Re: Sunday Times artikel - was Re: Viva Vavi!!
Dankie Danielle. Dit is so goed om uit die stille meerderheid iets te hoor. Gesien wat hy te sê gehad het oor 10 jaar se kommunistiese indoktronasie? Ek dink ons het taamblik goed gedoen - ge-indoktroneer van kindsbeen af tot ons verstand gekry het:))) Annette Danielle skryf in boodskap news:oje8itk7fro8o6g580ea19hjrai5cadr3a@4ax.com... > On Mon, 11 Jun 2001 05:01:13 +0200, "Annette" > wrote: > >> Van die os op die jas - is daar enigiemand hier met 'n sekretaresse wat 'n >> tydjie het? >> Die artikel van Nzo se seun op die voorblad van die Sunday Times verdien om >> hier herhaal te word ter wille van ons oorsese vrinne. > > Dankie Annette, dit was interessante lees...en soos DD sou se: > "mmmmmm" > > http://www.suntimes.co.za/2001/06/10/news/news01.htm > > 'I've got to end the nightmares' > > > 'Criminals are going to cost this country much more than apartheid > did' > > 'After collecting everything, criminals took a nurse and her daughter > into separate bedrooms and raped them. The loss of the items was > painful enough, but the nurse said the pain of being raped while her > daughter was also being raped was hard to bear' > > > 'A police officer tells me he is scared to answer distress calls in > the township because he might be confronted by heavily armed > criminals. A colleague and close friend of his was shot dead under > such circumstances' > > > 'My son and two friends were riding their bikes last year. They were > confronted by gunmen who wanted to take their bikes away. . . It is > painful to recall the bizarre behaviour of my son at home' > > > 'When I go to work on Sundays, I see people smartly dressed to go to > church. Sometimes I wonder if, after the service, somebody around the > corner offers them a stolen item at a bargain price, they won't > hesitate to buy it' > > > > Dr Ike Ntsikelelo Nzo is the only son of Alfred Nzo, the longest > serving secretary-general of the ANC and democratic SA's first Foreign > Minister. In this anguished article submitted to the Sunday Times, Nzo > tells how crime is forcing him back into exile > > > IN THE mid-1980s I remember sitting at Harare International Airport > waiting to get to my 45-minute flight back to Lusaka. Suddenly a > Harare-Durban flight was announced. I sat there watching the white > passengers with nice tans checking in. > > > As I sat there watching, anger, resentment and envy slowly started > building up in me. The intensity of these emotions became so great > that I almost ran into the departure area to demand that I be put on > that flight. > > > The problem was that the ANC was banned in South Africa and, had I > gone along with that impulse, there probably would have been a major > international political event. My father occupied a prominent place in > the ANC in exile. But resisting that impulse took quite a lot out of > me. > > > In 1991, I came back to South Africa, after 26 years in exile, to > explore the possibility of transferring my postgraduate psychiatry > training from Sydney in Australia to South Africa. I was already two > years into a five-year psychiatry programme. > > > During that exploration, I came across a doctor who probably thought > of me as insane for contemplating returning. Inside, I was angry with > him because I felt he was insulting my sense of patriotism. > > > Today, 10 years later, I am beginning to think that doctor was not far > off the mark. > > > The criminals and criminality, unique to South Africa, have dealt a > huge blow to my sense of patriotism. > > > I am now at a point in my life where I am agonisingly contemplating > emigrating or going back into exile. Some people in the political > world will be shocked and disappointed by this. After all, I am the > only child of the late Alfred Nzo. > > > My late father was the longest-serving secretary-general of the ANC. > He was the first black foreign minister of South Africa. > > > The fact that I am contemplating emigration must be making my > ancestors restless in their world. My personal experience as a > psychiatrist practising in the black townships and my experience as a > father to one of my sons has led to the agony I am experiencing. > > > Criminals are going to cost this country much more than apartheid did. > > > About two years ago, with great pain, I recommended that a police > detective be medically boarded on the grounds of depression and > post-traumatic stress disorder. In the course of his duties he was > confronted by four men who shot him in the neck. He spent a number of > days in intensive care. > > > Over the many months that I tried to treat him, while he was not being > productive, I wondered how much it was costing the economy. When I > recommended that he be medically boarded, I started thinking that the > taxpayer was going to be short-changed on the investment it had made > in him. Had he not been shot, he could have given another 13 years' > service. > > > A police officer I am now seeing tells me that he is scared to answer > distress calls in the township because he might be confronted by > heavily armed criminals. A colleague and close friend of his was shot > dead under such circumstances. > > > When a breadwinner gets shot and killed in a car hijacking or an armed > robbery at home, these acts result in tremendous financial and > emotional insecurity for the surviving members of the family. There is > the cost of the unplanned funeral. The children suffer emotional > disturbance and their education is compromised. > > > I have had a case where a nurse, a single mother with a 22-year-old > daughter, had her house raided by four armed robbers. The nurse > pleaded with the robbers to take the items they wanted. But then, > after collecting everything, the criminals took the nurse and her > daughter into separate bedrooms and raped them. > > > The nurse told me that the loss of the items for which she had worked > hard was painful enough, but the pain of being raped while her > daughter was also being raped a few metres away was hard to bear. > > > Last year in my practice, I jotted down file numbers of individuals > who, with their families, had been affected by such acts in different > forms. > > > Over two to three months I recorded 23 such cases. That number itself > and the stories behind it had a huge psychological effect on me. > > > Last year I started having nightmares. The nightmares were on a > consistent theme, of me being hijacked and pleading with the hijackers > not to kill me as I had children whom I had to see through to > adulthood. In my last nightmare this year, they actually shot me. > > > What baffled me was why I was having these nightmares when I had never > been hijacked. I have also observed this phenomenon in a depressed > patient who came to my attention two weeks ago. > > > She has nightmares of being chased by people with pangas and guns. She > has never personally experienced such crimes. In her case, the > nightmares stemmed from her work as a data typist in a child > protection unit. > > > During her work, she overheard law enforcement officers discussing a > report they had submitted to her for typing. It was about a little > girl whose house had been raided by armed men. During the ordeal one > man was raping the little girl's grandmother, one was wielding a panga > and another was pointing a gun at the little girl. > > > This tells me that even auditory witness is enough to trigger > post-traumatic stress disorder. > > > There is a cliché in South Africa that goes like this: if you yourself > have not been a victim of crime then you know somebody who has been. > > > One of my sons and two friends were riding their bikes last year in > the suburb I live in. They were confronted by gunmen who wanted to > take their bikes away. Somehow the crime was aborted by the appearance > of an adult on the scene. > > > By then the criminals had threatened my son and his friends with all > sorts of dire consequences if they ever told anyone. It really is > painful for me to recall the bizarre behaviour of my son at home. His > behaviour caused considerable tensions between him and me. > > > It was only many months later, after threats of heavy sanctions from > me, that my son revealed the incident to me. He has still not fully > recovered from it. His schoolwork deteriorated to such an extent that > I had to find money to pay for extra lessons. The bike I had bought > him is now almost redundant. > > > I suppose I can cope with the economic consequence of that incident. > What about other people in the townships? Can they afford to pay for > the consequences of such an act? > > > Last month I read in one of the daily newspapers an article headlined > "Fear is suffocating South Africa". The article stated that a study > conducted by the Institute of Security Studies had found that about > 44% of South Africans live in fear. > > > Fear is a very potent emotion. Fear can lead to hatred and aggression. > If one looks at some of the racism that is still present in our > country, it can be traced back to the emotion of fear. If you look at > the mob justice and vigilante actions that you read about, those > actions can be traced back to the fear that criminals have generated > in communities by their violent acts and intimidation of people into > silence. > > > Sometimes I listen with amusement to politicians and human-rights > activists condemning vigilante acts. They give the impression that > violent criminals have more rights than law-abiding citizens. > > > One thing that today's violent criminals have in common with the old > apartheid is that they both assaulted a human being's self-esteem and > self-worth. The violent criminals were at it during apartheid and they > are still at it in the new democratic South Africa. > > > That is why the emotional and economic cost to the country that > violent criminals are inflicting is going to surpass the cost of > apartheid, if it has not yet done so. > > > At a very basic instinctual level, the response of any living creature > to fear-inducing danger is one of flight or fight. Try approaching a > mother hen whose chick s have just hatched. Try to recall the > reactions of human beings suddenly faced with a snake. > > > Because of this, I sometimes wonder about the usefulness of passing > moral and political judgement when people with internationally > marketable skills leave South Africa or when communities in the > townships take the law into their own hands. > > > Seven years into the new South Africa, I think the time has come for > us to stop offering social and political excuses for violent criminal > acts where the sole motive is monetary gain for the perpetrator who > knowingly disregarded the human rights of his victim. > > > A daily newspaper recently reported on a survey among information > technology people. A good percentage of them said they would leave > South Africa not because there is a black government or because of > career opportunities abroad. They said they would leave for just one > reason, and that is crime. The power of emotions to shape behaviour at > individual and collective levels must never be underestimated. > > > I spent my formative years, aged 15 to 25, in the former Soviet Union. > I was subjected to communist propaganda that targeted your > intellectual side and paid no attention to the emotional side. > > > At the end of that 10-year period, I was convinced on an intellectual > level that the Soviet socialist system was superior and that history > was on its side. I thought it was a matter of time before the whole > world would become socialist and ultimately communist. > > > At the end of the 1980s it was with disbelief that I witnessed on TV, > from my living room in Sydney, the collapse of the socialist countries > of Eastern Europe. Trying to explain it, the late Joe Slovo said it > was because they had no democracy. > > > That's what a politician would say. As a psychiatrist, I tend to think > that those countries collapsed because they never paid due attention > to the emotional side of humans. > > > By the way, my late father was a very bad politician, in my opinion. > But he was an excellent diplomat, a hard worker who gave his all, > right up to his last days, to the good of South Africa. He used to > discourage me subtly from taking up a career in politics. I shall be > eternally grateful to him for that. > > > I think politicians, political scientists, social scientists and > human-rights practitioners should at all times remember that > ultimately it is emotions that inform behaviour at an individual and > collective level. > > > Violent crimes have a direct impact on emotions. The situation becomes > untenable when the sole motive of the perpetrator is monetary gain for > himself and not some noble cause. > > > You have primary emotions, which are: fear; surprise; sadness; > disgust; anger; anticipation; joy; acceptance. Then you have > additional emotions, which are: submission; awe; disappointment; > remorse; contempt; aggressiveness; optimism; love. Blending of the > primary emotions creates the additional emotions. > > > Such behaviours as racism, violence at an individual and collective > level have their origins in those emotions. I recently heard on the > radio that Colombia has one of the highest rates of brain drain in the > world. One of the main reasons given was violent crime. > > > I would like economists to calculate the psychiatric and surgical > costs to the individual if he survives a violent crime, the cost to > the family and the cost to the economy. > > > People shout a lot at President Thabo Mbeki and Safety and Security > Minister Steve Tshwete to solve the problem of crime. No amount of > shouting will ever get them, or future presidents and ministers of > safety and security, to solve the crime problem unless the culture of > buying stolen cellphones, TVs and cars is eradicated. > > > No amount of shouting at Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to > improve health services and provide antiretroviral drugs will help > while stolen items like hospital linen find their way into people's > homes. I have seen on TV stolen electricity feeding TVs and other > electrical appliances and wondered how many of those appliances were > bought as stolen goods. > > > When I go to work on Sundays, I see people in the townships smartly > dressed to go to church. Sometime I wonder how many of them are > deluding themselves that they are actually good Christians because if, > after the service, somebody around the corner offers them a stolen > item at a bargain price they won't hesitate to buy it. > > > Maybe schools and churches should gain insight into the cost of the > culture of buying stolen goods to the victims of crime, their families > and the country at large. Having gained that insight they should > preach it at schools and from the pulpits. All the media should get in > on the act. > > > As for the new South Africa, I must say I have had the pleasure of > working under white doctors, and of white doctors working under me or > with me. I have suffered no adverse emotional consequences from those > experiences. > > > I must thank Elana Meyer during her 10 000m race at the Barcelona > Olympics in 1992 and the South African Amabokoboko rugby team during > the Rugby World Cup in South Africa in 1995 for showing me that the > latent racism disease that I suffered was treatable. > > > If I do find myself in exile again I will surely join the Sunshine > Circle. For now, I need to get out of South Africa temporarily to stop > those nightmares. > > Back to the top > > > > > > > > > > > > TRAUMATISED: Sebokeng-based specialist psychiatrist Dr Ike Ntsikelelo > Nzo, son of former Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Nzo > Picture: SIMON MATHEBULA > > > > If you have thoughts about this article, then have your say in one of > our discussion forums, or send an e-mail to our editor at > sunt...@tml.co.za > > E-mail this article to a friend: > Your email: > > Send to: > > > > > > > > > -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- > http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! > -----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----