Planet Rugby Forum

Bloutoria wrote:Maybe what I am about to say will be a bit controversial, but this place is all about open debate, so let me try?

When I grew up, the "Swart Gevaar" was the boogie man that was used to keep you in line. Better study, better perform, better conform, better focus, better be disciplined, or "Die Swart Gevaar" will overtake you. And it really worked! In the process a lot of us whites developed a work ethic that automatically gives you an advantage.

Yes, it's grounded in fear and racism, but no less effective. I see that same focus and discipline in my black colleagues that become really successful. They have similar stories to tell of parents that groomed them for big things, forcing them into a good work ethic despite adversary, forfeiting themselves to make this happen.

Maybe that is the real privilege? Being forced to do your best, having parents that engage in your life? And therein I think Apartheid's biggest sin lies, it separated parents from children in a big way, damaging families in the process.

Rinkals wrote:I've been having a few thoughts about Assfly's comments that the attitude of whites to the black majority of this country is unimportant and makes very little impact.

Rinkals wrote:And also that race relations are bad and getting worse.

Last Friday I travelled by bus from Johannesburg to Estcourt. I was the only white on the bus (it wasn't a 'coach'), but I was treated with great curtsey, with some of the other passengers going to great lengths to make sure I was comfortable.

I think, when you mix with other races at that level, you realise how important mutual respect is.

assfly wrote:Fair enough. I'm glad your experience is more positive than mine.

Perhaps my time away from SA made me more sensitive to the racial undertones I experienced. Coming back to SA on holiday, I remember being shocked by the the "braai talk" with my fiends.

sorCrer wrote:Rugby is far more discussed.

assfly wrote:

Rinkals wrote:I've been having a few thoughts about Assfly's comments that the attitude of whites to the black majority of this country is unimportant and makes very little impact.

I said no such thing

My argument is that the debate around so-called white privilege is a debate that will achieve little without some sort of action behind it. Even is white do publicly recognise the privileged position that they have in society, what does that actually do to change the situation of the less-privileged? That questions remains unanswered.

assfly wrote: My question is a practical one (not just to you, to anyone). What does this "measure of understanding" achieve? Does it make "us" or "them" feel better? It sure as hell doesn't put food on the table, or build a school.

assfly wrote:My opinion on race relations comes from living in Kenya at the moment, after spending a year in Cape Town last year. The hostility between races in South Africa is another level, on both sides of the fence.

BokStorm wrote:I personally observe race relations here being worse than before and unlikely to improve. Look in the sa media and there is a obsessive focus on race, and in so much of m our politics. This is being consciously done by many groups (media, politicians, advertisers etc) for various short term benefits. I am amazed at what is being tolerated - this will have terrible consequences for all South Africans. I find it infuriating to witness and I can’t continue to be a member of such a broken society that does not want to be fixed.

EFF leader Julius Malema has warned of an "unled revolution" in South Africa, as black people "are worse off in democracy than they were under apartheid"

"If things are going the way they are, there will be a revolution in this country. There will be an unled revolution, and an unled revolution is the highest form of anarchy," Malema told the Turkish Radio and Television Broadcasting Corporation.

The interview has made waves because of Malema's quotes that white people would not be slaughtered under his leadership, but that he could not "guarantee the future".

Wilson's Toffee wrote:Juliaaas adding some spice ....

assfly wrote:Thinly veiled "I go to gym" post

troglodiet wrote:

Wilson's Toffee wrote:Juliaaas adding some spice ....

Welcome back oomWT!!!

Onse komandeer-in-tjief.

Al ons vêr-regse, rassistiese, chauvinistiese nasionaliste het oom rerig gemis.




(Met vêr-regs, rassisties, chauvinisties en nasionaliste bedoel ek almal regs van ANC-gatkruipers)


Sieg heil!

Fangle wrote:I guess this comes under politics.

At gym yesterday a Russian was going on about how much he hates Russia. In his rant he spoke about the stupidity of South African farmers who had gone to Russia to farm, and how the Russian system would destroy all their efforts. His English was poor so I couldn't understand everything he was saying, but what do you guys know about this?

Wilson's Toffee wrote:He may well be right.

Another 15000 white farmers who decided to move in 1836 lost a lot. Then gained a lot. Their descendants are on the verge of losing all_, today.

sorCrer wrote:We have 15000 farmers hanging around?

assfly wrote:https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa ... e-farmers/

Quality journalism

Blake wrote:

assfly wrote:https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa ... e-farmers/

Quality journalism

Yeah; not a lot of details. Same basic story repeated over multiple news sites.

I wish those that do go well. It's not going to be easy for them. I think Russia will be quite a culture shock.

Chilli wrote:

Blake wrote:

assfly wrote:https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa ... e-farmers/

Quality journalism

Yeah; not a lot of details. Same basic story repeated over multiple news sites.

I wish those that do go well. It's not going to be easy for them. I think Russia will be quite a culture shock.

Who the fvck would want to farm in Russia?

Wilson's Toffee wrote:

Chilli wrote:

Blake wrote:

assfly wrote:https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa ... e-farmers/

Quality journalism

Yeah; not a lot of details. Same basic story repeated over multiple news sites.

I wish those that do go well. It's not going to be easy for them. I think Russia will be quite a culture shock.

Who the fvck would want to farm in Russia?

Somebody who cannot farm in South Africa ?

Three former National Party ministers, including strongman Magnus Malan and one who is still alive, have been named as central figures in a paedophilia ring that operated during apartheid.

Investigations into Malan, former apartheid minister of defence, as well as John Wiley, minister of environmental affairs and another minister, who was considered a possible successor to then president PW Botha and who is still alive, were halted by the police and the investigating officer hounded from service in the 1980s.

These and other explosive allegations are contained in The Lost Boys of Bird Island, a book by former policeman Mark Minnie and ex-journalist Chris Steyn, which hits the shelves on Sunday.

The three were involved, along with disgraced Port Elizabeth businessman John Allen, in ferrying coloured minors to Bird Island in Algoa Bay near Port Elizabeth where the children were molested and forced to satisfy the older men’s sexual fantasies. Malan died in 2011, while Wiley and Allen both officially committed suicide in 1987. The third minister is believed to have had a holiday home in the Eastern Cape, was a senior member of Cabinet and considered a front-runner to take over the reins from Botha. His identity was withheld by the publishers based on legal advice.

One child was maimed when a gun was thrust up his anus and the trigger pulled. He was transported by helicopter to a local hospital and treated under guard.

The book's commissioning editor Maryna Lamprecht, from Tafelberg Publishers, says the story is important because it further exposes the depravity of the apartheid system. "It dehumanised people in every possible way, even to the point of exploiting vulnerable children sexually to satisfy the needs of powerful politicians."

Read an extract from the book: We called him 'Ore'

The book claims that Malan, who was called "Ore" (Afrikaans for ears), commandeered air force helicopters to take him, his friends and the children to the island, sometimes for days. It also places Malan lying in a bathtub in a rented flat in the city where a young boy was also sexually assaulted.

Minnie was a detective at the police’s narcotics bureau in Port Elizabeth in the 1980s when he came across allegations that children were recruited by Allen, a local environmentalist, diver and businessman, to perform sex acts on him and the politicians. Steyn was a journalist at the Cape Times who investigated the apparent suicide of Wiley, the only English-speaking member of Botha’s cabinet and a colourful socialite in Cape Town. Allen was found with a single gunshot to the head on a beach outside Port Elizabeth after he missed a court appearance in connection with the possession of pornography. Wiley was found dead in his home in Noordhoek, near Cape Town, shortly after.

Both Minnie and Steyn were not convinced that Allen and Wiley committed suicide and believed that there was a conspiracy from the highest levels of government to prevent information linking National Party luminaries to paedophilia from leaking out. Minnie was intimidated and forced to resign from the police while Steyn’s full investigations were never published by the Cape Times.

Steyn confronted Malan in later years at his home, but the former head of the army and defence force who helped devise Botha’s "total strategy" against the liberation movements would merely respond with: "What is a paedophile?"

Read the book editor's notes: Nothing more that can shock us... or so we thought

* The Lost Boys of Bird Island, by Mark Minnie and Chris Steyn, is published by Tafelberg Publishers and retails for R280. It is available from today.

SA cricket duo beaten by thugs in brutal UK attack

Cape Town - Two South African cricketers were seriously injured after being attacked by a gang of thugs in England late last month.

According to The Oldham Times, amateur player Justin Watson (20) and professional Marques Ackerman (22) were attacked on a street in Oldham after leaving a nightclub in the early hours of Friday, July 27.

Captain and acting chairperson of the Shaw Cricket Club, Steve Whiston, told the English publication that the pair were on their way home when they were "jumped" by seven men and badly beaten.

Watson was reportedly punched repeatedly in the face and head by three of the gang, leaving him with two fractures to his jaw. He was taken to hospital where he was due to have surgery to have a plate inserted in his jaw.

The report added that Ackermann was hit from behind and was knocked unconscious as he hit the ground. He has since left hospital, but suffered severe concussion.

Watson, who represented Gauteng as a junior player, has been ruled out for the rest of the English season. He had an eye on playing professionally in England and was on trial at several counties.

Ackermann, a former South African under-19 player, has played 21 first class matches and represented local teams like the Lions, North West and KwaZulu-Natal.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said a 27-year-old man was arrested following the incident on suspicion of section 47 assault and has been released under investigation.