I’ve dealt with a lot of hostility over the years that I have worked in Yeoville Bellevue. That’s 14 years of dealing with all sorts of negativity and bullshit from community members, political parties, councillors and city officials.
But, hell, I never thought I’d get an SMS such as this:
It has come to our attention that you want to rule this area disturbing our bussinessis,wll not allow that,so we are going to make sure that u move out of this area,watch and see!we know where your wife works we know the car shes driving(******)registration known,your son is driving **** and you are driving a volgsvagen kumbi,your son is@****** we know where he is studing,we know your office and people who are working for you,we are giving you a month to leave this area starting from today,this is the are black africans,u are left alone,people like you are staying at sandton,leave before you see the wrath of black people,we are warning you,mother f***er!
But I did. Get such an SMS. After recovering from the shock of it, I took whatever steps were necessary to protect my family. I also consulted widely in the community and reached agreement with others in a meeting on Saturday 21 July that we should go for big publicity to get the story out there while, at the same time, working with the authorities to track the perpetrator down. We feel it is important to ensure that people are reminded of the old slogan: ‘An injury to one is an injury to all!’ A threat of this nature is a threat to all right-minded people who care about making Yeoville Bellevue a better place.
I still don’t get this Sandton stuff though. Why Sandton of all places? First of all, I don’t like Sandton – I think Khanyi Mbau still lives there which is good enough reason to stay away. Secondly, I cannot afford to stay in Sandton, even if I wanted to. I’m not going to be one of those moegoes boasting a supposedly prestigious address, but not being able to afford to buy bread.
Besides, this grammatically-challenged purveyor of threats clearly doesn’t understand why I live in Yeoville Bellevue and not in Sandton. He or she may be here under sufferance, but I am here out of choice. And I’m not going to leave just because some unknown entity has decided I should and would happier with me being in Sandton rather than working to develop Yeoville Bellevue. What he or she doesn’t realise is that I am not necessarily intending to see out my days in Yeoville Bellevue. I might, but I could just as easily not. But if I do leave, it will certainly not be to go north to Sandton. I have more respect for myself than that.
Another day in Yeoville Bellevue 