by henk lustig
photos by greg marinovich
| At last month’s Shell House rally in Johannesburg, an IFP supporter lies dead beside ANC headquarters. The victim’s shoes have been customarily removed to help him along his way to the afterlife. |
South Africa’s first apartheid-free presidential election is finally here, and to punctuate just how important this shit is, citizens have started a civil war so they can kill one another in its honor. Political analysts say Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) will take 70 percent of the 1994 vote, leaving 20 or so other parties to grapple over the remaining 30: For violent whites there is the Afrikaner Resistance Movement; for frustrated Zulu nationalists there is the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP); for the simply hopeless there is the outgoing National Party. But enough of that facts-and-figures crap. Let’s get to the murdering!
Recently, on March 28, 1994, shots were fired by members of the ANC into a rally of IFP supporters in central Johannesburg. The so-called Shell House massacre left eight people dead and 20 more bleeding all over the place. The army declared a state of emergency in the IFP-heavy region of Natal and has shuffled soldiers to put down the Zulu loyalists. Zulus are not really ones to hand over weapons to their enemies, so they’re fighting back like their ancestral garb depends on it. Groups continue to protest, and the entire area is ankle-deep in just about everyone’s blood.
In the townships, Self-Defense Units formed by black communities in the apartheid era to patrol places the police refused to go have become ragtag vigilante death squads. They commit arson, rob, loot, and on occasion mete out the ultimate punishment for supporting the wrong team (anyone not them): the “necklace.” When they catch up with a victim, they plaster him with stones and pound the conviction out of him. Tires are then forced over his head and around his arms to hold him steady, gasoline is splashed sparingly over the whole shebang, and he is torched like a burst boerewors on a veld fire.
And then there is last year’s Nobel Peace laureate Nelson Mandela, who is working with current president and co-laureate F. W. de Klerk to pretend that South Africa’s move to democracy is fun and easy. Since the early 60s, when he dropped his Ghandi-like peace pose, Mandela has led the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, or “Spear of the Nation.” It’s clear that the white men and women of Africa’s ruling class don’t care for spears, especially since the word spear became a euphemism for an AK-47 or grenade in the 80s. Not helping matters is that today the only time South Africans aren’t being hit by AK-47 or grenade fire is when they’re being dosed with tear gas.
Understandably, much of the white population is choosing to exile itself to the former British colony of Zimbabwe, which has seemed pretty rosy since new president Robert Mugabe took over. That country has weathered the transition from white to black rule with hardly any problems, but there are few signs that even the mighty Mandela can fix the complete fucking disaster that the move to democracy has let loose on South Africa. At this point, with the presidential polls opening in less than a month, it’s more likely that Mandela will be tossed into the massive grave they’ll be digging to stash the rest of the bodies.
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Nov 12, 2009 wrote:
’Things fall Apart’ was published in 1958.
Vice, you’re so outta your range here, you’re actually exposing how inept your ’from junkie to publishing empire’ trajectory leaves you when you attempt to feature the real world. Stick to the bizzare bullshit, the titties and the puke-o-rama topics.
Don’t even try to cover South Africa. Take a tip from your recently-launched South African edition: just recycle the kak you usually feature.
Twats. | | Anonymous, on Nov 3, 2009 wrote:
oh dear, don’t apply to time! | |
| anonymouse, on Oct 26, 2009 wrote:
Apparently, back-handspringing through tear gas helps you escape. | | Anonymous, on Oct 26, 2009 wrote:
Chinua Achebe you "roots crew" idiots | |
| shelby, on Oct 26, 2009 wrote:
maybe more than the weirdness of removing his shoes is that they shoes are pink. i wouldn’t have thought pink shoes were acceptable footwear over there. | | Anonymous, on Oct 26, 2009 wrote:
"I see what you did. The Roots, ba doom."
Except Things Fall Apart did not come out until 1999. | | |
| anonymouse, on Oct 26, 2009 wrote:
i still cannot believe that barack obama and nelson mandela are going to be lumped together in their nobel prizeness. don’t get me wrong -- they are both great dudes, but c’mon. | | Anonymous, on Oct 22, 2009 wrote:
"standard vice journalism:
priveleged western sensationalist hype. I do wish the vice journos would do proper research and write proper stories and not rely on google research and macabre atrocity to fill space. The sad thing is young coolies are going to take this tripe as hard fact,.. no wonder everyone hates the western world. Hmm,.. im moving to the bush and building a meditation hut.
peace love & light to all."
Wow, man. I suggest you pull your head out of your ass that is apparently so far up there you haven’t seen light in years and only smelled what your shit’s like before it’s fully digested.
This article is from 1994. You know what Google looked like back then? Nothing, because it wasn’t around. | | Anonymous, on Oct 20, 2009 wrote:
standard vice journalism:
priveleged western sensationalist hype. I do wish the vice journos would do proper research and write proper stories and not rely on google research and macabre atrocity to fill space. The sad thing is young coolies are going to take this tripe as hard fact,.. no wonder everyone hates the western world. Hmm,.. im moving to the bush and building a meditation hut.
peace love & light to all. | | Anonymous, on Oct 19, 2009 wrote:
Please explain how my comment was ’’shit’’. This article, instead of providing any sense of perspective, merely rants on about how violent the elections in South Africa would be.
History proved this article wrong. What’s annoying, is that if the writer has spent anytime doing his research at the time, he would have found a pervasive sense of hope for the future amongst the vast majority of South Africans who lived through this time, like I did. | | Anonymous, on Oct 16, 2009 wrote:
Ah the good old days. 1995 turned out to be the most optimistic year in South African history for those who lived through it. I was 9 and we won the world cup :) | | Anonymous, on Oct 12, 2009 wrote:
"Pretty shit article, Vice. At the time it was written, and almost 16 years later. Piss poor journalism!"
Pretty shit comment. When it was written and almost a day later. | | Anonymous, on Oct 12, 2009 wrote:
I see what you did. The Roots, ba doom. | | Anonymous, on Oct 11, 2009 wrote:
Pretty shit article, Vice. At the time it was written, and almost 16 years later. Piss poor journalism! | | Anonymous, on Oct 8, 2009 wrote:
you don’t need shoes in the afterlife? weird. i would have thought you’d want something to protect from all the burning. | | Anonymous, on Oct 8, 2009 wrote:
SLASH EM DASH EM!
go henk ! | | |
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