¡§Until the philosophy which holds one race, Superior and another inferior, Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned,Everywhere is war, me say war.
That until there is no longer first class, And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin, Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes, Me say war
That until the basic human rights are equally, Guaranteed to all, without regard to race, Dis a war." ¡V Once again that man they call Bob Marley

Look at the middle east, for that matter look at any war ravaged country, but this email is not about them, no, not this one, this one is about ¡¥our¡¦ beautiful land we call South Africa¡Khow does that song¡Koooo South Africa, we love you, our beautiful land, lets show the whole world we can bring peace to our land¡Kor something to that effect. 10 years on¡Kswitch on the tv¡K.10 years on, switch on the radio¡K.10 years on, drive past a billboard¡K10 years on¡K 10 years on and what have we achieved, well that my friends is a topic for another day, but we will however have a chat about one of the ¡¥most controversial¡¦ Acts the present day SA government has introduced and that will be the whole affirmative action, employment equity, black economic empowerment and quotas in sport, which are all really one in the same.

All of a sudden in the words of Nelly¡K¡¨its getting hot in here¡¨. The topic was brought to my attention by usis Mangi, I initially dismissed it for another day, but today, driving through Inanda, on my way to work and seeing some of those mammoth properties, I thought, NO! there is no better time than the present to talk about this burning issue on most South Africans minds.

Picture it, 1987, Innocent Mtungwana, a recently qualified chartered accountant, who happens to be a black male, out there looking for a job in corporate South Africa (and I don¡¦t mean the in the homeland states of Transkei, Ciskei, Boputhatswana or Venda, no such luck, he¡¦s looking in the heart of it all)¡K
u can¡¦t imagine it can we? There is definitely something wrong with that picture¡KIs it cos the laws of the past didn¡¦t allow for people of a certain race regardless of their qualification to get any decent paying jobs? Perhaps its cos in the past, reputable institutions of higher learning didn¡¦t afford people of colour the opportunity to attain higher learning? Or maybe, is it cos in the past, such people didn¡¦t have access to the finance to enroll in such institutions, after all, Innocent¡¦s parents were merely migrant labourers or domestic workers (if they infact worked at all), how much did they earn then, hell how much do they earn now? Or could it even be cos children such as Innocent to such horrendously substandard education that all that they could ever actually end up becoming was a migrant labourer or a domestic??

Creeeek¡Kthe door opens, enter the present day government¡Kand they said, let the workplace and the sports fields try and at least mirror the population demographics¡K.and the earth shook¡Kits absurd, why should we, who do they think they are¡K this that and the next.

So how do you propose we correct the imbalances of the past, or do we keep the status quo and allow every one an equal opportunity to compete for jobs or do we enforce employment equity targets? I say for a while we opt for the latter. Why do I say this, well its going to take more than 10 years for the wrongs of many years to be rectified, the education systems have to be overhauled in a big way the unemployment issue has to be addressed as well, because without the quan, there is no education and the cycle continues¡K Think about it honestly, without Quotas, would sports persons such as Gcobani Bobo, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwin Willemse, even be given a chance to show that they deserve the recognition they currently receive, for their natural talent¡K in my humble opinion I say hell no! Were it not for empowerment etc, would we equate the names of people such as Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa to business? Isn¡¦t if funny how life works? The same people that funded the government that put these men in jail, are now offering these people millions of Rands for next to nothing to partner with them¡K.

There is the school of thought that affirmative action, employment equity etc. is exactly the same as the apartheid practices of the past. One might argue that I am living in the past, perhaps, but our situation today is a product of our past.
Yes, there is merit to that argument, but if a person such as Innocent, is able to triumph against all odds, and is in a situation to be considered for a top position, he deserves to get the position before Koos who has strolled through a charmed existence to date.

But in saying all this though, I am so against what is currently termed window dressing, if we can¡¦t find a historically disadvantaged person who can add value to an organization, or whose voice will carry some weight or at least be heard, do us all a favour and don¡¦t hire the person merely because he is ¡¥black¡¦ because in the end, the image it portrays is that of all ¡¥blacks¡¦ being incompetent, but not only that, your credibility is shot right out of the water, because people will be able to see right through your fakeness. Another thing that really worries me is that there is talk of institutions of higher learning dropping their standards, and I say f**k that!! NO compromise! Keep the bar where it is, raise it even. If I go to a doctor, I don¡¦t want to go to a doctor who obtained his/her qualification from a lucky packet, hell no! What must happen though, is that primary and secondary education must be jacked up, make people sweat, nothing in this life is for free, and the sooner you learn that the better, if you want to get somewhere through education, you gotta put in the hours, and that¡¦s the mentality that I think needs to be instilled in the present day youth, because they have life far too easy and it spells disaster¡Kin the words of Mr Van Der Walt, our headmaster¡K¡¨in order to get up in life, you have to get down and work hard¡¨ !!

Some might argue that the practices of the present day government are somewhat ¡§unfair¡¨, perhaps, but look at its results, we have the haves, seeking out to partner the have nots for the ultimate benefit to both parties, already we can see an increased economic participation by the masses. But AA and EE etc. are bad and no differenct from the practices of the past¡K.oh so now we have a voice? Where was this voice when the minority¡¦s interest were being protected and enhanced at the peril of the majority? Now we have a voice??!! Take a drive through Camps Bay, Constantia, Houghton, Inanda, Sandhurst, then go and take a drive through Gugulethu, Langa, Alexandra¡Kthen let me hear your voice¡K..

Now we have a voice??!!

My birthday diary shows me no birthdays for last week, but if it was your birthday, happy happy!!
This weeks birthdays¡Kassuming I don¡¦t get my email out this week ƒº
1st Carnita
2nd Diana and Gorata

Happy birthday ladies. Here is a quote for u.

¡§Failure is what we cry over, pain is what we grieve, dreams are what we go after, goals are what we achieve, success is what wee are rewarded with for all we have been through¡¨

And another for the rest of us¡K

In the state of nature...all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law. - Charles de Montesquieu (1689 - 1755)

“Woman hold her head and cry, Cause her son had been, Shot down in the street, and died, From a stray bullet…

Woman hold her head and cry, Explaining to her was a passerby, Who saw the woman cry, Wondering how can she work it out, Now she knows that the Wages of sin is death, Gift of Jah is life, She cried....

Johnny was a goodman, Never did a thing wrong”

And many more Johnny’s to fall…America’s war on terrorism to make the world a ‘safer’ place may well lead to the extreme opposite desired effect. Spain was but the beginning (even though a part of me believes that it was a ploy by the new Spanish government to oust the old government, which couldn’t have worked any better, had it been rehearsed), now there are threats against France my extremist Muslim groups. They have vowed ‘spectacular’ acts of terrorism against them for not allowing Muslim school girls to wear the traditional headgear to school (which I believe was a ludicrous decree by the French to begin with).

The cells are so widespread, I don’t think they can ever be defeated, catch Osama, catch Saddam, stop the one Martyr… there will be another Martyr, there will be no violent end to the carnage. How do you fight an enemy you cant see, how do u strike fear into an enemy who is willing to die? Free Palestine, sort out the issues of that baron land and three quarters of the worlds ills will be cured.

Even though I don’t think, much will materialize from this threat, seeing as all the other attacks have gone unannounced, I still believe that they will strike upon Europe “with great vengeance” soon, I hope not, but tis mos a feeling in my feet, and I haven’t had a Tempo in a while…..har har har…

Something a tad more light hearted…my std 1 music classmates, remember this song…”in Dublin’s fair city where the girls are so pretty, I first laid my eyes on sweet molly Malone as she wheeled her wheel barrow through the streets broad and narrow, crying cockles and muscles alive alive oh….well today the 17th March is St Patrick’s Day.

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated by Irish all around the world. It is a day for spiritual renewal and a day where the Irish pray for missionaries all over the world. It is celebrated with plenty drinking, song and dance by Irish folk all over the world (wearing some item of green in their clothing). The 17th March was chosen because it is the day that many believe a Catholic Saint named Patrick died. St Patrick, born in the late 4th Century, is believed by many to be the Patron Saint who brought Christianity to Ireland. He is also credited with chasing out all the snakes in Ireland (which is a very unlikely story, because researchers claim that there were never any snakes in Ireland to begin with because it was separated from the mainland after the ice ages. He described himself as a “most humble-minded man, pouring forth a continuous paean of thanks to his Maker for having chosen him as the instrument whereby multitudes who had worshiped idols and unclean things had become the people of God.”

If you didn’t know now u know.

Outta here for the week, tomorrow afternoon cant come soon enuff. Happy Human rights day for Monday.

2 for the week I no, but I am slacking a bit this year

You all take it easi.

Y

¡§Ebony and ivory Living in perfect harmony Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh, Lord, why don¡¦t we¡KWe all know that people are the same where ever you go There is good and bad in everyone When we learn to live, we learn to give each other What we need to survive, together alive¡K¡¨ ¡V Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney

Another week to a close, another week closer to the next ļ Hope you all are doing fine just fine. Another addition to the list Kemi, welcome to our little world which was initially intended to be a discussion type forum, but lately its been just me doing the yakkin with an appreciated response here and there. Please feel free to let me know if you have any comments or ideas for this mailing list, on the other hand, if you find this to be a complete insult to your intelligence please do drop me a line requesting to be removed from the list and thine wish shall be my command.

Now onto this weeks email. Inter-racial relationships (thanks Kemi...gave it a bit of a remix though ƒº)¡K.They seem to be more prevalent in this rather conservative society we live in, it almost seems as though more people are attempting to break down the color barriers so that they can take a swim in the seas of colourless love (yes that¡¦s right its too good to be a Yaw original). Nowadays, it seems that society is becoming more accepting of such relationships¡K.or are they¡K.does it even matter???

Lebo, told me the other day that he was sitting at the movies in Sandton watching ¡§Love Actually¡¨ and there was a scene when a negro guy gets married to a Caucasian woman, when it reached the part of the ceremony when the priest says you may kiss the bride, a loud disapproving voice in Afrikaans, uttering the words ¡§Ag a nee man¡¨ (oh no man) echoed through the movie theatre.

I was in Cape Town at the end of last year and I saw many mixed couples floating happily along, mind you I did stop and stare for a sec or two, but mind you so too did many others some looks were followed by a disapproving shake of the head. But the couple didn¡¦t take heed and they carried on, on their merry way. They looked kinda happy in their own little world, and no it wasn¡¦t the norm of a decent looking negro brother with a really miff Caucasian sister, nor a shwanky young negro sister with a geriatric Caucasian grandpa. Those mixed couple types are the ones that are generally floating about, my question is y? Could it be that the white (Caucasian is too much of a mission to type out) person reckons they are doing you a favour? Or is it because the black person thinks he has hit the jackpot by being seen in public with this white girl or guy or maybe s/he sees this as an opportunity to get one back for his/her ancestors, is it because you find the other races to be easier to get, is it because you are curious¡Kor wait¡Kwhat about maybe they are actually together because of love.

Interracial relationships are great in the sense that it tries to bridge the divide between cultures, some might argue that that¡¦s a bad thing but I don¡¦t think so. I think the more you learn about, understand and respect another¡¦s culture, the greater the chances of peace and harmony on this earth. If you think about it, the majority of the worlds strife at the moment is caused by differences of race, tribe, religion etc. all of which can be prevented through the understanding, respect and tolerance of the diverse cultures of this earth. I suppose one can sum it all up by saying it promotes open-mindedness.

But on the other hand though, it could also lead to a clash of the cultures, which may result in unhappiness if the two parties aren¡¦t on a level where they can think through and work shaite out. The children will have it tough cos we all know that children are cruel and any opportunity they get to tease another they will grab with both hands, feet, teeth and hammer it home till the kid being teased cracks, and that carries on till kcuf knows when. There is also the issue of public scrutiny, which if u can¡¦t handle can become a huge issue in your lives, public scrutiny that I am referring to is having people stare when you walk together in the streets in the malls etc. sometimes people might even go as far as passing a comment or even provoking you. And then there is the family issue¡K¡¨Koos, if you get together with Busi, I am writing you out of the will and the farm will be donated to the AWB¡¨¡Ksuch relationships tend to cause a rift in families and then there are the friends, ¡§Oh Yaw, you are not like all the other blacks¡¨ or ¡§Ow James, and here I thought all whites were racists¡K¡¨ what I am trying to highlight here is the fact that there may be difficulties in relating to each others friends.

But you know, a relationship of any kind is fraught with difficulties, yes, I know interracial ones come with their own extra issues, but I reckon, forget what your friends will think of you, forget about this and about that, just do what feels right for you as long as you don¡¦t go out intentionally to hurt someone. If it feels right, make like Nike and ¡§just do it¡¨, you definitely will learn or gain something from the experience (wife, husband, friend, enemy whatever)! What are your thoughts?

Birthdays..
2nd ¡V Yalusa
3rd ¡V Al and John
4th ¡V Kakra and Penyin
9th ¡V Nicolette
10th ¡V Steve Miller
11th ¡V Bontle

Quite a list this is¡Khere¡¦s a quote just for u all¡KMaturity has more to do with what types of experiences you¡¦ve had, and what you¡¦ve learned from them, and less to do with how many birthdays you¡¦ve celebrated. - anonymous

This week¡¦s quotes
I have no methods; all I do is accept people as they are. - Joan Rivers

Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applauses which he cannot keep; so that scarcely can two persons meet, but one is offended or diverted by the ostentation of the other - Samuel Johnson

On that note ladies and gents I am outta here, have a great week and I await your responses, either a reply email or http://mondaymail.blogspot.co. maximum respect to the masses!!

Y