Sizanani Village

July 3, 2008 at about 12:30 AM

"I arrived, the flights were long, I am not really tired. I tried watching some popular movie on the plane, but all the jokes were crude and it was worthless. I went for a kid's movie instead; it was decent.

"The most interesting part of the day was the conversation with the guy who drove me back. Here are a few facts - oops, lights out. thoughts will come tomorrow.
- apartheid (white rule) ended in South Africa about 10 years ago
-at that time there were about seven million whites, now there are about three million (24,000 or more leave per day)
-this man's car was broken into three times for the radio, so he stopped replacing it
-his house was broken into also; he caught the man but his friends encouraged him not to appear in court to testify in case the man or his friends came back to kill him
-four of his group of six friends have left the country, and he is considering doing the same
-South Africa has trouble with illegal immigrants"

All in all, the man told a story of crime and fear. He said that all officials could be bribed; those citizens who had money didn't need to fear jail time. Also, those with money lived in gated communities and had extremely secure houses. As we drove around later, I believed him. His outlook was a little pessimistic, but he or his friends had personally been the victims of crime.