The lessons of a Romanian, after 15 years in South Africa: “I was deeply shocked. Romania is safe”

The daily life in South Africa is full of unforeseen, and for foreigners established here, vigilance is the key to survival. A Romanian established for 15 years on the African continent tells about the out of the ordinary experiences he witnessed.

Pretoria. Government buildings. Source: pixabay.com

Nearly 1,000 Romanians live in South Africa, one of the rich countries of the African continent, but in which the vigilance is essential in the case of foreign citizens. A Romanian who moved here in 2010 reported at large about his unusual life experiences.

“If you go to Cape Town and stay in the hotel areas, as a tourist, you will not see anything I told”, He sent this Romanian to those who assaulted him with questions, on the online platform.

Robberies in full day

Some Romanians wanted to find out what happened the most in the period spent in South Africa. He said that some of his friends were the victims of a “hijack” (plundering a driver in the car), after stopping the car on the edge of a highway, to tie a mattress to it.

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“In front of them, a car stopped, from which four individuals came out with AK-47. They took their money, phones and other things. After they noticed that their car was a Toyota Hilux with D4D engine, they called their boss (yes, even criminals) and asked if he wanted the car. He could finally kill them. he told him.

If you stop on the edge of the road, something is likely to happen to you-the so-called “Opportunity Crimes” (no offenses committed spontaneously).

“There are people who walk by car especially for this, in search of light targets. In South Africa, the whole society, almost paradoxically, is honest when someone manages to withstand these criminals.” add it.

At night the roads become dangerous

On some roads, says the Romanian, the criminals weld the metal bars, which they throw in front of some cars, to stop and rob the drivers. After leaving the night, the risks for those traveling on the roads are extremely high.

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“There is a golden rule here: don't be in the wrong place, at a wrong hour. What is safe at two o'clock in the afternoon can be a nightmare at 1 o'clock at night.” the Romanian states.

The trucks are often the target of the wicked. The Romanian recalls that his acquaintance was stolen the truck, which had a tracking device on it.

“He found it already dismantled a few hours later. He said, with a bitter philosophy: I would hire them at my factory, that they work faster and better than meI ”, says the Romanian.

He adds that, in Pretoria, the city where he lives with his family, was not the victim of any serious crime, but learned to be extremely cautious: he avoids the peripheral neighborhoods and is always with his eyes in four when he crosses the central and crowded areas.

“If you are not attentive and you have a luxury car, you get home, you wait to open the gate with the remote and, from the back, another car comes. Go down some individuals with AKs or pistols, and take your car. You have to be vigilant, to look if someone is following you. robbed, ”he reported the emigrant.

The Romanian says he has become accustomed to the life of South Africa, where he lives with his wife, of African, but white, and their children, who are at school in Pretoria. He has a job at a metal factory and, at this moment, it would be difficult to return to Romania.

“It seemed to me that Romania was boring, but in fact it was safe,” he concluded.

Exotic communities in South Africa

With the passage of time spent in South Africa, he discovered great cultural differences from what he knew in Romania.

“For example, many of the Afrikaans community are solid people, passionate about barbecues, weapons, knives, rifles and antelope hunting on the weekend. In the rural areas, where I worked for years, people bring the water with 20 liters to the donkeys. In round clay huts (Rondave), and some men have more wives – each with their own Rondava”Writes the Romanian.

In big cities, he adds, polygamy is rarely encountered, but it is allowed, being a traditional practice, especially among the Zulu population, where men can have up to four wives.

The community of Romanians in South Africa

Nearly 1,000 Romanians live in South Africa, one of the economically developed countries on the African continent, known for its rich natural resources (gold, diamonds, platinum). His first color president, Nelson Mandela (1918–2013), elected in 1994, became a global symbol of struggle against racism and oppression.

For sports enthusiasts, South Africa is famous through its national rugby team, one of the most powerful in the world, and by the fact that it was the first African country to hosted a World Football Championship in 2010.

The Romanian Church. Source. The Romanian community in Johannesburg. Facebook

For travel lovers, the country with over 60 million inhabitants, with an area five times larger than Romania and with shores bathed by Atlantic and Indian oceans, is particularly bidding.

It draws through the experiences of safari in the Kruger National Park, through the spectacular landscapes of the Kalahari Desert, but also through the city of Cape Town, located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Table Mountain, considered a natural symbol of South Africa.

Romania and South Africa established diplomatic relations in 1991, and later the Romanian Embassy from Pretoria and the General Consulate of Romania in Cape Town were opened. Since the 1990s, the number of Romanians who settled here has increased. Some came in search of work opportunities, others moved after marriages, most Romanians living in urban centers such as Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban.

In 2013, the erection of the first Romanian Orthodox Church in Johannesburg began. In Cape Town, according to the representatives of the consulate, the Romanian community is well integrated into the social, economic and cultural-artistic life, working in areas such as medicine, viticulture, education and arts.

A country with many risks

The life of Romanians in South Africa is, however, full of challenges, one of the reasons being the high level of criminality.

“The Republic of South Africa is a country with a high level of crime. In the peripheral areas of cities there are often crimes (robbery, armed robbery, rape). We recommend to Romanian citizens traveling to South Africa to avoid traveling after dark and not to attend unknown areas,” informs the Consulate General of Romania in Cape Town.

The consulate also recommends Romanian citizens to avoid the risky areas around Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria, affected by xenophobic violence and protests. They also recommend caution in traffic, because they were reported to the robberies committed by people who were given as police to stop cars.