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!!hhEka3KeR1r 08/30/09(Sun)02:16 No.180362  I've
been to Sarth Efrica (Johannesburg, its surrounding townships and to
Pilanesburg). It's beautiful in its own way, but with the exception of
Cape Town I would hate to live there. The fact we couldn't just walk
about at our own leisure and that so many security measures are in
place for absolutely everything. It's basically like living in a prison
to a certain degree. Our hotel was fortified with tall barbed wire
fences, 24-hour surveillance AND amred guards, and yet this hotel was
located in the (supposedly) secure enclave of Sandton! Just an example
of the security measures - to go from our hotel to a nearby bank, we
needed to book a taxi through reception, we hop in and the doors
deadlock (windows are completely tinted) and they drive us the 2km to
the nearby shopping centre. At most traffic intersections, people will
come up to your window trying to sell oranges or newspapers - you don't
make eye contact and never do you lower your window. When we arrived at
the bank (just a small local branch), there are two heavy doors to pass
through, for which the middle section they permit you through only when
the first door is closed and they deem you a bona fide customer. Put it
this way, I never felt 'comfortable' there, ever.
I can
understand all these security measures though - a friend of my mum's
(who is now a New Zealand citizen) left SA for good after discovering
what happened to her colleague...
The story goes her colleague was
driving home from work along a Jo'burg motorway when she was
deliberately hit from the back by a pickup and pushed off into the
embankment. When she finally came to her wits as to what happened - the
group of black men in the pickup came up to her car, shot her
mercilessly and left her there to die. Now here's the thing..... they
never took her car, they never took her belongings, she did nothing to
provoke them.... The only reason police could determine the motive was
because she was white. So yeah....... |
