South African Conflict Deteriorates

The situation in an apartheid South Africa has deteriorated as reports of further abduction and assault emerge.

South Africa has recently seen some of the more serious consequences of the legal racial segregation; put under effect since 1948. Violence has significantly risen over the years amongst the split society with details of riots and shootings being reported every week.

Last Tuesday news spread of the first of many abductions taking place in the Capetown capital. Dandali Osundare(46) was said to have been assaulted, brutally beaten and taken from the safety of his own home after several men (concealing their identity with face masks) burst into the businessman's small bungalow. The whereabouts of Dandali are yet unknown but it has been confirmed by nearby neighbours that he was taken in large black jeep. Terrified, the locals refused to give further details afraid of arriving at the same fate.

These distressing scenes have become far too common for residents of the more rural areas of South Africa as local surveys suggest most of these incidents go unreported due to the growing fear most of the nation is gripped with. Akanni Niyi(36) was one of the many unreported cases in Bhisho until friends and relatives of the lawyer spoke out of the morning he was beaten : ' They picked Akanni up one morning. They beat him like clay. Then stuffed him down inside a waiting jeep'

With the increasing number of unresolved incidents it raises the question as to whether or not the South African government can truly handle the situation.

Havisham Task - How have love relationships been presented in Havisham.

I never imagined how someone I trusted and loved so much could leave me to rot. That bittersweet love left yellowed and unfulfilled - Bang! My fists clench at the sound of his name; forming the perfect weapon capable of revenge. 'Spinster' they call me with pitiful arrogance but I pray and wish them dead. Who did this to me? Is it my heart that b-b-breaks or is the constant beating that pulsates through my body a reminder of inevitable murder. My red balloon has finally burst.

Harsh Reality

Imagine an object that could hold everything meaningful to one person. An object capable of warding off intruders eager to venture into one’s own imagination and steal the secrets to our deepest, darkest memories. An object so tall and brave standing firmly into place, reluctant to let its arms open wide revealing what I once thought was a magical world. Such object is perhaps imaginary; perhaps not what we would initially associate with a man-made construction. But I know it to be true.

I know that my object holds cracks filled with anger, wedged beneath childhood games and pretentious adventures. What was once an elegant, vintage brown coating has now split in parts to reveal the dull reality of its wooden raw material. The sliding doors no longer retain the smooth, clean drifting motion that I once felt whenever I hid inside. Now it feels jagged and coarse as if it were blocking itself from the outside world.

I once needed my parents’ assistance in reaching the highest draws, the very same place they would hide my most precious possessions whenever my behaviour was ‘unacceptable’, as if to prove a point. As if to remind me I wasn’t big enough. It’s all changed now; I can reach those high places, I can even fit my hand in the darkest corners. There is nothing to hide.
To protect someone’s identity. To keep out the harsh truths of the real world and offer safety whenever one needs it. To me that was its sole purpose. That was what my wardrobe was for.