Schwartzerwitz: February 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

Xenophobia probe after 7 die in shack fire

Police are investigating whether xenophobia could be the motive behind a weekend shack fire which killed seven Zimbabwe foreign nationals.

Stofland community members reported the burning shack to police in the early hours of Sunday morning.

After the fire was extinguished, the bodies of four men and three women were found.

Police spokesperson Marie Louw said police were on Monday unable to release the names of the deceased, aged between 23 and 40, as their families had not yet been notified.

Ward councillor Mpumelelo Lubisi said at least four other people had been in the shack but escaped the blaze.

They and others from surrounding shacks had spent Sunday night at a community hall as they were too "scared" to return home. De Doorns police spokesperson Andre Greyling said an inquest docket had been opened. - Cape Times

Every Pogrom needs an Armband....

Welcome to Schwartzerwitz. The inevitable consequence of 4 million illegal immigrants arriving in South Africa. More desperate than our local folk they are willing to work longer harder faster for less. The immigrants are more reliable than South African unskilled labour and have outcompeted the local folk. No matter what anyone says it's not FAIR on our locals. Adding 4 million hungry mouths to the country has exacerbated the rocketing food prices felt across the globe. Adding 4 million potential electricity users to the mix has undoubtedly worsened the electricity situation. Having 4 million people send home money to their family drains the economy of money which should stay within the borders. Adding 4 million people and not registering them as taxpayers has cost the country billions. What chance does our government of ridding the country of shacks as per the Millennium Development Goal when 4 million immigrants build/rent shacks. Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe....? Just move to a shack in South Africa. On an individual basis this site condemns violent acts against individuals. However as a collective the illegal immigrants deserve no sympathy and should be deported back from whence they came. These people are economic refugees - "not real refugees" - and they are(generally speaking) in South Africa illegally.

kwerekwere.

The inside cover of my Oxford English dictionary features a word with which I have become all too familiar: the word is kwerekwere.

(It may be more familiar to you with one of its vernacular language–dependant prefixes prepended — the Sotho singular being le– and plural ma–, the Nguni singular being i– and plural ama–). This word is used to refer to black (in the morphological sense) Africans who are not South Africans — South African being defined as Sotho, Nguni, Venda and Tsonga ethnic groups (by that measure the Swazis, Batswana, etc. would be South African?). This word has a very negative sting to it and is often used with contempt. From what I gather it has undertones which speak of how black Africans are believed to be sub–human, too dark and have a pungent smell.