Forecast Highs

Just got this email sent to me [scroll down]; its making the rounds amongst former South Africans here in Israel. The violent crime in SA seems to be worsening, and every time a Jew is a victim, we hear about it here. Invariably somebody knows the victim. I’ve spoken with several friends back home over the past few weeks, and some are thinking about leaving, to Australia, Canada, even some to Israel. I’m told that Jewish emigration from SA is on the rise, slightly; they’re coming here and Australia. Other friends are saying there is a strong sense of sadness in the air, and not just from Sheldon Cohen’s murder, its everything together, and people are feeling down.

One non-Jewish friend, a VP of marketing at a major firm, says he lives behind a huge wall, and there are electricity cuts every day for about 3 hours. He’s had it. Its not even about the money anymore. He’s earning a ton, like a lot of people in JHB are, and when you’re earning a ton, you don’t really want to throw that all away. But its not about the money anymore. He’s got a little daughter and now he feels it, the helpless fear, the paranoia. With the mad violence and increasing electricity outages – I’m no longer surprised at hearing this kind of talk. Last time I flew home, over a year ago, EL AL’s inflight magazine, Atmosphere, had SA on its cover. The first paragraph read: “If you’re visiting South Africa you’re landing in Johannesburg. Don’t spend any time there beyond what is absolutely necessary. It is extremely dangerous, so leave as soon as you can and start seeing the rest of the country.” Now that’s terrible. I grew up in JHB and it hurts to read something like that. I thought of calling up Atmosphere’s editor to complain. But what exactly am I going to tell the guy? That he’s got it all wrong? That visitors aren’t getting hijacked straight from the airport and held hostage for ransom for months – as happened to my former housemate’s father? It doesn’t help that SA’s chief of police has stepped down over serious corruption charges, including obstruction of justice.

If, because of the crime and the electricity problems the country loses the World Cup, which people are already saying is a possibility, I feel that would signal that South Africa, that held so much promise, has officially taken a turn for the worse. Not only is that sad, its also very bad for Africa – with Kenya seemingly disintegrating, [what the hell is going on in Chad?] and pretty much the rest of the continent in a shambles, if SA descends into ‘failed state’ status [and we are quite a long way from that - but those two words are starting to make the rounds], Africa will lose one of its remaining beacons of light and stability.

Here’s the email from Doron at Telfed:

“There are days when I feel like getting on a plane and flying out of this country and never coming back to this murderous land.

Last night a close friend of mine and great South African Sheldon Cohen was shot dead for no reason by scum of the earth robbers while waiting for his son to finish soccer training at Balfour Park. The bastards tried to rob a woman of her cell phone and for no reason ran past Sheldon and shot him in the neck. Sheldon was a great South African.

He was head of wits student magazine and an active member of Nusas in the eighties. He then went to study at Harvard University in the US and he obtained the best marks in the history of the illustrious university by a non American for the coveted Harvard MBA.

With job offers from any corporation in the world, he chose to come back to this country to make it better. He started the monitor group and then became a director of Amap formerly known as Tedelex.

He was compassionate, brilliant, generous, kindest and hysterical at times he was so talented in all he did. He is no longer with us. his two young boy’s Zack and Noah don’t have a father and his wife is a widow. And jack and Betty have lost a beautiful son.

He is just another of the 55 south Africans murdered every day of the year of every colour..the second highest murder rate in the world. we have become a sick nation whose leaders have no answer to the collapse of the moral fibre of filth that wait for us in every road and driveway.

They kill us. they kill our sons and daughters , they kill our mothers, they kill our fathers .

They kill our spirit. And in the end they will kill us all. This is not socio economic. This is evil personified.

Lucky Dube, Sheldon Cohen, it doesn’t matter. I am becoming less and less proud to call myself a South African.

In fact I am becoming embarrassed to call myself one.

Just as much as I used to under Apartheid.”

You can really feel the rage in this piece.