The Rainbow Nation: more trouble in paradise?

We have been sold such a bill of goods about the South African government spawned by the revered Nelson Mandela and those who followed him to power in the so-called “Rainbow Nation.”   Rarely do we see stories in US publications about the violence of the majority black population against other Africans and the white population.  Gosh, is it possible that blacks can be xenophobic and racist?  Or, is it just plain-old tribalism and protecting one’s own stuff driving the violence—something the multiculturalists at the UN fail to acknowledge as they, and the one-worlders, perpetuate the myth of multiculturalism as nirvana?

Looks like trouble is brewing again according to this article from the BBC.

The UN has condemned attacks against Zimbabweans seeking work in South African vineyards, which it says have driven 3,000 people from their homes.

Local farm workers accused the Zimbabweans near Cape Town of stealing their jobs by accepting lower wages.

South Africa saw an outbreak of xenophobic violence in May last year, when Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers were attacked.

More than 60 people died in the waves of mob violence.

The UN refugee agency said those displaced in the latest unrest were living in tents in a sports field north-east of Cape Town.

On Friday, police said they had arrested 22 people in the informal settlement of De Doorns in Western Cape for allegedly attacking foreigners earlier this week, South African Press Association reports.

The trouble broke out when South African farm labourers were angered at reports that the farmers were employing migrant workers at lower wages.

“They started to shout at us saying that we had to go back to Zimbabwe,” one migrant worker told the BBC.

“After that they started to break our houses. We phoned the police but the police didn’t take action. They just stood there as people broke our houses and they stole our things.” [A little corruption in the police, eh?]

Correspondents say South Africa is keen to show the world that poverty and crime is under control in preparation for next year’s World Cup.

In addition to the BBC’s UN-slaps-wrist article above, my alerts reminded me of the website ‘Why I am a White Refugee,’ here where Friday’s article begins with this quote:

In SA, a major way of problem-solving is mob rule….. This use of mobs and the impunity of the anonymity of mass action lead to a breakdown in the rule of law. This, as academics have observed, is a direct result of the merging of militarised struggle politics with unions and community organisations.

Can you believe it, struggle politics, unions and community organizing there too?  Do we see a pattern?   Could they be reading Rules for Radicals too?

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