“It felt like a zombie movie,” was a comment I heard more than once over this last week.
As we reflected on the week of unrest, for many people the only reference for violence and destruction of this magnitude was Hollywood.
In 36 years of publishing it was the first time the Courier did not go to print because we were physically unable to.
Even if we had put the paper together, it was not safe for our delivery crew to traverse the roads.
And where would we have placed it? The stores were closed.
But as dire as things were, the looting and burning has stopped, the shops and schools have reopened and for many people life has almost gone back to normal. Almost.
The danger now is to allow this semblance of normality to lull us into a false sense that if we continue as before, everything will be alright.
But I am certain this is not the case.
While Ballito survived unscathed, what has been brought into sharp relief is the contrast between the haves and the have-nots on either sides of the N2.
We can no longer pretend that it is OK for abject poverty to exist alongside luxury estates.
While chatting to Shaka’s Head resident Xolani Makhathini at the bridge blockade, I was struck by how similar people’s needs really are, rich and poor.
Xolani shared with me his two main concerns for the residents of Shaka’s Head.
Firstly, “We desperately need a high school!” he said.
The Courier has written countless stories over the past 20 years about the very real need for a government high school.
These cries seem to fall on deaf ears.
It feels as if the powers that be have decided that Ballito is full of rich people who have enough private schools to choose from.
In reality there are a great many poor and middle class citizens who live in the Greater Ballito area who are being overlooked as a result.
Xolani’s second point was the lack of sports facilities.
Sport can be a great unifier.
If you have the facilities, it is relatively inexpensive to join a soccer or netball team and community sports bring people together in a healthy way.
If we only provide taverns, our society will only produce drunkards, he said.
***
Returning to the zombie apocalypse, the onslaught was not just in the streets, it was also on the mind.
The amount of fake news that circulated during the crisis was unreal and my reporters spent an inordinate amount of time putting out fires started by fabrications.
I am proud of my team.
Being the source of trustworthy information is critical to the functioning of democracy, but this really comes to the fore during a crisis.
They worked around the clock to keep our readers informed.
Despite a great lack of sleep and facing the same uncertainty as everyone else, every day they returned to the frontlines to ensure that accurate information was readily available.
***
Our front page certainly garnered much debate last week.
I published an apology on our Facebook page and I will repeat it here.
As a newspaper when we chose the front page photograph we intended to depict the bravery displayed by the people who protected shops and livelihoods from rioting and looting.
The headline ‘United we stand… divided we fall’ (continued on page 2) was intended to convey that it is only through unity across colour, age, and social status that we can overcome threats on our home and country.
The newspaper was filled with stories of people’s heartache and their triumph.
What was intended to destroy us (and by ‘us’ I mean all residents of KwaDukuza) actually made us stronger and more united in many respects.
This is also why we started the #StrongerTogether campaign during the unrest, creating a platform where people shared their own stories of unity in adversity.
As the story that accompanied the photograph read: “A call for volunteers went out and hundreds of people from all walks of life and skin colours joined to protect the town’s business area.”
The photo was intended to be understood within this context.
Yet despite my best intentions, many people interpreted it in the opposite spirit.
Please accept my humble apology.
