Health in S Africa has more to do with staying alive than eating right and
training regularly. This mail has nothing to do with fitness, medicine or
health, but the article below from a South African newspaper may answer those
who have been asking why many of us have left S Africa. Read it if it is of
any interest, otherwise go no further.
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[Background: President Mandela once again postpones the long-awaited summit
on rampant crime and corruption in South Africa; cites his overseas
commitments as the reason, but appoints no deputy to chair this vital meeting.
Meanwhile many South Africans are leaving their homeland, schools are
stretched to the limit without books and funding, and criminals released by
President Mandela as part of his recent birthday amnesty continue to kill.
Well-paid civil servants often do not work after lunch time or attend
departmental meetings, hospitals are barely able to cope with the growing AIDS
epidemic, many citizens live behind high walls and hire the services of
security companies, and the local currency continues to plummet in value. The
exquisite beauty of the land and renowned hospitality of the people no longer
compensates for all the negatives of living there].
SOUTH AFRICAN CRIME SUMMIT DELAYED WHILE ATTACKS CONTINUE
Mail & Guardian : Christian Figenschou, Johannesburg and Leonard Ndzhukula,
Vaalwater Mon 31 Aug 1998
FOLLOWING the murders on Saturday of two elderly Cape farmers, a
Northern Province farmer's wife was attacked by four men who stabbed her
16 times at her Vaalwater farmhouse on Sunday evening.
Dina Muller (60) told police that four men, including a soft-spoken farm
labourer from a neighbouring farm, attacked her at about 7pm after she
opened the door to the farm labourer, who asked for money to buy food.
"When she opened the door, the men stabbed her in the neck 14-times before
bursting into the house and stealing her .38 Special revolver," said regional
police spokesman, Captain Blackie Swart.
"They left her lying there for dead but she managed to raise the alarm and was
rushed to hospital," Swart added. Muller was discharged from hospital after
receiving stitches.
Police in Mpumalanga are meanwhile still searching for the murderers of two
provincial farmers last week. Farmer Marius Louis du Preez (36) was killed at
Dan Donald village near Ermelo on Friday when he was shot once in the spine
while selling milk. Johannes Henry van Heerden (67) died on Thursday after
a gang of attackers broke into his farm house, tied him up and beat him
severely on the back of the head before gagging him with a pair of socks and
fleeing with his van.
On Saturday, a retired Spoornet worker, Andre Stander (65) was murdered on
his farmstead in Dysseldorp near Oudtshoorn in the southern Cape. Also on
Saturday near Grahamstown, bedridden dairy farmer George Wylie (76) was
shot dead in his bed by two armed men, who then stole four firearms,
including an automatic rifle.
Meanwhile, the proposed special summit on farm killings will probably only
take place in October instead of September because of President Nelson
Mandela's international commitments, presidential aide Parks Mankahlana
said on Monday.
He said consultations are taking place this week on a suitable date and an
announcement would probably be made by Safety and Security Minister
Sydney Mufamadi in Pretoria on Saturday.
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Dr Mel C Siff
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