Simunye

I'm sure many of you have heard about the recent violence against African nationals from outside of SA in Johannesburg. This week it spread to Durban, and yesterday it ignited in Cape Town - so the three major centres of the country are now scenes for horrendous violence, lawless looting, and racial hatred.

While no one has called or emailed and asked if I'm alright (you all obviously love me so much! :o) ), some other people here who are from England have had people asking, so I thought I'd let you all know what is going on.

If you didn't watch the news or listen to the radio you'd probably not notice anything was happening in Durban, so long as you live in the right area. The sort of place I live is about 5 miles from the scene in the picture (the picture is of a few people at the police station who are some of the many who have been displaced violenty from the township across the road, and forced to flee), and if you drive on the major roads, you'd drive around all this and not see anything. That's because so far the violence has been confined to township areas (which tend to be off the beaten track), and perpetrated late at night against people from other African nations such as Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique, and Somalia.

The reason? Purportedly there is a lot of rivalry and resentment against these immigrants, who are accused of stealing all the jobs, and even stealing women. As ever, there's an element of truth there, but most black South Africans I speak to say that these foreigners are very hard working and so they get jobs and take jobs local zulus, for example, won't do.

But in reality these mobs of people are reportedly little more than drunken, bloodthirsty thieves, who have killed, raped, looted, and burned their way to stealing lots of cell phones, TVs, clothes, etc. While some are saying they want to kick foreigners out, many victims of violence have their ID documents stolen from them (hence they can't leave) along with everything else.

The worst case I've heard of was against a Mozambiquan in Jo'burg a few days ago. A mob set fire to his shack, and then when he ran from the blaze they shouted in Zulu, "Don't let the foreigner get away!" They grabbed him, doused him in petrol, and then threw him back into the blaze to burn to death. A Zimbabwean speaking to BBC news said that they can't sleep for hearing the sound of this man's screams as he slowly died.

There have been three major hotspots in Durban that I know of - Cato Manor (where the boys I've often mentioned come from), Umbilo (the sort of area we play 5 a side soccer in), and Chatsworth (the mainly Indian community where many from our church live, bordering the township of Mlazi). So far it has been black South Africans (who admittedly do have the rough end of the stick here) against other black Africans. But many do draw comparisons to situations recently like in Congo and Rwanda. Potentially it could spill over against Indians and whites, and even against different black South African tribes (I know one Sesotho guy who is a little concerned because he doesn't speak Zulu well enough to pass for a zulu. Other guys in the church from, for example, DRC, are very worried, with some too scared to go to work).

So today Themba, Johannes, and myself went to Cato Manor police station to see what our church would do to help the displaced people. Johannes' (a member of the staff working particularly with developing our HIV projects) contact in the municipality asked us to come and see what was happening. She explained that there were around 550 adults, plus children, staying on the grounds of the police station. Thankfully it doesn't get too cold at night in Durban, but cold enough (though in places like Cape Town and Jo'burg it'll be very cold - even freezing). The facilities are feeling the strain, with toilets getting blocked up, lack of space, getting food to people, etc. Many people come with only the clothes on their backs.

And to see some of it is just heartbreaking. I saw a girl who couldn't have been more than 15 carrying a 2 year old or so (maybe a sister) just walking through the grounds of the station, and I just thought, "How can people be so brutal against someone so vulnerable?"

Chief Buthelezi, leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party which is very strong in KZN, came to visit the station and did a press release there as blankets and food donated by the IFP was distributed.

At the moment many police stations and church buildings have become effectively refugee camps. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to return to any normality, and these people may end up settling elsewhere, which is something akin to the dark old era of apartheid.

Simunye is a strong Zulu word, and it means 'we are one'. Chief Buthelezi used it today when urging people not to leave the country. I guess though it all depends on who you mean by 'we'. The wonder is that we all could just as easily be like this. This isn't a South African thing, this is a human thing - a sinful, fallen, human thing.

I ask you to pray for us as a church that we may shine like lights in this crooked generation (which exists not only in SA, but across the world), and to pray for those who have been so brutally treated. Many have lost everything, even family members. Some think it better to be in Zimbabwe where there is little food, and where Zanu PF thugs do things much like they do here. Do pray - God is powerful! If I find ways in which any of you might be able to help further (e.g. through gifts of money to enable us to give to those made destitute), I will let you know.

I come home in three weeks or so. Who knows how much longer I'd be welcome here anyway?