Nelson Mandela: A Villain Portrayed As A Hero
Nelson Mandela is a South African citizen who chose to place his private resentment of the existing Apartheid regime above the welfare of his country. He actively campaigned to replace a regime that gave order and wealth, with a regime that could only ever supply anarchy and poverty. But for helping to convert a prosperous, safe and stable community into an impoverished, unstable and dangerous community, he has won international plaudits, including the Nobel peace prize awarded in Oslo in 1993.
Why I'm fleeing South Africa
I am leaving South Africa. I have lived here for 35 years, and I shall leave with anguish. My home and my friends are here, but I am terrified. I know I shall be in trouble for saying so, because I am the widow of Alan Paton.
Fifty years ago he wrote Cry, The Beloved Country. He was an unknown schoolmaster and it was his first book, but it became a bestseller overnight. It was eventually translated into more than 20 languages and became a set book in schools all over the world. It has sold more than 15 million copies and still sells 100,000 copies a year.
As a result of the startling success of this book, my husband became famous for his impassioned speeches and writings, which brought to the notice of the world the suffering of the black man under apartheid.
He campaigned for Nelson Mandela's release from prison and he worked all his life for black majority rule. He was incredibly hopeful about the new South Africa that would follow the end of apartheid, but he died in 1988, aged 85.
I was so sorry he did not witness the euphoria and love at the time of the election in 1994.But I am glad he is not alive now. He would have been so distressed to see what has happened to his beloved country.
I love this country with a passion, but I cannot live here any more. I can no longer live slung about with panic buttons and gear locks. I am tired of driving with my car windows closed and the doors locked, tired of being afraid of stopping at red lights. I am tired of being constantly on the alert, having that sudden frisson of fear at the sight of a shadow by the gate, of a group of youths approaching - although nine times out of 10 they are innocent of harmful intent. Such is the suspicion that dogs us all.
A Simple Example Of Communal Decline
When a country begins sliding into oblivion it really is the little things that get to you. You wake up in the morning and turn to see what time it is. The clock is off. The electricity is off again. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours, but it seems to happen more regularly than before.
You pick up the phone at work to make a call. Nothing. Your neighborhood is without telephone service again. You breathe a sigh of relief—at least if all the phones are out, they'll do something relatively soon to fix it. If it's just your own line, it can take days before they'll do anything.
After the power comes on, you turn on the television to watch a favorite program, and hope you get the right sound with the right picture. Sometimes you get the sound of one show with the picture of another. Sometimes it's just the one or the other. Or a radio station instead of the soundtrack. You've read the papers—a large number of the "old" employees have walked out of the broadcasting studios. They couldn't take it anymore. And since television is an arm of the government, their replacements are appointed politically, not because of their experience or ability.
You drive home after going out for dinner. Entire neighborhoods are without street lights. Well, to be more accurate they are without lights that work. And the lights have been out for months. The city has said it won't fix them.
These are the little things in South Africa today. These are the things that annoy. The big things are too frightening even to consider.
Black Savages Murder White Farmer
A WHITE farmer was shot dead by President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF activists a day after the Zimbabwean leader vowed to push forward his land seizure plans with greater speed.
Terry Ford's final hours were spent trying to protect his property single-handed from a mob of 20 so-called war veterans, who beat him before killing him with a single bullet through the head.
Police ignored repeated telephone calls for help with the officer on duty telling Mr Ford that he could not come out to Gowrie Farm at Norton, 50km south of Harare, because his driver was fast asleep and must not be woken.
The police eventually arrived, more than six hours after Mr Ford's body was found by his cook, slumped beneath a tree.
"Terry was one of the most kind-hearted people in the world and all he wanted to do was farm," his fiancee Naomi Raaff said. "What has this achieved, other than the loss of a much-loved, innocent man?"
Yet people in Canada, the USA, United Kingdom and other countries write of Nelson Mandela in such a hagiographic way. It's disgusting. I met a man from South Africa. He is now living here with his family. He shared some quite scary stories about South Africa after Nelson Mandela took over the country.
He isn't a saint. That's for sure.