Life in South Africa...

This may or may not mean anything, mods, feel free to delete it if you wish.
Maybe 12-14 years back, we were invited to a wedding in Cape Town.
I rented the penthouse apartment of a smart block, overlooking the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront area.
At the base of the apartment block was a pub called “The Fireman’s Arms”.
Almost every night after dinner, we’d go in there for a drink, they were a friendly crowd, customers and bar staff.
One night, a white barmaid asked where we’d been for dinner that night, my wife said “An Italian place on Riebeek St.”
Barmaid said, “Did you have any difficulty finding a cab back?”
I said, “Didn’t take one, walked down Bree St, left into Mechau St. and here we are.”
She was aghast, “Two white tourists, walking in the centre of Cape Town at night, you must be nuts.”
Black customer interjected, “They’re plenty safe from us, it’s those blankety blank no good black illegals from Zimbabwe that give us all a bad name!”
 
As a South African this situation makes me so sad. I would love to have the South Africa back from my youth. Yes there were aweful things happening but the country had an energy that I haven't felt anywhere else around the world. The country could be so great if Apartheid could stop being blamed for all the issues in the country and the new government could be held accountable for their actions.

What's happening now isn't about education, it's about a generation being brought up to feel like the world owes them due to what their grandparents endured. Self entitlement seems to be a plague all around the world but when you mix in what happened in South Africa it's a recipe for disaster.

If you speak to any decent South African white or black they will say the ANC need to go, if you speak to a criminal/dodgy/homeless/government worker etc they all vote ANC. They prey on the weak with promises and get people's backs up about what happened over 30 years ago.

A lot of people think Apartheid finished in 1994, in my experience it finished way before then so the past needs to be forgotten and people move on. I went to school with black people and there were no restrictions for them. My gran and grandpa fought so hard to get rid of the old racist government, it makes me sad what came after.

They will deny it but most South Africans black or white are more racist of you use the modern definition of noticing colour. This is because it's shoved down your throat everyday here. Black's have to own a certain amount of every business even if you just wanted to setup a computer store etc. No free school for whites or healthcare. This is okay for the majority of rich white people. My family fell under this so I had a terrible upbringing in certain ways. I never went to a dentist as we couldn't afford it until I came to the UK at 20. None of my siblings or I went to school between a certain time. Mine was 10-17, a very important part of life and I feel I missed so much. We struggled for food and definitely would be classified as in poverty in the UK. Jobs have to be offered to Black's first and a whole other number of things.

Overall though I think South Are very tolerant of eachother and I use a definition where race is noticed but only like you would notice if someone was fat, blonde etc. If you use that definition then South Africa is not a racist country at all in the grand scheme of things and with the right mindset and government there is hope still.
 
Jean-F said:
This may or may not mean anything, mods, feel free to delete it if you wish.
Maybe 12-14 years back, we were invited to a wedding in Cape Town.
I rented the penthouse apartment of a smart block, overlooking the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront area.
At the base of the apartment block was a pub called “The Fireman’s Arms”.
Almost every night after dinner, we’d go in there for a drink, they were a friendly crowd, customers and bar staff.
One night, a white barmaid asked where we’d been for dinner that night, my wife said “An Italian place on Riebeek St.”
Barmaid said, “Did you have any difficulty finding a cab back?”
I said, “Didn’t take one, walked down Bree St, left into Mechau St. and here we are.”
She was aghast, “Two white tourists, walking in the centre of Cape Town at night, you must be nuts.”
Black customer interjected, “They’re plenty safe from us, it’s those blankety blank no good black illegals from Zimbabwe that give us all a bad name!”
Click to expand...

Illegal immigration is a huge problem in Z.A they basally just cross the border at will. Capetown is the last bastion but will fall like the rest of the country.

I remember stopping at a red-light in Joberg only for the woman we were with started screaming and shouting "Keep driving" "Don't you ever stop again at a redlight at night" "If its clear you keep driving" She was colour Black/Asian.
 
Bigpig said:
Illegal immigration is a huge problem globally.
Click to expand...

Fix'd that for you.

Funny that people get mad about any opposition to illegal immigration in the west, but its only a problem for poor Africa.

Every problem begins and ends with people. Usually people moving around illegally are the ones causing the most problems.

Oh right, people want 'proof' of that. I left it in my toilet after using it and didn't flush. Go fish for it.

Same thing why everyone complains how can I be black / asian and be right wing. As Willy from the Simpsons would say ... 'Damn Scots, they ruined Scotland'.

I don't have to like the overwhelming majority of people who are the same ethnicities as me that also happen to be nothing but pure scum. And I don't understand why liberal whites just sit back watching their cities burning down and simply sip their tea and think 'this is fine'.
 
timmothy said:
As a South African this situation makes me so sad. I would love to have the South Africa back from my youth. Yes there were aweful things happening but the country had an energy that I haven't felt anywhere else around the world. The country could be so great if Apartheid could stop being blamed for all the issues in the country and the new government could be held accountable for their actions.

What's happening now isn't about education, it's about a generation being brought up to feel like the world owes them due to what their grandparents endured. Self entitlement seems to be a plague all around the world but when you mix in what happened in South Africa it's a recipe for disaster.

If you speak to any decent South African white or black they will say the ANC need to go, if you speak to a criminal/dodgy/homeless/government worker etc they all vote ANC. They prey on the weak with promises and get people's backs up about what happened over 30 years ago.

A lot of people think Apartheid finished in 1994, in my experience it finished way before then so the past needs to be forgotten and people move on. I went to school with black people and there were no restrictions for them. My gran and grandpa fought so hard to get rid of the old racist government, it makes me sad what came after.

They will deny it but most South Africans black or white are more racist of you use the modern definition of noticing colour. This is because it's shoved down your throat everyday here. Black's have to own a certain amount of every business even if you just wanted to setup a computer store etc. No free school for whites or healthcare. This is okay for the majority of rich white people. My family fell under this so I had a terrible upbringing in certain ways. I never went to a dentist as we couldn't afford it until I came to the UK at 20. None of my siblings or I went to school between a certain time. Mine was 10-17, a very important part of life and I feel I missed so much. We struggled for food and definitely would be classified as in poverty in the UK. Jobs have to be offered to Black's first and a whole other number of things.

Overall though I think South Are very tolerant of eachother and I use a definition where race is noticed but only like you would notice if someone was fat, blonde etc. If you use that definition then South Africa is not a racist country at all in the grand scheme of things and with the right mindset and government there is hope still.
Click to expand...

Pretty nazi-like racism (except done by black people). We don't hear about any of that from the western press :/

Other nations are throwing them under a bus because trying to protect white people isn't fasionable.
 
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Bigpig said:
Illegal immigration is a huge problem in Z.A they basally just cross the border at will. Capetown is the last bastion but will fall like the rest of the country.

I remember stopping at a red-light in Joberg only for the woman we were with started screaming and shouting "Keep driving" "Don't you ever stop again at a redlight at night" "If its clear you keep driving" She was colour Black/Asian.
Click to expand...

I can believe this, I had an elderly couple next door but one to me, who’d returned to U.K. after living for years in Durban.
They’ve both passed now, but I recall the guy saying that Durban was the most English city in S.A., he also said that in Jo’burg cars had been rigged with something like flamethrowers under the doors.
If you stopped at a light or a junction, and were approached by what you believed to be unsavoury characters, you could zap them with a blast of flame.
I assumed that this was all in his head, but maybe he was right.
 
Jean-F said:
I can believe this, I had an elderly couple next door but one to me, who’d returned to U.K. after living for years in Durban.
They’ve both passed now, but I recall the guy saying that Durban was the most English city in S.A., he also said that in Jo’burg cars had been rigged with something like flamethrowers under the doors.
If you stopped at a light or a junction, and were approached by what you believed to be unsavoury characters, you could zap them with a blast of flame.
I assumed that this was all in his head, but maybe he was right.
Click to expand...

It is an old story done the rounds many times - I used to live in flats/apartment complex in London with several neighbours who'd left SA, generally because they'd started a family and were concerned for their kids, and they'd repeat that one and I'm pretty sure I saw it in a magazine article in the 90s where someone had actually built such a vehicle out there.

Interestingly many of my old neighbours planned on moving back when the kids were older with some kind of assumption things would progress towards better with time - but I don't think many have from the odd stuff I see on Facebook.

EDIT: Some of them had come home to find the neighbours had been robbed and killed, etc. even in gated secured areas.
 
Rroff said:
It is an old story done the rounds many times - I used to live in flats/apartment complex in London with several neighbours who'd left SA, generally because they'd started a family and were concerned for their kids, and they'd repeat that one and I'm pretty sure I saw it in a magazine article in the 90s where someone had actually built such a vehicle out there.

Interestingly many of my old neighbours planned on moving back when the kids were older with some kind of assumption things would progress towards better with time - but I don't think many have from the odd stuff I see on Facebook.

EDIT: Some of them had come home to find the neighbours had been robbed and killed, etc. even in gated secured areas.
Click to expand...

Thanks for steering me right, it seemed a bit “out there”, but what do I know.
 
timmothy said:
As a South African this situation makes me so sad. I would love to have the South Africa back from my youth. Yes there were aweful things happening but the country had an energy that I haven't felt anywhere else around the world. The country could be so great if Apartheid could stop being blamed for all the issues in the country and the new government could be held accountable for their actions.

What's happening now isn't about education, it's about a generation being brought up to feel like the world owes them due to what their grandparents endured. Self entitlement seems to be a plague all around the world but when you mix in what happened in South Africa it's a recipe for disaster.

If you speak to any decent South African white or black they will say the ANC need to go, if you speak to a criminal/dodgy/homeless/government worker etc they all vote ANC. They prey on the weak with promises and get people's backs up about what happened over 30 years ago.

A lot of people think Apartheid finished in 1994, in my experience it finished way before then so the past needs to be forgotten and people move on. I went to school with black people and there were no restrictions for them. My gran and grandpa fought so hard to get rid of the old racist government, it makes me sad what came after.

They will deny it but most South Africans black or white are more racist of you use the modern definition of noticing colour. This is because it's shoved down your throat everyday here. Black's have to own a certain amount of every business even if you just wanted to setup a computer store etc. No free school for whites or healthcare. This is okay for the majority of rich white people. My family fell under this so I had a terrible upbringing in certain ways. I never went to a dentist as we couldn't afford it until I came to the UK at 20. None of my siblings or I went to school between a certain time. Mine was 10-17, a very important part of life and I feel I missed so much. We struggled for food and definitely would be classified as in poverty in the UK. Jobs have to be offered to Black's first and a whole other number of things.

Overall though I think South Are very tolerant of eachother and I use a definition where race is noticed but only like you would notice if someone was fat, blonde etc. If you use that definition then South Africa is not a racist country at all in the grand scheme of things and with the right mindset and government there is hope still.
Click to expand...

Very interesting post, thanks. This is pretty much what I've always thought after hearing stories from SA friends. Problem is, if you talk about anything like that outside of those circles you're immediately labeled as a racist, which I guess is why the media ignores it to a degree.
 
Jean-F said:
I can believe this, I had an elderly couple next door but one to me, who’d returned to U.K. after living for years in Durban.
They’ve both passed now, but I recall the guy saying that Durban was the most English city in S.A., he also said that in Jo’burg cars had been rigged with something like flamethrowers under the doors.
If you stopped at a light or a junction, and were approached by what you believed to be unsavoury characters, you could zap them with a blast of flame.
I assumed that this was all in his head, but maybe he was right.
Click to expand...

We stayed in Sandton an upmarket area in JoBerg around 15 years ago and even then it wasn't safe. Every house was like a compound. Massive walls, electric gates, guard dogs, private armed security, Still didn't stop people getting robbed or killed as they would get you when you enter or put the gun though a hole and demand you to open up.

I loved KwaZulu-Natal (Durban region) Durban was an amazing city and an amazing aquarium with inside and outside tanks :) Fun fact that Belfast city hall is identical to Durban's. It had a high population of Asians and the costal ports further south was where white people would retire. We stayed in whale back cottage in Ramsgate you can google it bloody amazing beach side cottage.

Capetown generally felt safe unless you were driving lol
 
Jean-F said:
Ihe also said that in Jo’burg cars had been rigged with something like flamethrowers under the doors.
If you stopped at a light or a junction, and were approached by what you believed to be unsavoury characters, you could zap them with a blast of flame.
I assumed that this was all in his head, but maybe he was right.
Click to expand...

Not just in his head...

 
Jean-F said:
I can believe this, I had an elderly couple next door but one to me, who’d returned to U.K. after living for years in Durban.
They’ve both passed now, but I recall the guy saying that Durban was the most English city in S.A., he also said that in Jo’burg cars had been rigged with something like flamethrowers under the doors.
If you stopped at a light or a junction, and were approached by what you believed to be unsavoury characters, you could zap them with a blast of flame.
I assumed that this was all in his head, but maybe he was right.
Click to expand...

Rroff said:
There is actually a wiki on it heh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_(flamethrower) I remember seeing it reported in a magazine around that time.
Click to expand...

I think i recall a film - Man on Fire? with Denzel Washington who was a bodyguard for a family, might have been based in SA and he had a car with the petrol flamethrowers on the side (or something similar).
 
Caracus2k said:
Not just in his head...

Click to expand...

Thing is that seems like a gimmick, it got a lot of publicity and caused lots of people to mention it "did you know they have flamethrowers on their cars in SA" etc.. but realistically, it doesn't seem very practical.

I wonder how many of those things actually sold or are in use... or indeed have actually been used in hijackings.
 
On the plus side I saw both black and white people in that queue and everyone is queuing peacefully. It's not much, I know.
 
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Honestly I don't want to believe this is real / unedited.
 
Yea and look how that went in Zimbabwe...

The guy is a government minister and actually encouraging murder. Even before the last paragraph.
 
I wonder if they will end up with more white flight, only to be replaced by the Chinese perhaps - and with leaders like that then I'd be a bit wary about what sort of deals they get talked into striking with China in return for big infrastructure projects etc..
 
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