"Man to man is so unjust...children... u dont know who to trust, your worst enemy could be your best friend, and your best friend...your worst enemy, some will eat and drink with you and behind they su su pon u(?) only ur friends know your secrets and only he could reveal it...and who the cap fit let em wear it...some will hate u pretend they love u now then behind u they try to eliminate u..." Robert Nesta Marley

No ere dis....

U get lots of Bob quotes, listen to alot of Bob at work so forgive I. How u all doing this week i hope well. I am struggling with a bit of a runny nose but its all good. Big howzit to 2 new additions, Danny and Carla, should you guys ever feel the need to be removed please holler at me or should you have comments of any sort either send me a mail or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com. Just some admin, anyone in Cape Town next thursday/friday who is keen for a drink (of water or juice ;-)) please drop me a line...we can do sundowners at Barazza on thursday eve, and those in Durbs on saturday, giddyup and c ya at the July!!

so whats on the plate this week, well i was watching Carte Blanche on sunday and well there was a very interesting topic raised, and that topic is the minimum wage for farm labourers which became effective on the 1 March 2003. This law provides for farm workers to be paid R650 in low income areas and R800 in high income areas. They were drawing contrasts between this one farm worker who wakes up at 4:45 am i think it was and then had to trek fo 4 km (about an hr long walk)to where the baas comes and fetches them, he takes them to the farm she puts in a long slog and then he drops them all off at the same spot where she treks another 4 km to get home, she i think was the only bread winner and she has little ones to feed and her mommie too i think. R800 a month, its not a helluva lot of money for one person let alone a household. this to add to other minimum wage levels that have been recently set eg. for mine workers and domestic workers etc.

One side of me reckons minimum wage, fantastic, somebody's got to stop the exploitation of these workers, on the one hand we have 1.2 million farmworkers (the number of farmworkers in SA at present) living in poverty and then we a few fat cat farmers living the life of a boss player...

On the topic of minimum wage as a whole, yes its true that big brother (government) has to step in and try as far as possible to protect the greater masses from exploitation and slavery like conditions, but i think finding the correct mechanism is where we are currently falling short. Setting minimum wages and maximum levels for payements in kind (such as the levels of 10% of the wage for food and another 10% for accomodation) may result in farmers providing less to their employees instead of more. In a country such as this where unemployment is is in the alarming region of around 40 odd percent of the population capable of working, can we afford to set such limits? Surely it will lead to further unemployment, can the economy afford that? I mean put on your farmer's/'employment givers hat for a moment shall we, you know your revenues are set and now government is playing with your margins by increasing your overhead cost, what do u do? gladly pay the surplus and smile or say sorry for some of you and cut your labour force and work the remaining workforce to the bone with the aim of maintaining profitability. The sceptic in me thinks they will opt for the latter
and the result... well a person who was willing to work for a 'measly' wage is now sitting at home day in, day out, hoping that some food will fall from the sky into their pot of boiling water.

I can see it now unemployment levels have reached astromomical levels but hey the workers that have a job are earning a minimum wage...

And on the other hand there are those good souls that pay their workers in excess of the minimum wage requirements...what of them? do they now reduce the amount they pay to their workers cos hey, government said so??

I know i raise a few questions but i have no answers to these questions i raise. I do believe that government needs to set a minimum wage the art comes in at what level and how to implement it without risking any jobs...if that is at all possible.

Your views would be greatly appreciated.

Birthdays this week

22nd Simmybunny
23rd Red head Ed and Puntang Pete
24th Gretchen
27th Tebo and Gail
Happy travels to u Simone, hope u enjoy ur time on the islands.

Here is a quote for u guys..."Life changes when u least expect it to. The future is uncertain. so, seize the day, seize this moment, and make the most of it. - Jim Valvano

Quotes....

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see - Mark Twain
Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood - Ralph Waldo Emerson

And for my favourite....well for this week
For every day that goes by we achieve, we smile, we regret, and sometimes we even cry. but the most important thing is we learn!! - Sharon Ruben

Now i have 15 min to get home and watch Friends, so my friends, i bid thee fond adieu.

Respect

Y

"...wont you help to sing, these songs of freedom cos all i ever have...redemption songs, redemption songs, emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, cos none of them can free our minds, have no fear for atomic energy cos none of them can stop the time. how long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look? some say its just a part of it we've got to fulfill the book..." - Robert Nesta(er?) Marley

Buenos dias amigos

2 re-welcomes…Neelesh and Shakira, u know the drill if u wanna be ejected from the list holler at me, and if u have any comments even if it’s an attack on me, please hold not back reply to me or post it on the site http://mondaymail.blogspot.com.

Imagine that, tomorrow is thursday already and we've(if u live in SA) only been at work one and a bit days, could definately do with more weeks like this!! Hope u all had a great weekend, I had a superclafragalistic expialodocious weekend. A friend of ours' family has a game lodge type effort on a game reserve called Timbavati, very close to the Kruger, so 11 of us missioned over there for the weekend, it was so sublime. Clear skies, lit at night by clearly visible bright stars, camp fires, outdoor showers, absolute silence(when the drunkards passed out of course), call of the wild and my first encounter with wild animals doing their thing...even had the pleasure (well not at the time though) of being 'mock charged by an immense beast we call an elephant. And to think i was intending to miss this because of the All Black v England test...thank good ness i came to my senses in time. Maximum respect to Lauren.

Question for the masses, to keep up with the interactive nature of the last few weeks...are we as black people a helluva sensitive to comments passed by non-blacks in general? If so is this sensitivity justified in a way? I ask this cos i observed little comments passed such as "no Yawza is an educated ni**a, he is like one of us", this was a comment made whilst the person saying it thought i was sleeping. I am sure that it was just a joke or a comment in jest, but the fact that it keeps playing in my mind...I just cant put my finger on what about that comment is fueling its recurrence in my thoughts, is it the "he is like one of us" part or the fact that it was said thinkin i was asleep (ie would he have said the same thing if I was awake?)...Then there was another comment like 'no i am sure he has definately got a bit of tar in him' that was a comment referring to describe Happy Sindane, who is a ‘white’ child raised by black people and after 18 years it has dawned on him that hey, i dont think these guys could be my folks and i need to find my folks, cos, well... i cant really put my finger on it..but it could be cos they use black like me hair pomade instread of Lo'real styling gel like i do?

Neway that is not what this weeks mail was all about. June 16th in SA, is a public holiday, better known as Youth day, it symbolises the 'celebration' of the beginning of the Soweto uprising. It was some time coming, this uprising and it all began like this...picture it South Africa, 1953...On a more serious note, the fire was lit under the pot in 1953 when the apartheid government enacted the Bantu Education Act, which established a Black Education Department within the Department of Native Affairs. The duties of this department was to put together a curriculum that... to quote "suited the nature and requirements of black people". The almighty Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, being the author of this legislation, stated and I quote (from articles, cos in ’53, I wasn’t even an itch in my pops pants ye)t… "Natives (blacks) must be taught from an early age that equality with Europeans (whites) is not for them. So as a result the curriculum that was compiled was just about adequate for the blacks to serve within their community and to work as labourers under their european masters ;-). One plus, perhaps the only one, is that through bantu education, more people in Soweto were able to attend school than under the previous missionary education system but there was a huge lack of facilities and teachers. in 1955 the ratio of student to teacher was around 46:1 and it increased to 58:1 in 1967. U think those stats are crazee, listen to this..in 1961 apparently only 10% of the black teachers had a matric certificate!

To make matters worse, between '62 and '71 no schools were built in Soweto, cos of the governments homeland policy, so sorry for the kids in Soweto, if u want an education, best u mission to one of Transkei, Boputhatswana, Venda or Ciskei. The government was pressured to change its stance on this cos business was struggling to find adequately skilled native labourers and as a result 40 new schools were built in Soweto. The number of pupils in secondary school increased from 13k to 35k between '72 and '76, which was good for the community because prior to the building of new schools, if the child was not in school s/he was part of some or other gang, so in '72 many of the gangs started to fade away. There were a number of clashes between gangs and students as well which only strengthened the students bond as a unit. It was reported that in 1975, during SA's economic depression, the government spent somewhere in the region of R644p.a. on an european child’s education and R42 on a natives. Later on, the Dept. of Bantu Education decided no schweet, we are going to remove std 6 from the education system, what this lead to was an enrolment in form 1(high school) of 257,505 pupils that no longer have to do std, but here’s the problem, there was only capacity for 38,000 kids, so guess what, plenty either dropped out or stayed in primary school. Chaos ensued. The youngsters were feeling aggrieved and rightfully so, they started forming alliances with student movements such as South African Students Organisations etc.

The tip of the proverbial iceberg was encountered when the department of education thought it fantastic to issue a decree that the language many saw as the language of the oppressor, afrikaans become a language of instruction at schools. The situation was already as volatile as Vesuvius prior to destroying Pompeii...many teachers themselves couldn’t praat the taal (speak the language) and now they were expected to teach their subjects in it. The feaces hit the fan.

In 1976, and a good year that was, the year of the dragon, anyway the year started, but plenty teachers refused to teach in afrikaans, there is even a quote from a letter one pupil wrote to The World newspaper, and it read "Our parent are prepared to suffer under the white man's rule. They have been living for years under these lawas and they have become immune to them but we strongly refuse to swallow an education that is designed to make us slaves in the country of our birth."

The first incidents came to the fore in June when students from Phefeni(Orlando West Junior Primary) staged a classroom boycott, they were joined by 7 other Soweto schools. On the 13 June a students meeting was held in Orlando, 400 odd students attended it, it was then that it was decided to hold a mass demonstration on 16 June against the use of Afrikaans. They decided amongst themselves not to get their parent involved cos there was a chance that the old heads might not see a point to the demonstration and as a result would try and stop the protest. 16 June came, if the current weather is anything to go by, it was a bitterly cold morning, 15 - 20 thousand students dressed in uniform assembled at different points in Soweto, their 'mission'...to converge at Orlando West Secondary School where the plan was to pledge their solidarity and sing Nkosi sikeleli 'i afrika, and having said made their point, go home to pap and wors. The cops were caught offsides, so a team was scrambled to form a line infront of the 'peaceful' students. The cops asked them to disperse, as expected they were defiant, at that stage the song 'who let the dogs out' sounded over the loudspeakers and the police dogs were set free to go get some brunch, this was followed by some teargas, then according to reporters one dumb (donkey) cop took out his revolver, and without warning aimed into the crowd and let rip, the other donkeyholes followed suit, if u werent running at this stage, and u could, at this time u had made like a banana and split, but not after hurling one or 2 bottles and stones at the aggressors. Many people believe that 13 year old Hector Pieterson was the first to fall, but apparently he wasnt, the first to fall was one little known Hastings Ndlovu. The unconcious image of a helpless Hector being carried by a fellow student Mbuyisa Makhubo with Hectors sister Antoinette wailing beside them, was captured for the world to see by photographer Sam Mzima.

The chaos continued, students started setting fire to symbols of apartheid...government buildings, municipal beerhalls, putco busses, cars of white businesses, anti-riot forces and helicopters were sent in, more tear gas, dogs, bullets, the fighting continued through the nite. The smell of death and burnt cars greeted the residents of Soweto, cars still simering from the previous nights inferno and dead bodies sprawled over the streets was the picture many saw. Official death toll was set at 23 but many put it in excess of 200, with plenty more injured. The riots continued for most of 1976, it spread from Soweto to other parts of the Witwatersrand, then Natal, Pretoria and Cape Town, coloured and indian students joint their black counterparts in their protest. Unlike Sharpville in 1961 or the riots of 1952, the police were unable to contain these rioters, force meant nothing to these students, they showed blatant disregard for their own safety and stoped at nothing to vent their anger and frustrations. Their point was made and they would be damned if they werent to be listened to!

It may have taken a while, but the voice of a patient soul who has just been pushed too far was heard! 16th June 1976 will never be forgotten!!

The other story was 17th June 1992 - the boipatong massacre, story for another week, cos this mail is damn long!!

Birthdays etc.

17th Laila
18th Sarah and Lebo and President Mbeki
20th Jake and Kgashane
21st Hamish
22nd Simone
Big birthday week!! Wish u plenty more all of u, strength, wisdom and posperity...
Rachel, congrats to u and Lambert on your wedding over the weekend.
Jake, happy sailing with Lily, remember bra u not Di Caprio, and ur ship aint the Titanic so no standing at the stern/bow (whichever the front is) of the ship with arms outstretched…listening to Celine singin ‘my heart will go on’ ;-)…I can already hear u breaking out into song…every time I …

Quotes
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-Edmund Burke

" oh yeah, i'm glad i put this tape in, i'm just gonna cruise down this road and drift off into the sweet memories that i had of a love that my hearts been searcin for, for so long and i know somewhere if i keep lookin that love i'll find a picture grows clearer and clearer from the back to the front of my mind, and like love, a love i'll know i'll have the girl that i want she'll be mine, she'll be fly and it will last..oooo... i see her face and i cant let go she's in my dreams in my heart so let me know, have u seen her? i'm lookin for that love....she's a thought a vision in my memory, i havent met her but tell me where could she be? have u seen her? - MC Hammer"

Friends, Romans, Countrymen.... lend me your eyes

Thanks to all of you that responded to last weeks emails, definately the most responses i got, and if you guys dont mind i think i am gonna cut out all the relevant stuff and mail it to everyone(i'll leave out all the bits that say what an absolute self penis stimulator i am, how disloyal i am on the one hand and on the other what a hero i am....its all about balance people...its all about balance). How was everyones weekend, mine was pretty large, this after saying i am hanging up my clubbing boots for a while after the previous weeks silliness, but hey as the sayin goes 'its all good'.

Seein as last week I hit a few heart strings, i thought i might as well carry on in that vane...lets talk about matters of the heart shall we.

And over the hill s/he rides...our Shrek...our lovely sexy Cinderella...all the wo/man i'll ever want, need...closer s/he approaches...The One...and not Jet Li's terrible movie, but your 'soul mate' the one you wanna spend the rest of your life with, u know... grow old with..share false teeeth with, etc. Is there really such as a thing as mr or ms right? Do u believe in soulmates? if so what are teh chances that the powers that be has made it so u and urs are in the same country? I honestly dont know! How many times have we found the girl/guy that has made our hearts skip a beat, always thinkin to ourselves, eureka, by George i think i've found her/him, only to renegotiate our feelings a day, week, month, year later...and the person moves from being the air that u breathe to the feaces that you flush. From ooh i cant live without him/her to goodness me, X is the most annoying, insensitive, idiotic, selfish, smelly, gold digging, childish...blah blah i have ever come accross in my life.

What changes in between? Do we raise the bar? Does what once used to be acceptable(when you had nothing else and felt a bit like a loooooooooser) now all of a sudden become dispicable? or are we initially disillusioned and our judgement clouded by lust and desire? or better (or worse) still, do we suffer from "the chase is more fun than the catch" syndrome?

If s/he is kinda hot(in ur eyes ofcourse), has a good heart, gets junior at attention and is good to u, should that not be enough?

Then there are others that constantly find mr or miss wrong...s/he is married, a gold digger, on a different wave length, not serious, lazy, leaving soon to go overseas... Some of us tend to find these sort of people over and over and over, is it cos we are hiding or running away from something...perhaps that C word some women love so much (that would be commitment), or is it cos you are always pondering what else you are missing out on, are we suckers for punishment or are we just silly and never learn? These questions have plagued my already frail mind on endless occasions.

Then there are those of us who find themselves head over heals over the 'wrong' las, knowing very well that its a no go area, but like a seasoned springbok rugby player, i kept on hammering on, and as expected no results were forthcoming. And u think we'd learn, but noooooo, same ol story different las. What is it though that keeps us going back for more, is it so u can say hey I tried, but i just aint gettin no lovin? Or once again are we suckers for punishmnent?

Then there is the matter of overwhelmingly increasing divorce rates, unhappy marriages, spouses getting murdered...whats going on? ooh i am about to break into song...."mother mother, there too many of you crying...brother brother brother, there just too many of you dying...we've got to find a way to bring some lovin here today...what i was getting at before Marvin gaye got a hold of me, was what happened to for better or for worse, till death do us part, are wedding vows being taken lightly, are people just settling cos they dont think they will find someone else??

I ask these questions offering no solutions cos i know not what the answers are, for I, myself, personally have fallen foul of many of these 'traps' and still to fall some more! And anyway what does one who has not ever had a 'relationship' in excess of 6 months know? Unless someone can impart some knowledge, the hunt, i guess, goes on for miss right or as the case has been thus far miss right now!!

As for mr/miss right...i know not, but being the ever so romantic piscean (Jen i c u rolling ur eyes) ;-), i hope it exists...Words from my good man Herman...Mr/ miss right does not exist, but, if you are VERY lucky, the perfect relationship CAN exist...

This email might not seem well constructed and all up in the air, but when it comes to this topic, thats how my head works...

The website awaits your response and so too do I....in the words of Dr Frasier Crane..."Hello caller(reader) i'm listening...."

ps. no one has broken my heart...well yet, havent been played, nuffin, its just a thought that runs thru my mind from time to time and this time i decided to capture it on email

On these matters i await thine insightful responses...

Birthdays

9th June - Ivan the Bulrgarian...hey G
12th June - Double Deckerman aka. Mark E, Carl DC, Sam Singh
13th June - Edward Fiifi Bernard Hinson

Here's a quote just for u geriatrics....He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden. (Plato)
This weeks quotes...
The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a glowing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing, it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of Divine accident. - Hugh Walpole, Sr.
Relationships--of all kinds--are like sand held in your hand. Held loosely, with an open hand, the sand remains where it is. The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers. You may hold onto some of it, but most will be spilled. A relationship is like that. Held loosely, with respect and freedom for the other person, it is likely to remain intact. But hold too tightly, too possessively, and the relationship slips away and is lost. - Anonymous
On that note i am outta here like the city of Pompei after Mount Vesuvius' eruption...have a safe and fantastic long weekend, if u running the comrades, all i ask is Y??
Fare well my good friends till next we meet, keep smilin...Respect!!!

"and i never thought i'd feel this way, and as far as i'm concerned i'm glad i got the chance to say, that i do believe i love u, and if i should ever go away, well then close your eyes and try to feel the way we do today and then if u can remember....keep smilin, keep shining, knowing u can always count on me...for sure, thats what friends are for"

Hello guys and girls...

4th of June, the year is half done/started depending on how your outlook on life is. How many of us have followed through on our new years resolution, i definately have failed hopelessly, the only one i am following through with, is my intention to learn Zulu, i cant even for the life of me remember the others.

Last nite saw the best movie I have seen this year, movies name is The Life of David Gale, Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet etc. awesome performance, fantastic movie...well I thought so.

I saw a report about Gaza on Carte Blanche on sunday, and hate me if u do, and trust u me i in no way condone violence, but as a result of what i saw on sunday, i feel sweet f**kall for the victims of suicide bombs. If it was an Arab/Palestinian/Isreali/Jewish account of what was going on in da area, well this wasn't, the documentary was shot by English reporters i think. I tell u the merciless and arrogant manner in which the soldiers discharge their weapons is absolutely dispicable and something has to be done about it, its almost as if they have God complex, cos they are travelling in impermeable tanks and they have big guns, they feel they can do as they please and what consequences??? For crying out loud shooting at kids in school, running over human shields(i think they are silly, but u can clearly see that they are unarmed, yet u proceed to run over them with a bulldozer)??? Then there is the story of the tv reporter, and we all saw what happened there, the man was well illuminated, walkin with his white flag...pop pop pop and down he goes, the Isreali army correspondent has her own account of events....something has to be done there!

Anyway back to todays issue...

Guys i am gay...

I joke, but what would you actually say if i came to u and said i was?
anyway todays emailer is the story about friends. I am not sure about you guys, but I for one would honestly be lost in this world were it not for my friends or family, imagine having to put a silencer on all ur farts, imagine not having anyone to call a mother forker and still keep ur teeth, imagine not being able to pick up the phone and call someone to tell about this one las thats makin ur shoe laces tie themselves or even not being able to pick up the phone to call Phil, Ed, Degs, M....just to say howzeet etc..goin home home and rappin with the boys or girls or whoever to have a fat chat or to go do stuff with even the arbest things. How many times have u gone to a place and u thought it totally sucked, go back to the same place with a possie and it is the biggest jam u ever had.

Friends to me are the best thing since ur mommie cleaning your ears when u were a lighty, but there comes a time when you have to wonder if they really are your mates or what the fork. Help me out here, initially i thought it was just me, but after going home yesterday, it might not really be... How difficult is it for you to pick up a phone and say whatsup or type an email. U dont have time?? whatever!! Definately not the only person with a job or whatever. Do we ever get into a situation where u feel u are the one making all the effort? like hey X lets do a movie, a drink...hang out, hey how u doing? week in week out u always initiating stuff, and nothing back? the answer is generally NOOOO, Is it cos i is black, love that excuse its better than the alternative, no Yaw its cos u r an irritating so and so, but it does get rather irritating dont it? but then some are saying what kind of friend are u, do u only do things epecting something in response, well unless i am off the mark, i tend to find that if you are the one doing all the initiating, u tend to step back a bit and wonder...what the f**k, am I becoming a stalker, does this person not actually want to be in contact with u? How hard is it to pick up the phone and say listen dickwad, vamouse!! I generally dont do things expecting anything in return, but its just plain rude when someone calls and u dont return the call if they left a message, if they ask u a question to which u could answer yes please or no piss off, yet u feeel the need to just ignore it. Y do we do that, is it cos of that absence makes the heart grow fonder shaite, or u'd just rather not be bothered? If its any of those two options, guess u and ur 'mate' should actually sit down and revist ur friendship.

here are some scenarios....answer me this, is there just cause for the party to feel agrieved...beeen reading too many legal documents....
Now imagine u have a friend who is going overseas he knows it, but decides to spend his last few days in Cape Town, fair enuff he wanted to spend it with his mom and stuff, but then he gets back, u make plans to go see a movie..no show, then go for dinner, no show then he jumps onto a plane and thats the end of that , no call no sweet jack, what do u do, and this person is someone u have known almost all your life...what do u do?

Or imagine u no of this function, u manage to source a couple of tickets for the event, tickets that plenty people were keen for, but u only had a certain amount, so u distribute them as faily as possible, emphasising that if u have any doubt about ur attendance, just please let me know early so i can give the tickets to other people, the answer to this plea is no guy i will definately be there, blah blah, come the nite...sorry for u no show!!

Here is another scenario u all might be able to help me with....got this las mate, pretty decent mate i think, but that is me, well i admit i may have gotten the line between friends and other crossed once or twice in the past...hey i she is afterall only human ;-), but thought that was sorted out. Maybe sometimes there is a possibility that i cause the turbulence, and i seem to always be the one setting shaite straight, we are in those turbulent phases again, what brought it on i guess only f**k knows. Question is, does me always initiating a truce mean i want her more as a mate than she does i? what does yawie poo do???

Chance for all u mates of mine to send me an email tellin me what a stud i am and stuff ;-)

Birthdays...

2nd Mame E
5th Mame Afia Owusua...the flyest auntie ever
6th Helen Q

All u sublime ladies hope u have/had fantastic days plenty more happy returns

quotes......
The friendship that can cease has never been real. Saint Jerome
Can miles truly separate you from friends....If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there? Richard Bach
True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.Charles Caleb Colton
Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.F. Scott Fitzgerald
Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.Kahlil Gibran
Your worst enemies are made when you ignore people. Those boys in America who shot dead classmates recently, didn't do that because they woke up with a positive self image that morning and then felt like slaughtering their friends. No, they felt ignored, rejected, humiliated, and wanted revenge.Tori Amos
That is enuff quotes for today, to all my mates, hope u all have a fanatastic week.
Much love and maximum respect
Y