I have to agree with CS, that the media are very quick to react to events which they deem 'newsworthy' and that a story such as this one, terrible as it is, is far more interesting to Europeans because they associate South Africa so closely apartheid, and that era of racial segregation.

Having watched the video closely (and with a fair grasp of the Afrikaans language) I don't doubt that the students' intentions and attitudes are malicious. However I wonder how 'willing' the participants were. I doubt they knew exactly what they were doing, but seem to be laughing and from the video alone it does not look like they are being physically forced into this supposed 'fear factor' competition .

What I don't condone is their 'backward' attitude towards intergration the students insist on putting across. While the neither the actions of these students or the black on white violence CS refers to can be in any way justified, I do believe that the current climate is a result of past attrocities.

Two wrong's don't make a right, but each extreme view or action in South Africa, seems to result in another. The country will struggle to achieve any happy middle ground, and this may be unrelated and out of context, but I fear that South Africa is slowly but surely heading in the same direction as Zimbabwe.

Despite a black majority government, it is no secret that black people are really not much better off than they were during apartheid times. Even though it is not imposed racial segregation is still glaringly evident, socially and economically.

I do believe that the white 'apartheid' type view of South Africa exists within a minority of South Africans, and most hope for intergration and the peaceful coexistence of the two cultures. However as CS points out, the violent acts that we don't hear about, that happen on a daily basis, and in my opinion the 'backward' attitude of this minority, make it hard for black and white people who have somewhat idealist and optimistic hopes for their country.