Pile of garbage collapses, kills 17 in shithole country

Nowadays Walt lives a lot further away from southern Africa than was once the case, and a good thing too. However, I do try to keep up with the news from the shithole countries of that region, for which I unaccountably retain a certain affection. Africa gets in your blood, I guess... and I don't mean that literally, thank God!

I've just received from Maputo, the capital of Moçambique, news of a disaster which befell certain residents around the middle of February. At least 17 people died and several others were injured in the improverished neighbourhood of Hulene, about six miles from the centre of othe capital. Hulene is -- not to put too fine a point on it -- a dump. Literally.

A garbage dump Hulene may be, but it's home to 100s of squatters who have built shanties there in defiance of local authorities. Like those who live in the Tondo district of Manila, residents of Hulene choose to do so because (if you'll excuse the expressin) the pickings are good there. The downside is the ever-present risk of disease and disaster, the latter including having the garbage slide down on you. Which is exactly what happened on February 18th when heavy rains caused a 48-foot-high heap of garbage to collapse, burying seven shacks along with their occupants.

A councillor for the municipal district told the meeja, "Up to now 17 dead bodies were recovered. We fear more might be unaccounted for. So we will keep searching for bodies buried underneath the garbage pile." As we used to say in Zimbabwe, "Shame!"

Walt tells this tragic tale not to make fun of these poor people but to point out to all the European and American do-gooders and SJWs the hopelessness of the Third World. Maputo is not the only city in Africa or Asia where land pressure leads some people to squat on land they do not own as they seek a better life in overcrowded urban centres. You can't convince them that they'd be better off at home in the rural areas, nor can anything be done to provide even a basic standard of living for everyone.

This is not the fault of the colonial powers nor of the white folks who now have a huge guilt trip laid on them by Western liberals and those in the foreign aid industry who do well by doing good. Helping the hundreds of millions of wretched people of the Third World shitholes is a worthy endeavour, but ultimately futile, and that's just a stone truth.