Madiba: The gods shall smile upon thee

It is indeed a sad day for the peace-loving people of the world as it dawns upon everyone that uMadiba Omde is now walking the plane of the spirits.

This is not so much so because we all wanted him to be immortal but because we dread the place the world shall become in his absence. True, he might not have done an awful lot of things as south African president but as South Africa's first president of a democratic dispensation, Mandela epitomised the idea of a perfect servant.

Many have wept and wept. Others wailing and crying. The news of his death came not as surprise because we all knew how ill he had become and we had expected to receive such inconceivable news but his departure from us leaves us uncertain if the future he designed shall remain intact. Indeed, Mandela was a great men. His name shall be mentioned along the names of H.I.M Haile Selassie I of Ithiopia, and his legend forever engraved in the memory of history for many futures to come. None deserves a seat in the pantheon of the gods, next to H.I.M Selassie I, than this giant of a man.

As we celebrate his life though, we we are reminded of our own shortcomings; our own errors; and our own President, Mr Jacob Zuma. It was sad how the crowd booed him during his address. Not so much because he was being booed, really, but because it was done at Tata Mandela's final moment in the limelight. Many viewed it as disrespectful to Madiba but I suspect the perpetrators sought to show our president and who and what he is, whatever that may be.

Madiba's teachings transformed our nation and continent- not to mention the lands afar. The question in earnest should be: Is the death of Mandela a symbol of life and hope, as his life was? This is so we can reflect with greater purpose upon his works and teachings.

On the other hand, I pray that President Zuma took a good look at himself after that whole boo-boy show, for it should remind him that even in grief, people do remember the things which hurt them the most. I am not justifying the actions of the crowd but I am merely pointing out that people have had plenty exchanges and dialogue with either Zuma himself or his government to no avail, choosing an international platform would have been the next logic and Madiba's memorial happened to be that opportunity.

Our government can still do better and it must be reminded of this fact.

In the streets, Mandela is immortal. His name is mentioned with awe and wonder. His teachings revered by millions and his leadership emulated by those who have the will. He will forever be remembered as the Redeemer of the oppressed. The Savior of the downtrodden. The Chief of all peace-makers.

Many - within their rights - claim he is the "sell-out", many say he betrayed the Freedom Charter with others saying "He failed the African populace". But wait, what are the masses of the people saying of this man? Even if he is all of what many have called him, but the fact of the matter is that he did good where he did good and the onus would have been for those who observe all his wrongdoings to rectify and correct his errors. But none dare come forth.

I am an Afrikan and to be one when Mandela was alive was a true pleasure.

Long Live Madiba! Long Live Madiba.

Experiencing Ikasi In A New Light.

The townships have, for a long time, been viewed with a frown because of the many negative reports which the media is always happy to find, but the real make of our townships is yet to be projected in our media platforms. 

To its peril, the township has been featured in the media as nothing more than a place of poverty, rape, theft, murder and what not. Only here and there have you heard the "good side" of the township being immortalised.

Well, that's a pity because many skeptics were left with their jaws on the floor after this past weekend's Ikasi Experience in Khayelitsha. The weekend of November 9, 2013 will be remembered by many as the day upon which the dark veil of stereotype and negative perception about the township was teared to pieces.

Local vendors - joined by an array of revelers - mingled with business gurus, enjoyed coolies at secluded set up, got “jiggy with it” next to the stage to DJ Sphectecular’s beats, ogled, shook head and scratched chin at the weird and wonderful fashion outputs.

The scores of youngsters, some of whom run their own businesses, welcomed throng musical artists, poets and other creatives who showcased their talent at the ghetto-themed gig - crowned towards the end by international spinster DJ Sphectecular on the main deck.

As justified as the negative perceptions about townships in general - and Khayelitsha (Cape Town) in particular - are, those who perpetuate these should take a second and thorough glance at iKasi and they will see what many who refuse to leave that space are seeing.

The fact of the matter is that the townships as we know them are the power-base of local economic development and if used properly, the talent, skills, energy and creativity which lies hidden in the dark of the stereotypes, will benefit the country.

Some from the crowd had come from places like Observatory,and many other places not in Khayelitsha. But I guess what left many people in awe was the face that this particular event boasted people from all races. It was cool.

This particular event - and many others - are indicative of the potential, the ability and most of all the economic brains harbored by many in our townships. As young people, we must learn to unleash the true nature of our kind; the kind which succeeds.

I must make special mention of Vincent Manzini and Loyiso Mdebuka as among the champions of the agenda to transform townships into business destinations where excellence is a way of life. I must give a special shout out to BlackReign Communications for the monster they created.

Ikasi Rules!!!

Nightmares From The Past

I had a nightmare and in it was a white man. I did not recognise who he was until he introduced himself to me. This is what he said to me:

I am Jan Van Riebeek, just call me Jannie. I came to tame and claim in the name of Spain, Holland and Europe. I am Jannie, don’t diss my history.  I inspired Hawkins, Livingston, Mussolini, Botha, and Bush. I perpetuated hatred against redmen, yellowmen and with Blackmen I make no friend. I attacked the Nama, Khoi, the Khomani, and the Griqua, cut off their heads.

I wrote instead that the Blackmen ate them like bread.  I never told you this before but my chief navigator was a MOOR, you know the moors they discovered Spain, those blacks who came from the African terrain. The idea that the world was round I got from these same blacks in some little European town. 

Now you may ask what were blacks doing there but they ruled there for over 700 years. They made a great mistake then, because instead of enslaving us they made us their friend. Some survived, stayed alive, and fought the invasion, European division, English aggression, the fight between Europe and European expansion. I wrote your history for you. I did not tell you the truth that not all black men came as slaves.

Listen and you will know the truth in the waves that brought the ships; lips lie to keep intact oppression of black skin. I am Jannie, the church perched on the opportunity to spread the religion of the dead through misconception.  The assumption that this world was new was spread by me. i am Jan van Riebeek and I gave Europe power over all the earth, 500 years of your blood sweat and tears now and you celebrate recreate your death.

Let the glasses touch with the blood of your forefathers and mothers, give a toast to host my arrival, your dying is my survival and your land is still mine. Yes! The pope is still the divine. Yes! Drink your own blood and call it wine but nothing in the pages of my history will blot out your misery. You shall celebrate my victory and call it diversity; your children praise me because I am their only history. I am Jan Van Riebeek.

I died but you made me live, so, give me the sea once more and let me discover you again. I will not go, not from your mind. Restore me for all to see. Your ancestors cries will not be heard, word after word, pages of history written but the victims are once more beaten. 1652 to you is the beginning of western world democracy but 1652 to me the beginning of white supremacy.

I had opted to record these words that this man told me in my nightmare so that I may share with you.

Youths Fear The Future

We all want to become someone important within the circles of socialization which we find ourselves in or which we choose for ourselves yet very few actually get to the point of realizing these aspirations.

Many young people have dreams of becoming the best dancer, the best athlete, the best public speaker. They all want to own a business. I do too. They all want to drive the most beautiful of sports cars, or they just want to have enough money to last them a lifetime at the very least.

The single problem though - and something which separates the dreamer from the achiever - is the question of guts and nerve. Many successful people will always tell you that 'you need to put in the time' and "you must be willing to sacrifice a lot" - but this hardly makes sense to a person who does not even know what to sacrifice in the first place [You'll get someone sacrificing a goat to his gods and still nothing happens.

We all have brilliant ideas of what to do in order to better our lives or improve the conditions we live in. Most of us have business ideas paralleled by none. Some of us have the brightest ideas on how to help our communities by establishing that non-profit-organisation we dream about. We dream of starting that youth skills academy. 

All of these are but ideas until the owner of the idea sits up and starts doing something about it, and this is where the problems begin: Very often you find that many young people who harbour such great ideas do not know where to start in order to get the idea from the phase of being an idea to where it becomes a reality.

As a result, such ideas die in their infantry stages because the owner of the idea got stuck at a point where a lot of work and time was supposed to have taken effect. This is due to a range of things but, like our government, I have elected to blame the Apartheid regime for this.

 It is true that those kids who were brought up in areas which were previously advantaged and those who were taken to such schools and received such education, are better informed, generally, about where/how to develop their ideas further, unlike those who received poor education.-

However, there is no Apartheid regime today. Everyone is entitled to the same opportunities - save for the guys who are in the rural areas, unfortunately –and therefore giving all an equal shot at realising each of their/our dreams. But wait.

There is something which continues to hold us back and we have given it so many names. We call it corruption, cronyism, logic, and we call it with all sorts of names but we seem to be missing the point. A friend of mine, a mountaineer, public speaker and extreme sportsman, once said to me: “The reason people still go to school is that they have a deep-conditioned fear that they will not get a job when they are older. They don’t go to school for the same reasons that Pythagoras went for; that is knowledge”.

He could not have been more correct. We fear that not having formal education or formal employment we will be doomed. How can this be true when we have a president who never really had a formal education?

Employed young people, like myself and many others, who have dreams of owning businesses are just as afraid. They are afraid of what will happen to them if the business does not take off or does not do as well as they would have envisaged. But all of this is just fear. We fear the future. We all agree that the future is a mystery but few among us are willing to explore the mystery and the promises and disappointments it may present, due to the fear which ravages their very souls.

Who said if you quit your day job to start a business you will not get that tender you so wanted? Who is to say by ditching the classroom you won’t be able to sell the furniture you know you can make? Who is to say by starting an NPO a young man can’t help his community the way he always wished to? Nobody! But that fear is still there.

Let me digress a bit. I spoke about sacrifice at the beginning of this piece. A dreamer and indeed a complete human must be in a position to want to sacrifice 8 hours after the 8 they spend at work, to do the work they dream will take them to the places they dream of.

One must be able to sacrifice sleep, weekend parties, and indeed ones job. As for sacrificing school, I don’t want to be seen as an advocate for negativity but with the education system nowadays, school would be the first thing I sacrifice. But this is not happening, and although most know that these are the sacrifices which need to be made, fear clouds judgment.

A business man I’m hoping will be mentor as I journey to this field as well once said to me and my partner. “Young people must stay away from the FLAGE”, a new and strange concept which could not escape my close scrutiny.

He explained it this way: F = Fear: Never fear to do your thing. L= Lazy: We are all inherently lazy but we must push through that. A=Anxiety: No need to be anxious about things, just relax, prepare well and do your thing. G= Greed: You must never be greedy. 

This will land you in hot water in many ways than you can imagine. E= Envy: Do not be envious. Envy will lead you to watching other people’s universes while your own is dull and boring and then you will end up uthakatha because you are paranoid that the universe is ganging up on you.

Stay away from the FLAGE.

A friend of mine who works as a journalist recently shared with me that he has moved into making films and media production. "I can not continue to live in fear. We must stop wanting to influence the outcomes of a future we are not even certain of just yet," he said.

So it is, then, that young people have all the potential. All the energy. All the time. We just have to lose the fear which is holding us back. Whether we like it or not, South Africa will only work properly if the mindset of the youth also works properly.

Lose the fear, it will get you nowhere.

The Ground Is Even More Uneven

I guess it is an achievement worth celebrating that President Zuma promised the white squatters of Bethlehem in Pretoria, low cost houses and six months later, keys were handed to the owners.

Indeed, it is. Those of us who have worked in the construction sector and who have actually had a hand in the building of any house, know that with all material readily available, it takes a good three days to complete a house.

So, it was something of a good feeling within me which kicked in when I learned of the handover of these houses to their new owners, partly because it meant that things can be done in good time. On the other hand, though, this registered that indeed white people of South Africa continue to enjoy privileges at the expense of the masses. I am not saying the white folk must not benefit from the dispensation we fought so hard for, but I am questioning a couple of things about this whole thing.

It is a well-known fact that ANC politicians are longing for the votes of the white and coloured folk to justify their claim of being a "church for all". The delivery of these houses then is almost suspicious. And then, the speed at which the houses were delivered is something of a wonder too. Like a neighbouring community member said, black people, not 10 kilometers away from that area, have waited for over a decade for the same kind of housing but they still wait.

Zuma visited the white folks' area and made a promise which he was quick to keep but among the people for whom he claims to have fought , and for whose benefit his government claims to be working towards, this is wrong. This is not about politicking or anything like that. It is justice. The black people which are the majority in our population can't be overlooked like that.

How many times have many black informal settlements dwellers been promised houses? This happens everywhere and to allow for the processes to take longer than they should when it is Black people who must be served, and so short a time when it comes to the white folk, is blatant racism and continuing oppression.

President Zuma is a political strategist but not a very good CEO of the government institution. He is unfair and untrustworthy, really. Because he makes a lot of promises and keeps very few and for a section of the society, Zuma should not be the next president of the nation, let him stay on at Luthuli House.

The playing field just got skewer.

Humans and Their Nature

The greatest scientists of the earth have, for many centuries, tried to understand the nature of humans and their bizarre traits.

Many have come with theories of why people do what people do. The social worker will always have a theory on why the male child is behaving the way he does and why the girl child behaves in a particular manner.

The psychologist will always point things to the psyche of man. The economist will look at "other factors influencing the behavior" man. All of these people have an idea about what they think the reasons are for people to behave in certain manner. When Vuyo Mbuli (may his soul rest) passed away, there were reports on how he cheated on his wife with 18 women.

Tiger Woods was said to have had 10 girlfriends while still married and President Zuma was also accused of extra-marital affairs (which he had a couple of). All these guys did was what many, many other people do. And now it is Zwelinzima Vavi's turn. Many people talk about how Vavi is wrongfully accused of rape, and others talk about how he is being let off the hook by authorities just because he holds high office COSATU. But wait.

I dare say that these issues which are worrying people so much - cheating people and extra-marital affairs - are so common in every village, town, city or country. People do these things. Vavi even admitted that. The issue here really, lies not so much on the accusation from the "strikingly beautiful" woman (as a Sunday newspaper described her) but on the shock that people had when it dawned to them that it is not only them who cheat, but their leaders as well.

As a family man and woman, Vavi and his accuser should have known that these things do come out. Humans are attracted to other humans, even when they are married and as evident from the cases of Zuma and others, things can be corrected. The extra-marital thing is not going away anytime, in fact it is never going away.

So, let us make all the noise about how Vavi was accused of rape, but not about how he should never have cheated, because that is not anybody's place to speak. It is Vavi, his wife, the accuser and her husband who will speak about that.

K@K-Stad: The City Which Stinks

The recent spate of stinky protests in the Cape have made headlines all over the world and the authorities of the Democratic Alliance-led Western Cape have no answer to this.

They are so political that they lose sight of what the problem really is. Mayor, Patricia De Lille is so blind to the facts that she is now on panic mode, especially following the assault at the Cape Town International Airport. They knew that the toilets issue had not been resolved and it was negligent of them to assume that those who seek to control the province would have forgotten.

She is talking things like "The ANCYL wants to sabotage the province". Yes! That's what they want so that you, Ms De Lille, should step down as mayor.

The problems with Cape Town, and especially for Black people, is that we feel that we are not being listened to. It is not only this province which has issues and problems it fails to address but the difference between the other provinces and this one is that this one here is ruled by a white person. Not to sound racist or anything but let's face it; which suffering black man wants to be ruled by a white person? Really. The thing about white people is that they don't understand the struggles of the poor person.

Because the poor are being led by a party of people whose positions during the apartheid struggles were unclear due to their skin colour, it is problematic for the poor man to have faith in them. Biko once said if white people were standing with and among the native people during the struggle for liberation from the Boere, then let them come and stay in the areas in which all the mess took place.

Even to this day, very few white people, even those who directly benefited from the ills of the Boere,  have come to the townships to live there. They are happy to pass and view us from the topless roof of the red tourist bus which makes a turn in Khayelitsha ever so often. They don't want the life which is led by the poor people. At least not for themselves.

Now, when Helen Zille says things on TV and radio about how good the DA's governing systems are, she only convinces white South Africans and those Black people who have never known suffering, and as a result of that we see frustrated youths doing what we saw them doing. The trick to learn there, Mrs Zille, is that you listen and then you deliver. End of it.

We know and I am the first to admit that the ANC-led national government is not good at all if you look at the Jacob Zuma administration term, but they are a bunch of ANC people afterall. So, advice to you DA people: Stop acting holier than jesus christ of the bible. Quit this thing of pleasing the white folks for they have everything already, turn your attention to the people who stay with shit in their homes, in buckets. They will be sick and cause the City a lot of problems and then we will have a really big issue.

And for the record, I did not like what the ANC guys said about Lindiwe's dress code. I think she is a beautiful young lady whose politics are played in the wrong field.

Let freedom of the poor reign and let them that have nothing, have, so that those who have may have some but not all.

Theories don't kill people!!!

And now to some serious matters: 

The Chitauri, whom are the shape-shifters who run the earth and to some a.k.a The Illuminati, have and continue to prepare us for their ultimate revelation of their true form and existence.

They have done this through their strange alien movies and cartoons (concealing themselves in plain sight), so that we may not be "shocked" when truth hits home. They came to the earth when none from this unsuspecting, never-learning and self-destructive race of humans had yet lived. Ancient legends of many of the longest surviving civilizations tell of these beings.

To some extent, even here in Mzansi primary school children had spoken of having being traumatised by a "Pinky-Pinky" creature in the toilets of the rural schools. When people refuse to see, and refuse to accept that they have seen, dangerous things happen as consequence to such ignorance.

Darthmaul: This character fits the description of ancient legends about the Chitauri. This kind  (with horns around the head) is said to be Royal.

The beings we speak of are referred to as gods, devil and whatever else the American rappers call them. But wait. They have run the earth since they landed some many eons past and they do so to this day. They have created bloodlines which shall live for more times (with so many people claiming that Obama is related to Bush and all, scary). One man said conspiracies don't kill people.

Alien: This creature is unknown. It was found in Port Elizabeth and this picture was published by The Herald.

Legends go as far as to claim that the accelerated strides made in the field of science, especially at the beginning of the age of the Republics, are attributed to the Chitauri. Many Europeans and westernized Africans will fight to the death in defence of their logic that there are no extra-terrestrial beings, and continue to credit scientists of the world with all the scientific and technological advances made by humans.

This becomes a bit of a challenge for me understand and apprehend, especially because then I will have questions about why, if it were humans who advanced the sciences and technologies of the world, could they not do so when all were yet fascinated by the pyramids of Giza and other ancient developments of science?

The film producers have made films with beings that are not human and it cannot be that it is their imagination only which gives birth to these characters. Those who know are aware that, for an example, the being called Dathmaul in one Star Wars film looks exactly as the Africans have described the Chitauri in many legends. Now it can’t be a coincidence that legends of this nature, or the truth of the existence of these creatures,  is displayed in the form of media like films and cartoons and comic books.

Upon reading some of the accounts attributed to Illuminati, one is told that this secret society’s secret for surviving so long without any one suspecting their existence, is hiding their symbols and existence in plain sight where everybody can see. Now, human have seen so many films of aliens to an extent that they would not even know when a film is a depiction of reality or just a film. Symbols, marks, phrases and many other clues to the existence of other beings on earth are constantly denied by humans and any who speaks of these is dismissed as a conspiracy theorist.

Theories don't kill people!

Madiba Still Belongs To His Family

I understand and like the fact that South Africa is diverse all, but be that as it may, we must recognise and accept that we are yet different.

We come from various clans, tribes and races and this, by its very nature, suggests we are brought up in ways which differ from the rest. With that said, there have been many issues which I think have been mishandled and ultimately disrespected not only the people involved but the majority of the people whose cultures and traditions are being disrespected.

The one example of these is the infamous Spear painting by that guy. This man failed to acknowledge that President Zuma, as much as we don't approve of his ways, is still an elder and a respectable individual among his people. It is disrespectful of people to paint him in the manner that guy did. That has passed but not forgotten. The cultures and traditions of Zuma's and my people feel stripped naked of all our dignity in the face of other peoples of our country. We feel our elders have been insulted. We fight for them.

Madiba with Prof Jakes Gerwel, friend and confidant.

Madiba and OR Tambo sing the National Anthem.

Now, the other, more disturbing of these disrespectful events is the recent alleged reports that some among us South Africans, are saying that the medical doctors treating uBaw'uMadiba in Tshwane should facilitate the man's death by switching of all machines critical to his possible recovery. These people are uncultured and disrespectful. We all know that Madiba is a world hero and that the world loves him. But we also know that Madiba is a Xhosa man and Inkosi.

There is no reason for people to dictate, even if by mere opinion, what the Mandela family must do. Madiba still belongs to the Mandela family of the AbaThembu clan. These are people of stature and tradition and therefore such must be observed when dealing with them. I am not rambling here because I think people should not have concerns about the well-being of this statesman but I am merely pointing out that the English have their ways of dealing with things like these. The Afrikaner also has his ways, the Chinese and all other peoples of this land of ours.

Now allow the Madiba's to proceed with their business as dictated to them by the knowledge of their forefathers. Impose not what the Westerner "would do". Send your messages of support. Visit the hospitals if you have the means. Stay away from suggesting decisions that should be taken there.

Respect the will of his family.

South African Children Are Not Stupid

We have been blessed (or cursed) with the characteristic of being one of, if not, the most diverse country the world over. We have 11 official languages which are understood and spoken by a few among us. We have all sorts of contradictions among ourselves; we have very poor people and very rich people, the strongest economy in the continent with the highest unemployment rate, we have a public education systems that's in sixes and sevens, while the private education system is so good, it's worth all the money going into it from its funders.

But there is one thing we must all be certain about: South African kids are not stupid. Hell, no kid is stupid. With that said though, we need to recognise and accept that out assertions and decisions form the basis for the marginalisation of the South African child.

If you fail to populate the classroom in Seshego, Limpopo, with textbooks, you are sure going to have a South African Grade 9 learner fail the Timms Numeracy and Literacy test of a Grade 8 learner (international benchmark) when next countries partake. If the learner in Boekenhouhoek and Mathys Zyn Loop still continues to occupy a supposed science laboratory devoid of all scientific apparatus for experiments, that learner will not make it past first year of tertiary education, if they even go that far.

So long is the youth beheld with an eye beaming with suspicion and heart oozing with doubt; so long as the teacher in Toisekraal Primary in Queenstown refuses to acknowledge that his duty goes beyond the call of the eight hours allocated by the government, the South African kid will have a problem apprehending the content of a biology class.

That until the parent walks to the school, not to demand that her child be moved to the next grade even when they have failed, but to demand that her child be committed to an after school programme, the University of Cape Town will not register that kid for their academic programmes. The parent must understand that her child is not stupid but needs support as would anyone else going through tests, for education is a test of character among other things

I have, on many occasions, pointed my index finger at government - and not unduly-  but I want to turn my attention now to the school governing bodies. What programmes are these structures proposing for the betterment of the youth education? What do they do when a school, like where I matriculated in 2005, is being threatened with closure as a consequence of poor, if not dismal performances in the matric results.

Learners in South Africa gathered in a classroom made from deteriorating corrugated iron sheet.  Photo: Reuters

Is it an impossible task for the SGB to develop strategies to raise finances for textbooks for learners? Or to seek sponsorships of other forms of necessary tools needed to develop the cognitive facilities of a kid whose only knowledge of the world is limited to the small village in which he grew up?

Some of these kids won't graduate to high school due to the despicable learning conditions they endure: Photo: The New Age

And then there is the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU). As much as I understand and feel for them when their employer is messing with their feelings, I still feel they have a higher responsibility that for them to easily disrupt class through their various motions (be it strikes, go-slows or stay-aways). In the picture below, MEC for education in the Western Cape, Donald Grant, was forced to jump over the school fence like a common criminal because SADTU had decided to lock the gates.

Western Cape MEC for education jumps the fence after SADTU locked the gates of a school as they demonstrated against the department. Photo: TimesLive

Fact of the matter is that these children are not stupid. The Korean, Chinese, Japanese and the other Asian kids who continue to conquer the world in terms of Maths education, are not smarter. They are no more special than the South African kid. Over there, kids and adults alike, are made to understand that learning is important. The culture that is amplified in those parts of the world is that Education is everything. Because that is the amplified knowledge over there, the populations of these countries have accepted and acknowledged that education is indeed the most important thing they have.

South Africans must take collective responsibility and advance to change the course and the approach they have towards the attainment of education, for if this is not so, only a few will ever see the doors of a university to the detriment of the whole country.

Our children are not stupid. They just need love and unwavering support from everyone who thinks he values education and the benefits it has on human prosperity.

Mediocrity Is Not The Standard

Dear Black People (and Coloured People).


We have, for many years, been depicted as mediocre and inferior to other peoples of the world.

The countless injustices committed against us on the basis that some foreign guy thinks we are inferior have come and many have not passed, and yet we stand strong. Came the much talked-about 1994 and its 'freedom' and the white man was easy for the first time in his history here in South Afrika.

Through all these many centuries of accepting mediocrity and even inferiority as a standard by which we are measured, many of us have come to believe that this is so. The white man took his racism and hid it after 1994 (although there are still those who are openly racist) and then came the power of the many.


This spelled a good period for the Black man. However, the embedded belief that we are inferior and that mediocrity is our standard, did not disappear along with the rule of the boer. This is evident all around us but I will make a few examples. I have been on a countless taxi rides in my adult life and I have observed how South Africans of the Black and Coloured race tolerate mediocrity and disrespect from our own people.

The taxi driver seems to have become the new boer in that people fear challenging him. We are openly insulted in the presence of children. We are bullied into closing the windows even though we know that TB is eating the very life of our communities. Even though we are paying commuters, we still allow being told that the loud, incoherent music, played in the taxi will not be turned down; even when trying to make a call on your phone.

The taxi driver seems to have become "the power that be" because our people fear them so much. A 15 passenger taxi, in Cape Town, loads up to 20 passengers and the people quietly complain but never dare to direct their talk to the driver. People are forced, literally, into taking a certain taxi, even when it's clearly full. This is what I mean by mediocrity; we all know that this is a dangerous thing and is below the standard of perfection which everybody strives for, but we allow it to happen anyway.

The taxi industry is just one example. Everybody who uses Metrorail trains is aware that they are the worst. They say all these promising things about improving their service but nothing happens. It is very seldom that a Metrorail train runs smoothly for the whole week; that is; you know you will be late at work at least once in every week (Central Line, Cape Town). I am not sure about other areas but I write here about those who travel in Cape Town (and I don't mean in the Southern Suburbs, because there, the contrary is the case).

We are now given strange toilets by our loving government but these too are not to the standard that everybody else enjoys. We are always encouraged to work to achieve the very best but with so much disrespect coming our way, things look cloudy.

We are expected to perfect the art of studying but we are not given the necessary resources and even when there are resources, people are not skilled. We are expected to go to the polls next year and it will be interesting who emerge as victors in the light of the mediocre education system, the mediocre service delivery, the mediocre government administration. Damn! It seems we are mediocre all round. But that is not, and should not be, the standard.

So, let the revolution begin. What we say shall soon be forgotten but what we do will live for a thousand thousand years.

De Lille is hell bent on humiliating US.

Yes! I said it.

It is not so much about the fact that all people living in the informal settlements in the Cape don't like the Democratic Alliance, but about whether or not the Democratic Alliance loves the poor people.

On many an occasion, the DA leader, Mama Helen Zille, has gone to the areas designated by the Apartheid baboons for Black people, and for many instances she has returned with a long list of demands and wishes. Topping those lists and demands will always be the issues of sanitation, electricity and housing.

We have now come to accept that indeed the housing backlog is not the issue facing the Western Cape alone, so we must be kind to Mama Zille on this issue. However, it must be known to her and the Mayor Ms Patricia De Lille that the bucket toilet system will not be tolerated. I refuse to even look at the technology of the new toilets that she brings "because they are the improved version of the bucket". People don't want to have to pick up that which they have laid waste upon, especially that type of waste.

A kid in Khayelitsha uses of the embarrassing toilet in the full view of the sun and the public. Photo: WestCapeNews

The picture above and many others which were made public following the inhumane manner in which the poor people in informal settlements are being forced to help themselves when nature calls. Some argued that these were better than not having a toilet at all; saying that these people used open fields before these toilets were brought to them. What nonsense! The DA-led Western Cape faces challenges like any other provincial government but that is no reason to dehumanize mankind like this.

The bucket system toilets used in Khayelitsha and many other parts of informal Cape Town under the DA.

De Lille is projecting herself to be hard on hearing by forcing the issue that her new technology is better than the systems shown in the images above. It is a sad reality that not many in the poor people's circles want to see or hear anything she has to say until she addresses this, but a reality nevertheless. If De Lille wants the poor to listen to her and buy into her "Inclusive City" rhetoric she needs to either prove to US, the poor, that she, too, uses the same systems she wants us to use.

De Lille must tell the public that she is switching from the good system of sanitation she uses, to the new buckets she is subjecting our people to. That until she says no more bucket systems for the poor, and that until she says sorry to the poor for seeming so hell bent on humiliating them, she will be booed, not listened to and probably insulted.

She needs to stop being political and begin to be a mother for second or two; she needs to say to her people in government: "I was once a PAC member. There, we respected the African person and we fought for a socialist approach to matters of humanity and dignity - I will not stand to humiliate them in this time as a DA leader". This is what she needs to do. She needs to apologise to Mama Zille for the buckets of waste that were hurled at her entourage and take responsibility for the actions of the poor, if she stand for and with the poor. But if she is now an elitist like the political party she now represents, she will continue to blame the youth league of the under-performing African National Congress (ANC).

She should know better - that the statistics of 2011 which revealed that over 90% of people in informal settlements have proper sanitation - because it is a well known fact on the ground that this is not true. People are forced to share toilets with over 10 households. What is this?

De Lille must go to Philippi again and humble herself before the people in realization that she does not serve the DA when in that office but serves the whole of the City. No more humiliation. No more throwing of stones and fingering other people, you are the one in office now, just serve the people.

Just serve, Mama De Lille and stop politicking!!!

 

South Africa: Banana or Nanny State?

One man once said to me: "We need South Africa to be a nanny state", and I sat there pondering what that meant. He explained it to me this way: " A Nanny state is a caring state, a state where everyone takes care of each other. Where no content harmful to children is carried in our national media outlets; a state where giving service to the poor is not a public relations exercise.

This was an interesting concept because I had never heard of it. Then the politicians started throwing a concept of a banana state about. This was even more interesting because, even though I had not had the full grasp of it, but it made a bit of sense. Someone explained it to me this way: "A Banana republic is like a proxy-state of the former coloniser. This state will sacrifice the well-being of her citizens at the altar of foreign powers, where anything said by the former coloniser is truth without dispute. A banana state is a joke.

On many occasions people have complained that under President Jacob Zuma, many things have gone wrong and the most recent of those is the infamous Gupta saga. To many, Zuma's perceived inaction in relation to the Gupta thing, the issue about Minister Pule, the issue of our soldiers in the war-torn zones of Syria, Libya and countless other examples, has almost, if not completely, turned our hard-earned democracy into a Banana state.

At a gathering discussing the appropriateness of some of the content shown in the media, Errol Naidoo, Chairperson of the Parent Policy Institute says there's a need for stronger regulation of what the broadcast, online and print media put out there for consumers. He brought up the notion of a nanny state, saying he'd been laughed at when trying to place this idea before the people.

Until the nation takes note of why the young men and women become violent, sex-pests, and so on, we will continue to blame our youth for being irresponsible when it is adults who run the media who continuously feed the youth with all this radaslak content; WWE, SEX and THE CITY, weekend pornographic adverts on some television stations, violent stories in general. These things build up in the mind of the unsuspecting youth. Some of these are inspirational to te youth and thus emulated.

I once said - defending the Black youth from the onslaught of being labelled unruly and violent and criminal and uneducated - among the many reasons that this is so is that our brothers and sisters are brought up by your television programmes like Takalani Sesame, an omnibus of Isiding and Generations etc. These and many others are said to be representative of the lives we lead but truth is there are very few poor people seen on Generations or Isidingo for that matter.

We are made to look up to things that are not even real. The youths choose different programmes and WWE wrestling is among those. This is not the only show but it is yet a valid example. We need a nanny state so that we have a governing system which cares for the well-being of the youth - not necessarily bodily care but care for what they are to turn out to be. The Kenny Kunene's of the world flash lavish life-style before the poor youth and tell them they must do whatever it takes to be successful.

Do we care what the neighbour's son does after school? No! Do we care about the young boys who are forever playing ball in the streets, day and night? No. Instead we look at them as though they have done something to harm us. We are scared of our own youths because we have created them into monsters.

Naidoo was right. South Africa needs to be a nanny state. Yhaaaaa

Hands Off Our Initiates: No More Death

A very sensitive subject, this one, if you are a Black South African whose cultures dictate that we must be initiated.

As a Xhosa man who has spent over a decade kwaNdebele and exposed to many other cultures, I have also been exposed to the processes followed by many, with regards to the question of initiation of young boys to men.

It is not acceptable, first and foremost, to expose the activities of these Initiation Camps to those who have not been there and who have not completed the processes, but now that notion is relegated to being a cover-up and nonsensical. By the same token, it is not acceptable to keep activities taking place there a secret if our brothers suffer unjustified deaths.

For many years I have heard my peers from Mpumalanga claiming how safe their processes were and how it is always "you, the Xhosas" who always kill the young men there and expose the secrets of manhood to undeserving eyes. I have heard on many an occasion of how careless the Xhosa men are with young men who seek initiation but I have always refused to take this notion, for I believe that the characters of a few should not be associated with the many.

I am disappointed and angered at hearing of the 23 initiates whose lives were (reportedly) lost during their quest to manhood, yet I will always support our way, the Black Man's way, of earning the title of man. I am not supporting government's tactics- bringing women in these camps, bringing White doctors and other people whose knowledge of our traditions and cultures is prejudiced by the media and anti-African elements to the initiation camps- of interventions. I think it is disrespectful and and perpetuates stereotypes.

The government should empower the Royal Houses to continue with the work they had begun from the ancient of times, way before the Westerner brought forth his ways. I am not saying this will bring an end to the deaths of my brothers, and I am certainly not saying the White systems should have any space there. The incidents that are being reported are dread indeed but there is a way to rid our systems of these elements, as it was in the beginning.

Lisiko lethu eli yaye asinakulityeshela ngenxa yezihelegu ezibangelwa kukungakhathali kwabantu abathile.

Social Media: A Blessing and A Curse

As former President Thabo Mbeki once expressed  skeptical  views on social media and its role in the advancement and development of democracy, I had my reservations about his views, dreading they might be out of date, but today I stand with him.

Positive and negative propaganda in politics and in the general livelihoods of communities and nations, has received widespread coverage in the news through the various social media platforms. People have attacked each others' persons and families through the many forms of social media. People have been set up for abuse and even death, through this very space we so love. But is it a good thing?

I am saddened, moreover, at the news that Saturday's death of Morning Live anchor and radio personality, Vuyo Mbuli, is said to have reached the ears of his daughter through social media. O! What a sad thing. I am deeply hurt when thinking that, as reported in some quarters, his wife learnt of the man's passing through social media. Whether these reports about his wife learning of his death through social media, are correct or not, still the questions of morality and dignity must be posed.

How many times have people been sued for slander? How many people have been killed because of what Mbeki termed "false knowledge", propagated and couriered in and through social media? Muammar El Gaddafi was killed because someone propagated, through social media, that the Libyan government intended to slaughter thousands of civilians, when those closer to the situation there claims otherwise - that in fact it was the Westerners (Britain, AmericaObama and France) who designed and disseminated such false knowledge.

I can only imagine how Vuyo's family might have felt at learning of the death of their beloved through ill-disciplined means. Death is a very serious thing and Black people treat it as such. Elders of the family are responsible for informing everybody else about it when it happens because they have the skill, the discipline and the way to put the words, so that the people they inform don't collapse to meet their own death at hearing the news brought by the elders.

If, indeed, it is the case that Mbuli's passing was primarily communicated to members of his family through social media, then all these aspects are ignored and his family disrespected. There are a lot of good things about social media, no doubt, but I am of the view that it is not always the best instrument to convey communication, and this I say not as a Journalist but as a Black man. We are forever grateful to the Facebook people, the Twitter handler and his hashtag, Skype men and the rest of them for developing these technologies, but the truth is that these can be so harmful.

I have no more to say on this...

Who Protects Our Communities Part II

Because we are so caught up in the politics of the African National Congress and governments, we tend to overlook our roles as communities especially regarding the safety of our areas.

Yesterday I posed a question about what roles do communities play in terms of keeping their areas safe and "disciplined", and how we could exercise this role without having to "break the law" or take the law into our own hands?

The photographs below were taken in Nyanga, Cape Flats in Cape Town by Lulama Zenzile, a prolific photographer who works in that and many other communities of the Cape. They show a young man who is alleged to have stolen a cellphone and was caught by the community and subjected to the People's Justice form of disciplinary measure.

A crime suspect lies on the ground while a community member takes aim with a hammer. Photo: Lulama Zenzile

A community member in Nyanga aims for the head of a suspect with a concrete rock . Photo: Lulama Zenzile

Alleged perpetrator of crime is caught and surrounded by community members in Nyanga: Photo: Lulama Zenzile

A kid is seen running in the streets on the aftermath of "Peoples Justice" activities, in Nyanga, Cape Town.  Photo: Lulama Zenzile

The images shown here are nothing new to the people whom are subjected to the levels and the forms of crime that ordinary South Africans are used to. I was saddened when I saw on the news about two or so days ago, this video. The gentleman in this video might decide to up and leave the country and if the reasons for his departure are related to the incident he was party to, then, how many other (skilled, loyal and patriotic) South Africans are forced to leave their place of birth through such violence?

The populace does not have faith in the system anymore and the police do not command the respect and the trust of the people. This is leads them to take the action you see in these pictures. None among any community enjoys witnessing a brutal killing of a young man in the name of justice. None enjoy the necklacing and burning of young men as a form of justice method.

Moreover, none enjoys it when their home is a playground for thugs and thieves and stealers. Nobody likes it when their homes are ransacked and the authorities are unable to bring the perpetrators to book. So, again, what do the people do? What power do they have over their own homes and communities? I am not saying this kind of justice is right by any means, but I am asking if there isn't a way that would suit both the victims of crime (people who have been stolen from, raped, killed, hi-jacked) and the authorities?

Who must protect the communities, the families, the women, the children, the vulnerable and the old, when police fail? And I am not only talking about making the arrest and taking the statements, I am talking about instantaneous trials, prosecutions and convictions of these people. They are giving the rest of South African men a bad name.

What must the communities do? 

Who Protects Our Communities?

It is normal in the townships that when we are told of a thief or rapist or a troublesome person, we will want to "deal with them".

That is the role of the community, indeed like the government, to protect its own and to ensure and maintain peace in that particular area. But to what extent are our communities "protectors" of the communities?

On the Sunday of March 31, 2013, in Green Point , Khayelitsha in Cape Town, I was rudely awaken by screams and deafening bellows in the wee-wee hours of that morning. Like a responsible and responsive community member that I am, I went outside to investigate the source of such cries. The whole street must have been awakened by this unusual noise for the pavements of the street had already been populated by on-lookers.

I could tell, from the rather vast distance kept between myself and the scene of the action, that someone was being beaten up. That is usual in the townships; seeing someone being beaten up at 05h00 in the morning. It was only after someone had pointed out that there had been a trail of blood from up the street down to where the action had now been taking place that we all took note of how serious the situation was.

As we followed the trail, it was evident that the "victim" had been dragged 200 metres at least. Three young men were the executioners and they were not going easy on the bloodied guy lying on the tarred road. "You will not come here and rob us in our own backyards" they said as they continued to pile brick after concrete and after brick, on the helpless foe. The community - I will call them that for their numbers -  stood against their walls and fences, watching as "Justice" was being served.

The 3 young men in question kicked, stabbed with knives and bottle-tops and bludgeoned the hapless guy with concrete and bricks until he went into an uncontrollable seizure. The community watched. None of the street committee leaders bothered to question the bringers of justice about the crime of this foe. They did not wish to know how the decision was taken to punish the foe as they did. They, too, watched.

The alleged criminal went into another seizure just as the biggest concrete slab was being hurled at his unprotected face and head. He collapsed and lied there as the bringers of justice continued their tireless labour. The police were called finally and when they arrived at the scene, the trio of justice-bringers then casually left the scene upon hearing a police siren. The cops got to the now unrecognizable fellow and are reported to have only declared him "Isikoli" - A Criminal, before they left him to the care of the on-rushing ambulance and its staff.

The man was declared dead by the on-lookers.

This is but a single example of what People's Justice is and many others have been party or victims of this act.This video speaks to this but it is not addressed. The photo below was on the IOL news source and also speaks volumes to the kind of protection communities employ for their safety.

This is a video taken in Mpumalanga and it shows how people are caught and "disciplined" in the townships. But is this type of justice just?

The security agencies must be questioned if the communities feel so much unprotected, so much so that they resort to such violent means of correcting the wrongs? The communities must be educated indeed that they can not take law into their own hands but they must be left with something with which they could defend themselves against such criminal activities.

I wish not to sound like I am saying the government is not doing enough to protect the people but even in the old days, it was the responsibility of the Throne to protect the Realm against any sorts of intruders and harm. We are not seeing this, instead we see more death.

If the "People's Justice" model is not working for the broader community, then I feel the government MUST put in place mechanisms by which to curb the continuation of such executions. Law and Order should be defined in line with the experiences and circumstances of each community, lest we kill all our brothers and sisters in the administering of People's Justice.

What must be done?

I Am No Government: I Am Its Slave

"Democracy is a government of the people, for the people and by the people" is how my Grade 11 history teacher told us back in the day.

He said we, the poor and the have-nots, are our own government. He said we would be able to elect representatives who will speak on our behalf. People who will behave as we would. People who would live as we do. This was a brilliant picture he painted for us yet he neglected to tell us that the picture would not materialize, at least not for me and my poor Black people.

I was fortunate to witness the whole convoy of the Western Cape government recently and I got a picture of what many of those who enter politics for personal gain, long for. Although I will not say which MEC is transported in which car, for fear of being incorrect, the photographs below will show exactly the kind of representation currently displayed.

I am not saying people who work in government should be driven in caskets but if the representatives don't look anything like the people they are representing, how do you propose to solve what government has called crime?

How do we accept that services can not be rendered on time and speedily when the guy who comes to address such issues comes to us driven in one of the above? This is patronizing the poor people and Gwede Mantashe and his ANC is aware of this. This is misrepresentation because people will start assuming that South Africans drive in these.

The fact of the matter is that it is impossible to say one understands the plight of the poor when they have never experienced it. Most of the men, if not all, in the Western Cape government went to high profile schools and colleges, in all likely-hood. They are representing the interests of those who, like them, have been on the soft side of the rag. They stand there, in their black shiny suits, crocodile-skin shoes and their expensive ties, telling the poor that "we are doing the best we can to better everybody's lives. The picture below does not show this. It is only a single example of the many structures of this sort which were there and and continue to be the center of man's life.

One of the former police commissioners once reacted to a question about his mansion and his lavish lifestyle, that he does not want the President of Interpol to come and visit him and find him in a shack. This guy was a politician and a representative of the people. He represented the South African Police Service, an arm of government, and thereby accountable to the people. Yet the people he chases day in and day out are poor Black people.

This is misrepresentation and thus this democracy does not seem to be heading to a direction of equality and fairness, instead, it promotes the gaps between the us, the poor, and the government and its people.

I am ungovernable until such time that a true representation of the people is fair. Until these people stop driving such cars at the expense of mankind.

Swallow that!