Sophiatown not a triumph

Pieter Oosthuizen of Sophiatown writes:

Heritage Day and commemoration of Sophiatown should rather focus on truths and not popular and common personal, albeit illiterate, beliefs.

Sophiatown was turned into a criminal slum by its black, colored and Chinese inhabitants. Drunkenness in public was a common sight.

Chinese crime syndicates hollowed out the underground structures of Sophiatown, storing stolen goods underground.

Rocks were thrown at white tram drivers and conductors daily on route to Roodepoort. When conductors asked black travellers for their tickets, they spat in the conductor's hands. The trams were all fitted with wire mesh over the windows in order to protect the passengers and windows.

Even today, the continuous sink holes in the roads under constant repair occur as a direct result of the excavation by the Chinese crime syndicates.

Triomf, meaning victory, was eventually a victory of civilization over common barbarism and a common criminal society in general.

Although South Africa is hailed as Cradle of Mankind, it still fails to explain it backwardness in terms of technological development and barbaric behavior when it comes to muti- killings, cannibalism, witchcraft, illiteracy, absent fathers in the black community and favoring beliefs in common myths like your article on Sophiatown aptly called so as a preference

for criminal lifestyles and disrespect for civilizations.

It is not a rich cultural heritage but rather black beliefs in common lies and propaganda.

Editor's note: Readers, do you agree with Mr Oosthuizen? Please write to us and let us know.