Return of the Daxk

Daxk is back with a belter of a comment that sums up many SA expat’s feelings perfectly. Perhaps.

Aaah yes,6K,I really dont understand what the fuss is about,its been going on for about a week and they’ve only killed about 25,going back to the famous Crime Blog post,and the normal 50 murdered per day on average,its hardly going to make a blip on the figures,is’nt it?
Besides, the police services have been saying for years that its the illegal Mocambican and Zimbabwean immigrants who are responsible for the Hi-Jackings and armed home invasions, not to mention the daily cash in transit robberies.
will be interesting to see wether there has been a decrease over this period.
Hate to say it,but its only been noticed because its all on Camera.
Ho Hum! Another day in Paradise.

When responding to something like this, I often find it difficult to know where to start. Then I remember Maria’s advice – “Start at the very beginning – a very good place to start”.
So maybe we should start with the fact that Daxk is right in the thick of the action, in Ireland. And no – that’s not the name of a township just outside Jo’burg, it’s the place 11,000kms away where they make Guinness and film the pisspoor Ballykissangel.

Moving on from that shock revelation, I’m assuming that the “famous Crime Blog post” Daxk refers to is the BSACP, which was voted as the second best post written on any South African blog in the whole of 2007. (Just behind one about buying condoms, but that’s not important right now.) Daxk doesn’t agree with the sentiment of that post, despite the fact that it quite clearly states:

South Africa has a big problem with crime… The stats show that South Africa remains one of the most violent societies on earth – the figures are shocking.

I don’t know. Maybe I should have made it a bit more melodramatic.

Daxk goes on to say that because the murder rate in South Africa is so high, we shouldn’t really be bothered about this minor problem – “they’ve only killed about 25”. Perhaps Daxk would call that attitude “desensitization”. Most others would choose “cold”, “unfeeling” or “callous”. 

And then, the pièce de résistance – the affirmation that illegal immigrants (those from Mozambique and Zimbabwe, anyway) are responsible for armed home invasions, hijackings and cash-in-transit robberies – and a suggestion that because of the xenophobic violence against foreign nationals, the numbers of these crimes may have decreased over the last week. This would be laughable, if it wasn’t quite so inaccurate, irrelevant and downright sick.
The mobs roaming informal settlements in Gauteng at the moment are targeting anyone suspected of being foreign – legal, illegal, men, women, children. Several deaths have been South African nationals who were mistaken for foreign nationals. The excellent Special Assignment on SABC3 devoted their whole show to the issue yesterday evening – including interviews with the families of the victims of the gangs’ “mistakes”, something you may have seen if you weren’t in Ireland. Instead you rely on iol, news24 and Tannie Brenda for your third hand information.

The figures suggest that there are somewhere between 3-5 million immigrants in SA. (Incidentally, I think that the breadth of those numbers quite clearly indicates the huge problem with border control in SA.) And yes, crime is high in South Africa, but the suggestion that around 1,000 of those immigrants being displaced, many of them women and children (60+ injured, 23 dead as of last night) would make a difference to the number of armed robberies is a bit of a stretch. A desperate one.

And yes. It’s all on camera. And, in some ways, thank goodness it is. This is not something that should be or can be brushed under the carpet. Just because the victims are immigrants, because some foreigners may be involved in crime, because “they’ve only killed 25” doesn’t make this situation any less of a crisis. 

Please note: anyone – Daxk included – is welcome to share their views by commenting on 6000 miles… provided they abide by the rules available here.

14 thoughts on “Return of the Daxk

  1. Come on 6000. It’s only 25 people. In the same way that Apartheid was “a little unfair” and “National Socialism” is “mildy anti-semitic”.

    I wonder why Daxk moved to Ireland?

    Rob’s last blog post was: Open source would work better if… (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

  2. Daxk’s flippant comments about the death of real people in the most inhuman manner, regardless of their age or legality makes me grateful that he is an ex-pat – I hope he stays in Ireland. In fact SA’s “loss” is also Irelands “loss” in my opinion. It’s that sort of disregard for any human life other than his own which makes people capable of the atrocities that they commit. He would be screaming about the outrageousness of it all if it was the tannies and oomies that were being set on fire!

    charmskool’s last blog post was: I have a few questions, maybe even some answers (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

  3. I must admit when I read his comment I took it as he was writing “tongue in cheek”, which hopefully he was.

    If read that way then I have to agree with him. The violence was caught on camera and so people have noticed. People are murdered every day in SA and nobody says anything! We should be outraged at all the deaths in SA not just these ones. The crime rate is bad and will it reduce because of this? Probably not! Yes immigrants might be involved in some of the crime but not all of it. I think here he is having a dig at the police and their statement, not the immigrants.

    So, hopefully he wrote this as “tongue in cheek”. If not then his comment is shocking.

    Pamela’s last blog post was: Healthy mind, Healthy body??? (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

  4. @Pamela: Sadly, I have seen Daxk’s post on SA issues on many occasions on a certain forum which I won’t publicise here because it’s chock full of disgusting racist expats, bitter that Apartheid is no more.
    I can appreciate what Daxk is trying to do – if his/her comment is read as tongue in cheek, then suddenly it’s all cool and perfectly acceptable. Sadly, while a clever idea, having seen his/her previous form, I have no doubt what the meaning in that comment is.

  5. Dear Rob, I wonder what your reactions would have been if those 25 people were not foreigners, if you would be as excepting of the deaths.

    Daxk reference to the drop of crime in direct relation to chasing foreigners away astonishes.

    These xenophobic attacks and the many response to it from various angels frankly emphasizes the unavoidable, murderous grip of humanity’s various immemorial belief systems, our failure to defend the future by winning the longer and greater war against intolerance, bigotry, zealotry and hatred which so brutally divides humankind against itself. These are the key components of the violence. It is fuelled by criminal elements that abuse the media hype about foreigners and perceptions about the origins of crime – and not because immigrants are all hi-jackers.

    It is natural to think that the source of these attacks share common roots in the fact that resources are few, and people many. Competition over resources can easily turn into conflict. But there is one thing wrong with this simplistic explanation. It mislocates the roots of conflict in competition over resources, the model being imagined tribes of early man quarreling over access to water-holes or pastures, as so many commentators ellude to in the blogsphere. No doubt such things happened. But the real reason for bitterness and persistence of human conflicts, and the existence of a symbol for peace, has little to do with resources and everything to do with ideology, opinions, beliefs and traditions – a fact that Dakx and Rob poignantly miss.

    Emil’s last blog post was: I need a break from South Africa (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

  6. I have not read anything else by him (thankfully), and always trying to se the best in people I was hoping it was written tongue in cheek.

    If not then his comment,and the many others like this that seem to be going around at the moment are shocking!

    Pamela’s last blog post was: Healthy mind, Healthy body??? (Note: 6000 miles… is not responsible for the content of external internet sites)

  7. Aaah 6K, Pamela is actually the closest,in this case,the violent senseless death of any innocent is
    terrible, be they illegal immigrants,or Citizens.
    Just as abhorrent as the slaughter that happens daily in townships,farms and suburbs.
    That was my point, dear 6K ,they happen daily as you well know,but there’s no fuss made as it is past tense,not in your face on the front page of the press.

    If I did a quick search, how many grannies and kids would I find burnt to death because they were either thought to be witches or would’nt open a shack door?
    Two paragraphs on page 3 perhaps?
    How many of the 50 a day average would die from beatings
    or stabbings?
    How many of those would appear on Sky or the front page of the FT in London?
    Kindly note I am excluding armed home invasions and farm murders as sofar its all been ethnic.

    As to my question regarding perpetrators of crime?
    shall I post links to the SAPS reports trying to blame the high incidence of crime on illegal immigrants??Again, more than tongue in cheek, as is the latest little snippet that this is third force activity??

    My personal experience of Zimbabweans,Mocambicans and Malawians has been of hard working,honest people who just want to work, make some money and help their families back home.
    So any intimation that I wish them ill is unfounded.

    Why am i in Ireland, simple, i have a 9 year old daughter who is suffering from PTSD as she saw her Father with a gun to his head,her mother dragged to the bushes and was told if she made a noise or cried, we would be killed.
    But that did not drive me to the land of Ballykissangel, the 4 local lads were caught,charged, and let out on bail, so they visited me on a Sunday morning, hooting and waving in my driveway,making obscene gestures at my child.
    That drove me to Ireland, Rob and Charmskool.

    And 6K is quite correct, I am an unfeeling,inured, desensitised ex- Soldier. I am,not a racist and would take up arms to prevent a return of either a white right wing or apartheid Govt.
    What 6K is referring to is my feeling and comment that AIDS is going to do for Africa what the black plague did for Europe.
    Reduce the amount of mouths to feed,create a rennaissance, sort out unemployment and leave a stronger residue.
    What shocked him was that I feel that anti-retrovirals are merely prolonging the Agony.
    The ill are becoming a burden to their families as well as crippling the infrastructure.
    Create hospices,make their lives as comfortable as possible,educate their kids freely,but dont punish them for years with kindness which merely hurts more.

  8. Daxk – Sadly, I don’t have time to respond to each of your comments with a post.

    A few points – I sympathise with the ordeal that you and your family went through. That doesn’t mean that it will happen to all South Africans though. It will only happen to a tiny percentage. But naturally of course, your experience skews your view of SA in the same way that you criticise my view of SA for being skewed – simply because I haven’t had that experience.

    Your comments regarding the issue of the press reaction to this are fair – at least partly. But this is a significant and concentrated problem – of course it will attract more attention than (for example) a murder in Cape Town and a wholly unconnected crime in Limpopo. What I have seen in this instance is more repsonsible reporting from most sources than I am used to in SA. Yes, I’m shocked too.

    Sadly, your comments regarding HIV are painfully – offensively even – misguided. When you agree that the white people in this nation (of this world, perhaps) should give up their chemotherapy for their cancers, should not be allowed treatment for their heart conditions nor antibiotics for their pneumonias – when you renounce any treatment for your own family for any sort of illness which disables them, temporarily or permanently – then perhaps you could justifyably make those sort of statements, without coming across as a complete hypocrite.
    Even then, I would choose to disagree with you.

    I work each and every day with HIV+ people leading completely normal lives thanks to ARVs – ARVs which, contrary to your view from Ballykissangel (or wherever) ARE readily available from Government clinics. That you would deny kids healthy, loving, working parents is a disgrace – and, due to the demographics of the illness – borders on racist.

    Oh – and incidentally, aside from your barmy ideas on HIV, I always thought you one of the more moderate, thoughtful contributors to that forum. Which, I guess, says a lot about that forum.

  9. 6K,you chose to highlight a post where I pointed out that 22 in a week is small potatoes in SA and what had brought it to prominence was the media and that it was real time rather than historical..

    you further implied that I was racist.When did AIDS and TB develop Race?

    How could anyone deny a child a healthy,loving, working ,parent?
    I dont.
    But, and I am aware of your work especially in the field of TB, what about the parents who are no longer Healthy loving working Parents, living in squalor, what is the quality of life stage towards the end?
    Or do they all get a nice warm bed at the end?
    Whats the life span now on ARV’s?
    If they created and broke out some of those nice big warm Army tents and beds in a nice dry warm climate,sold the Pres.s new jet or that French Corvette they cant afford the diesel for, they could house the sick, feed them, school their kids, give them a better quality of death than a tin shack on the banks of the Jukskei River with their kids stealing to get some food in the house.

    Ah, the hell with it, you’re only going to twist what I say.

  10. Daxk – Life span on ARVs? I can’t tell you. Some people just aren’t dying. They lead normal, healthy lives for years and years.

    I don’t need to twist what you say.
    Simply – we have drugs which can prolong people’s lives, allowing them to work and to provide for their families.
    And you don’t want them prescribed.

    Sick.

  11. , 6K,”When you agree that the white people in this nation (of this world, perhaps) should give up their chemotherapy for their cancers, should not be allowed treatment for their heart conditions nor antibiotics for their pneumonias ”
    Which of these were preventable?
    Was AIDS?
    What does White have to do with this arguement?You raised demographic, thats fact,obviously if 80% of the population are green then its likely 80% of the sick will be green.
    I have nowhere said that you must withhold treatment for one specific race or another.

    How many, How much, How long, who pays?
    And I’m not referring to white taxpayers, I’m asking which other services get less budget?
    Education?
    Historically, including the Nat idiots,essential services got the least.The new bunch spend even less.
    How much does it cost per patient per day,per % of the population,
    The only thing that will save SA in the future is education of the youth.
    The Education is already in crises, Teachers are so lowly paid they dont get applicants,

    If ARV’s are giving people a normal life span,fine,I’m wrong.
    if it’s costing a portion of their earnings as they are paying taxes as normal healthy working adults ,fine, no arguement. Then I would agree with you that my thoughts are equivalent to the nazi’s in the death camps.
    But you are saying you dont know how long?
    Just as there were people who contracted the plague and other illness and survived, and passed on their immunity to their children.
    So too,there must be some who have immunity.

    irrespective, in similar vein, more people died in the Al Queda Bombing in Nairobi then in 9/11.
    but there were’nt any Camera’s filming it happening.
    19000 odd South Africans will be part of your odds this year, but only 42 sofar will make International news.

  12. @Daxk: a few points, then I’m off to bed.

    1. Your lack of virology and immunology expertise is clear. I’m not about to give you a lesson in either. Your points regarding that subject are completely invalid as they are based on your incorrect assumptions.

    2. The Nairobi bombing killed around 200, 9/11 killed 3,000. Cameras or not.

    3. Please do not derail this thread further – there are other posts and other threads which deal with other SA issues. Let’s keep this one on topic – the ongoing xenophobic attacks in SA.

    4. “only 42 so far”? Does that really make it ok to you? At what point should we start reporting these incidents?

  13. just a thought – how come its still safer to live in zim, zambia, malawi or mozambique even with the poverty than it is to live in SA – travel up there- most farmers got away with a beating not 2 bullets to the head! – no i don’t buy it that the foreigners bring in the crime – if fact when i lived in Joeys -it was often the poor Zimbos who were victims of crime. – it is sad but true since leaving, i have met so many people with shocking stories (perhaps only leaving after its happened) & even sadder lots cannot settle & will always long for their homeland – but seek safer pastures for their kids…black, white, green or pink nobody should be treated like that… i think jealousy has a lot to say for this – Zimbabwe had an excellant education system & churned out really good teachers, nurses, clerks etc..& they have a good work ethic.South Africans don’t want to work on the mines thats why the migrant workforce is so high – not cos they can get away with lower wages – its regulated. its jealousy just like the indians in uganda & jewish in europe…..

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