the pots regularly for our feeding programs, sometimes feeding upwards of 200 at a time, mostly children. One starts with oil, onions and meat, then layers various vegetables on top, from our numerous food gardens, allowing the food to slowly cook over medium hot coals for hours. Its yummy if spiced effectively and done well.
Braaing and potjie are an important part of the extensive outdoor life which South Africa affords, and totally enjoyable.
On other more pertinent matters, 2006 is a year I think many South Africans will feel relieved is over. The year has been notorious for the level of crime and corruption which is devastating much of South Africa’s efforts to truly become a developed country. The rich are significantly richer, the poor significantly poorer, the attitude increasingly pessimistic with little optimism being expressed for 2007. Crime has become so horrendous that most people I know are not only living in daily fear, but are numbed by it all.
Even our national police commissioner, the head of South African Police Service is involved with gangsters and yet refuses to resign, our President remaining indifferent as he has on HIV-Aids and Zymbabwe. This national police chief by the name of Selebi, is by the way the elected head of Interpol. I fail to understand why Interpol doesn’t remove him.
It will likely be a shock to my family and many friends, and not something I readily reveal, but I never go anywhere unarmed. Some years ago I made the decision that being armed was not a matter of simply being able to protect myself, but to protect others as well who I happen to be with, and who are themselves unarmed and vulnerable.
Five times in six years I have had to defend myself or others, and one never knows in advance when it will happen. On half a dozen other occasions while being threatened I merely put my hand on the mace at my waist and the person withdrew. Once I saved a man’s life. He had been stabbed twice when I came on the scene and was about to be stabbed again when I forced the assailant to stop. The victim barely managed to live so my gut feeling in hindsight was that any additional stabbing would have killed him. For my efforts the assailant came at me with a knife the size of a bowie knife. Only the mace held him off while police were called.
My choice of armor is exactly that, mace, and it has saved me from assault enough times that I value it highly. It usually only takes one quick spray to the face to put a man, or for that matter an aggressive dog, down. Its not lethal but with unhesitating commitment its effective with anything but an assailant with a gun, which I’ve fortunately not had to face.
In South Africa more people were murdered during the first three years of the Iraq war than died in total in Iraq during the same period. Thought provoking, isn’t it! Our murder rate is between 18,000 and 19,000 a year, our population 48 million. The burning question in South Africa is why do so many crimes, robbery and so much of the rape result in killing, torturing and often mutilating the victim. Its not enough it seems to simply invade a home, rape a victim, hijack a car, mug an unsuspecting pedestrian, shooting or stabbing to death the person in addition, often at the completion of the crime, seems almost a popular pastime.
And for those of you reading with farming backgrounds, over 2,000 farmers have been murdered on their farms since 1994, and still they have little protection or attention from the authorities. Instead, a few years back the SA government disbanded the Commando, the one organized group protecting the agricultural areas. In addition a very high percentage of guns have been removed from the farmers and most white South Africans so that now, and I know this is difficult for Canadians to hear (but its oh so true) only the criminals have the guns, and they have a lot of them. Its not unusual for full scale street gun fights to break out between police and criminals with AK 47’s the weapon of choice.
In 2006 we’ve had dozen of high profile and horrendously brutal killings, losing dozens of highly successful musicians, performers, politicians and celebrities (who are the ones who tend to get the news) and even the former wife of the apartheid president de Kerk. Whites in particular live in constant fear behind their high white walls and gated communities that they or family members will be next. In the non-white townships and communities crime is so rife that 2006 will be remembered as the year of vigilantes. Even necklacing has returned. The police, many incompetent or corrupt seem virtually powerless to make a difference. Our national parliamentary head of safety and security informed the public to either quit whining about crime or leave the country. Finish and klaar (as they say in Afrikaans).
I’ve been hesitant over the years to speak about the crime in SA, preferring to remain positive about a country I have grown to love deeply. I was in denial because I live in a beautiful ‘dorp’ in the mountains and the wine country somewhere back in time. But years of hearing about the murders and rapes in our own disadvantaged communities, which I know about since I’m in these communities daily – there is rarely news about them, and being an avid news follower via the press, I’ve had to accept the truth. South Africa is an exceedingly violent and dangerous country.
Last week a man who was deeply loved by the coloured community (as compared to the black community) was murdered in his home the day after returning from opening a show in London. To the coloured community he was one of the few who spoke and performed brilliantly, always enhancing their culture and pride. He came originally from District 6, that infamous part of Capetown which was leveled and destroyed under the apartheid ‘group areas act’ established 1952, which had all the non whites removed and placed in poverty in townships. He spoke to them via theater and song from heart to heart and was greatly loved.
A single bullet to the back of his neck while bound, following a home invasion and the robbing of his safe has devastated the coloured community across the country. He was to them what Leonard Cohen is to Canadians, perhaps more for the community he spoke too is still trying to rise from their oppressed past. The coloured community is the bottom of the rung in South Africa. During white rule they were never white enough. Now during black rule they are not black enough. They feel they cannot win, have been devastated by FAS and discrimination, and have some but few opportunities. Only the best filter up to the level of middle class.
It is this murder that we all hope will bring a change in South Africa. I close with the text of an email forwarded from my property mate Madeleine who was friends with the victim, one of many of her friends who have been murdered. Herewith, the text.
“Dear friends I'm appalled! And livid! I didn't know Taliep Petersen personally. But his death affects us all.
And I'm sick and tired of having to try and defend my country against expats who keep pointing fingers and saying "we told you so."
Taliep's death, like all other murders in this country and elsewhere, is absolutely futile. A waste of a great talent, a great mind, a great heart. If those who constantly work for the upliftment of others are being slain, we've hit rock bottom. So please note: 'whites' are not the only victims of crime; 'blacks' are not the only criminals (think Kebble's murder.) We are all South Africans. And we're all affected by this and subjected to a life of fear.
This is enough. It's time for all of us to stand up together and say tot hier toe en nie verder nie. We should inform out government that they have no control. Their/our police force has no control. They have done away with the commando system. Nobody hated the army more than I did. What I'm trying to say is that in the process they have allowed crime and murder to flourish on our farms and in our cities and our townships. Something should be done and soon. Empty cries of bring back the death penalty and e-mail petitions which go nowhere are useless.
Perhaps I'm falling in exactly the same trap. Wearing little black ribbons which Huisgenoot/You supplied, is ridiculous. Being racist about the matter is even worse. We are all in this together. Because Taliep was (sadly was and no longer is) a well-known person the news is splashed all over the media all over the world. Several people are being killed daily in townships and we never even hear of it. We call it crime. It's far worse. It's a massacre, if not war. And we want to house a soccer world cup tournament in a little more than three years' time???!!!
Barbra Streisand said, years back with her concert in the garden after the Chernobyl incident, that one voice can make a difference. Well, dear, if you have the voice and the clout of a Streisand, it just might. I don't have either, therefore I think we should start a chorus. Not tomorrow. Not on New Year's day. NOW Enough is enough is enough! GENOEG IS GENOEG
Wim"
Wim VorsterOUTEURSREGADMINISTRASIE/RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION
DALRO (Pty) Ltd.PO Box 316272017 Braamfontein
South Africa
Fax: +27 (0)11 403-9094
Phone:+27 (0)11 489-5065
I've posted the above without permission as I believe Wim wouldn't mind. He has sent this out to hundreds of his friends who are movers and shakers in South Africa.
And not to forget; Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Canada. You are so fortunate.
May we count our blessings, day by day, daq vir daq. Solinus in South Africa.
Living in the middle of South Africa’s wine belt, the longest in the world, has its benefits; wine, boxed in 5 litre containers, and of the same quality as that which is exported sells for as low as two Cdn dollars a litre, so it flows in seemingly endless quantities.
High quality meats of every variety both wild and farm produced is likewise inexpensive relative to North America and vast amounts are consumed by all the privileged but myself. I tend to nibble bits of this and that with ostrich being one of my favourites. On average I imagine I serve about 10 parts of meat for every 1 part I consume myself.
Braaing is such a distinct South African pastime. On average I braai my evening supper 4 or 5 days of the week under the two large trees of my courtyard during the summer months. I suppose that a braai (pronounced ‘bry’) is similar to the barbeques taking place in much of North America and Europe but somehow it has a different feeling to it here. My braai is two metres wide, built of brick a metre and a half high, with a steel screened grill I designed and had built. At the soup kitchen the grill will be 3 metres wide.
In addition we potjiekos (pronounced ‘poy kee kos’) a lot. I have two 25 litre pots and one 10 litre pot which are used weekly. Potjie pots are black and look like those pots in cannibal cartoons. I have one on order which is 70 litres. That is big enough to hold a human. It weighs over 250 pounds I believe and will be mounted on a special swing stand for the women to prepare food with at the soup kitchen we are building.
I find it ironic that being a Canadian I probably potjie (poy kee, here used as a verb) more than anyone else in Montagu as we use the pots regularly for our feeding programs, sometimes feeding upwards of 200 at a time, mostly children. One starts with oil, onions and meat, then layers various vegetables on top, from our numerous food gardens, allowing the food to slowly cook over medium hot coals for hours. Its yummy if spiced effectively and done well.
Braaing and potjie are an important part of the extensive outdoor life which South Africa affords, and totally enjoyable.
On other more pertinent matters, 2006 is a year I think many South Africans will feel relieved is over. The year has been notorious for the level of crime and corruption which is devastating much of South Africa’s efforts to truly become a developed country. The rich are significantly richer, the poor significantly poorer, the attitude increasingly pessimistic with little optimism being expressed for 2007. Crime has become so horrendous that most people I know are not only living in daily fear, but are numbed by it all.
Even our national police commissioner, the head of South African Police Service is involved with gangsters and yet refuses to resign, our President remaining indifferent as he has on HIV-Aids and Zymbabwe. This national police chief by the name of Selebi, is by the way the elected head of Interpol. I fail to understand why Interpol doesn’t remove him.
It will likely be a shock to my family and many friends, and not something I readily reveal, but I never go anywhere unarmed. Some years ago I made the decision that being armed was not a matter of simply being able to protect myself, but to protect others as well who I happen to be with, and who are themselves unarmed and vulnerable.
Five times in six years I have had to defend myself or others, and one never knows in advance when it will happen. On half a dozen other occasions while being threatened I merely put my hand on the mace at my waist and the person withdrew. Once I saved a man’s life. He had been stabbed twice when I came on the scene and was about to be stabbed again when I forced the assailant to stop. The victim barely managed to live so my gut feeling in hindsight was that any additional stabbing would have killed him. For my efforts the assailant came at me with a knife the size of a bowie knife. Only the mace held him off while police were called.
My choice of armor is exactly that, mace, and it has saved me from assault enough times that I value it highly. It usually only takes one quick spray to the face to put a man, or for that matter an aggressive dog, down. Its not lethal but with unhesitating commitment its effective with anything but an assailant with a gun, which I’ve fortunately not had to face.
In South Africa more people were murdered during the first three years of the Iraq war than died in total in Iraq during the same period. Thought provoking, isn’t it! Our murder rate is between 18,000 and 19,000 a year, our population 48 million. The burning question in South Africa is why do so many crimes, robbery and so much of the rape result in killing, torturing and often mutilating the victim. Its not enough it seems to simply invade a home, rape a victim, hijack a car, mug an unsuspecting pedestrian, shooting or stabbing to death the person in addition, often at the completion of the crime, seems almost a popular pastime.
And for those of you reading with farming backgrounds, over 2,000 farmers have been murdered on their farms since 1994, and still they have little protection or attention from the authorities. Instead, a few years back the SA government disbanded the Commando, the one organized group protecting the agricultural areas. In addition a very high percentage of guns have been removed from the farmers and most white South Africans so that now, and I know this is difficult for Canadians to hear (but its oh so true) only the criminals have the guns, and they have a lot of them. Its not unusual for full scale street gun fights to break out between police and criminals with AK 47’s the weapon of choice.
In 2006 we’ve had dozen of high profile and horrendously brutal killings, losing dozens of highly successful musicians, performers, politicians and celebrities (who are the ones who tend to get the news) and even the former wife of the apartheid president de Kerk. Whites in particular live in constant fear behind their high white walls and gated communities that they or family members will be next. In the non-white townships and communities crime is so rife that 2006 will be remembered as the year of vigilantes. Even necklacing has returned. The police, many incompetent or corrupt seem virtually powerless to make a difference. Our national parliamentary head of safety and security informed the public to either quit whining about crime or leave the country. Finish and klaar (as they say in Afrikaans).
I’ve been hesitant over the years to speak about the crime in SA, preferring to remain positive about a country I have grown to love deeply. I was in denial because I live in a beautiful ‘dorp’ in the mountains and the wine country somewhere back in time. But years of hearing about the murders and rapes in our own disadvantaged communities, which I know about since I’m in these communities daily – there is rarely news about them, and being an avid news follower via the press, I’ve had to accept the truth. South Africa is an exceedingly violent and dangerous country.
Last week a man who was deeply loved by the coloured community (as compared to the black community) was murdered in his home the day after returning from opening a show in London. To the coloured community he was one of the few who spoke and performed brilliantly, always enhancing their culture and pride. He came originally from District 6, that infamous part of Capetown which was leveled and destroyed under the apartheid ‘group areas act’ established 1952, which had all the non whites removed and placed in poverty in townships. He spoke to them via theater and song from heart to heart and was greatly loved.
A single bullet to the back of his neck while bound, following a home invasion and the robbing of his safe has devastated the coloured community across the country. He was to them what Leonard Cohen is to Canadians, perhaps more for the community he spoke too is still trying to rise from their oppressed past. The coloured community is the bottom of the rung in South Africa. During white rule they were never white enough. Now during black rule they are not black enough. They feel they cannot win, have been devastated by FAS and discrimination, and have some but few opportunities. Only the best filter up to the level of middle class.
It is this murder that we all hope will bring a change in South Africa. I close with the text of an email forwarded from my property mate Madeleine who was friends with the victim, one of many of her friends who have been murdered. Herewith, the text.
“Dear friends I'm appalled! And livid! I didn't know Taliep Petersen personally. But his death affects us all.
And I'm sick and tired of having to try and defend my country against expats who keep pointing fingers and saying "we told you so."
Taliep's death, like all other murders in this country and elsewhere, is absolutely futile. A waste of a great talent, a great mind, a great heart. If those who constantly work for the upliftment of others are being slain, we've hit rock bottom. So please note: 'whites' are not the only victims of crime; 'blacks' are not the only criminals (think Kebble's murder.) We are all South Africans. And we're all affected by this and subjected to a life of fear.
This is enough. It's time for all of us to stand up together and say tot hier toe en nie verder nie. We should inform out government that they have no control. Their/our police force has no control. They have done away with the commando system. Nobody hated the army more than I did. What I'm trying to say is that in the process they have allowed crime and murder to flourish on our farms and in our cities and our townships. Something should be done and soon. Empty cries of bring back the death penalty and e-mail petitions which go nowhere are useless.
Perhaps I'm falling in exactly the same trap. Wearing little black ribbons which Huisgenoot/You supplied, is ridiculous. Being racist about the matter is even worse. We are all in this together. Because Taliep was (sadly was and no longer is) a well-known person the news is splashed all over the media all over the world. Several people are being killed daily in townships and we never even hear of it. We call it crime. It's far worse. It's a massacre, if not war. And we want to house a soccer world cup tournament in a little more than three years' time???!!!
Barbra Streisand said, years back with her concert in the garden after the Chernobyl incident, that one voice can make a difference. Well, dear, if you have the voice and the clout of a Streisand, it just might. I don't have either, therefore I think we should start a chorus. Not tomorrow. Not on New Year's day. NOW Enough is enough is enough! GENOEG IS GENOEG
Wim"
Wim VorsterOUTEURSREGADMINISTRASIE/RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION
DALRO (Pty) Ltd.PO Box 316272017 Braamfontein
South Africa
Fax: +27 (0)11 403-9094
Phone:+27 (0)11 489-5065
I've posted the above without permission as I believe Wim wouldn't mind. He has sent this out to hundreds of his friends who are movers and shakers in South Africa.
And not to forget; Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Canada. You are so fortunate.
May we count our blessings, day by day, daq vir daq. Solinus in South Africa.
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