It is easy for naysayers to envision the apocalyptic impending race war that is around the corner in South Africa (and has been, in their mind, since at least 1990 or so). But a couple of recent events have certainly fueled the fire. ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema (of course) is at the center of a firestorm over his singing of “Kill the Boer,” a song that was popular during the anti-Apartheid struggle but that is seen as being a bit, er, intemperate in the New South Africa. The performance came at his 29th birthday party at a stadium teeming with his supporters. Malema seems to be incapable of not rousing the ire of opponents and friends alike, and so this mock controversy would be a blip on the screen were it not for another more incendiary story.
Eugene Terre’Blanche was one of the notorious figures on the Afrikaner Nationalist right wing. The long-time leader of a radically racist (and let’s not mince words — Neo Nazi) organization, the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement, better known as the AWB) Terre-Blanche was recently murdered. The killers were black. And so the right wing has itself worked up into a froth with declarations about revenge and race war and every other foolish thing other the sun. This despite the fact that Terre-Blanche himself served time in prison for attempting to murder a former black employee and assaulting another, and he is certainly responsible for the deaths of many more black South Africans as the leader of the AWB. Oh — and the killers apparently went after Terre’Blanche because he had refused to pay wages that they owed him. This is not to justify the killing of the leader of the organization that has continued to preach the possibility of leading a race war, and I believe in the rule of law — these men should be punished seriously. But let’s don’t pretend that this is a sign of swart gevaar (the long feared “black danger” of the white imagination).
Oh, and do you question my categorization of the AWB as a Neo-Nazi organization? Here is its symbol:
So, yeah — what happened to Terre’Blanche is clearly a terrible thing for his family. But given his history, well, chickens roost. It’s in their nature. Meanwhile the people who have always preached — and fomented — race war are now . . . preaching and threatening to foment race war. Forgive me for not giving in to the direst of predictions.
[Thanks to reader Tom for pointing out an error in the original piece, which I have now corrected. Terre’Blanche was not convicted of murder, but rather of attempted murder and assault. I regret the error.]
