Carol’s Column

Is Packing for Perth ever treachery?

There are those who say that South Africans who leave this country because they are scared of violence and crime are traitors. Strong words these.

An acquaintance arrived home and in his garage he was held up by two gunmen and shot dead.

His wife and children now live overseas.

A good friend, a divorced mother with three children, was held up by armed men.

She, a daughter and their domestic were tied up, gagged and locked in a cupboard in her bedroom. As their house was plundered, the robbers shouted abuse through the doors and threatened to shoot them.

She and her children have left the country.

The domestic worker was unable to leave but visits a psychologist regularly for counselling.

A friend's daughter was driving her car through a Johannesburg suburb. She drew up at a stop street and was attacked by a gunmen who tried to pull her from her car.

Strapped in by her seatbelt, he was unable to pull her out. He ran off when another car approached. She regards herself as lucky that she was not shot through the head.

She and her parents have not left the country, but they are thinking about it.

A friend was hijacked as she was driving home to Lenasia. She was thrown from her moving car and the hijackers fled. She believes she is fortunate just to have sustained a broken leg and severe bruising. She is also thankful that not one of her four children was in the car.

She has not left the country but she and her husband are presently seeking employment overseas.

A rabbi I know (with nine children) was held at gunpoint beside his car in a quiet suburb.

Fortunately he managed to persuade the would-be hijackers that his car was even older than he was and would not be worth stealing. He and his car were left intact.

He and his family remain in South Africa.

Two friends of mine were raped in their homes. One rapist was caught and is in jail, the other is still free.

The daughters of five friends have been raped in their homes. One in Illovo, one in Alexandra, two in Soweto, one in Athlone. To date, the rapists are still at large.

All these women remain in South Africa.

In Cape Town, a friend's mother, an elderly woman, was battered to death in her bed, another friend's brother was shot dead on the highway as he drove home from work. The members of both families are suffering from severe psychological trauma.

As yet, they still remain in South Africa.

The above happenings are just those I know of.

I'm white in this country, it's the way I was born. I know that compared with many blacks, the above is a drop in the ocean. They've been living with violence all their lives.

Murder, rape, hijacking and robbery are evil and the reality is that we all, privileged or disadvantaged, haves or have-nots, want to live in a safe and caring environment – one without crime, one in which our lives, and the lives of those dearest to us, are not threatened daily.

Many South Africans have made a conscious choice to stay and work to improve things. Most – especially those who are the most disadvantaged and whose living conditions engender the highest risk of all – cannot leave the country even should they wish to.

And then there are those who have left to seek a safer life elsewhere. This is their democratic right.

To call them traitors is bullshit.

■