Nothing is more disturbing than seeing Lwandle shack dwellers face residents from Blackheath eye to eye, hurling racist epithets at each other. Despite our much-admired democratic elections, this confrontation demonstrates the dearth of democracy at the local level.
Adding fuel to the fire is the biased media explosion around Lwandle, giving us a foretaste of things to come. With the local government elections looming the ANC will go out of its way to make the Western Cape (WC) ungovernable, because this province is stealing the very little thunder the ruling party has when it comes to good governance.
Also journalists need to do their homework before fanning the flames about what Lwandle is really about instead of perpetuating the Independent newspapers' partisan agenda.
If stoking the fires of ethnicity is part of their "making the WC ungovernable" campaign, the ANC will unleash a conflict it will be unable to contain if television footage is anything to go by.
Flinging racial insults at each other, the Lwandle residents marching threateningly with sticks towards the coloured community of Blackheath, is the last thing this country needs. Our wars of xenophobia are far too fresh in our memories to allow this kind of ethnic mobilisation to escalate.
The issues at hand need to be placed within perspective.