Hi there!
My name is Paige Lawrence. I am a South African journalist. My blog is called Alternative News South Africa. I also co-founded GenZedia, a media production company for today’s youth.
I have heard several reports that the international media has barely made mention of the current chaos occurring in South Africa. It is my intention to give readers the truth.
The looting and burning of malls began on Saturday, 10 July 2021, in KwaZulu-Natal, my home province. The riots were done under pretense of protesting the imprisonment of our former president, Jacob Zuma. The truth is these individuals just wanted to commit criminal acts. They destroyed about five malls in my area. The sounds of rioters shouting for joy while they were burning down a nearby shopping center echoed through our neighborhood on Monday, 12 July 2021. Tuesday was even more nerve-wracking as we were sure they would raid the houses after having destroyed most of the shopping malls. There was a tense feeling in the air for the rest of the week as the looters continued to attack other parts of the country and small towns in particular. My family and I had packed our bags in case we needed to evacuate.
Considering that the army had not arrived until Wednesday, it was fortunate that we had groups of community members keeping patrols in order to protect us. All over the province, residents created roadblocks to control the passage of people in and out of the neighborhoods. Note, however, that the individuals on patrol were unarmed. In South Africa, gun rights are not supported. Further, we have been experiencing a cold front since last Saturday. So, we had unarmed civilians standing out in the freezing cold, risking their lives to protect their neighborhoods.
These unarmed ‘militias’ comprised of individuals from every race. It was wonderful to witness people working together to protect their communities. However, one must realize that this ‘rainbow nation’ cannot last. We are already seeing detrimental food and fuel shortages. Once these resources are depleted, rest assured that this community spirit or ‘Ubuntu’ as we South Africans call it, will not last.
In response to the potential for chaos that has been accumulating over the years, most South African minority groups have created a plan to secede and form their own country. This plan, created by the United Liberty Alliance, requires the signatures of two million South African individuals of ethnic minority in order to be mandated. South African expatriates are welcome to sign and give their mandate. Visit https://www.freethecape.org/en for more information.
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