Link to article: SCP-9948.
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[[include :scp-wiki:theme:black-highlighter-theme]] [[include :scp-wiki:theme:scp-offices-theme]] [[include component:preview text="The ANC cannot win." ]] [[>]] [[module Rate]] [[/>]] **Item #:** SCP-9948 **Object Class:** Neutralised **Special Containment Procedures:** As of 08/02/89, SCP-9948 is believed neutralised. However, Foundation agents should continue to monitor outlying townships in the Republic of Ciskei for signs of SCP-9948, such as militant anti-government action, noncollaboration with Republican authorities, and especially agitation or terrorism targeted towards the South African Union. The Foundation is to continue cooperating with the Ciskei Defence Forces in propagating material to discourage engaging with SCP-9948. If the phenomenon recurs, Foundation watchposts are to engage in intelligence-sharing with the NIS [[footnote]]National Intelligence Service[[/footnote]] for the purpose of its suppression. **Description:** SCP-9948 was a necrotic impingement on the local psychic field in and around the Republic of Ciskei, inducing mania, aggression, psychosis among the native populations, leading to the incitement of terrorism. It caused both auditory and visual hallucinations in the affected; subjects described a voice calling them to violence or revolt, and a female figure appearing at the edges of their vision. Though the majority of the afflicted were able to resist the anomalous effect, around 5% of those suffering were overcome by a compulsion to violence against local authorities, especially racialised violence targeting white individuals. This resulted in a notable uptick in radical activity in and around the Republic. In particular, affected individuals often chose to link up with preexisting subversive elements in order to further their goals. Their operations allowed considerable penetration of terrorist cells into Union territory. For this reason, on 03/03/82, the Foundation was approached by the Paranatural Wing of the CCB[[footnote]]Civil Cooperation Bureau, a South African [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Cooperation_Bureau special police unit][[/footnote]]. The Wing requested initially that the Foundation work with the CCB on containment operations, advocating for a proactive approach to maintaining normality. In return, the Wing guaranteed Foundation access to captured anomalies and subordination in containment matters. The SUSA[[footnote]]Subsaharan command of the Foundation.[[/footnote]] Ethics Committee Representative agreed to provide intelligence to facilitate CCB raids, and process captured subjects thereafter, conditional on the CCB maintaining certain rules of engagement. The details of some of these raids are listed below: ||~ Date ||~ Results||~ Notes|| || 18/06/82 || CCB agents break up an MK[[footnote]]//uMkhonto weSizwe//, lit. “Spear of the Nation”; terrorist guerilla unit[[/footnote]] gathering, delivering two subjects to Foundation custody. Interviews describe isiXhosa whispers at the dead of night imploring subjects to take up arms and “cull the cattle”.||None. || || 24/10/82 || CCB recover weapons smugglers on the Zimbabwean border, and deliver one to custody. Subject claims to glimpse a translucent apparition out of the corner of his eyes when he tries to sleep. Subject notes his smuggling operations predate the hallucinations.|| Compulsive effects may set in before visible manifestations? || || 08/11/83 || Extended police action in Ciskei following mob violence and rioting sweeps up several afflicted. One subject recalls being promised that “the dead will avenge us” by a figure on the night before violence escalated. Subject expired of hemoptysis before more detail could be extracted. || CCB reprimanded for carelessness with captures. || || 29/03/84|| Afrikaner subversive intellectuals detected and captured by SWAPOL-Koevoet[[footnote]]South West Africa Police, “Crowbar” Unit; specialised in COINT[[/footnote]]. Subjects do not possess a good grasp of isiXhosa, but note repeated mentions of Queen Victoria clear in reported apparition’s speech.|| Phenomenon originates in nineteenth century; confirmed by necromantic consultancy. Manifestations now extend beyond Ciskei. || || 15/06/87|| Trade unionists subject to night arrests following election of second Botha[[footnote]]P. W. Botha, Prime Minister of the Union.[[/footnote]] cabinet. Subject reports being called to “crush the shirker”. Further commentary difficult to extract; subject remains terse and recalcitrant despite attempts to guarantee her comfort.|| [REDACTED AS PER ETHICS COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM ON MORALE PRESERVATION] || Through information obtained from these witnesses, Foundation historians determined the impingement was the result of a persistent psionic echo due to the //animus// of Nongqawuse, a Xhosa priestess of some note, who led a millenarian movement in the mid-nineteenth century. **Diplomatic Records:** On 26/08/88, the Global Occult Coalition delivered the following communication: [[collapsible show="+ GOC memorandum" hide="- Close"]] > OFFICE OF THE LIAISON TO THE FOUNDATION, GLOBAL OCCULT COALITION > ----- > IT has come to the attention of the Coalition’s Council of 108 that the SCP FOUNDATION, international occult and thaumaturgic power of note, has been engaging in cooperation with the Apartheid government occupying South Africa, aiding their suppression of legitimate indigenous sovereignty movements for material gain. > > IN accordance with Resolutions #324, 348, and 357 of the proceedings of the Council, we hereby call upon the SCP FOUNDATION to act as required by paraglobal law, and break off this collaboration with the occupying government; and to engage in reparations towards the black and coloured peoples of the South African regions. > > IF the SCP FOUNDATION chooses to continue to flout paraglobal law, the Coalition encourages the Council to move to censure their actions and officially enact legal, economic, thaumaturgic and infernal sanctions upon SUSA. [[/collapsible]] Foundation SUSA Senior Supervisor Johannes Maastricht returned the following message: [[collapsible show="+ SUSA reply" hide="- Close"]] > FROM: Johannes Maastricht > > Concerning the matter of SUSA operations in the Union of South Africa, I note: > > That the Foundation maintains strict political neutrality in all matters, between ideologies, between nations, between ethnic groups; > > That the hypocrisies of the Coalition on this matter are manifold; > > That fully one-third of the Council of 108 either openly approves of some class of racial and ethnic separation, or trades with the Union government //sub rosa//; > > That the Council has introduced, and rejected, bills to sanction members for trading with the Union government no less than five times; > > That it is my opinion, and unanimously that of the Foundation Ethics Committee, that apartheid constitutes a grave crime, that it stains the Union’s morals and dignity, and denies the nonwhite population of the Union their rights under paraglobal law, and that the Union government ought to introduce full franchise at all possible speed; > > That the Foundation has consistently pushed the Union government towards greater racial franchise and against segregatory measures at every opportunity; > > That the activities of Council members in promoting radical elements of the African National Congress and South West African People’s Organisation have inflamed tensions, promoted sectarian and ethnic violence, induced crackdowns by Union authorities on innocent civilians, and have made outright civil war more likely; > > That such civil war would likely involve the open use of anomalous techniques, presenting a terrible threat both to the people of South Africa and the Veil of Normalcy; > > That, therefore, the Coalition’s activities in sum further the suffering of South Africans, who die in the dark so they can live in their light. [[/collapsible]] The Coalition did not reply. Within a month, the Council introduced a bill to censure the Foundation, passing 91-17; a bill to sanction SUSA, passing 63-45; and a bill to sanction the Foundation at large, failing 26-82. **Neutralisation:** On 16/10/88, the CCB once again approached the Foundation, this time declaring that the anomalous effects of SCP-9948 had multiplied beyond previous expectations, and the Union government was being overwhelmed by the afflicted. At this point, the Bureau was under considerable pressure after the revelation of their existence and operations to the public in 1987. They proposed major Foundation intervention: neutralisation of the impingement and use of the LETHE protocol to eliminate large swathes of the ANC’s power base. SUSA refused, on the grounds this itself constituted an intrusion into normalcy. As a second offer, the CCB requested that the Foundation carry out only the neutralisation, in return for 20 litres of privately obtained Oil of Minium[[footnote]]Rare alchemical reagent; blood poured over ruby that has never seen the sun.[[/footnote]]. SUSA signed off, and the neutralisation proceeded. On account of certain psionic breakthroughs made over the last five years, the neutralisation itself was trivial. An antiharmonic ritual was channeled through a cooperative subject, and the impingement of Nongqawuse was annihilated. The subject, Sabelo Zitha, was a minor officer in the Ciskei Republican police forces and a regular CCB source. He was debriefed thereafter by Personnel Specialist Marguerite Duval. The record of this debriefing is below: > **DEBRIEF LOG 10/02/89** > > **MARGUERITE**: How are you feeling, Sabelo? All well? > > **SABELO**: I feel as if all my skin is about to slide off. That machine was not meant to contain people; I am sure of it. > > [Marguerite chuckles.] > > **MARGUERITE**: We’ll make sure to inform you if we find out there are any side effects. But what we mean is, any more hallucinations? Do you see that woman? > > **SABELO**: Ah, no, not for a second. I thank God for your arrival. I was going terribly mad listening to her rant. > > **MARGUERITE**: So you feel positively about her removal? > > **SABELO**: Miss Duval, how would you feel if there was a phantom screaming death in your ear, and then she stopped? I am ecstatic. I could barely talk to my wife with her rabble-rousing every moment. You do not have to run through all the obvious questions. > > **MARGUERITE**: Hm. But is there not, say, a sense of loss? We often find such things in individuals who have been freed of compulsions. > > **SABELO**: That sounds awful. To have a witch take root in my heart... > > [Sabelo pauses, looking contemplative.] > > **SABELO:** No. She is gone for good, I think. > > **MARGUERITE**: And how did you experience the compulsive effects? Did they manifest as some kind of emotion? Guilt, anger, sadness? > > **SABELO**: I do not know what this compulsion was like for others. For me it was just ... words. Her curses, every second of the day. I do not know how she ever turned anyone to her service. I am too old for these things, I think. > > **MARGUERITE**: In your view, there's not much sympathy for the afflicted? Would you characterise their behaviour as fundamentally rash? > > [Sabelo hums.] > > **SABELO**: It is always rash to break the law in a heated moment. These acts of passion only cast us into rougher waters, in the end. If the others had my consideration, this country should be so much better for it. > > **MARGUERITE**: There's really no circumstance you'd advocate to break the laws of the land? I mean, in the Union, there are all sorts of reasons -- > > **SABELO**: Madame, we are not in the Union. We are in Ciskei. If these men had a problem with the Union, they should have taken it up in a lawful way, and outside of our sovereign nation. > > [Marguerite sits up in her seat.] > > **MARGUERITE**: The Foundation maintains a strict policy of political neutrality in all matters of state. But surely as people speaking to eachother, we can acknowledge that Ciskei is -- > > **SABELO**: Oh, you Europeans. > > [Sabelo massages his temple with his left hand.] > > **SABELO**: You never fail to come down here and pity the poor black, who does not even know he is on his knees. You look around at this homeland -- at this //bantustan// -- and you laugh that we try and make a life here. > > **MARGUERITE**: Mr. Zitha, of course I’m not insulting you, it’s just what seems true from where I'm standing. > > **SABELO**: Oh, what else? I know your type, Miss Duval. We get these students coming in, asking about the ANC, all the time. > > **SABELO**: Do you think I like it? Do you think I //enjoy// that some //voortrekker// who can barely speak two words of English gets to vote to have my sons thrown out of their homes at gunpoint? > > **MARGUERITE**: Sir, I -- > > **SABELO**: Do you know who she is? > > **MARGUERITE**: I don’t think I understand your question, Sabelo. Please just take a second and calm down. I wasn’t questioning your political inclinations. > > **SABELO**: That old ghost. I am sure your organisation recognises her. All those skulls and wires… they are familiar with the dead. But do //you//, specifically, know? > > **MARGUERITE**: I don’t. It’s not protocol to disperse low-level details like these to people in my position. > > **SABELO**: She is Nongqawuse. A prophetess, from when the Xhosa were free. She led the chieftains in a great spiritual rising. > > **SABELO**: She told them to slay their cattle in great herds, and burn the crops. Then, she said, all the dead would rise in her name, and drive out the British like snow before the sun. > > **SABELO**: I do not think I need to fill in what happened next. > > **MARGUERITE**: …The ghosts didn’t come. And the people must have starved. > > [Sabelo snorts and shakes his head.] > > **SABELO**: They starved. They ate the grass, the leaves of the trees, each other. And there was no end to it. She even punished those who refused, who clung to their only safety from famine. She hunted their cattle down, and claimed only their fear held back the rising. > > **SABELO**: And in the end, the Xhosa did not come storming into the veldt and scourge the settlers. Nongqawuse was not overthrown, or punished. There is no pretty finale to that tale. Just ten thousand lost, for no good to anyone. > > **SABELO**: When you banished her, just now, for a second she stopped with her screams. There was something sad about her, I think. She said ... "They still do not hear me. I do not ever think they ever did." If only she'd had that thought a century ago. > > **SABELO**: Let her ghost be gone. Let all mention of her name be burned. Why would I want to remember her? > > **MARGUERITE**: I see. That’s quite the story. I’m glad you felt comfortable telling me about that. Now, if -- > > **SABELO**: I am //not done//. You must see the analogy? > > **MARGUERITE**: Presumably you’re talking about the ANC. We’re in a secured environment, and as we’ve discussed you’ll be amnesticised. You can be as open as you’d like. > > **SABELO**: I am already being as open as I like. It is exactly this that I mean. You come here, to my home, and you ask me if I would like to take up arms? > > **MARGUERITE**: Under absolutely no circumstances do we ever encourage civilian subjects to engage in political violence -- > > **SABELO**: Yes, you just come here, and sneer at me. And call me conservative, careful, traditional. And you //think//: collaborator, traitor, //umlungu//[[footnote]]lit. “white person”, presumably an epithet in context.[[/footnote]]. > > **SABELO**: You know what I have? A house, children, a life. And what does the ANC promise? A generation grown under the machete and the rifle. > > **SABELO**: The ANC cannot possibly //win//. All they can do is light the fire of a war that will burn long after I am dead. After even my children are dead. > > **SABELO**: Why would I pick up a gun for such people? Better to live with what I have, and enjoy this peace. Even if the ANC get their way, we will not see a free //AmaXhosa// in my lifetime. > > [Irrelevant discussion omitted] > > **LOG ENDS** Following the debrief, Ms. Duval was sanctioned for her unnecessarily provocative line of questioning, and Mr. Zitha was amnesticised as agreed beforehand. With the neutralisation of SCP-9948, Foundation analysts predict a significant decrease in radical activity over the coming decade. As the spate of ANC-induced racial violence is at an end, the Foundation expects the Union to continue ruling well into the twenty-first century. [[div class="footer-wikiwalk-nav"]] [[=]] << [[[SCP-9947]]] | SCP-9948 | [[[SCP-9949]]] >> [[/=]] [[/div]]