Simple Solutions

[Nentsia]

Batavia Vrystaat
1578

General Paul Steytler sat unmoved in his chair as he and the Batavian President, Hertzog, watched the police troops march in front of them. General Steytler headed the Batavian Police, and it made him one of the most powerful men of the country - if not the most powerful one. In the Batavian Free State, the police stood practically above the law. Its powers were practically unlimited, and the politicians always listened to the police chiefs. Through the National Security Council, which had usurped most of the powers of the Batavian Council of Ministers over the past decades, the Batavian Police and Security Services ruled the country.

They were collectively known as the ''Securocrats''. The Securocrats were, as the word suggests, apolitical, technocrats who cared only for the security and the survival of the Batavian political system. The country's politics was split between two opposing groups: the ''Verligtes'' (the Enlighteners), who wanted to soften the racial Apartheid system, and the so-called ''Verkramptes'' - for which no really good translation exists, but it means they are very strict and narrow-minded. The Verligtes were paradoxically enough most found among the members of the Conservative Party. They prided themselves as being pragmatists. The Verkramptes were mostly found among the National Party, and saw themselves as the heir to their forefathers who founded the National Party and who implemented Apartheid in Batavia.

The Securocrats, like General Steytler, preferred to think of themselves as standing above such petty squabbles. They thought of themselves as soldiers, not as politicians or ideologues. The enemy was a Black Nationalist Communist conspiracy that threatened Batavia and the survival of the White Batavians. All means were justified to stop that conspiracy and to defend the Batavian state.

General Steytler in particular had a harsh reputation. Known as ''The Beast'', he was known for the violent way in which he on several occasions had restored order in the Townships during his police career. But he was also accused by human rights activists of having personally tortured to death several imprisoned black anti-Apartheid activists. Police investigations into the conduct of Steytler of course concluded he had obeyed all the rules. It was also no secret that the supporters of the National Party wanted Steytler to become president of Batavia one day.

But first, Steytler was happy in his current position. He was working on a plan, together with the Batavian security service and some military regiments, that would greatly undermine the Anti-Apartheid movement in Batavia. It was a plan however that was being kept secret from the politicians, for it was better if they had no idea about it. Steytler was willing to sacrifice himself for his country. He was willing to get blood on his hands, so that others could keep theirs clean.

---

-- Niqualand - Home State in Batavia --

Good morning Niquans! Our new Chief Sizakele Mageba has been formally installed by the Batavian authorities as the Chief Minister of Niqualand. All people of Niqualand shall celebrate this day, because Chief Sizakele will stand up for our dignity, our humanity, and our culture. Sizakele the leader that we need in these times. Sizakele is our son, and he will make us proud. Sizakele, I salute you from Radio Niqua!

Jennifer Ebbesen turned down the radio a bit in her car. She was driving a white Jeep through the Batavian svannah, in the middle of Niqualand - a Batavian autonomous regions where the native black population had been given self-rule. The Niqua Chief, Sizakele, had been approved by the Batavian authorities as the chief minister of Niqualand. Sizakele was supported by a political party, the Inkulu Freedom Party (IFP). Ebbesen was a young Nylander woman, a development aid worker who had come to Niqualand to help set up something of a healthcare system. Ebbesen graduated from medicine school three years before. Her parents warned her for going to Batavia, to a dangerous region. But Jennifer knew she just had to do this. She wanted to help the peoples of Batavia living under Apartheid.

But things were getting more tense in the past years. The Batavian government was negotiating a peace with the Black nationalist guerillas, but the peace process was being undermined by hard-line governors tightening their grip on local oppositionism to Apartheid, and there had been instances of black violence targeting white families. In Niqualand, the autonomous region, this gave rise to an entirely different conflict.

The main enemy in Batavia is traditionally the PNLF rebel group, the People's National Liberation Front - a black nationalist communist rebel movement conducting a guerilla war against the Batavian government. In the civil arena, the Apartheid was being opposed by the United Democratic Front (UDF), which was an umbrella organization of civil associations, churches, organizations, trade unions, students organizations and other civil society groups to form a unified democratic opposition to Apartheid. Whites, Coloureds and Blacks all took part in this organization - which posed the most serious challenge to the Apartheid system. The UDF not only proposed a morally superior alternative to Apartheid, they managed to stay within the narrow limits of the Batavian law and had the potential to undermine Apartheid from the inside out. In Niqualand however, the UDF wasn't popular at all. Niqualand was a special region within Batavia, with its historical roots in ancient, powerful kingdoms that once dominated the savannah. The Niquans were ethnically different from the rest of the Batavians (whites and non-whites alike), and given their autonomy, they were not entirely hostile to the current system. In fact they were more hostile to the UDF and the political aspirations of the UDF, because they feared the UDF wanted to abolish Apartheid - and with it the autonomous rights of the Niquans. ''Those UDF, they're gonna take Niqualand away from us, Niquans.'' so the Niquan workers whispered among each other during their breaks.

Sizakele Mageba, Chief of the Niquan tribe, and simultaneously leader of the Inkulu Freedom Party that claimed to stand up for Niquan popular interests, suddenly found himself an ally of the Apartheid system. Although he never openly endorsed the Batavian Apartheid system, the Batavian government funded his election campaign and welcomed him with open arms once he got elected as the leader of the autonomous region. The Batavians saw him as an ally in their attempts to undermine the UDF and the growing anti-Apartheid movement. The people in Niqualand had seen their rents increase enormously over the years, their wages were stagnating, unemployment was growing, and corruption was rife throughout the entire region. Some fled to East-Tambossa, others entered smuggling and trafficking businesses and crime. Discontent was on the rise. Sizakele Mageba, seized upon the growing popular resentment by offering his people very simple solutions. The glory of the ancient Niqua Empire had to be restored, and power should return to the hands to the true Niquan people. The problems of Niqualand coincided with the growing, de-stabilizing influence of the UDF, and its attempts to infiltrate the organs of power in Niqualand. ''The UDF snakes have sent their Boneya and Oru sons to our homeland, and brainwash our children with their promises of racial pluralism and equality. We need none of that. We need to seize power. We need to revive our great culture. We need to remember our glorious history and our ancestors. We need to start being true Niquan Warriors again!''

Jennifer, from how she had seen the place change and from what she heard on the streets and on the radio in her Jeep, feared that this Batavian-Niquan alliance would be paid for at a very high price in the future. While the world feared black-on-white violence and white-on-black violence in Batavia, it was actually black-on-black violence that loomed over the country. It was a symptom of despair.

[Nentsia]

Jennifer Ebbesen parked her Jeep near a hospital, or rather a small medical clinic, located in a town called Mtengele. She turned off the radio that was broadcasting a speech made by Sizakele Mageba at a political rally of the Inkulu Freedom Party and its supporters. ''Time has come now, for the IFP and the Niquan people, to save our nation, to cure ourselves, and to purge the system of the thieves, the corruption, the crooks who usurped power. We will make the thieves repay what they took from us. We will make the UDF listen OUR voice for once. We will kick the Oru's who come to steal our women and our jobs. This land is ours!''

The words frightened Jennifer. She could understand the enormous anger among some people in Niqua, who could not find jobs, who could not afford the rents of their homes anymore, whose wives had left them, and whose leaders had for years betrayed them out of corruption. But Sizakele Mageba wasn't trying to take away these frustrations. He was feeding them. Jennifer had a bad feeling about it.

She entered the medical clinic where she stumbled upon a horrifying scene. Two women, both screaming and crying, had brought in a heavily wounded young girl. Jennifer estimated the girl to be not older than 16 years. The local doctor, also a Nylander aid worker, quickly explained the situation to Jennifer. ''They found this girl abbandoned in an alley, dumped like garbage. She was raped by three men. Her boyfriend was murdered... beaten to death.'' The boyfriend was an Oru, whose father was a shopkeeper. The girl was a Niquan girl. Apparently, her brothers and nephews did not accept the relationship. When other members of the community found out they were secretly meeting, they attacked them. A gang of Niquans sent a few guys to ''end this humiliating affair forever''. They beat the boy to death before the girl's eyes, and they then proceeded to rape her.

Jennifer almost vomited upon hearing the guesome details of the story. The girl needed to be taken to a safe house outside the village for her own safety. She had been rejected by her family and her community. She was considered a disgrace to the honor of the local men. If they would hear that she had survived, and received help, they might come down to this clinic to kill her and anyone who had helped her.

The 16-year old girl, despite her wounds, was carried into Jennifer's Jeep. A medical assistant would come with her, with a loaded assault rifle. Before the sun went down, Jennifer found herself driving at top speed through the savannah. Her patient was losing consciousness every few minutes. Her guardian, and armed medic who was just as frightened as Jennifer, scanned the environment for signs of road-blocks or pursuers. Antilopes fled away for the quickly advancing cloud of dust that disturbed the landscape. Jennifer's instinct told her to flee across the border, into territory controlled by the White Batavian government. But if the borders were controlled by Niquan soldiers, they might not let them through with a wounded girl in their car. Jennifer went for it anyway. She had to get this girl out of these lands.

After driving for more than 6 hours, she reached the border. There was a military checkpoint. But thank God, it was the Batavian military that was guarding it: white men in kaki uniforms, wearing big sun-glasses, standing by gates with bright orange flags. For the first time in her life, Jennifer felt somewhat relieved to arrive in the Land of Apartheid. Because Apartheid would offer this rape victim the protection she needed from her own people. At the border, the Jeep was stopped. Two white men wearing military hats stood beside the car with their dogs ready. Another guard told Jennifer to show her papers, and the girl in the back of the Jeep quickly catched his attention. ''What is that...?'' he asked while he was holding Jennifer's passport. The tone of his voice was that of disdain and contempt.

''I hope you are not trying to smuggle a Niqua 'female' into this area. You Nylanders... never really seem to understand the principles of Apartheid.'' Jennifer tried to remain calm.

''This girl has been rejected by her village. She needs medical care, and she needs protection. If she stays on this side of the border, they will find her and kill her sooner or later. I beg you to let us through.''

The officer kept staring at Jennifer for a while through his sunglasses. He was obviously in doubt. Eventually he sighed and looked at the ground. He then lifted his head. ''I'm going to get my car. There is a hospital from here at half an hour. Without my supervision they won't accept her. God expects me to help those in need.''

As Jennifer followed the Batavian officer to a hospital, the rumor already began to spread throughout Niqualand. Radio stations picked up on the news that an ''Oru boy'' had ''defiled a pure Niquan Virgin''. IFP radicals urged their supporters to go to Mtengele and to ''cleanse it'' from the ''Oru Pedophiles'' who were stealing Niquan girls and women. ''Chase them out of this town to prevent Mtengele from becoming another UDF-controlled Oruland.''

The IFP leader, Sizakele Mageba, was nowhere to be heard. He let the fire spread. Before dawn, hundreds of men armed with sticks, knives, rocks and pistols entered the village and together with the locals they set fire to the stores. They burned down the houses of the Oru's. The people were dragged from their homes and beaten to death. Their wives and daughters were raped and murdered. Before Batavian and Niquan troops arrived to restore order in the village, more than 200 people had been killed in the violence. Oru's, alleged UDF members, Tambossan immigrants, Akhadists and Communists had all been targets during that night.

When the first reports arrived at the desk of Batavian Police General Steytler of the disturbances in Niqualand since the election of Sizakele Mageba, he was satisfied with the result. He did not rejoice in the fact itself. But he felt assured that his plan seemed to be working the way he wanted it to. ''The savages are finally turning on each other.'' he grimly remarked to his colleagues. ''All it took was just a little... Push.''