Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

"They would have their behinds handed back to them in S.A."

Now there's a Niche market the tour operators have missed, if you'll excuse the pun.
Male rape no longer exists I gather.

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Yeah, according to some judge or other wasn't it? :eek: :eek:

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

I have wanted to respond to your post for some time.

I am really sorry to hear of the horrible experience you had in SA and I hope you & your family have recovered from the trauma of it all.

I 100% understand and agree with what you say re your children as that was the turning point for us when my missus got preggies with our wee lad.

We used to see SA as our home and love the country ( as most still do) but it has just gone crazy.

I was hi-jacked at gunpoint in 96 and never relaxed since that time. It is only after living out of SA ( in NZ now) for over two years that we realise what stress all that fear was causing and that a lot of it we had / have buried into our sub-conscience.

There are very few people understand why my posts are blatant about the very real possibilities of becoming victim to crime over there and why many people get upset when others try to distort the TRUTH and present SA as a crime-free safe country.

I hope you have recovered and that your family & friends in SA stay safe.

Cheers

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

That is it in a nutshell !

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

I am going to watch that over the weekend. Interesting...

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Well said Campbell! Could not agree more! The reality is that most South Africans do not want to confront the truth about South Africa, and therefore pretend it does not exist or worse that if you were a victim of crime -somehow it was your fault - you were not careful enough.
The only thing that gets their head out of the sand is when they have the huge "attitude adjustment klap" of being exposed to crime themselves. We were guilty of that ourselves! We thought we lived in a safe suburb until we were hijacked and then suddenly heard all the horror stories of what had been going on around us and we were not even aware of it. (The media not reporting the crime) at least now, on the internet , the the stories are coming out more.
Once your peace of mind in SA is gone, you can not get it back. After our hijacking armed robbery in our home - it was no longer my home and sanctuary - it had been violated.
Thank God , we had the opportunity to get out, which we took - mainly for our daughter's sake, and we live a different life over here - a normal life!
I wll keep on bad mouthing South Africa as to ignore a situation is to condone it!

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Are you SURE the situation is horrific in SA as whole, even in North-West, or cities around the Garden Routes ?
I know I cannot compare France to SA as crime in SA is much higher, but those telling me France Sucks with crimes, robberies, burning-cars due to what is happening in Paris Suburbs, Lille-South, Lyon, Marseille-North, Bordeaux-Docks, Dreux, Mantes-La-Jolie would make me laugh.

You cannot Compare Venissieux (a crappy-hole) to Tours, Provence, Languedoc, Senlis, Niort or Auvergne.

A country means diversity.
Please talk to an Australian to Compare the West Coast to the East Coast.

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Duglambier, how many times do we have to have the same conversation?
You could live there for a lifetime and experience no crime , but, unlike most other places on earth, if you DO experience crime, it tends to be violent.

The Cape and away from Johannesburg/Pretoria is seen to be safer as it's further for the illegal immigrants to travel , and if you read news24 and/or iol.co.za every now and again something really bad happens to someone in Hermanus or Port Elizabeth or Cape Town or durban etcand as I 'm talking to you for possibly the 20th time on the same subject I'm not going to dig out the links to the incidents.
You keep on trying to find something that you relate to in France as a measure.
Go there, Duglambier, go and live there, prove us wrong,

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

I've lived there in Cape Town for 15 years, why dont you try me?
You are talking absolute tripe.
A life time? And not experience any crime? Are we talking about the same place? And as for your comment about crime when it does happen will be a big one. Again nonsense. There is small crime all around one, in Cape Town even, the local convenience store, the pickpockets, valuables nicked on the beach, hitchhikers attacked on the mountain, cell phones snatched at the robots. These are the minor crimes that nobody pays attention to anymore, because they are so commonplace.
In fact I would say that if you got up in the morning in SA and your car radio had been stolen, you'd breathe a sigh of relief and thank your God that is all that's happened to you.
And my friend, it aint improving and it wont. Another and.. And when Mandela checks out and is given a state funeral and the dust settles on his era, then the heavies will come out of the woodwork and we'll see which way that poor beautiful country will go, and it wont be up.
I could cry, because there is no finer country on this planet.:(

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Hey Nomad!! whoa!! you're talking to the converted!!
I left because of crime.
The point I was making to Duglambier (who has been my personal irritation for some time now) is that we/me/I tend to ignore the stolen cars/radio's/camera's /what we consider to be petty thefts until a biggie comes along.
And to negate the nay sayers who say there's no guarantee that when you climb of the plane you will be raped/murdered /chopped into muti I say you could!!, unlikely!! but could live in SA without violent crime happening to you.
I do have friends,family who have'nt yet experienced it.
Please god, they're lucky enough not to.

I cannot begin to tell you how many car radio's etc (petty theft in SA terms, front page in Ireland terms) and other items I've lost.
I got mugged with a knife in Jhbg at lunchtime, SAP walked right past us,
I had 3 Hi-jack attempts.
I have buried 3 friends shot for their cars, two in front of their kids,
and when my time came around, we were "lucky" wife was'nt raped, I was'nt shot, they did'nt find my daughter and baby sitter hiding in the back yard ,
cest la vie! sh*t happens, let's get on with it. Leave SA?? why??
Happens everywhere.

Two weeks after I got my car back, all four were out on bail , they paid me a visit on a Sunday morning, just to let me know they remembered where I live in case I was thinking of testifying.
Two nights later, I had two guys over my Electric in the yard.
I felt a bit stupid with a Catty and some ball bearings.
My daughter was 5 at the time, I love my wife.

6 months later I started over in Ireland.

same choir bud and I'm p*ssed off.

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Hi Guys, I am sorry to hear of all your bad experiences. Thank you also for your kind words. Sadly I have yet to meet a South African that doesn't have an awful tale to tell.

One of my British friends recently told me to never go back to SA as she had heard that little girls were being raped to cure people of Aids, I replied that it had been going on for years, she was shocked that it had been covered up this long. I was very tempted to tell her about the way little children are slaughtered to make 'muti', but I didn't have the heart to.

The entire time we've been in the UK (6 years now) I have told myself, don't worry we will go back home in a few years when things settle down. After our holiday I have had to accept that we will never be going back. We've weighed up the pro's and cons and have decided to rather emigrate to Australia. Similar lifestyle (outdoor life and braai's) but without the terrible crime.

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Ek es baie jammer Boet, I should have read all your posts. I've had my moments too and still bear the stab wounds. I did manage to do some of them a bit of damage though, so I left my mark.
I am so pleased you got away and can now watch your kids grow up and live without having to be constantly vigilant.
Cheers

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Well Kitty, I lived in Aussie for 6 years and I think if you go there with right attitude you'll do ok. Cardinal rule, dont try to build your little piece of your own country and isolate yourselves. Mingle with the Aussies of your own class and intelligence level and you'll find they are a great bunch, and give it time.
Good luck:)

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Let's just highlight this part. Muti is when the bastards abduct a chld (usually but sometimes adults), and cut them up to sell to witchdoctors so that they can make 'traditional medicines'.

Now, ludicrous as it sounds, these traditional witchdoctors are recognized medicine men in South Africa and you can get a doctor's note from them, and the medical aid will pay for their services.

And the world says nothing, as per Pablo's post, which I think was one of the best I've seen on here yet. The hypocritical west will salve their consciences by sending off 'blood money' to Africa, but they won't get their hands dirty. As he stated, they don't understand what the reason behind colonialism was, and they don't want to understand post-colonial Africa either. :curse:

Re: Why bad mouth South Africa? Campbell, Touristrap??
 

Good for you that you had a fighting chance. If you look under the Photo gallery for Crime in S.A. Tegwyn, you will see the mess left on my nephew's arm as a result of being shot during a robbery in Bassonia. They are still rebuilding the bone with grafts from the thigh. Poor kid is still in a lot of pain. He was diving for cover and crossed his arm over his chest as he hit the ground. Had it not been for his right arm taking the impact as he clutched his arms to his chest, you could see exactly what they were aiming for - his heart. :frown: A few folk that were standing near him were not so lucky. He was car-jacked over 9 months ago and they gun butted him then because their gun had jammed. He is now being treated for post- traumatic stress disorder.