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.

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I am not sure what the origin of the below passage is, however it is interesting to consider. This is not the reality for many, many South Africans, I know. And I am also quite sure I am going to be blasted for posting this but I think it’s an interesting way to look at things:

We have spoken on many an occasion of the fact that violent crime in South Africa (or certainly a very high percentage of it), occurs between people who know each other. Rowing spouses, drunken siblings, jilted lovers, angry teenagers, disgruntled staff, unhappy colleagues. Murders between people who know each other account for 82% of all our countries murders. 18% of our nation’s murders happen as a result of hijacking, or broadly speaking, ‘robbery’.

So, here’s the good news. If we live in peace, good-will, charity, fairness, generosity and in a way that resolves conflict speedily and satisfactorily with our staff, family and those we know, we have roughly a 0.007% chance of being murdered in a ‘random’ attack by a stranger.

Let’s put this in context so we can appreciate comparatively how small our chances are of being murdered:

– You are 300 times more likely to die in a car accident
– You are 15000 times more likely to die of smoking related disorders (if you smoke)

But get this….you are over twice as likely to commit suicide.

So much rather stop smoking than emigrate – we are safer living here than puffing in Perth – if we live right.

If you do know where this came from, please let me know so I can add in the correct references.

PS: I’m a smoker.

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I know many people who have been victims to the violent crime that is hijacking. It’s sad to say but it’s the truth. Almost everyone I know has been directly or indirectly affected by a hijacking or other violent crime in SA.

It happened again last night. Not directly to me but to two neighbours of mine in my Townhouse complex.

I live in a relatively good area which is relatively safe and relatively close to everything one could need; Sandton City, Woodmead, Fourways, shopping malls, fitment centres, entertainment, you name it and I’m near to it. I love where I live.

But coming home last night there was a police car in my driveway.

Turns out that two cars had followed one of my neighbours in to the complex and then gone looking for others to rob once they had robbed her. They fled after beating my immediate neighbour and his party guests a bit. They were in such a rush that one of the cars crashed in to a tree and the other fled.

The police were astounding. They caught one group of hijackers and continued to look for the other well in to the night. All the while placing a police vehicle with officers in our complex until the residence affected felt safe enough to let the policemen go. I was extremely impressed with what I saw from the police officers in my area who were there to help. They did a sterling job.

The point

I am trying to say that there is nothing that one can do after hearing about something like this.

What am I meant to do now? Change the way I live, not come in to my own driveway? Lock the doors all the time? Get more security? No. I don’t think this is the solution. I think the solution is to realise that we need to be vigilant. I need to learn the names of my neighbours and what cares they drive. I don’t think this is too much to ask of myself. I think that this makes sense and I’ve just been slack since moving in.

I need to remember that I live in South Africa. Sometimes it’s easy to slip in to a sense of security that is easily shattered.

Luckily this time no one was badly hurt and wounds will heal.

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Ed’s Note: This post is a contribution from Carly Ritz.

I am more proudly South African today than I have ever been – perhaps a strange statement to make when the last two weeks have been characterized by a plague of violence, brutality and senseless hatred. I don’t think I need to describe the gruesome images and tragic stories that have already played out in local media all week. I have been sad and angry and afraid, but I have also been so uplifted and inspired by the generosity of the wonderful people of our country.

Today I visited the Red Cross office in Johannesburg. I stood in a storeroom on the 16th floor of The Sable building in Dekorte Street in Braamfontein. It was filled with donations of food items and clothing, tinned food cans and nappies. I was filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude – I was thankful to be part of a nation that opens their hearts and even their homes in this time of crisis.

A colleague of mine has taken 5 Zimbabweans into his own home after they were beaten and chased from their homes. He is trying to keep them safe and offer them refuge from the volatile streets.

YFM’s DJ Sbu led a march for the youth in protest of the violence. Another march has been planned for the weekend. This saturday, people will gather at Marks Park to defend the foreign members of our country. The members of Wits University marched today.

I have had the most wonderful support from friends and colleagues in the office who have contributed so generously for the Red Cross collection. People have even been to load up their cars and help with delivering these loads to the Red Cross office. Another colleague has even offered to accompany me to the various refugee points to help deliver some supplies directly to the people in need

I am so proud of the journalists and photographers with whom I work – who have roamed the streets, day and night to show the country and the world the reality of the humanitarian crisis. I am sure their dreams are haunted by the visuals, the pain and the human suffering they encounter so intimately on a daily basis.

I am not proud of what is happening in our country right now and I desperately want the violence to cease, but I am more proudly South African than ever

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This is something that has been on my mind alot. Driving to work today a Golf GTI kept harrassing the road, not me, everyone. She was driving fast because she had a fast car. She ended up nowhere with a beat-up-skedonk driving past her slowly.

Now this brings me to my point. The only reason she was driving that fast was because she was in a GTI. If she didn’t have the GTI she probably wouldn’t want to drive that fast. In the same breath I firmly believe in a gun-free world/South Africa.

Yes people kill people, but damn guns help hey!

Does having a million Rand mean that one should be using it, spending it, driving a fast car? I don’t know. But I think that extravagance is fast becoming a way of life in SA and I am not so sure I like it.

I am all for having money, spending money and using money. But extravagance that is blatant and “showy” really grates me. Arrogance is something that I struggle to deal with, like the woman in the GTI this morning. She strikes me as the type who if she had a gun she’d use it because she had it. And that worries me.

I have often pulled out of debate, discussion, fighting, arguing or swearing at motorists because it’s never just a simple throwing of words or gestures. There is always that possibility of more.

Is a gun-free SA possible? Is it necessary? Should we be taking a harder line on this topic? I think we should. How can you hijack someone without a gun? It’s possible, I’m sure, but much more difficult.

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This is SA Rocks, I know. But How can anyone stand by and idly watch the absolute insanity taking place in Kenya?

There is nothing much that we can do here in SA other than talk about it and create awareness so that’s what I am doing.

You need to head over to CNN and have a look at this video. Protesters are fired on with tear gas for no apparent reason. A CNN journalist (Zaine Verjee) gets shot in the back with tear gas and they just keep filming.

CNN Journo Zaine Verjee fired upon by Kenya Police

Things have gotten out of hand.

Get to Ushidi for more detailed information on what is happening in Kenya. This cannot still be happening, this sort of thing needs to be stamped out.

Shocking stuff.

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I blogged about the disturbing and gripping documentary SA, Murder Most Foul last week. It has proven to be a hot topic with a quite a few lengthy and rational comments. Thank you for those comments.

One of the people who commented was the director himself, Jon Blair. I emailed Mr Blair and I asked him if he would be interested in contributing in some way to this blog. What we decided on was an interview. Here is what he had to say:

Many people watched your documentary titled South Africa, Murder Most Foul. Why did you choose to create this documentary now?

Like most of what I do, it isn’t so much a question of choosing to do something at a particular time but about how things fall into place and when. As I think I have said elsewhere, Tony Sher approached me about trying to make a film about the murder of Brett Goldin and Richard Bloom less than a week after they were killed during Easter 2006. Once I had figured out what film I actually wanted to make, which involved using the Goldin Bloom murder as an entry point in order to examine South Africa’s current problem with violent crime and murder, then it was a question of getting the funding. As it happens that fell into place relatively quickly since Channel Four in the UK agreed to put up sufficient of the money to allow my company to deficit fund the balance. Just for the record though I will almost certainly never see that deficit back as films like Murder Most Foul only have a very limited worldwide market, but I am absolutely certain that it was completely worth doing even though it will show a financial loss.

The film was more or less completed by the end of 2006 but then, because we had been given privileged access to quite a lot of the sub judice material relating to the circumstances of the Goldin Bloom murder on the understanding that it would not be released until after the court case of the two accused had been completed in the Cape Town High Court, we had to sit on the film until that process saw its way through. The two accused pleaded guilty and were sentenced in May of this year, so that’s when we could finally complete the film and have it released.

Initially there was no interest from any South African broadcaster in showing the film but thanks to the Encounters Film Festival whom we approached at the very last minute, it had its first world premiere at their festival in Cape Town. Shortly after that, thanks in no small measure to the persistence of Brett’s mother, Denise Goldin, Mnet decided to acquire it for which I am extremely grateful.

Sir Antony Sher with posters featuring some of the 50 a day victims of murder in South Africa

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