Elders in freezer and Post-apartheid South Africa

Many of you may have seen the story in the newspapers.

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Oues-in-vrieskas-gedruk-20130109

The story is in Afrikaans, which I know many readers can not follow. Just to give you the gist of the story: robbers broke into a house in Belfast and murdered the people. A number of things makes this specially horrendous. Firstly, the victims were elderly people who had no way to resist. Then, the way they were killed is horrific. They were stuffed into a freezer and left to suffocate.

Now, I know this blog is not about crime in South Africa. This blog is about musicals and The exile. There are three important connecting points here. Firstly, the victims were the in-laws of a very good life long friend of mine, advocate Deon van Wyk. I met Deon in 1979 when I went to University, and we are still great friends. We all feel for Deon and the family, having to deal with such a horrific ordeal.

The interesting important second point of interest here is that Deon is currently in exile. He is now living in the UAE. He left long after democratic elections. One of his reasons for leaving SA is the crime. Deon, we are sorry to admit that you were right. This place is not safe to live.

The third point of importance of this story for our blog here is that the story is about post-apartheid South Africa. We have already talked about the scene and song "Talk about democracy" at

http://exilemusical.blogspot.com/2013/01/talk-about-democracy.html?m=1

In this song we had Tyler and Tony talking about how the elections in South Africa did not bring us what we expected. Crime is much higher. They sing:

"and it is not safe to walk the streets
The filth is lying all around our feet
This town is lying in the ditch
Politicians are getting rich"

Sadly, but this is very true.

Deon, out thoughts are with you and your family.

See you all next time.