SA Rocks

I just saw on Twitter that wezzo posted the following tweet: “UK TV star Victoria Smurfit shot at on ‘Kill a Tourist Day’ in South Africa” Seriosuly DailyMail?

I am as appalled and shocked by this article as he is. In fact I’ll go so far as to say that I am about to go UK Postal on this useless, lazy, sensationalist journalist.

The story reads as follows:

The glamorous actress, who has starred in ITV police drama Trial & Retribution and the BBC’s Ballykissangel, was injured by flying glass when the vehicle’s windows were shattered.
She felt a bullet whizz past her as it tore through the cab – ‘tangibly blowing the air’. It hit the passenger window ‘barely half an inch’ from the head of her sister-in-law, Charlie.
Writing in today’s Irish Mail on Sunday, the 35-year-old actress says she was told by South African police the attack was likely to have been a gang initiation ceremony dubbed ‘Kill a Tourist Day’.

“The glamorous actress”, hmmm, I wonder whose side the author wants the reader to be on? Did the C-grade actress really feel the bullet “tangibly blowing the air”? What a load of rubbish and paparazzi style journalism.

I wonder if Mr James Tapper trekked down to our gorgeous shores where the wind blows gently on your cheeks and the waves break just perfectly allowing for a cool spray to dust your hair (see anyone can do this shit)? I doubt that Tapper even bothered to call the police officer who was involved. And let’s be honest here, we have a C-grade actress who was in a violent incident of sorts and being a premadona probably expected the Chief of Police to drop everything and come to her rescue. Please, you come from a country where children run riot with knives, drugs, guns and more; where elderly, no, everybody is scared to use public transport in case there is a chav, hoodie or other sort of gang that will rob, rape or murder them. Why doesn’t Mr Tapper take a look at his own country before casting sensational headlines on ours?

And finally, why on Earth does everything that happens in SA have to have a massive influence on the outcome of the World Cup? Don’t be absurd.

That’s it, make your own mind up. Yes there is violence in SA and yes, it happened to involve a British actress who needed some press to bump up her career as it’s on the down and low, but why write a story filled with such an overblown agenda?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1241996/Ballykissangel-star-Victoria-Smurfit-shot-Kill-Tourist-Day-South-Africa.html#ixzz0cNzktqXN

UPDATE:

This from The Times:

But Cape Town central police station Superintendent Randall Stoffels said: “The shot fired was not specifically for the occupants of that vehicle and it was definitely not gang-related.”

When detectives interviewed her last Monday, there were no visible injuries, Stoffels added.

Smurfit opened a case of attempted murder, but this was later changed to the illegal discharge of a firearm in a municipal area.

“The occupants in the taxi just heard a loud bang and the left side window shattered. We believe someone [fired] into the air but the bullet went through the window and lodged into a panel of the van. No one was injured,” said Stoffels.

He said the projectile and the panel were sent for ballistic testing and that no arrests had been made yet.

Popularity: 12% [?]

I am watching the Carte Blanche documentary about crime in SA. I have been told that this documentary was showed on British television last night.

My impression: The doc is sensationalist, just look at the title: South Africa, Murder Most Foul. The host is trying too hard to make SA appear to be a war zone all day every day for everyone in the entire country.

The documentary is effective, real, eye-opening, effective and true. It is not everyone’s truth.

Quotes like “Violence has always been a way of life in SA” are bullshit and misleading. The author only talks about guns, drugs, and gangs. This is all that he can go on about. It is more complicated than this man is letting on.

Desmond Tutu was interviewed, great move on the docs behalf. He adds humility and a softer face to the issue.

One of the focuses of the documentary is the murder of Brett Goldin and Richard Bloom. Their execution-style murder was horrific, shocking and unacceptable. This documentary has definitely done one thing right and that is share the exposure. I am extremely glad that Jon Blair chose to put a wide variety of people from various backgrounds in the documentary. Crime affects more people of colour in SA that whites. That is a fact without a doubt (I don’t have statistics) and I think that very often white people complain and the world believes that the violence in SA is black on white. But this is not true, it happens, but it is not the only kind of violence and is definitely not the most widely seen violence.

I am torn about this sort of documentary. On one hand I don’t want the world to see this sort of publicity. It is bad for our image, it is not entirely true and not entirely representative.

On the other hand I don’t want anyone in the world or in SA to say that they never knew that people were dying, being murdered, raped and molested. Let the world know that there is a crisis in our country and maybe they can make a difference because the issue is fast become (has become) too much for our systems to manage.

Did you see the documentary? What are your thoughts?

UPDATE: The documentary is almost over. I am moved I must admit. I am upset by what I have seen. Not because I wasn’t aware of the extend of the situation that our country finds itself, but because I have let myself forget much of it for whatever reason or not. I am not blind or ignorant and the documentary has made me feel that this blog and initiatives like it are necessary now more than ever. We need to stand up, expose the wrongdoings and make things right. Even if it is one person at a time or one mindset at a time we need to try.

One thing that I would like to do more of is hands on work. I want to get out in to the country and make a physical, visible difference. In that respect I think I am falling somewhat short considering my privileged position.

UPDATE: SA Murder Most Foul will be broadcast tonight (Sunday 7 October) at 9pm on DStv Channel 150.

Popularity: 8% [?]