Dear South Africa
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| Lucky Dube shot dead near Jburg in 2007 |
Greetings from the rest of Afrika!
After my greetings many as
the sands of our shores and calm like the palm trees of our lands, I ask you
how Mandela fares. Only recently we joined you in prayer because he was unwell.
Then like he came out of hospital and we were delighted. I tell you that we
here sang songs and wrote poems for we too love Madiba. Please give him my
greetings. I also ask you to give him a good time in doing your best in all
spheres.
Our greetings used to be longer
than that in Afrika years back when the Ubuntu spirit was fully alive. It is
not dead. I write this because I fully believe that a person is a person through other persons. I am because you are.
This is the only authority I have in daring to write to you also from a
troubled African country. Let me go straight to the issue even if in my land
they say that information is not given out without preparation. I hasten then
like an ostrich that sees fire consume grass in a savannah fast and knows that
she has to save her legs and those of her children. I come with grief to join
you again.
I write with pain to say we cannot allow ourselves to sleep. We cannot live in violence. I write to you with much anguish in my
heart, dear South Africa. I am disturbed. And believe me,
to hit this keyboard at this time of the night is not what I was planning until
I sat in front of my TV to catch my breath. Instead my tea went cold on my lap. There is too much violence in the land. Police brutality and criminal action. How long will the land I read about in A Walk in The Night by Alex La Guma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Walk_in_the_Night persist there at home? Have you checked our statistics on deaths in the country. You might be surprised to note they rival war -torn regions.
I do not want to digress and
tell you more stories. The reality- not story- of how your police beat and
dragged Mido Macia, a 27- year- old- taxi driver from Mozambique while tied to
a police vehicle is harrowing. I am devasted. This is the reason that although
I would like to sleep I cannot until I write to you.
I know there are more problems in South Afrika.
Only recently, I read you a poem in different venues on the deaths of 34 miners
at Marikana. But how do I sleep tonight
when I saw that police tied this taxi driver to a van and drove him on the
street to Davidson Police Station? My head is bent in absolute pain and sorrow.
I weep.
This is something I last
heard of in Kenya during colonial times. Yes, a British DO would tie Afrikans
to a moving vehicle and then drive fast and kill them. But now, South Afrika,
we have killed Mido Macia in a horrific way. He has died with injuries on his
head and the rest of his body. Is our continent going to work to take away the
nightmare of violence? We already have too much with the violence of poverty,
Aids, ethnic conflicts, rape, terror, hunger and environmental destruction.
Afrika must put its best foot out. Your land is not poor.
For Mido Macia, South Afrikans
are out singing those songs they sang against apartheid again and its
oppression. The ordinary people are holding hands to ask for justice. Your
people, children, women and men are crying tonight. I thank them because they
have not grown indifferent to violence. Why have the police become so used to
brutality? They people are asking why. But is this enough? On the internet over
3 000 stories are showing in searches since only three hours ago. The death of
Mido Macia is unacceptable! We feel aggrieved as humanity.We do.
We have not forgotten that 34
were killed by police in August 2012. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/01/18/f-evans-south-africa-miners.html
News of killings in South Africa
and this not only by police, have become common place. When I visited your
country recently, Jub- Jub a famous musician was convicted in court for having
driven over some school students. He was drunk driving. He was amused and
laughing when this happened. At the dock, arrogance transpired. Perhaps there
the light note betrayed an attitude that it is easy to get away with it. I do
remember the distraught parents of the children who were killed.
We all miss Lucky Dube. He
too was murdered near Johannesburg. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19961306
I say all these things we have to improve. We
have to look at one another in the eye and ask how we want to live. Is your
country going to go down in history as forever the home of violence? The Oscar Pistorious case went. It was fast
and furious. We expect the same speedy action for this taxi driver. See how the
case of Pistorious’ brother who also run over a woman has taken long in court?
 |
| Rapper Jub-Jub run over school children on a drunk driving spree |
The policemen that have
murdered Mido Macia cannot be entrusted with public security again. You must
sack them and tell the world that you have done so! As well as that, reform
your police with help from outside. Perhaps there is nothing left to save in
them after the days of apartheid. I see how brutal Kenyan police are too.
I dare propose that due to
the history of apartheid, your country is one of those that must have a brand
new police force. I am not only asking why Mido Macia died like this. Here is a
practical suggestion. You will need to decide whether your country should be
hostile to other Afrikans, since Mido Macia was from Mozambique or if your
country will face itself and see that it needs almost a semi peace - keeping
police force from an entirely different country. Such arrangements can be made
with international police until your people have gone through the transition
they so badly need.
I saw the South African
president in Norway with the Queen not so long ago. You looked very happy to be
visiting Norway although you did not have as huge an entourage as you normally
have at home. I urge you to reach out to some countries and ask about this
possibility. I am not saying that local police should all lose their jobs, No.
I am saying that they need urgent intervention and training from a totally
different land. I am saying that your police force needs to take refresher
courses outside home. Maybe we have closed ourselves in for too long to our
detriment. I am sure there are some African countries with whom you can discuss
this possibility. Radical problems call for radical measures. I may be wrong on
the solution but your people will tell you. What I am sure I am not wrong about
is that your people should not be always relegated to the streets singing and
asking only why. Take action! Accord us the dignity Africa deserves.
I wish you well. Send my
greetings to Mandela. Change things so that he can smile.
Yours sincerely
Philo Ikonya
Violence is not food, we cannot live on it- PI
Violence is not food, we cannot live on it- PI
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