A black cloud hangs over my home

By Tsuai

Drinking and crime has made me very afraid

Buhle Park, the place where I stay, is a small community. It consists of RDP houses and bond houses. The place was established in 1997. Most people who live in RDP houses don’t seem to be very poor as they have demolished the government houses and built bigger houses, even bigger than the bond houses.

The problem is that there is no school, no community hall, library, clinic, or swimming pool. But they are currently building a high school which should be operational next year.

The place is relatively peaceful, except of course for the rampant alcoholism and the loud music that we are subjected to every weekend. The people of this community love liquor, young and old, male and female. Everyday they drink. It picks up at weekends but the real drinking frenzy takes place at the end of the month. The music volumes are turned to maximum from early in the morning until late in the night.

I tried to organize a youth organisation but I ran into problems early on. My comrades didn’t turn up for meetings on weekends, and when they did, they came tipsy. Once someone brought his beer along to a meeting. I then decided to forget about this task and concentrate on reading good literature and writing more pieces to polish my craft.

This peaceful Buhle Park (except for the loud music and beer drinking) has been rocked by gruesome murders in the past months. In August a police officer was shot dead and his body was set alight. Two weeks back a woman was brutally murdered in the early hours of the morning.

Last week an Indian man who sells items door-to-door was shot dead and robbed of his vehicle in the street next to mine.

I’m afraid, very afraid. Death seems to stalk each and every corner, in every township, and knocks at every door. It is just a heart-beat away, no one knows the time and anyone can be a victim.

Published by Reporter.co.za
http://www.reporter.co.za/article.aspx?ID=RP21A651415