The dangers of South Africa’s mirage

South Africa is like the mysterious veiled face of a woman – alluring and tempting. Even removing of a veil or two, that impression doesn’t change. But when the final veil is removed, the face is one of pain and fear and the voice is a stifled cry of pain.

Politicians do their best to keep the veils in place and the world media dance to their tune. The result is the impression that the country that defeated apartheid is now thriving and progressing under black rule.

It sounds good and fulfills the fantasy. But it isn’t true.

You have to be there to see it but you have to look beneath the surface. What you see is a country attempting “normalcy” but which really exists on a daily basis, cloaked in fear. South Africa is in the grips of terrorism, perpetrated by its own people.

How many news stories have you read about the crime rate? The number of rapes? The child rapes? Black-on-black crime?

How about the beating and killing of white farmers and the theft of their land? Did you know that more white farmers have been murdered in South Africa than in Zimbabwe? Probably not. Our media ignore negative news about South Africa.

The first paper I read in Johannesburg, reported that a white-owned farm was invaded, family members, including children, were injured and killed and the home and property looted. The story was buried in the back of the paper. No one was arrested.

While I was in Capetown, a man’s car was hijacked at 11 a.m., two blocks from a police station. His possessions were stolen and he was thrown off a cliff.

I visited an animal reserve patronized by many locals. Meals were family style and guests were friendly. I later realized that every person there had a family member or friend who’d been attacked, terrorized or killed by black thugs. In one case, a young man was carjacked and killed. His vehicle was used for a joyride – his body was in the trunk. In none of the cases, was anyone arrested.

Looking at beautiful residential streets, you are struck by the security. Homes are surrounded by high walls topped with concertina wire. There are dogs and guards and alarm-company signs everywhere.

A relative’s home had a safe room, expansion bars on doors and windows, an alarm system connected to a guard company, motion detectors inside and out, a trained attack dog, high walls with barbed wire, locked gates and multiple locks on exterior doors.

Survival rules are blunt. Lock car doors. Avoid driving at night – if you do, don’t stop at red lights. Don’t stop for an accident, go to a police station or maybe, just go. Don’t go into black areas. Stay away from groups of blacks. Don’t go out alone, day or night. Don’t give to beggars. Avoid eye contact.

When you park your car in public lots or on the street, it’s customary to give the black man who approaches you, a coin or two to watch your car.

In Durban, a beautiful beach hotel faced a park filled with street vendors. I was told that tourists should never go outside the building. If they did, they’d get mugged or worse.

Back in San Francisco, I met a young South African woman. She asked my impression of her country. I raved about the natural beauty but that the dangers were shocking.

Then I heard her horror story about her younger sister and a friend working at the family bed-and-breakfast business. They were invaded by a gang of black thugs, tied up, beaten, robbed and threatened with guns and death. They only survived because the woman managed to chew through the tape binding them and both escaped through a window. The attackers trashed and looted the place.

Another horror story from a woman engineer at my radio station, who told me of her younger sister who’d been driving to Capetown with friends. There was an accident – the sister and two others were killed, two others survived. Local blacks stole valuables from the living – and the dead – and left. They lay for hours before anyone helped them.

South Africa left me uneasy – feeling that what I saw will happen here. Perhaps it’s because the cities and towns look like ours – except, they’re different. The divisions between black and white, Muslim and Christian, rich and poor are deep and dangerous. I can’t shake the feeling that we are heading in that direction. We already have some of the symptoms and the media are in full “ignore” mode.

I fear I’ve seen our future and I don’t like it.