Without trying to sound alarmist, we wonder if the country should not brace itself for another racially driven fatal attack.
Without trying to sound alarmist, we wonder if the country should not brace itself for another racially driven fatal attack.
South Africa has seen it all, blacks dehumanised by a sinful regime because of the colour of their skin.
Some attacks were subtle and others as brutal and cruel as the Skierlik shooting by Afrikaner teenager Johan Nell.
We wonder too if the likes of Nell are not the offspring of folks whose thinking is still rooted in the white supremacist past - weaned in apartheid and dead set against any other thinking.
You have to ask yourself why a child born shortly before the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 should harbour such blind hatred for fellow citizens simply because of their race.
Because Judge Ronald Hendricks received death threats even before imposing a harsh jail sentence on Nell, this racist killer must have sympathisers ready to pull the trigger on more unsuspecting blacks, and our Constitution.
Fourteen years into the new South Africa we don't expect everybody to be happy with our democratic set-up. But unless we tackle it head-on racism will time and time again rear its ugly head in the form of such senseless massacres.
Government needs to be as ruthless as the aggressors. Otherwise it will be another 100 years before we all enjoy a truly democratic dispensation.
Nip racism in the bud
Without trying to sound alarmist, we wonder if the country should not brace itself for another racially driven fatal attack.
Without trying to sound alarmist, we wonder if the country should not brace itself for another racially driven fatal attack.
South Africa has seen it all, blacks dehumanised by a sinful regime because of the colour of their skin.
Some attacks were subtle and others as brutal and cruel as the Skierlik shooting by Afrikaner teenager Johan Nell.
We wonder too if the likes of Nell are not the offspring of folks whose thinking is still rooted in the white supremacist past - weaned in apartheid and dead set against any other thinking.
You have to ask yourself why a child born shortly before the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 should harbour such blind hatred for fellow citizens simply because of their race.
Because Judge Ronald Hendricks received death threats even before imposing a harsh jail sentence on Nell, this racist killer must have sympathisers ready to pull the trigger on more unsuspecting blacks, and our Constitution.
Fourteen years into the new South Africa we don't expect everybody to be happy with our democratic set-up. But unless we tackle it head-on racism will time and time again rear its ugly head in the form of such senseless massacres.
Government needs to be as ruthless as the aggressors. Otherwise it will be another 100 years before we all enjoy a truly democratic dispensation.
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