An interesting thread so far. Some good points, some pretty bloody bad ones. Wonder how many of the contributors so far have actually live(d) in Africa?
Bowji John summed it up pretty well. Its the way it is in Africa, always has been, always will be. Interesting to note that there is serious political debate in Aus about the prospect of bringing white SA farmers over to WA on special “rescue” visas. This in recognition of the dreadful ongoing slaughter of white farmers in their homes, on their land, which even more interestingly hasn’t even been mentioned in this thread so far. If the Aussies get the visa laws over the line it will set a precedent worth having.
I’m married to an Afrikaner. I know them, well. I got off the plane in 1990 and was dropped head first by my new employers into Afrikanerdom, like it or not. I lived and worked with them, immersed myself in their history and culture, learnt the language, wooed a few young ladies, made lifelong friends of their brothers. I deliberately chose not to be like the other “souties”, who by and large disassociated themselves from the Afrikaners, with their condescending, post-colonial snobbery. I travelled southern and eastern Africa, met Afrikaners in all sorts of interesting places... Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania.
My dog is called Soutie.
So when I say that much of what is to come is ultimately of the Afrikaners’ own making, then know that its not a spiteful, shallow comment. Consider the name they have chosen for themselves. Afrikaner. Afrikaans. Read the history of the country, understand the genesis of these people. It was a hard, long birth, the birth of the Afrikaner nation. But one that was destined since before the Boer War to leave them outnumbered, politically redundant, religiously irrelevant and persistently shunned the world over. Their god has let them down, he hasn’t delivered. That’s quite a big deal for a lot of these folk, there was a lot of faith placed in that god.
Financial security for some has enabled them to buy their way out of the country whilst retaining a foothold, retaining their identity. But they won’t be around for the fight, they’ll be long gone. Those that have little or no security are stuck, reviled by the new regime, disliked in general overseas by those they themselves stuck a big middle finger up to in the 80s. Their culture is dying, poverty has arrived at their door. In the towns and cities there will be no will to fight, what for? As an ethnic group, the Afrikaner is on borrowed time.
Those that are left on the land, the remaining genuine Boers, they are just another tribe of Africans, in the long and brutal history of African tribalism, colonialism and subsequent independence wars fought in the interests not of Africans but the Cold War powers. The Boers still believe they are steeling themselves for the ultimate showdown, they are armed to the teeth! This has been coming for years, since well before the chicken runs in 1986/87 and 1994. Problem is last time the Afrikaners tried to stick up for themselves it didn’t turn out well at all (AWB in Bophuthatswana)... and quite frankly I don’t see anything different happening next time round. Remember what happended to Terrblanche.
No one on earth understands the bantu like the Afrikaner. This is both a good thing, and a bad thing. Their inevitable resistance to land appropriation will place a great many long and very deep relationships with blacks in great peril. So many good people will suffer all over again.
But Cyril Ramaphosa has got an election to win next year, and he can see the DP and EFF making gains at his expense. The decision to bring back the charges against Zuma and the resurrection of land redistribution are timed to regain the political momentum, the ANC has been going backwards quite quickly under Zuma. The largely ignorant peasant masses that make up the ANC power base have had their heads turned by Malema’s EFF and Cyril will be well worried by them and the DP. The ANC has already lost the Western Cape forever, and they can’t afford an EFF militant insurgency in its own midst. So Cyril has maybe started making a few promises he might not actually be inclined to keep... so maybe, just maybe, this latest news from South Africa is all just smoke and mirrors.
Ultimately though, nothing can excuse or forgive the slaughter of innocent people in their homes, on their farms. The targeted murder of white farmers and their families is nothing short of genocide.