xenophobia attacks in South Africa

[tasha]

A sad and ugly truth watching the changes in our beautiful country with refugee camps just outside the shopping centre of the country. Durban a peaceful and calm Province was not the place you would expect to find these sort of attacks happening. It is a shocking story and the people from fellow African countries have had their business broken down and some have had brutal beatings. People who are afraid to live in their own countries came here to make a life for themselves and their families, only to have their lives worse off then before. Our people are angry because "foreigners" are taking their jobs but the "foreigners" are creating their own work by starting their own business, whilst our people stand around and steal or beg and wait for work to be handed over to them.
A message to our South African people; get over yourselves, stop acting like savages and go out and earn your own job!

 

[kana_marie]

I didnt realize the reality of what's going on over there... I hate that anyone would have to live surrounded by tension and violence.

 

[Rowe992]

The people in South Africa doing this should be ashamed of themselves especially with the history of segregation in that country. For a nation that had been separated by race in the past to be doing this to their fellow Africans just goes to show how evil people can be and how easily one can forget their history.

 

[Redheart]

Most people would rather not take the blame for anything bad which happens in their lives. And most "native" South Africans I've heard are very lazy. Their laziness is probably the reason why they find themselves unemployed. If someone doesn't want to work, can you force him to get a job? So when they realize that they've lost out on some great opportunities, what do they do? Say the foreigners are responsible for that. Disgraceful . . .

 

[musicmonster]

I didn't know this problem in that country until now. Thanks for keeping us aware and updated. This is serious.

 

[tasha]

The people in South Africa doing this should be ashamed of themselves especially with the history of segregation in that country. For a nation that had been separated by race in the past to be doing this to their fellow Africans just goes to show how evil people can be and how easily one can forget their history.

It is sad to see that history is forgotten and that after everything the country has been through, this should not be happening. I think it is time that we had a government that had an educated way to deal with the problems.

 

[tasha]

Most people would rather not take the blame for anything bad which happens in their lives. And most "native" South Africans I've heard are very lazy. Their laziness is probably the reason why they find themselves unemployed. If someone doesn't want to work, can you force him to get a job? So when they realize that they've lost out on some great opportunities, what do they do? Say the foreigners are responsible for that. Disgraceful . . .

South Africans are not at all lazy and they are very hard workers but the rural ones expect to get everything handed to them on a platter without having earned it. They do work wherever they can and then complain and strike because the pay is not good enough and they demand double after a year.

 

[Redheart]

Sorry about the generalization.

It's the South African president [read that in article] who said that most "native" South Africans are poor because they are lazy. Could be he was referring to those who live in the rural areas?

 

[LilAnn]

I'm swing a lot of parallels between South Africa and America in the thread. "Poor because they're lazy", "blame it on the foreigners", "foreigners are taking all our jobs", etc.

@tasha: it can be hard to see this happening all around you and not able to do anything about it. I hope things start to get better soon, for you AND us...

 

[vegito12]

I think people there need to do hard work, and receiving things or money freely just get's them dependent on it and don't bother doing the work and attack the foreign people who have been doing well in their business and sad when this happens. There must be some people using the mobs who does not want foreign people and believe they are making money while the people who suffer are not being looked after and use violence to show their hatred. The president needs to keep order or they will have civil war and also bodies will fill the area and also will be sad if that happens and hope it improves in the future.

 

[xTinx]

Although I'd like to say "after what they've been through with the apartheid, South Africans were bound to be xenophobic," I don't think that's the real case. Nelson Mandela took pains to bring the country forward into the new millennium. Xenophobia is so last century. You thought by now they'd have moved on and start anew. If South Africans are going to be like that then the cycle of hate and violence sowed during their colonial days would only repeat itself. Madiba's efforts would have been all for naught.

 

[tasha]

Sorry about the generalization.

It's the South African president [read that in article] who said that most "native" South Africans are poor because they are lazy. Could be he was referring to those who live in the rural areas?

I don't know because those in the rural areas have to walk and work hard it could be that he is referring to the general workers who love to sleep on the job but in general I would say that most of the South Africans are hard working

I'm swing a lot of parallels between South Africa and America in the thread. "Poor because they're lazy", "blame it on the foreigners", "foreigners are taking all our jobs", etc.

@tasha: it can be hard to see this happening all around you and not able to do anything about it. I hope things start to get better soon, for you AND us...

Thank you and lets hope it does get better for all of us.

 

[tasha]

I think people there need to do hard work, and receiving things or money freely just get's them dependent on it and don't bother doing the work and attack the foreign people who have been doing well in their business and sad when this happens. There must be some people using the mobs who does not want foreign people and believe they are making money while the people who suffer are not being looked after and use violence to show their hatred. The president needs to keep order or they will have civil war and also bodies will fill the area and also will be sad if that happens and hope it improves in the future.

South Africa doesn't really have welfare and people don't get anything for free. There is a workers compensation fund but unless you have worked you cannot claim but for the rest of the South Africans they have to work to survive.
The president needs to do a lot of things and making a welfare and medical care available to all would be a good start. I think we should also be stricter on who comes into the country as we do not really have the measures that other countries have in place.

 

[tasha]

Although I'd like to say "after what they've been through with the apartheid, South Africans were bound to be xenophobic," I don't think that's the real case. Nelson Mandela took pains to bring the country forward into the new millennium. Xenophobia is so last century. You thought by now they'd have moved on and start anew. If South Africans are going to be like that then the cycle of hate and violence sowed during their colonial days would only repeat itself. Madiba's efforts would have been all for naught.

Yes that is the problem with everything in the country, Mandela and FW de Klerks work was all for nothing as apartheid is reversed it is now called BEE and this is "black empowerement" people who are white are not allowed to apply for certain jobs. The ANC also promised people housing and they did make a few that fell down but the people who got the contract have built homes fit for a king. Government tenders go to friends of friends in government, we allow anyone to come into the country and we do not take care of our own. The truth is that we are so far behind in democracy that we are not able to accommodate foreigners especially when we are at war with one another

 

[LilAnn]

It's sounds so much worse than I imagined it was. Its a shame that we have all this technology, there's not much we CAN'T do anymore. And people still have to struggle like that.