Schwartzerwitz: Violence after the World Cup

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Violence after the World Cup

On the second anniversary of the attacks on foreigners that left 62 people dead and about 100000 fleeing for their lives, a refugee research group has warned that xenophobic violence will flare up again after the World Cup. (from the Times)

Duncan Breen, spokesman for the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in SA, said yesterday: "We need to make this public and speak out about it. If we bring this conversation out into the open now we can talk about what needs to be done to prevent further xenophobic violence."

The consortium said it was concerned by "widespread reports" from foreigners who said "they are being threatened with violence after the World Cup".

The threats come from neighbours, colleagues, taxi drivers, passers-by on the street, nurses, social workers and police officers.

The consortium said it was concerned that "some of those making the threats believe they have the support of senior political leaders".

But Zweli Mnisi, spokesman for Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, cautioned that the consortium's statements might "be blown out of proportion".

He said if violence were to recur, the police "will deal with these criminal elements who disguise themselves as xenophobia."

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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.