CRY MY BELOVED COUNTRY | Those who know me or follow my work, you may be very well aware that I am South African, and proudly so. I could not think of a better country to be born in and grow up in. My South African heritage has been a driving force in much of my media work and activism throughout my media career, despite having lived abroad for over two decades, a decision which is not necessarily my choice… Nor is it by choice that I continue to live outside of South Africa. Indeed, I have been homesick for over two decades now.
I was born in South Africa in 1976, and I vaguely remember the so called “Apartheid” years of the 80’s, as I was too young to fully comprehend it to it’s fullest extent. By the time I hit high school, South Africa was moving from the Apartheid dogma, into an era of so called “democracy”. In 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from jail, and 1994, my first year of University, Mandela became the first black President of our beloved country, beginning the era of the Rainbow Nation. My formative years of influence were rooted in the concept of unbridled FREEDOM and EQUALITY, for indeed, I was part of the Rainbow Nation generation.
The maxims of freedom and equal rights were imbued in me, and defined me as a person, and that has never changed. I evolved from childhood through my teens, and into adulthood, with the influence of creating a better world, and always aiming to do better than we did before. In my adult life, I have been an activist, still espousing these very same maxims and ideologies. I believed in them then, and I still do.
EXODUS
In 1994, I thought that South Africa was on the up and up, and that we were part of something great. We were witness to one of the greatest and most progressive moments in history, and I was ever so full of optimism and hope for the future of our country. By the time I finished my studies, that had changed, and in 1999, I was part of the Great White Exodus, as an entire generation of white South Africans left the country, to seek out a better life abroad. By 1999, the writing was on the wall, as policies of Black Economic Empowerment began to take effect, and Affirmative Action meant that the white South Africans were not favoured for employment and opportunities. The situation had become that of a Reverse Apartheid, and thus, like almost my entire high school graduating year, I went abroad, choosing London as my jumping off point… And I have been homesick ever since. For the first decade away from home, I just believed that the sacrifice of giving up my home country, my childhood friends, my family, were the price we had to pay for the so-called crimes of Apartheid. The longer I was away, the more I began to question whether that was actually true or necessary.
THE GREAT AWAKENING
My own personal awakening process into the true nature of reality, included learning the truth about my Boer ancestry, and unlearning the false version of history we were taught at school. I was so dedicated to this process that I penned a book entitled THE SOUTH AFRICAN GUIDE TO THE GLOBAL CONSPIRACY, and made two documentaries, including my controversial offering entitled LAST OF THE BOERS and CECIL JOHN RHODES – NEW WORLD ORDER FRONT MAN. Since then, I have gone further back into the history of Southern Africa to write my book THE GREATEST DISCOVERY, and make my ground breaking documentary SECRETS OF THE KALAHARI. My media output included a live broadcast show that I co-hosted with fellow South African Expat, Karin Smith called STOP SOUTH AFRICAN GENOCIDE, which aired live on CONSCIOUS CONSUMER NETWORK, and included interviews with people from across the world, all of whom offered interesting insight into the truth about South Africa in the present day, and in the past. What an incredible learning experience that has been, and I am ever so grateful that I took the time to explore the facts and learn the truth. Indeed, it has been a privilege to gain such knowledge, for many are ignorant of these facts.
ACTIVISM
My own personal activism resulted in me filing a case for genocide at the International Criminal Courts in The Hague, where I chose to base myself throughout this battle to bring justice to the century long genocide of the Boers / Farmers (‘Boer’ is an Afrikaans / Dutch word for ‘farmer’), which had largely been ignored by the International community. Unfortunately, by the time our third application had been submitted, South Africa just decided to remove itself from the ICC Treaty in order to avoid prosecution.
Due to all my work, I was appointed as the International Media Advisor to the Royal House of the Khoisan Nation, being the First Nation of the territory today known as the Western and Eastern Cape. I served the Khoisan King as an advisor for a year exactly, and resigned amidst the corruption and infiltration into the secession efforts of the Sovereign State of Good Hope. I still hold out hope for an independent Cape, free of the corruption of the African National Congress Communist / terrorist regime that currently rules South Africa, and support many “Cape Exit” groups that have formed.
A FAILING COUNTRY
The economy of South Africa has been in free fall for a number of years, as the African National Congress government has robbed the taxpayers of billions, resulting in South Africa being declared as “Junk Status” by the International Monetary Fund, resulting in many South Africans coming to the realisation that South Africa was indeed better off before the Presidency of Nelson Mandela, than it was after. The native people of South Africa are no more free or economically abundant, in fact, it has only deteriorated. The infrastructure of South Africa has crumbled due to the corrupt politicians who run the country, stealing from the tax payer, and not funding the upkeep of essentials such as electricity. The power stations and power grid has not been maintained or expanded to keep up with the growing population. This has resulted in a phenomenon known as “load shedding” which means that for up to 12 hours a day or night, South Africans, rich and poor, are without electricity in their homes.
Past 18 months, it has gotten particularly worse with the onset of Covid, with many people losing employment, going bankrupt, going hungry and even committing suicide. This has all contributed to a tone of disgruntlement amongst an exploding black population, who still blame the whites for all their problems, despite the fact that the whites have not been in power for over 27 years. In fact, the white population is now at less than 5%, and we are now the marginalised minority under the policies of Black Economic Empowerment.
ZUMA RIOTS
Riots and protests are common in South Africa, and indeed I have been in the thick of some very scary angry black protesters on campus when I was a student. I have seen first hand the destructive capacity of the angry black mob, having run for my life and having to hide away in campus buildings, followed by a 3 month closure of our campus due to the destruction of said angry mob. However, this recent spate of riots, are by far the worst our beloved country has ever seen. The scale of the devastation and scale of the financial cost and losses are the worst in our country’s long and torrid history, due to the wide scale looting and destruction of businesses, shops and community infrastructure, much of which has happened in my home province of Kwa-Zulu Natal.
ARTICLE ABOUT THE SCALE OF THE DESTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH COAST HERALD
These riots were supposedly sparked by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma, a man who robbed the country blind, and has been embroiled in much corruption and scandal from the onset, to the closing of his presidency. In fact, his jailing was one of the very few moments of justice for our country, nonetheless, Zuma supporters have gone ballistic. My home country has been torn apart by an angry mob. My family and friends are locked in their homes, scared and nervous, unable to sleep with the sounds of continuous gunfire and explosions. Factories and warehouses have been set ablaze. Stores and indeed, entire shopping malls have been looted and destroyed. Over the past few days, my Whatsapp has been non stop with horrific images and messages coming in, detailing the devastation. It has been so hard to sit and watch this from afar, whilst communicating with my family trapped inside their homes. My family are nervous and anxious. Nobody knows how far this onslaught will go.
WHAT COMES NEXT
All the retail stores and warehouses that have been burnt down and looted are no longer operational, and thus, there will be massive unemployment due to this looting. They may even have to close temporarily or permanently, as there is nothing to sell and they will have to repair their premises before opening again. The sector that supplies those stores is the wholesale and manufacturing sector, they will have an excess of product, with nobody to buy said product. The wholesale and manufacturing sector will have to get rid of staff, resulting in yet more unemployment. With less people going to work, the transport sector will suffer, along with various other sectors. I have just gotten reports through my home town community in Umhlanga, a relatively wealthy and upmarket community that has not yet been hit with riots just yet, that there is no food in the shops, because people have been panic buying. The queues are over thousands of people long, and nobody knows when stores will have food again, because the warehouses that supply the shops have been burned down and the trucks blown up. Those who have supplies stored will be okay for a while, but that too will run out.
A Fertiliser warehouse was set on fire, and the water that the fire department used to bring the blaze under control, has many toxic chemicals, which has gone into the storm drains, and is now pouring into the ocean, resulting in the poisoning of picturesque beaches such as Umdloti, as seen in the above video.
So what comes next? Unemployment and mass starvation, even in the affluent areas? Food and fuel shortages are expected, which will result in a food crisis as prices go up, effecting the poor greatly. The ports in Kwa-Zulu Natal have been forced to declare force majeure and send trade ships away. This will have a devastating effect on the economy and supply lines, and even the economies of neighbouring countries, and indeed international mineral trade, as a very large percentage of the world’s minerals comes out of these ports.
All over the greater Durban area, long queues several kilometers long, were to be seen outside of the shops that were not looted.
A message from a childhood friend in the affluent suburb of Umhlanga Rocks, came to me via my WhatsApp saying:
“I went to Pick n Pay today… Was in the queue at 7:30am and got into the store at 11:15am. There were approximately 2000 people ahead of us. All we managed to get was 2 packs of chicken livers, 2 packets of soup, polony, 4 rolls of toilet paper, cat food, sugar, 1 packet of spagetti, 2 pasta mix that you add with water and nothing else.”
There is no fresh food, such a vegetables, milk, eggs or bread. People are being limited to purchasing a maximum of 10 items to stop panic buying.
Above is a video taken of the queue at Virginia Circle on the North Coast of Durban.
COMMUNITY
What has however given me much hope, in the wake of all this disaster, is how the local communities, white, black, Indian, you name it, in my home province, have pulled together to protect their communities and fight back. The police and military are overwhelmed with the onslaught of the mob, and ordinary citizens, taxi drivers, people with legal firearms, have taken to barricading off the densely populated residential areas, and fighting off the angry mob in order to stop them from getting into the home and private residences. Sadly some of the angry Indian community of greater Durban have lost businesses, and become very angry, resulting in the burning of squatter camps, and the beating and shooting of young blacks, and of course, this only angers and inflames the onslaught of the mob, creating further motivation for the destruction. The death toll of this crisis is rising every hour, and we anxiously await the end of it all, and the restoration of some semblance of normality.
My Mother Skype called me, to tell me how her Muslim neighbours knocked on her door and gave her milk, flour and oil, which can not be found in shops. Food is being flown in from the Cape by private citizens who have chartered private planes to get supplies to KZN. Farmers have sent messages around saying that they would deliver food to affected areas directly. Other folks have been driving in truck loads of bread into Durban for distribution. South Africans have realised that the government has failed them, but what they do have, is each other, and they are pulling together.
WHITE AFRICAN
To the black people of South Africa, who say Africa is for Africans… know this:
I may be white, but I am African. I am descend from the original white tribe of South Africa, being the Boers. I do not identify with any other nationality. I was born there and my ancestors have lived their for over 350 years. My people fought two wars to keep the Globalist / Imperialist powers out of Southern Africa, the very same powers that are now destroying the country. These were called the Freedom Wars, (or as they have become known in history, the Anglo-Boer Wars) which is why you have places with names like Orange Free State and Vryheid. We lost over 60,000 women and children to disease and starvation in the concentration camps as a result of Imperialist / Globalist actions against the original white tribe of South Africa… and we continue to suffer ongoing targeted genocide at the hands of the oppressive African National Congress regime. Many of us have had to flee abroad, in order to escape economic depression and discrimination, giving up friends, family, loved ones… and nothing, and I do mean nothing can ever replace that. I was part of the Rainbow Nation Generation. I was not part of the generation that oppressed the black people of Africa. I believed and still do believe in FREEDOM and EQUALITY for all, nobody excluded. I wanted nothing more than to live in peace, side by side with my fellow Africans, be they Zulu, Xhosa, Indian, Khoisan, Cape Malay, or what ever. I want nothing more than to see South Africa flourish, and for all people to be happy, healthy and thriving with abundance… For when that day comes my dear brothers and sisters of Africa, I can return home. I can reclaim the heritage that has been lost to me for all these years. I can once again experience the magic, the mystery and the beauty of my homeland… And South Africa will always be my homeland, no matter how far I travel, no matter how many years may pass. I AM AFRICAN… and I always will be!
XENOPHOBIA
I recently wrote a blog post about the XENOPHOBIA that the Expats who live here in Portugal are subjected to at the hands of the Portuguese. I just wanted to add a caveat to that blog:
Often I have been told by this or that Xenophobe, “go back to your own country”… Well I would love to. Most South Africans who live abroad are not there by choice. They would much rather be living in South Africa, for indeed, it is a magnificent and beautiful country, far more so than any country I have ever visited, and I have travelled far and wide. Most South Africans who choose to make Portugal their home, do so because it is the most similar country in Europe to South Africa. It gives us a little semblance of home away from home. It is incredibly hurtful and insensitive to tell us “go back to your own country”, making us feel very unwelcome in Portugal at times, because even in our own country of birth, we are not welcome, just because we lack the necessary melanin pigment beneath our skin. We are indeed in exile, economic and political refugees. We would love nothing more than to not have to be here. Everyday I dream of moving home with the hopes that South Africa will get better… but the more time goes on, the more I realise that this may never ever happen!
The common lesson for all to learn here is that, whilst we are fighting each other, we are distracted from the true enemy, those behind the scenes manipulating the conflict. What we need is a revolution of heart and mind, whilst uniting on our common ground, being the pursuit of a free, fair, peaceful, just, sustainable, non-toxic world. I still live in the hope that one day, maybe one day, I can go home to a country, healed of its wounds, and on its way to a better place!
Peace Love Unity Respect
Mel Ve
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