A burning land

You tie an innocent person’s hands and feet with rope, you put an old black car tire around his body. You pour petrol over this still-alive person and you light a match.  You watch him slowly burning, and throw a piece of newspaper on him to help the flames.  You hear him scream cold-blooded, pain-filled screams. You watch him roll around in the sand with his hands and feet still tied.  You laugh, mock and dance around him – you and hundreds others like you just stand and watch him burn - alive.  YOU CALL YOURSELF A SOUTH AFRICAN.

Today I saw the worst and most heartbreaking video on Facebook of the most recent xenophobia attacks on foreigners in South Africa.  I sat in horror and in tears while watching this video - hundreds of black South Africans surrounding four innocent young victims.  Two or three heartless monsters setting these young foreigners on fire!  My heart dropped.  I have been shocked and terrified by many things happening in my beautiful country over the past few months but this is by far the worst and most inhumane deed I have ever witnessed! 

How can you call yourself proudly South African and then harm another person so brutally?  I think of what Mandela once said: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities”. 

These foreigners are helping the economy in many small ways with their little shops and small businesses.  They earn an honest living.  They came to South Africa with very little or nothing and saw an opportunity.  While some of our own South Africans citizens choose to commit crimes instead of earning an honest living, these foreigners are trying their best to create a better life for themselves in South Africa.   There’s opportunity in South Africa for anyone seeking it.  You must just be willing to work really hard. 

I have been to every province in South Africa and I have seen hard working vendors or creative art stalls of South Africans and Africans all over.  They all seem to make a small living of their handcrafts and creations.  There should be no reason under the sun, to harm, kill or burn a fellow human over so-called lack of jobs or services. 

As Ebrahim Khaleel-Hassin a Public Policy Analyst from Johannesburg says: “I wouldn’t say there are many obstacles starting up an informal business, particularly if you’re just going be trading. You are buying stuff and then selling it; there are no real obstacles. You just wonder why more people don’t do it.”  There is opportunity, there is hope and there is a place for one and all in South Africa. 

You, South African, burning a fellow human being alive - you don’t belong in South Africa.  You are making our beautiful country a sad and dark place.  As a proud South African with respect for others I think it’s safe to say our nation is better than YOU who burn another alive.  You are not part of this nation. 

“A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest.” -Mandela