# South Africa going the way of Zimbabwe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 8, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071 "2017-11-08T19:15:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/41 "2017-11-13T14:28:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > So, I guess this thread is going to just disappear without any more input from the OP, and the next time there’s some factually-challenged racist piece of yellow journalism about SA, a new thread will spring up like Venus from the _sea foam_\* - probably titled something like “So, Is South Africa Turning Into Zimbabwe? Just Asking For A Friend!” > > (that’s a only-SA-people-are-likely-to-get-it joke) You can’t leave us in suspense like that. You are now obligated to explain the joke! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/42 "2017-11-13T16:51:14Z")
_'Mlungu_ is the street-slang for “white person”. It means “sea foam”, since that’s where white people often came from historically. It also, according to Wikipedia, means the foamy scum around the genitals of a cow in heat. That’s quite a bit less complementary, but isn’t the meaning I learned. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/43 "2017-11-13T16:54:34Z")
Thanks! Love those kind of anecdotes. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/44 "2017-11-14T00:10:39Z")
The most difficult thing to do these days is to set political correctness aside when you evaluate historical facts on the ground. But it would still behoove you to try. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/45 "2017-11-14T05:07:22Z")
At whom are you aiming your comment? Because in the context of this thread, it’s currently a model of obscurity. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/46 "2017-11-14T05:58:52Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > At whom are you aiming your comment? Because in the context of this thread, it’s currently a model of obscurity. I address my remarks to anyone whose view of the history and evolution of Africa is influenced by an overlay of political correctness added at a later date. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/47 "2017-11-14T06:10:22Z")
So, no-one in this thread, then? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/48 "2017-11-14T06:11:58Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I address my remarks to anyone whose view of the history and evolution of Africa is influenced by an overlay of political correctness added at a later date. Well i’m not sure what you’re doing in this thread then, because that hasn’t happened here. Thanks for your contribution, though. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/49 "2017-11-14T08:48:52Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Well i’m not sure what you’re doing in this thread then, because that hasn’t happened here. Thanks for your contribution, though. Try Post 17: \* The Country Squire article is complete and utter racist horseshit. As another white South African, I fully agree. This is far-right racist propaganda.\* Nope, no danger of any politically correct comments in this well balanced thread. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/50 "2017-11-14T09:03:38Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Try Post 17: > \* > The Country Squire article is complete and utter racist horseshit. > As another white South African, I fully agree. This is far-right racist propaganda.\* > > Nope, no danger of any politically correct comments in this well balanced thread. You think “utter racist horseshit” is a \*politically correct \*comment? You have no fucking clue what the term means, then. ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/51 "2017-11-14T10:52:09Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Try Post 17: > \* > The Country Squire article is complete and utter racist horseshit. > As another white South African, I fully agree. This is far-right racist propaganda.\* > > Nope, no danger of any politically correct comments in this well balanced thread. Dismissing blatantly racist horseshit as blatantly racist horseshit is not being “politically correct”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/52 "2017-11-14T12:35:59Z")
I visited South Africa several years ago, shortly before the World Cup was hosted there. I was shocked by the degree of racial tension, and I wondered if the nation might fall apart after the World Cup. (I was also impressed by the excitement looking forward to hosting.) Glad to hear it’s hasn’t. I would still be uncomfortable moving there. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/53 "2017-11-14T12:57:33Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I visited South Africa several years ago, shortly before the World Cup was hosted there. I was shocked by the degree of racial tension You would have been _completely_ blown away by 80s South Africa, then… ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/54 "2017-11-14T18:02:56Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Try Post 17: > \* > The Country Squire article is complete and utter racist horseshit. > As another white South African, I fully agree. This is far-right racist propaganda.\* > > Nope, no danger of any politically correct comments in this well balanced thread. Just out of interest, what is your take on the article posted in the OP? Do you believe that it accurately reflects the situation in modern South Africa? Would you care to give us your analysis, which would, of course, be nicely balanced and untainted by any subjective considerations or “political correctness”? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/55 "2017-11-14T18:57:39Z")
Probably. 🙂 I will say that South Africa had extraordinary physical beauty, and I took about a trillion photos when there. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/56 "2017-11-15T19:21:42Z")
We need a new thread don’t we: Is Zimbabwe going the way of South Africa? > **[Zimbabwe's Mugabe 'under house arrest' after army takeover](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41997982)** > > As Zimbabwe's army takes control, South Africa's leader says the president is at home and "fine". ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/57 "2017-11-15T20:23:13Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > We need a new thread don’t we: Is Zimbabwe going the way of South Africa? [You were not alone in that thought.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=841856) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/58 "2017-11-15T22:37:03Z")
Zimbabwe isn’t even going the way of Zimbabwe any more. Mugabe is in military custody. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/59 "2017-11-15T23:11:28Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > [You were not alone in that thought.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=841856) 😉 Damn: Beaten like an opposition voter on election day! ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071/60 "2017-11-16T10:22:41Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Just out of interest, what is your take on the article posted in the OP? Do you believe that it accurately reflects the situation in modern South Africa? Would you care to give us your analysis, which would, of course, be nicely balanced and untainted by any subjective considerations or “political correctness”? Nothing in this article surprises me. Ive been to every continent in this decade, and traveled Africa and the Mid East since the 60s. People are overwhelmingly of kind and generous spirit, but can also be taught to be unimaginably cruel. I spent three months in southern Africa, when Zimbbwe was Ian Smith’s Rhodesia, and my Soweto living room hosts never imagined Apartheid would be any different. That doesn’ mean I know all the answers, it just mean’s I’ve heard a lot of the questions, that nobody ever asks anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-africa-going-the-way-of-zimbabwe/801071.md?page=4)