SOUTH AFRICA : Covering-up the Multiethnic Stuff-Up!

I’ve noticed that East Coast Radio, including a number of other news outlets such as, Independent Online, Citizen Online, etc... have reported that - despite over half a million visitors flocking to Durban beaches over the festive season, law enforcement and emergency-service officials said no major incidents were reported on New Year’s Day. These same media outlets also mentioned that there were no reported drownings in Durban this festive season. 

Sourced from: www.ecr.co.za

I also noticed how these journalists carefully chose the wording in their reports, and how they’ve delicately emphasized that nothing was “reported”, or that there were no “major incidents” on New Year’s Day. Although one can hardly declare that such a guarded approach towards reporting the news produces inaccurate or untrue information, it does create a rather flawed impression of the true state of affairs.

It has lately become a rather contentious issue nowadays to determine WHAT exactly qualifies as a “major incident” in South Africa. For example: Rhino poaching in South Africa has, for some time now, been considered far more “major” than the ongoing and senseless slaughter of the country’s farming community,... that is if the prominence given to these issues by the msm, and also the fanatics on social-media sites, are anything to go by.

South Africa’s complex multiethnic culture is the main reason why there’s a notable discrepancy between “major” occurrences and “minor” ones. For example, it is quite acceptable for a Rastafarian to walk around in public smoking pot. Likewise - it would be a “major” incident if someone slaughtered a cow in the middle of the street in a Waterkloof suburb, but it would not be “major” if it was done in a street in Mamelodi.

Quite often the distinction between “major” and “minor” is determined by “status”. In a country like South Africa, where the significance of being “human” only matters when government requires your vote, animals are considered far more valuable. For example:  When 9 bodies washed up on Durban’s main beach in the week after New Year, the msm remained silent... Now if that had been 9 whales or 9 dolphins, there would, most certainly, have been a MAJOR uproar!

It’s all good-and-well for journalists to report news that is relevant to New Year’s Day, but to not follow-up on events that occurred AFTER that day, especially if the events were appallingly newsworthy, inevitably forces one to make the assumption that journalists are either not doing their job, or have been given strict orders to keep quiet about news that may possibly hurt the country’s multiethnic image.

Besides the quandary of what is “major” and what is not, there’s also that old dilemma concerning incidents that have been officially “reported” and incidents that are “unreported”. Any journalist, with a bit of savvy, should know how to deal with this problem... For example, a body count at the local morgue, before and after a main event (eg - a New Year’s bash on Durban’s main beach), should sketch a realistic picture of “unreported” death statistics. On the other hand, IF journalists are following orders, then I suppose such an exercise would be fruitless anyway!

Do the big chiefs who run the mainstream media-outlets in this country think we’re all idiots?

Personally I will never put a foot in Durban ever again, not after my last experience in that horrid place, in April 2009. This does not mean I have no contacts in Durban... I once lived and worked there for more than 10 years, and happen to know a number of people living there, including paramedics, policemen, medical staff, one journalist, and one wild ol' character, known as Snowy Smith, who all keep me regularly informed.

The following info was received via email from Snowy Smith, and confirmed by a number of other sources as being the truth:

9 bodies washed up in Durban in the week after New Year... NONE were ever reported missing, and NONE have yet been identified. The beach was so full of human faeces, that the cleaning crews had to plow it into the beach, rather than pick it all up. As far as the number of unidentified bodies in the local mortuary are concerned, as well as several life-threatening incidents that occurred on the beach on New Year’s Day, the SA Police were given strict instructions not to divulge this information.

60 TONS of litter was left behind on the beach by these holidaymakers, including 69 abandoned/lost kids. A week later 31 of these kids had still not found their parents... Many of the parents/adults had gone home to Johannesburg without even reporting their children missing.

This happens year in and year out on Durban’s main beach, and every year the problem just gets worse, and the cover-ups bigger! 

Thankfully, there is YouTube...

RELATED POST: Dark Africa has arrived! - (April 24, 2009)

For those who prefer not to watch the video, the picture should tell the story:

Durban Main Beach - New Year's Day 2012