Are SA Whites Afraid of a Post Madiba South Africa? Cape Town-While the country waits with bated breath for updates on former president Nelson Mandela’s critical condition, some South Africans are living in fear of the looming day the ailing statesman passes. A terrified white percentage of South Africans seem to be living in fear of the day Mandela dies. A simple search online of: “fear, Mandela and death” and the headings of websites include “Blacks will massacre whites after Mandela’s death”, “South Africans fear Mandela’s death” and “White genocide after Mandela’s death in SA?”. With thousands of websites from interest groups to social networks scattered with essays on the matter, the concern seems to intensify with each hospital admission. Far right organisations have warned white people to be prepared and plan ahead in order to protect their families. Recent reports surfaced about the SANDF being placed on standby after a secret contingency plan kicked in when Mandela took ill. Soldiers were warned to prepare themselves when Mandela was even admitted to hospital. Reports on White South Africans’ fearing a post Madiba South Africa have made international headlines stretching as far as Australia, the U.K and America. Earlier this year Father Sebastian Rossouw, of the Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto reportedly expressed his fear to The Australian: “Many of us fear that what he stood for will also die. It’s a concern that when Mandela goes there will be a threat of civil war. People are concerned that if he dies, will we still have democracy? Will we still have peace?” Ernst Roets, deputy chief executive of racial minority rights group AfriForum, told The Guardian that peacekeeping organisations are working to resolve people’s concerns. “We get a lot of fear. We do get calls from people saying they’re scared about the day Mandela dies and what they should do. There are fringe organisations that say ‘flee the country’. We are encouraging people to be aware and look after their own safety.” Meanwhile, Political commentator Max du Preez was lambasted after he criticised the naysayers. “A softer version of the ‘white genocide’ scare is that the ANC would regard the end of Mandela as a kind of licence to start behaving like Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF because the last voice of tolerance, reason and reconciliation had fallen silent. Even more moderate people believe Mandela’s death would lead to a sharp decline in the worth of the rand and the stock exchange,” he wrote. “I suspect the only consequence of Mandela’s death is going to be a period of sadness, nostalgia and a feeling of national coherence. It will remind South Africans of all groups and persuasions of the almost miraculous transition from apartheid to democracy and of the golden era under his presidency after 1994.”
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 07:27:30 +0000