I "lifted" the following from the ANC web page in which our President publishes his newsletters. This is only part of a comprehensive lambasting of whites that need to join the unity that is preached by the ANC government. My comments are in italic -

THE CHALLENGE OF WHITE FEARS

In the period immediately preceding the transition in 1994, our movement grappled constantly with the phenomenon in our country then characterised as "white fears". President Nelson Mandela again addressed this issue in his Political Report to the 50th National Conference of the ANC in 1997, saying: "The prophets of doom have re-emerged in our country. In 1994, these predicted that the transition to democracy would be attended by a lot of bloodshed...

This is true, no-one knew what to expect. We've been living in a 'comfort zone' for such a long time and ignorance from our side caused alarm bells to go off as the blacks was in most parts an unknown entity - especially with the new rights and power in their hands.

"(Now) their task is to spread messages about an impending economic collapse, escalating corruption in the public service, rampant and uncontrollable crime, a massive loss of skills through white emigration and mass demoralisation among the people either because they are white and therefore threatened by the ANC and its policies which favour black people, or because they are black and consequently forgotten because the ANC is too busy protecting white privilege.

Our task now is to make people aware of escalating corruption in the public service ( we read about this all the time), rampant and uncontrollable crime (most of us know people or have family that's been traumatised by this same crime), loss of skill through white emigration (which is costing our country a fortune in importing the lost skill) and mass demoralisation of whites due to BEE (which is why white South Africans are still leaving the country and more whites than ever before live in poverty).

"A massive propaganda campaign has been conducted on the issue of crime, in many instances without any regard and respect for the truth. We will ourselves discuss this matter because of our own serious concern radically to bring down the levels of crime. However, what is necessary is that anybody genuinely committed to this goal should make an objective study of this problem and avoid the serious distortions which result from this exploitation of this issue for partisan political purposes.

We don't see any results and the results we do see eventually end up in disappointment due to the 'given' that these criminals will get a presidential pardon at some stage or another, or they're comrades who won't spend much time in jail. The truth behind crime in South Africa is being closely guarded by the ANC government in order to protect their integrity with no regard to it's people. We all know what the real issue behind crime is but not much is done about it. This is why where-ever the opportunity presents itself we make a big issue out of it in order to spur our government into action - now!

"Such a study for example will show that for Johannesburg, murder, attempted murder and culpable homicide taken together, have been declining steadily since 1994. Facts and figures actually disprove the notion that there has been a rapid escalation of these crimes and confirm that we inherited the high levels of these crimes from the apartheid system."

As far as I'm concerned, this is pure nonsense. Certain categories of crime has decreased, after a massive increase since 1994. Crime has always been with us, but with human rights beyond the socially acceptable exposes every single person in South Africa to crime. Parents cannot discipline their kids without recourse from the law, nor can teachers instill values through discipline in kids.

We returned to the issue of "white fears" seven years later in a 'Letter from the President' in ANC TODAY, Volume 4, No 9, 5-11 March 2004, entitled: "Voters will not be swayed by fear or fiction". Among other things we said:

"The fear-factor has long been a feature of white politics in our country. For long periods, this section of our population has been subjected to the unimaginable terrors of 'die swart gevaar' and 'die rooi gevaar', the 'black' and 'red' dangers... The danger of an imaginary one-party state that is now being used to frighten our electorate is nothing but a variation on the same theme. The 'gevaar' is cloaked in different words. It remains the same 'gevaar' nevertheless.

With the ANC's links to Communism, open support to state leaders who supported worldwide terrorism and African history across the continent (think Idi Amin and lately Robert Mugabe), who can blame anyone (including blacks) for feeling fear? And to make it worse the policy of "silence" to the situation in Zimbabwe only revives these fears. We saw and know what the ANC freedom struggle did to our people and anyone who did national services in the then South West Africa (Namibia) have seen the atrocities committed by SWAPO against the local black population - some of us were also guilty - sad but true.

"Interestingly, the use of fear is totally alien to the liberation movement and to liberation politics. Freedom from fear is a necessary part of the range of objectives of those who fight for freedom...

"Historically, it may be that those accustomed to living in a world of fear have always found it difficult to believe that those they defined as a threat could ever see them as part of a new world of hope, enjoying freedom from fear...Thus, even in changed circumstances, such as ours, when time and practice have proved that the phobias of the past were mere phobias, those used to frightening themselves or being frightened by others, would not find it too difficult to revert to the accustomed world of fear of the future."

Fear is a national problem and covers a wide spectrum of issues. The fearless are mostly soulless. Fear needs to be beaten individually and is a personal goal for everyone who has a fear of something or someone. Surely a change like we've experienced in this country cannot be successful in one or two generations' time. We all have our own fears, viewpoints and dreams. What we need is a government who strives to make it easier for us to accomplish what we strive for without the fear of discrimination and crime.

Let's have your ideas -

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