What about Phoenix?

What about Phoenix?

What are we going to do about the blood spilt in Phoenix? I notice there are two opposing views playing out in society. The first and dominant view is that the looters deserved to die and the Indian community of Phoenix did the right thing.

The second view however, is that the Indian community of Phoenix has murder of their hands.

 

For me, what was glaring to me, was that looters stole things, material objects which can be replaced; while the Indian community of Phoenix took lives, something that can not be replaced nor reversed. I asked myself, when the value of materials became more than that of a human life.

The media is not reporting much on Phoenix, they just touch on it and frame it the way they want to… with their own narrative.

What has been missing for me is the following :

1. Where are the names and faces of the deceased? I ask this because while the PR face of a looter is someone that looks like a Nyaope boy, I have seen video accounts of women who were attacked. One video showing an injured infant who had been separated from her mother. A woman put out a video to let her know her baby is safe. We saw pictures on social media of people looking for their loved ones, very normal looking pictures of normal looking people.

May they please release the list of all who died? Something is not adding up.

 

2. The burnt cars all owned by black people were found on the freeway and not inside Phoenix. Are public motorways no go areas for Africans? Where are the videos with scenes of black people looting Indian shops in Phoenix? I have only seen one, and in it, it was Indian women looting.

Where is the evidence which suggests that Africans were looting Phoenix? Or did the Indian community of Phoenix take this as an opportunity to express underlying racial tensions?

If the community of Phoenix feels that it was protecting its property (on the freeway) will it also be held accountable for the actions it has taken?

When the government gave permission to civilians to take up arms for their property, did it have a game plan for the aftermath?

People are dead now and not only is no one being held accountable but the families of the deceased are being ignored.

What is the role of the police if the community can take matters into its own hands and apply mob justice?

 

3. What is this unity we speak of in South Africa? If we all claim to be humane and good people, how do we turn a blind eye when scores are killed brutally. The scenes we have seen coming from Phoenix have been a horror movie, how do we sweep such atrocities under the carpet?

It is clear as day that Phoenix is a festering wound. There are social cohesion issues that need to be addressed, not only that, but there are some murderers that need to be arrested. The community is not safe.

What is the way forward for Phoenix? Is it officially a no go area for Africans? In Africa? These are some of the questions the government needs to answer.

And what of the families who have lost loved ones? As more videos surface, more and more victims were just people on their way home to their families. This is no different from the Sharpeville massacre, it was the killing of unarmed people.

 

Are we going to ignore that people lost their loved ones? Are we ignoring this massacre because they are black?

 

When you speak of rebuilding South Africa does it include the lives of the many families who lost loved ones in Phoenix?

For most, the looting was a direct result of the growing inequalities in South Africa, though the looters were exposed as petty thieves, a lot of people were exposed as blood thirsty murderers.

Yhu hayi man, nikhohlakele.