Obviously I feel terribly sorry for both groups of people, but this morning’s radio was indicative of what’s wrong here.
In the Eastern Cape, an inferno – caused by some guy lighting his barbecue badly (or possibly a power surge – destroyed 76 luxury homes, of which 66 were empty because they were holiday homes. Reports of a local out pouring of sympathy and donations for those who did live there were touching, in that whole post-London Riots/Sandy clean up spirit that we humans do so well when we should do.
In Gauteng, 50 houses largely belonging to working class families were bulldozed by the local government because the land they had been built on was owned by the state and had been sold illegally. Another 113 are scheduled for demolition pending a judicial review instigated by South Africa’s Human Rights Commission.
Nowhere, in any of the news reports or radio coverage does it mention how to donate something to help the families who have been made homeless, after watching what little they have worked hard for be torn down in front of them. With all their belongings still inside.