#SouthAfrica Breakdown

I figured I need to take the next step in my dreams of journalism. I started looking into South Africa for a few reasons. One was that I can see many similarities in my country and theirs. The two are in no way proportionate in terms of severity of the social divide in the present day , but black inferiority and white dominance is still very much alive and a real factor of black poverty. I personally felt inferior as a child, but grew out of that mentality as I became a man and flourished in a multicultural land. I have plenty of white and mixed friends and don't hold a grudges about old views, but old views still dictate much of the wealth and social status of today. While doing my research on South Africa, its very important to keep this in mind; these aspects play a big role when getting to the next step in the understanding of South Africa.

Brief History

Apartheid-(a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s.) During this time there was a social scale in the order of White Afrikaans, Coloureds, Indians, and Africans. The Statistics South Africa Census 2011 showed that there were about 4,586,838 white people in South Africa, amounting to 8.9% of the country's population.

Nelson Mandela, a member of the ANC (African National Congress), abolished the remainder of the apartheid when he took office in 94", but how far has the country come since? During the past twenty years there has been a blending between the White Afrikaans, the Coloured, and the Blacks; or the supposed blending. I seems evident that the white population still holds the majority of the land and wealth, and civil unrest is on the rise.

Can You Blame Them?

The blacks are pissed, but whats new. The subhuman treatment, exploitation and pain inflicted upon the black culture was so catastrophic that 20 years later there is a culture still scorned. As the "Rainbow Nation", the people should be working in unison with multiple cultures to improve the infrastructure and quality of life, but as the U.S knows, old habits are hard to die quick. With such extreme poverty seeing such wealth, it's a slap in the face for many who live right outside their walls.

The one true difference is that South Africa has a Black majority where as the U.S has around 13% black. So with a black majority that is severely impoverished, and with a relatively short time span from the apartheid, the script has been flipped. When the views of Nelson Mandela were still fresh, he preached forgiveness and looked for options to move forward rather that seek retribution. With him gone and the rest of the society to interpret his vision, it seems things may be looking bad for the whites for once. I say "for once", because it is very unusual, if ever seen before, whites being oppressed by blacks. This is why I'm so interested in this piece.

Thought~

I'm a firm believer in Mandelas views and feel that for a nation to unify, there must be a level of forgiveness from the scorned to move forward. On the other hand, the black in me is oddly happy to see a dark skinned nation seek retribution. Its a weird feeling. I understand what needs to be done for the better of a population, but its about time there was a little payback for the whites who divided a continent. It is in this mentality where I can understand this generation of black nationalism. Is it the right mentality? No, plain and simple. Vengeance can easily lead to hate and civil war with more economic downfall. People must build upon the past and not stay living in it. Seeing as the white population plays a massive role in the South African economy, there must be a bridge for the gap.

Now The Real Story

Within the past 20 or so years, theres been talk about blacks reclaiming farm land from the whites. This has lead to a number of unreported murders of white farmers and seems to be increasing by some reports. With the government not responding and turning a blind eye to the increasing amount of murders, it seems like they are advocating the reclamation of the land. More than ever the whites are looking for support from their government who is turning a blind eye. This scenario is usually reversed in most black and white societies. From the outside looking in, it seems as though the government is letting the situation get out of hand so the white farmers will have little option but to sell their property. With the high level of crime and murders, the property value is no where near a profitable sell. Ultimately the white South Afrikaans farmer suffers and is left with little options for a future in the country they were born in.

Statistics

Note~

While doing my research, the statistics produced by the government differ from the statistics of farm unions in the country. It seems that the police surveys take their own versions of polling to produce their statistics. Its a case of whether the government is unethically lowering the numbers or the people are politically raising the numbers.

White Massacre or Genocide?

Difference Between Massacre and Genocide~

As nouns the difference between massacre and genocide is that massacre is the intentional killing of a considerable number of human beings, under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the norms of civilized people while genocide is the systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, social status, or other particularities. As verbs the difference between massacre and genocide is that massacre is to kill in considerable numbers where much resistance can not be made; to kill with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to the norms of civilized people; to butcher; to slaughter while genocide is to commit genocide (against); to eliminate (a group of people) completely. https://wikidiff.com/massacre/genocide

This conflict would fringe on the border line between both. Nonetheless both would be considered humanitarian issues that need to be addressed. Are these issues supposedly not taking priority because they are white?

Farm violence has long plagued South Africa. In 1998 then president Nelson Mandela told a summit on rural safety and security:

"The government deplores the cold blooded killings that have been taking place on the farms in the past few years. While killings on farms, like crime in general, have been a feature of South African life for many decades, the incidents of murder and assault in farming areas have increased dramatically in recent years." Between 2001 and 2014, the country's human rights commission conducted three inquiries into human rights violations in farming communities, and in 2001 the police minister appointed a committee of inquiry into farm attacks.

As the inquiry's 2003 final report explains:

"Farm attacks may take many forms and can be executed in various ways. It can happen on any day of the week and at any time of the day or night. It can take place inside the house or outside. Many different crimes can be committed during the course of a farm attack. All kinds of weapons can be used in the attack, and anything of value can be stolen. Some attacks leave the victims unharmed, in other cases they are killed or seriously injured. Some attackers have a clear motive, others not."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-05/fact-check-were-400-white-south-african-farmers-murdered-year/9591724

It is still unclear how many were murdered during the last 20 plus years, but what is evident is that there are murders taking place. The question about if it is a white massacre or genocide is still to be determined. Seeing as there is a mixture of race in these farm murders, its hard to label it a massacre or genocide. What is important to note, is that over 60% of the murders were white, seeing as they own more farm land than the other races.

The Police

What can I say, people have always had split feelings about policing. The problem with the police in this society is the massive amount of unchecked corruption and light penalties for criminals. There is near to no follow up with arrests and many criminals are let go from lack of paper work and evidence. For the police that are doing their job, it seems like a never ending battle with no help from their government. This is felt from the civilian perspective too. With these cases not being followed up on, civilians feel they need to take extreme action in defense of themselves and mainly rely on private security to protect them.

To compare, its in a lesser form like the problem the U.S had during the 80s and 90s in New York. Police corruption was at an all time high and it took major detective break throughs to weed out the corruption. Famous movies such as "Donnie Brasco" and "American Gangster" portray simulated and real events that took place in U.S society with the theme of tackling drugs and police corruption. This was no easy process and took decades of back and forth with little progress on handling the problem.

Private Security

South Africa has one of the largest private security forces in the world. At this point, private security outnumbers the South African police force. People rely on the swift and powerful responses provided by these well armed privatized forces. The problem with relying so much on private security, is that the money is going into the private sector and not benefiting the law enforcement infrastructure. With an unreasonably low police to population ratio, the police are contracting these private companies to assist them in normal and high profile cases. In many cases there is little governing over these private companies and atrocities have been reported. So if there is no control over the police and no control over private security, who is suppose to protect the South African citizens and infrastructure??

Conclusion

From all the information I've provided; my opinion has changed a few times while writing this piece. I started off thinking that there was a hidden massacre or genocide occurring with the white South Africans. As I dove deeper, it seemed that the media was trying to spin the story out of control. Farm murders are actually at a statical low. Yes the murder rate is still higher than it should be, but massive improvements have been made. I feel this is being blown out of proportion compared to the status of the actual country. These conditions that whites are being subjected to merely seem to fit into the statistical average of South Africa life. It could be that whites have always had their way and have not helped to improve their own infrastructure as South Africans and reduce poverty which would reduce crime. People are still largely exploited in the country and all South African citizens need to play an active role in improving their lives as a whole.
The reclamation of land was another issue when looking into the supposed white genocide. It is still unclear if the government is turning a blind eye to these murders. One can see for the reclamations political ventures, why the government would turn a blind eye, but the statistics show effort on a governmental level reducing the crime. There are many gaps and dark areas that I want to dive into more.
In conclusion I think it may just be a case of white people scared of settling with the standards they created. They created a nation state built upon the exploitation of others and now they are stuck in that society without governmental control.

Part 2 will dive deeper into the conflict and get more specific with the reasons for the economic status of the South African country.

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