Violence was a call to action, plus five highlights from ‘Vrye Weekblad’
Here’s what’s hot in the latest edition of the Afrikaans digital weekly
Image: ANGELA TUCK
My first warning that South Africa was sitting on a ticking time bomb was in 1985 when I wrote an opinion piece for the Financial Mail that made the point that our bitter history of inequality, poverty, unemployment, race and class was a cataclysm waiting to happen, writes Max du Preez in this week's edition of Vrye Weekblad.
Yes, I was young and naive, but my projection of the future was echoed by some of the best analysts and commentators at the time. It happened again this week in this piece in The New York Times.
With our bloody history and complex demographic SA appears to be the perfect recipe for conflict, even civil war.
For generations, Afrikaners have whispered about the visions of the Boer “prophets”, Siener van Rensburg and Johanna Brandt, where there would be a “night of the long knives” – the so-called Great Reckoning.
It might be too early to arrive at a sensible understanding of all the complex drivers behind the recent wave of unrest, but from what we can gather at this stage, it feels as if there might actually be something positive lurking behind it all – in the sense that it might not be the ultimate reason to pack for Perth or Toronto. Yet.
Maybe this was the wake-up call we needed to prevent a far more serious revolt in future.
I am convinced that it is still possible to put SA back on the path to economic growth and stability.