Black People Criminals

The article published by Cape Times yesterday raises serious concerns about a number of issues. It published a story about a Brandon Huntley, a 31 year old man who was granted asylum by Canadian authorities.Brandon was granted asylum on basis of a number of claims that he had made about his experiences as a white person living in SA. He had claimed that:

• He would stand out like a sore thumb due to his colour in any part of the country.
• Black South Africans had attacked him seven times and stabbed four times in 12 years period
• He was constantly afraid and he knew there was no future from a security (and financial) point of view because of his skin colour

The Canadian immigration and refugee board came to a conclusion that Brandon’s allegations are true and therefore he had to be granted asylum. The board’s actions of endorsing Brandon’s claims about South Africa and the experience of white South African shows clearly that South Africa’s image is tainted across the globe. It also suggests that there is a group of people and particularly white, who are running the campaign of discrediting South Africa and its efforts of become a reputable global player.

Claims by Brandon Huntley in his submissions, that he was stabbed by black South Africans cleary portrays black people as criminals. If Canada granted his asylum on the basis of these claims, then it means that some white South Africans have concluded that all crime experienced by white people is an indication that they are all criminals.

It is exactly these incidents that raise suspicions about whether these individuals do these things in their personal capacity or they gain support from certain institutions and organisations that have interests in rendering South Africa ungovernable.

Former president Mbeki has always raised concerns about the way media institutions are conducted in South Africa. President Jacob Zuma has been a victim of media and he had to go as far as suing in order to clear his name. It is not only local media that is involved in this behaviour but even some media houses outside of South Africa.

It is also very worrying that there has been silence from political parties like DA, which are perceived to be representing the opinion of white South Africans. One would have expected that they respond to these claims because it can’t be true that white South Africans are victimised because of their race.