₦airaland Forum

all4naija: Are you telling us this statement has something to do with what is being discussed? Please, this is very irrelevant to the argument. Indeed, good percentage of the nations of the world produce oil, including SA.

What I am telling you is that I have no time for you today. Seeing as Moffie-in-the-ezz has run away, I leave you to wallow in Naai-gerian self pity. I am off to enjoy the afternoon sun.

Too-loo-loo!

morpheus24: And still dancing around the fact.....

Yes, seeing as you've backed off on your "show me a country.." question. That's what happens when you try to give us pseudo-logic.

You have no point.

You've been fed facts all day, and your desperate argument has fallen flat too. Your last hurrah.

morpheus24: Who said anyting about singing Craig....??

I did.

morpheus24: This still does not change the fact ....

Yes - the fact that you are the only oil producing country that is in your position.

I agree.

Good to see you've abandoned your question.

morpheus24: Intermission I feel like dancing some Azonto...... don't u?

In the spirit of non -brotherly luv


[flash= 500, 300]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LCoksSQMzs[/flash]

We all know Naai-gerians can't sing. Spare us.

morpheus24: Nah craig... the point is you can't show me another sub saharan African country without a white settler population with on par infrastructure.

Show me another oil producing nation that is as dismal as you are.

It's all in the brains - skin colour has nothing to do with it.

morpheus24: Still missing the point here huh?

There's no point. You have no point whatsoever.

In fact, there is a point. Your "civilised blacks" have nothing to show.

morpheus24: In as much as your flimsy tactics involve throwing around the names of other Black African countries in a desperate attempt to cloud us from the obvious........

The fact still remains that..."and here we go...****in the jokers voice****......"Where would south Africa be without white people...just another African country"

You're the one who claimed to be smart, when evidence actually indicates that you are bottom of the pile.


Now, where would Naai-geria be without colonisation, without South Africa, without the UK, and without the Chinese?


You've tried everything. You still come up on the underside. Nothing will change the fact that South Africans blacks aren't even bothered to give you the love you are desperate for. The recognition you are desperate for. The respect you are desperate for.

Look to your leaders. Leave South Africans out of it.

morpheus24: Quite Pitiful....

^^

The state of a Naai-gerian crying for acceptance from South Africans.

morpheus24: Brighter than most Blek SAffers

Unfounded rubbish, as expected.

Hard evidence says the state of your country demonstrates stûpidity of the worst kind. There's no evidence demonstrating your smartness, even against a small country like Ghana.

morpheus24: NAh... Craig you already alluded to the fact..... I don't need to ask.

...ok...neeeext!

morpheus24: 12am midnight

Amazing - It's 12 midnight all over the world. My, my - we have ourselves a bright spark here.

morpheus24: Nah craig, it just simple means the logic is solid.

Glad you agree. The logic is solid indeed. All you can do against it is waste my time with empty posts.

morpheus24: why can't you just state where you are at 12am midnight doing your work.

'

You never asked. So, why should I?

Are you an idîot? Never mind. Don't answer that.

paniki: I've learned not to expect much from Naijas. I'll let this one fly with the kites.

Yup, that's how you do it. They have this tendency of building up pages and pages of time-wasting, useless "debates".

morpheus24: THE fact still remains....WHere would SOUTH AFRICA without WHite people...Just another African country.

You know that when a Naai-gerian goes into "repeat-the-same-useless-statement" overdrive, "it" is drunk on the truth.

morpheus24: Hey be my guest CraigB who lives in South Africa but has deadlines to meet at 12am midnight from his office.

You are an idîot. Ask your friend, All4Naai where I am.

As for your other rubbish, no point even commenting. You've been given facts and you're given me rants back.

No time to waste on that. I have work to do.

morpheus24: Desperation?

Craig, are you that air-headed.........you aren't on the "South Africa is worse than Nigeria" thread... stay on point, you aren't winning.

Given that this particular post is empty, I shall thank you for your having happily accepted the facts presented to you.

morpheus24: Men, you are trying real hard aren't you.

I DO NOT LIVE IN THE PSEUDO_AFRICAN STATE KNOWN AS SOUTH AFRICA!...never have.... never will. It bewilders you doesn't it.

Sorry CraigB. Try again.

A bare denial.

The I-am-obsessed-with-South-Africa fever landed on your head and stuck like a case of bad rash?

Yeah right. We know the symptoms of the I-am-Naai-gerian-and-have-been-hurt-by-South-Africans-desease. You have them.

Only Naai-gerians who've suffered under South Africa display the symptoms. You are one of them. Your journalist friend admitted he has the desease. You might as well admit the truth and you'll be happy.

No bewilderment here.

morpheus24: Craig, Craig Craig....come now I would rather have my money taken in go home alive than be dragged by a Blek South African police officer cause I didn't pay bribe.


[flash= 500, 300]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAfIEzYwqak[/flash]

The heights of desperation. You do know that Naai-gerian authorities engage in the below, without prosecution, right?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stU0T2H1DMo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vwzg3IiBok

Or have you been in South Africa so long that you've forgotten your roots?

So, I suggest that you engage the thinking side of your brain, notwithstanding your having reached your wits' end.

morpheus24: Un-inspiring comment. in fact I'll go so far as to to say really "dry"..

Yes, but you can drink it.

The bitter, dejected and not-feeling-the-love, sour-grape "civilised blacks" are quick to talk about the "pseudo-Africans".

Yet...

http://www.nigeriapolicewatch.com/2012/03/lagos-police-officers-extort-visitors-to-south-african-embassy/

Lagos police officers extort visitors to South African embassy


Police in Lagos are never in short supply of nasty extortion ideas. Biodun Bodurin, a citizen reporter explains one of these officers’ latest at the South African embassy in Lagos.

By Biodun Bodunrin


It is quite disheartening and frustrating that the South African Application Center in Ikoyi has been turned to a point of exploitation by the members of the Nigeria Police, Lagos Command.

It is an eye-sour in the vicinity.

Police would round up prospective applicants, drive them meters away from the Visa Application Center, and through coercive intimidation and threat, innocent applicants were made to pay between twenty to forty-two thousand Naira.

Legitimate business men,visitors and prospective investors to South Africa are being harassed by the Nigeria Police who finds delight in extorting applicants coming into the South Africa visa application center.

I however seek for the quick intervention of your good office in correcting this ugly trend which could have adverse effect on the Visa Center, the South African High Commission in Nigeria and the good people
of the Republic of South Africa.

The Police officers that are extorting in the area have never taken anyone to court for any visible offence. They are only there to harass, intimidate and exploit innocent applicants.

I therefore, suggest that your good office notify the Inspector General of Police and the Lagos State Police Commissioner of this harassment by the Police.

morpheus24: As for hurtful personal experiences, yep I do, .

I could have told you that. And look what you've become, a refugee yourself. And you sit here crying and wishing for love from reluctant hosts - into whose country you came uninvited, with bags and bags of "real Africanness". All you Naai-gerians act like this after having been rejected by South Africans.

You aren't the only one. "We fought apartheid". "We are brothers". Blah blah.

How about you fight Boko haram and the general backwardness in Naai-geria?

A piece written by Phillip Kaak of Naai-geria. Like Moffie-of-the-ezz, he is bitter and has a personal experience in South Africa. Note the last paragraph, where he does admit that his own government has failed him. And that if it weren't for that, they would not be treated like filth is South Africa. Moffie suffers from the same issues, which is why he and Mr Kaak speak the exact same language.

Naai-gerian mentality on display for all to see.

_______

Overindulging South Africans’ bad behaviour!

October 4, 2013 | Filed under: Starters | Author: PHILLIP ISAKPA

There appears to be more odious stories coming out of Nelson Mandela’s country. I am sure if the Madiba were to get to know that his countrymen and women, especially the so-called BLACK majority types, are deliberately, consciously, wilfully targeting Nigerians for unpleasant experiences in that country, the old man would be very surprised; and then, would develop a new kind of sadness! For a chief indulgee like me, who has a notoriety for developing a naïve belief that misbehaviour towards any person or group of persons might not always be deliberate (often a mistake), I have come to a new thinking to include South Africa and South Africans among those to be given tit-for-tat treatment should I ever find myself in a position to eyeball that country at official, diplomatic level.

The reason why I am including South Africa and South Africans in that list is that I have personally been a victim of the deliberate, wicked effort of South Africans to humiliate Nigerians. (See what I mean?) You would recall that I have reported at this indulgee gathering how, in the old visa system operated by the High Commission in Lagos, black South African officials, who were probably having a good time in our country when they were not at work, took pleasure in treating Nigerians who went to procure visa like animals. In 2008, the first and last time I allowed myself to be so treated (that was when I had the naïve belief that it wasn’t deliberate), I found it unbelievable that Nigerians were meant to undergo such treatment in the hands of their fellow black Africans. Looking back a couple of years later, it was clear to me that this black folks from SA, finding themselves now in position to ‘deal’ with people, after years of suffering under apartheid, were exacting their pound of flesh on Africa’s most populous country; the world’s highest concentration of black people.

And here’s the story. It appears that when Black South Africans look at Nigeria, they see the size; they look at the population, they see the huge number and the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’; and when they find themselves in a position of authority, like authority to issue visa, authority to allow you into their country as immigration officials, they remember how the minority white population treated them, the majority (just because they had power). So, what do they do? They get pumped up, their adrenaline wakes up and they think, “Let’s deal with this majority black people.”

At the University of Nigeria in the 1990s, I had the opportunity to be up close to two South Africans. One, Matthew Ncube, was my classmate, and he was such a jolly good fellow, whom we used to call Mandela. The other one was a PhD Political Science student, who was called Kumalo or something close to that. We used to talk about South Africa and how bad apartheid was and joined other students who always had a view about that evil system. At the time, none of us knew things were going to be different years down the road. In writing this piece, I had to call two former classmates trying to confirm the names of the two South Africans at University of Nigeria. Surprisingly, one of them narrated his story when he visited South Africa. “Those people are bad to Nigerians,” he said to me. He told me how they always look at you with disdain once they find out you are a Nigerian. He said he was shocked at the treatment.

It might just be that this is coming to light much more now. But the truth is that this bad behaviour by South Africa and South Africans is not new. In 1999 I went to Manchester University to do a postgraduate programme. People had come from all over the world to study, including some black South Africans. It soon became obvious that they looked at those of us from Nigeria differently. We were in the UK, I was still very naïve, so it did not resonate with me. It was only much later, when we had the opportunity to be in group discussions, and they had ‘seen’ through their own stupid behaviour, that they began to open up.

Do you know what their ‘stupid’ officials told them when they were leaving their country for the UK? “Be careful with Nigerians.” That’s what our classmates at Manchester University said they were told by their bloated, egomaniac, silly, black South African government officials. That was as far back as 1999. The xenophobia was real even way back then. And it was and still is an official policy!

This bad behaviour continues to happen, no matter what their very senior officials say in public. It’s all lip service. These people don’t mean well for Nigerians and Nigeria. This country called South Africa, although now ruled by blacks but having its economic power in the hands of whites, appears to me to be one which would do all that it can to benefit from others and then turn to spit on them! The story we took yesterday about the treatment given to a senior executive of South Africa’s biggest business in Nigeria, MTN, is the latest of South Africans and South Africa behaving badly towards Nigeria and Nigerians. It is beyond belief that the reason for deporting a senior official of MTN who had a legitimate entry visa to that country, and who had gone for a company meeting, would be that there were no two full empty pages on her passport for an arrival/entry stamp to be put on her passport. It was the reason to throw her into detention, seize her phones, deny her access to call anybody, deny her access to water or food and then put her on the next available flight back to Lagos. This was a woman who had travelled with her fellow senior colleagues and had been so humiliated in front of everybody! Jeez! South Africa!

In the midst of all this, I think deeply about the future. One day this country called Nigeria will be governed by truly proud Nigerians. Mark my words today. The current crop of people who rule this country are people who are selfish, and operate from the shallowest perspectives in terms of what it truly takes to have REAL patriots in charge of the affairs of state. They are the reason why things like this continue to happen to Nigerians. They are selfish and they allow this selfishness and their shallow minds to distort their visions about what is right to do to protect their own citizens. (And hence the bitterness when they are rejected in South Africa. They wish to be loved by their "brothers", but their real brothers in Naai-geria, their leaders, have forsaken them) But I believe this will not go on forever. One day, REAL patriots will come on the scene. They will know what to do. Right now, I know what to do to protect my people. For instance, I will not take any nonsense from any country or its citizens that treat my country and my citizens with disdain. I will make sure a country like South Africa, which has an anti-Nigeria investment attitude in South Africa, does not have its business people come here and make money off our country while their visa and immigration officials and ordinary citizens treat us with contempt. I will not allow it! At all!

The below was not written by the blacks that you are jealous of. It was written by a new-generation, white South African. Look at the solidarity he displays with black South Africa. You can cry until you are blue in the face, the below are the facts about Naai-gerians in South Africa. You have your Hillbrow brothers to thank for the contempt that you are viewed with in South Africa.

_____



A piece written by Simon Reader, a producer and consultant for a South African communications company. He intends to complete his first novel within the next year.The views of the writer are his own and may not be supported by the website- Editor.

Simon is white, by the way.

_____


http://www.2oceansvibe.com/simon/hillbrow.htm


Hillbrow: She doesn't live there anymore.


For most ordinary South Africans, the thought of adventuring into the once vibrant area of Hillbrow is a no-no. But this was not always the case.

Hillbrow was once the partying circuit of South Africa, the trendiest area in the biggest city - the modern day version of Melville or Observatory in Cape Town. In the seventies, nightclubs used to close at dawn and people could walk home. After all, Hillbrow was also a fashionable place to live, with many houses and apartments built in the typical sixties / seventies 'art décor' style.

Time has not been kind, as indicated in Johannes Kerkorrel's 'Gee jou hart vir die Hillbrow' (Give your heart to the Hillbrow). Most of the hotels have been turned into residential brothels, the once famous Ponte City, the round hollow high-rise, has been turned into a den for drug dealers and criminals. Many houses are in dire derelict - most of them empty. Rent is at it's cheapest - one can rent a six roomed penthouse in Ponte City for a mere R2, 000.00 a month. Few minutes pass without the sound of screaming sirens or gunshots, suicides are high and the police, when they do decide to raid, never leave empty handed.

Red curtains, crack cocaine and heroin have replaced high heels, mini-skirts and marijuana.

It has been said that the current system of Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville will soon tire the South African black people. It tired the whites, or rather, scared them, in the late eighties and early nineties when the country made the democratic transition. Nelson Mandela,' South Africa is for Africans,' and all the rest. In 1995, the first arrest of a Nigerian drug dealer was made - crack cocaine was the substance. It was about at this point in the nineties that the American market for the drug was soaring - and why not? More addictive and cheaper than cocaine? Crime blessed Hillbrow with an environment of near perfect trading elements; high rise buildings (to couple with the soaring HiV/AIDS statistics i.e. desperation), police who were starting to toy with the idea of a little dabble here and there (easily met halfway with the bribes and free access to local prostitutes) and many social and political reasons leading to the massive influx of immigrants (military dictatorship at the time). Ninety percent of whom were Nigerians. Ninety percent of whom were illegal in every sense of the word. Nelson Mandela welcomed Africans from everywhere. To give the remarkable man his due credit, one must assume that the invitation extended was purely on the grounds of persecution; should you seek political asylum, we will grant it. Should you be a victim of human right violation, we will issue you with temporary residential status. A brave man with a past of inconceivable sacrifice extended an arm of welcome to anyone proving similar history. Remarkable compassion.

Unfortunately, the arm was ignored and, instead, the entire torso was devoured. Immigrants flocked into this country at such a rate that by 1998, four years after the invitation, an estimated 50,000.00 illegal Nigerians flocked the streets of Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville. Under Section 21 of the immigration act, Hillbrow was flooded with Africans (mainly Nigerians) seeking temporary refugee status. Mandela's act of kindness was abused, taken advantage of and would ultimately lead to the rape of Hillbrow, the destruction of its reputation and maybe even it's future.

In May 2002, a documentary entitled 'Guardians of Midnight' was shown on MNet, a national pay channel. It focused upon the Berea Emergency Services as the count down to New Year began, or shall I say, erupted. For 45 minutes, one was exposed to the most harrowing reality television this country has ever seen, leaving Fear Factor or Idol's nominations right at the back of the queue. Stabbings, shootings, casualty wards. Bystanders being hit by falling objects - or rather, objects like bottles and bricks and fridges being thrown from windows. Thank you Ponte. Emergency surgery, gut wounds, permanent disfigurement due to the broken bottle of an angry Nigerian. Rape, gang rape and child abuse. Your average New Year in Hillbrow. Perhaps the most discomforting issue; these incidents are not taking place in Mexico, Lagos or Brooklyn. As you sit, watching television in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, this happens twenty minutes away. The beloved country, the rainbow nation turns into a feast of violence, drugs and death in the New Year of it's capital's center. For Nelson Mandela, there can only be disappointment; the kindness (maybe even sympathy) has been spoilt by the evolution of Hillbrow to the point of it being safe to say that black South Africans are starting to fear the worst.

I could not help be selfish as I watched the documentary from my expensive sofa and bottle of wine. These people are Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Senegalese and Angolan. They are not South Africans. They are being treated in these hospitals for their gun shot wounds, all along it being our taxes keeping them alive.

Why should I pay when the money is used keeping these people from dying? Why can it not be filtered into Soweto, build more schools or increase teacher's salaries? And for anyone who calls me xenophobic, here is the truth: research has now concluded that eighty-nine percent of illegal Nigerians are not here to seek asylum or look for jobs. They are here because of the relatively 'free reign' environment, the haven that Mandela suggested, to deal, steal and corrupt as many people as they can, killing, raping and establishing (what may soon be) an irreparable damage upon our progressive culture. Hillbrow is no longer a place near Johannesburg center. It's a suburb of Lagos and we are suffering for it.

The support for these illegal immigrants is astounding; agencies have been structured as bases for fair treatment. Aging hippies and the committees they have created called me inhumane when I took my case to them; telling me I had no idea of what I was talking about. I am a relic of apartheid, a ghost of the discriminative qualities this country was once notorious for. I never got the chance to finish my case; 'Angel' slammed the phone down on me. 'Don't you know what's happening in Africa? These people have no home!' What these agencies fail to recognize is the cost of keeping drug-dealers and others involved in crime. How can anyone justify the presence of a known syndicate, dealing in drugs and theft? Children are soliciting, HiV/AIDS is rampant, telephone wires have been cut down, landlords have given up the fight. The pressure on the government to improve is finally beginning to show - last week, the infamous Sands Hotel was shut down. But it won't be enough - as long as the perpetrators know the justice system stinks.

I recently came across a mother whose crack-cocaine addicted son was found dead in one of the rooms in Ponte. She is in mourning, but I believe her anger at the system will not end once she continues with her life. Instead, with my useless and futile encouragement, she'll establish a group that will host the parents and loved ones of every single child or teenager found dead in the hands of African drug dealers in Hillbrow. It will be a committee structured not upon xenophobic values, but upon the plain and simple moral principle. My instincts lead me to deduce that support will not be very hard to find; since May 1995, 136 children under the age of eighteen have died drug related deaths in the area. Twenty-two of these were held hostage at some point, eleven of them were murdered. There is a murky underworld right before us, and unlike Sicily or Chicago, the mess makes no effort to hide itself.

So, what do we do? The impossible, that's what. Politicians stop philandering for one minute, notice the damage and act immediately. They clean out Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville, arresting and evicting anyone who fails to prove his/ her nationality, status or identification - confiscating ID books, counterfeit cash, drugs and stolen goods in the process. The arrested in question will then go to various detention centers around the country, whilst the justice system evaluates exactly who is legal and who isn't. Once completed, a further list of criminal record is established - if anyone in detention hosts a record, investigation into the nature of the crime is the next step. If you contribute, pay your taxes and avoid drug dealing, rape, hijacking or murder, you may stay. However, if you are a burden on the economy - you go. And quickly. Black business establishes a base in Hillbrow, jobs are created, people move back and once again, it becomes the energetic and vibrant place it once was. Nightclubs, bistros, pavement cafes. People walk home at night. Ponte City becomes the archive capital of South Africa. People are fined on the spot if they litter. Police become noble again and Africa finally starts showing some responsibility for itself. In the second part of this, cows start flying, every single taxi in the country is governed and driven by a computer control center, Sophia Loren loses forty years, becomes twenty-two again, flies to Johannesburg, proposes on her knees to me and we get married on a beach in Italy.

There is simply no way to deal with this issue without causing an outcry; without being labeled a Bosnia or a Rwanda.

However, according to Mr. Raymond Dlamini, owner of MbroseZone Consultancy, there is a way. "You're telling me that the police are powerless. How many policemen and politicians do you think are involved in this mess? If you had all night, we couldn't go through the list of people I know are involved. And that's only the people I know." He stiffens in his chair, clearly uncomfortable. "My sense of the situation also hosts a fair amount of sympathy for the justice system. The police could never see what they were getting into - but look what's happened. The politicians took the same route. Now, we have a serious problem. When foreigners arrive in SA, they are more likely to be robbed by some 419 scam than to be hijacked which was the previous worry." His solution is simple, but only a start at the very most. "Get rid of the police currently operating in Hillbrow and Berea. Re-locate them or expel them. The police that are needed in Hillbrow must know nothing about the area of its inhabitants. They must come from tough areas, Polokwane or Kwa-Zulu Natal. These are the hardest of their kind - you can thank tribal warfare for that. And this is exactly what it is, tribal warfare, South Africans claiming their land and history from thugs and people bringing an end to our city." Although the tendency to generalize is manifested in this article (such is the nature), Nigerians who are legal citizens should understand the concern; they would face a much brighter future if their nefarious countrymen were to be removed.

Steve Okipa is illegal, I'm informed. He is usually armed and is known amongst the 'the brow' as a dealer at the top, meaning that he probably belongs to the invisible hierarchy of Nigerians. The hierarchy in operation consists of a panel. They are equal and there is certainly no 'Godfather'. They speak their own language. They 'teach' drug trafficking to new arrivals, hoping to build their syndicate by way of numbers and loyalty to one another. They do not 'sample' their trade. Their system is highly organized - if there is a method behind the creation of these internal structures, the Nigerians make the other local criminal organizations pale in comparison. The Israeli mafia are good at intimidation, bribery and theft, but they lack humility; there is too much personal greed amongst its 20 or so members, usually resulting in them knocking each other off. One must also remember that diamond smuggling is a lot harder than selling crack cocaine. The Chinese (Triads) are loyal, but the Endangered Species Unit of the law is coming down hard on them. Operation Neptune, which for the past three years has targeted Chinese nationals smuggling Perlemoen, is finally starting to yield good results.

The Lebanese are downright disorganized and un-ambitious; their presence is limited to intimidation inside nightclubs, pushing people around for no reason other than respect it would seem.

The man I am meeting for coffee in a dilapidated Yeoville internet café is wanted for questioning by the police; only through rigorous researching and dirty networking has this meeting been made possible.

Not only am I scared, but I also feel like I am betraying the system by meeting with him on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. I look out the window at children sleeping in bus shelters, white beggars sifting through dirt bins and the omnipresent scattering of young black men, deep in pigmentation, standing in hallways or café entrances, looking for their buyers. White youngsters in BMW's drive slowly past, looking for their sellers.

For every action there is a reaction, especially when the power lies beyond you. Steve Okipa does not arrive and maybe this is a good omen. I feel like a guinea pig in scientific hijacking experiment. I pay the bill and leave, trying to escape the rain as I run. I look at Ponte through the temperamental showers, catching only brief parts of it. Red curtains, some shut, some open. Masses of litter decorating the outside areas, broken windows, peeling paint. In this City of Dreams, the lifts don't work and you dare not attempt the staircases. People who retired to the area thirty years ago are now ailing and desperate - some don't leave their flats.

With no where to go, their one small pleasure is met by the raw charm of Innocent Shabalala, a proud Zulu, who runs the local 'Meals on Wheels'. "To most of these elders, mostly dying or sick or terrified, I am the only person they are seeing. When I do my deliveries, they sit me down and we talk, sometimes for hours," he says, chuckling. "I am not scared of these Nigerians and they know it. After all, I am a Zulu. My blood is rage and they see it in me. I have been shot, stabbed, my clients have been murdered and they've even stolen my van," he says with a smile that nearly swallows his face. "I will not let people like this scare or me or the good people here. They are beginning to realize that. Whilst he talks, the bigger picture emerges.

Innocent Shabalala has no idea of the magnitude of his presence and of the service he provides. I have no doubt that, without even knowing it, he is saving people's lives and filling an empty void in amongst a culture of rabid fear.

In the mess that is urban crawl, Hillbrow has emerged as the example no city wants. Johannesburg mayor, Amos Masondo, has made this very clear. In many ways, he inherited the worst of it; the task of having to formulate a plan of correction aimed at a nearly impenetrable suburb, implement it, track it and produce results at the end of his term. One of the greatest Mayors ever, Antonio Bassolino, had a similar problem with Naples at the beginning of his term. Like Hillbrow, Naples consisted of drugs, illegal gambling, washing hanging out of windows, petty crime all the time knowing that although it cannot be seen, a bigger power governs the city. He was talking about the Mafia of course, and it's deep and historic connection with southern Italy. In the last seven years, Naples has started to re-invent itself as the center of Italian culture, like it once was.

The vast cultural heritage is something which Bassolino has used as his weapon - and it seems to be working. Crime is down, people are starting to implement community - policing forums and neighborhoods are monitored by plain clothed policemen on motorbikes.

With the inspiration of Bassolino, it cannot be impossible to cure Hillbrow. Naples is nearly twenty times the size of the suburb with eighteen times the population. If even small, practical changes can be made to a city, why can't they apply to a suburb? Well, firstly, looking at The Sands Hotel or Ponte City doesn't exactly conjure up memories of Italian mothers singing 'O Sole Mio' whilst cooking spaghetti. The washing hanging out of windows is a trademark of Italian romance; Italian buildings do not have the same charm if they have no washing decorating the ledges. Neither does Hillbrow host cultural history - no volcanoes near by, no exotic past rulers and certainly no good looking teenagers on vespas, smoking, talking and driving at the same time.

Is it not peculiar that Naples can manage some honest sustenance of effort toward development, especially considering the underworld content and the rules governing it? And yet, across the Mediterranean and through Africa, a small suburb, with similar problems, has it's evil staring the authorities in the face yet the latter seem helpless to answer? The brutal reality of a dire comparison.

Before I finished my research, I did come face to face with a Nigerian dealer. It was in Bryanston, of all places, a wealthy up market northern suburb. Christopher is 23 years old and hails from Lagos. He did not come here in search of a job, nor a better education. He came to Johannesburg to 'sell the shit' because he had heard how easy it was to make drug money. His parents kicked him out of home and, at the age of 20, he found himself in The Mimosa Hotel, pimping young girls ("Zimbabwean, Cameroonian, Senegalese - anything you want man!" His job nets him about R6, 000.00 a week - an inch of what the syndicate members apparently earn. I suddenly wished Steve Okipa had turned up. How does he get these different women to work for him? "My man, you know Johannesburg okay, it is like the center for Africa. These girls come here to get proper jobs, a better life. We promise them everything - it is so easy to get here. We meet them at the airport, take them to Hillbrow from where they start paying off their airfares. We give them drugs or we make them our girls. Same with guys, only we don't Bleep them!" I feel very removed. "These guys are used for other stuff." What other stuff? "Nah man, can't tell you."

He doesn't have to. I know it already - armed robberies, hijackings and smuggling counterfeit money. That is what your average refugee, promised a better life by one of the syndicates, has to work with. Not everyone, but some.

As Christopher walks away with chuckles of 'Maybe next time, I struggle with the uselessness of it all; how it has gone beyond sociological reasoning and political excuse. This is your typical, 'I will talk and Hollywood will listen,' scenario, invited guests become the hosts and the son is caught inflagrante with the domestic's daughter.

One phrase springs to mind; 'Things fall apart', taken from William Butler Yeats' 'The Second Coming'. Ironically, this became the title of a book by distinguished Nigerian Author, Chinua Achebe.

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...[read further]...

She doesn't live there anymore.

morpheus24: Sorry CraigB, nice try my "pale faced" bru, don't live in SA......

Like hell you don't. Pull the other one. I can bet my last dollar that with your level of hurt and bitterness, you have a personal experience with SA.

I wil show you how your kind speak after having been hurt or rejected by South Africans.

They rant. First I will post what is about to follow...

morpheus24: Of course you will CraigB, you control them.

In that case I control myself then.

Dead response. Dead comment. Dead brain. Dead country. The white and green.

morpheus24: Relativity

My point exactly - relativity. You need to grow at least 4 times as fast before you can start talking. Your base is low. So low that Southern Africa generally is ahead of you on the HDI index. Relatively, you are still a baby - like my 5 year old niece. Your "fast" growth is irrelevant. You remain a "civilised blek". A "real African". I will keep my pseudo-Africans, thank you very much.

morpheus24: Nah Craig, Blek SAffers with no economic power

I've already posted facts about black South Africans now having more purchasing power than white South Africans. Do you expect blacks to do a Zimbabwe in South Africa? Does it hurt you that only a few years after apartheid ended, blacks now have more purchasing power in South Africa? You got independence in the 60s, yet you are economic refugees in other countries. You, in South Africa, specifically - and you are bitter because you aren't wanted.

The only "wrong" thing that black South Africans ever did to Naai-gerians was to reject them. With good reason, I say.

As for the rest of your posts - sorry, no patience for rants today. I have deadlines to meet.

morpheus24: Intermission!

Imagine me being bitter about having a white settler population......Tufiakwa.

[flash, 400, 300]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xp2j0F3wg[/flash]

Correction - you are bitter because black South Africans treat you and your kind like filth.

That's why you attack them at ever opportunity. They don't go to your country, by the way. You run to theirs.

Should tell you something. I am sure you have had a pest of a dejected lover give you attention you don't want? That's how Naai-gerians are to South Africans - you included. They wish so desperately that South Africans would love and accept them. But South Africans couldn't be less bothered. That's why even your journalists can't stop complaining about black South Africans. It's bitterness.

Unfortunately, all the bitterness in the world won't change the facts about your "country".

[quote author=morpheus24]and still growing......

- As is everyone else. Pointless comment.



Yep the Chinese sure are taking good care of Ya''ll in SA. So are the indians and the Pakistanis as well.

- They are partners - Trade partners. Not owners of the country - as they are in the land of "civilised bleks". Another pointless comment.

I can't control Xenophobia

Given that our borders are porous, xenophobia against filth is the best thing one could have asked for. You need to accept that you'll forever be second-grade in South Africa. It's a fact of life brought to you by your brothers in Hillbrow.


HAHAHAHAHA!...Who you talking about "pale face mutants" from europe or Black/Khoisan natives. Yep one big happy cum-ba-ya family still run by the settler population.

Naai-geria is run by South Africa, the UK and China. The "settler nation" also runs Naai-geria, by the way. Sorry.



obviously you haven't been on them Immigration lines for white SA's into Nigeria.


Expats going into Naai-geria to look after their investments? The country that expats get paid the highest amounts in? Because of the uselessness of the environment? Sure, I've seen them. My own colleagues work there and your "civilised bleks" are killing our project with their uselessness.