The sickening killing of 27 year old Mido Macia in South Africa this week brought to mind the white supremacist murders in the US which amounted to ‘lynchings’. This, together with the recent high profile rape and murder of Anene Booysen - and even the Oscar Pistorius case - point to a latent violence in the country that the government seems reluctant to tackle.
The sickening killing of 27 year old Mido Macia in South Africa this week brought to mind the white supremacist murders in the US which amounted to ‘lynchings’.
James Byrd Jr, a black man, was tied to the back of a pickup truck in Texas in 1998 by three men, two of whom were confirmed white supremacists, and dragged at speed to a gruesome death.
As recently as 2010, Anthony Hill, also a black man, was dragged almost ten miles by a white male after being shot, and the matter is now being investigated as a hate crime.
Such killings are the ultimate demonstration of control, power, contempt and hate for the victim.
But in post-Apartheid South Africa, where the police are black, the world, and the people hoped and perhaps dreamed of better.
Black people, who suffered grievously at the hands of the South African police under Apartheid, have a right to expect better. But sadly the corrupting influence of power seems to have transcended racial solidarity in the killing of Macia.
To see black policemen mimic the racist modus operandi of white supremacists is particularly galling. It also sends a clear message to poor blacks that “we are your masters now“.
The brutal video shows that there is good coordination between the policemen who rapidly tether Macia to their vehicle and are chillingly coordinated in their actions. It does not look like the first time they have done it; they appear much practiced in this form of torture and humiliation.
In South Africa, violence is always bubbling just beneath the surface; and when race, poverty, and power are added to the equation things can quickly boil over, as seen in the massacre of Marikana miners of 2012.
As with that atrocity, an investigation has been announced following public outcry, with remarks of condemnation from Jacob Zuma.
The recent high profile rape and murder of Anene Booysen – and even the Oscar Pistorius case – point to a latent violence in the country that the government seems reluctant to tackle in a systematic way. It is time for South Africa to join the dots and see the bigger picture.
13 Responses to “Why are South African police mimicking white supremacists?”
Gail
Interesting perception from the outside
looking in. Fascist Police States are not the sole preserve of “White
supremists,” and if the author knew more of our History, they would know
about Shaka. By today’s standard looking back, Shaka was a
Fascist Dictator and Shaka’s Rock still stands. Further north Robert
Mugabe still commits crimes against his own people. And there once was a
man called Idi Amin, and then there was Charles Taylor. Power mad
psycopaths come in all shapes, sizes and colours. It is not the sole
preserve of one race group or another.
Mick
Quite a revelation to many leftists who only think in terms of ‘rednecks and nazis’ when waffling about the brutal beatings of who we would call minorities. Brutal tyrannies in Africa seem pretty much par for the course but what judders the leftist brain to a standstill is that this happens in South Africa – a place where, doctrine states, the ANC rainbow nation has brought peace and prosperity and equality.
In fact, crime cripples the nation, along with poverty and scapegoating against whites. Though with Nelson Mandela a Marxist terrorist leader whose wife set fire to political opponents, it looked from the outset a case of one flawed man versus an establishment of other flawed men whilst riding the vehicle of liberation.
Talk about life under apartheid, eh.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/10/safrica.mmm/index.html
ANC racism. Yup, heard that right: http://za.news.yahoo.com/anc-most-racist-party-024053065.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9280481/More-than-half-of-South-Africas-children-live-in-poverty.html
Nelsy: http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~springbk/enemy.html
Mick
Agreed. And i suggest all the celebrities and liberal freedom-lovers who cheered Mandela and teh ANC’s rise now come together to protest the likes of the ANC’s apporval of Mugabe’s racist persecution of white farmers:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/jan/11/zimbabwe.andrewmeldrum
I’ll drink to the Left come that day.
swatantra
Its the collateral damage of any uprising, conflict or power struggle, regardless of whether morally right or wrong. The collapse of Apartheid, Communism and the Arab Dictatorships were all morally right, but the inevitable fallout and trauma and psychological damage will continue for many many decades to come, and affect everyone.
bluecat
It would be a mistake to suppose that the South African police force was all white before apartheid. For obvious reasons – you could hardly go undercover in the townships if you were a white officer – and for more subtle ones too, many of the rank and file police were black. The brutality and impunity of the police force seems to have continued under a political system which has not changed that much, although the skin colour of some of those at the top has. I’m not knocking the massive improvement that the end of the apartheid system and all its appalling absurdity has brought, but essentially it is still a capitalist, sexist, violent and extremely unequal country.