Happy Weekend! I Hope you have something fun planned.
In a word:
I'm ashamed to say that parts of my homeland South Africa have the dubious honour of being known as the rape and murder capital of the world. Lovely.
Sadly, crime is not just limited to the criminals. Too many of our cops, business leaders and government officials are part of it too, a scenario summed up beautifully in this joke I found on my Facebook feed. I hope you don't have to be an South African to understand it.
Sadly, crime is not just limited to the criminals. Too many of our cops, business leaders and government officials are part of it too, a scenario summed up beautifully in this joke I found on my Facebook feed. I hope you don't have to be an South African to understand it.
Well, here goes . . .
Zolani, Sipho, Andiswa and Zakele were cruising down the highway in a flashy red BMW when they spotted a roadblock. With a sigh, Zolani, who was driving, stopped.
Zolani could hardly believe his luck."What are you going to do with your cash?" asked the cop.
"Eish! I'm going to get a driver's license," Zolani answered.
"Aauw!" yelled Sipho from the passenger seat. "Please sir, don't listen to him. He always tries to be smart when he's drunk!"
With all this noise, Andiswa woke up in the back seat. He took one look at the cop and moaned, "Yoh! Guys, I told you, stealing the BMW was a bad, bad idea. We should have taken the red Ford! But you are always so cleva!"
At that moment, they heard a knock coming from the trunk and Zakele's voice called out: "Are we over the border yet?"
The cop rubbed his hands together, saying, "Okay, my brothers. How are we sharing this R5,000?"
Jokes apart, crime is not funny.
For the last twenty years we've adapted to living in a country where our house is surrounded by six foot walls, razor wire and electric fences. We have even got used to setting the burglar alarm every night before bed. That alarm is linked to a rapid response company who will send out armed guards to rescue us if the criminals decide it's our turn to be targeted for face makeovers and wealth redistribution. All this we have coped with and accepted for years - crazy, hey? But government corruption is something new and insidious that one cannot fight with alarm systems and armed guards. Corruption destroys the very fabric of society (or what's left of it), causing citizens to loose hope and business to grind to a stop. Everyone suffers.
So crime is of the things I hate about living on a continent plagued with grinding poverty and unscrupulous, avaricious leaders who do little or nothing to lift the prospects of the masses. It's a major reason we're moving to the UK.
Next Friday I promise to post something positive. Until then, have a magical week.
cheers
Gwynn
PS. As usual, don't forget to check in with Elisa to see what she's doing this Friday.
