Well happy Valentines day to you all! Well assuming u all believe in this day the 14th of Feb. It’s a ripper what a ‘scam’ this day has become. On my way to gym this morning I am listening to the radio and this presenter is on about how yesterday, she was on her way to this florist she usually goes to, to buy some flowers for a mate of hers who was having a bridal shower. To her shock and horror, the same flowers she generally buys for between R4-R6 per stem were going for around R24 a stem, she was dismayed and asked the lady in the store, if this was a joke, the lady responded best you buy now cos tomrorrow (the 14th Feb) they will cost R60 a stem. That my friends is just plain madness!!! What happens between the 12th and the 14th of Feb? are the flowers watered with Aramis/Coco Chanel flavoured water? Its plain ludicrous…but that being said, my momma didn’t raise no fool, I’ve gone out and done what I had to do, not cos I had to, but cos I wanted to, shaite, I am learning quickly hey!!!

New addition to the mailing list Anjita, been a while since we had one of these, welcome and hope u enjoy, if not holler and I will either remove you or attempt to incorporate your changes. www.mondaymail.blogspot.com for previous emails or comments

Top of the morning to you sports fans, whilst Joburg streets are becoming an extension of the Juskei River, Cape Town is drenched in sunlight, my what contrasts these are?! But hey u cant have it all now can we. I trust all is well with you guys, I haven’t heard anything to the contrary and thus I will take it to be the case. I must apologise once again for my lack of correspondence last week, I was flat out of ideas and spent a few days in PE, got delayed at the airport for 5 hours or so, but that’s a story for another day!

So last week Friday I get an invitation to attend the Premier of the Western Cape’s gala dinner, after his state of the province address earlier in the day. I thought juslike now I’ve made it, the Premiers dinner, who the man?!! Its only the who’s who that crack the nod, well so I thought till I got there…I wasn’t the only arb-o, there were plenty arb-o’s, so didn’t feel that special no more, but that being said, it was a fantastic evening. There were some great speakers, I actually have renewed respect for President Mbeki, many criticize him, but he doesn’t have an easy job by any means. They played a clip of part of his speech and the way he spoke, flicked a switch in me, there was another lady there who can run for any portfolio I believe. She is the minister of education Naledi Pandor, she was not on the list of speakers but she was called up by the Premier and she delivered a dissertation that was just so inspiring. The manner in which she delivered it, the conviction with which it was executed…bravo, bravo. But that being said words are one thing but delivery is another.

Quotes from Shakespeare were flaunted throughout the whole ceremony, but a quote that left a mark though was one of the Late Albert Luthuli, the quote was titled “a home for all” ant it read as follows: “The task is not finished, South Africa is not yet home for all her sons and daughters. Such a home we wish to ensure. From the beginning our history has been one of ascending unities, the breaking of tribal, racial and creedal barriers. The past cannot hope to have life sustained by itself, wrenched from the whole. There remains before us the building of a new land, a home for black, white, brown, from the ruins of the old narrow groups, a synthesis of the rich cultural strains which we have inherited. There remains to be achieved our integration with the rest of our continent. Somewhere ahead there beckons a civilization, a culture which will take its place in the parade of God’s history beside other great human syntheses, Chinese, Egyptians, Jewish, European. It will not necessarily be all black; but it will be African.”

Lets put this speech in context shall we, this speech was made in the early years, say the 60’s when the segregation and discrimination was rife, and for an oppressed, repressed and suppressed (stole that from one of the speakers the other day) prominent political figure of the ‘people’ to stand up and preach unity, boss all I can have for this man is the utmost respect!!

So what of this man Albert Luthuli, from whence hails he? Chief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli was born sometime in 1898 near Bulawayo, in the country that was then known as Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe today). In 1908 he, his mother returned to his native Groutville in KawDukuza, Natal (better known as Stanger) where he stayed with his uncle. He went to school and studied further to be a teacher at Edendale near Maritzburg. He ran a primary school in the Natal uplands for a while before attending Adams college thanks to a bursary he received from the Methodist church to further his teaching studies. He stayed on there for some time as part of the staff. Because of his financial commitments to his mother he declined a scholarship to attend The University of Fort Hare. The man was deeply religious (his father was John Bunyan Luthuli was a Christian missionary) and during his time at Adams College he also served as a lay preacher. He was elected as chief of Groutville in 1935, the following year JBM Hertzogs United party introduced the ‘Representation of Natives Act’ which effectively said: “you black? No vote!” There was also the ”Development Trust and Land Act” which limited black land ownership.

In 1944 he joined the ANC and in 1951 he was elected the provincial president for the Natal region. During this time though in 1948 apartheid became law, the pass laws were tightened . In 1946 he joined the Natives Representative Council, but the government as a result of the mineworkers strike on the Witwatersrand mines abolished this council. In 1952, he led a non-violent protest against the pass laws as could be expected the government was bleak with him and he was summonsed to Pretoria to explain himself. He was given a choice, denounce ANC membership or relinquish his title as a chief (a post paid for and supported by the government). He chose to stay with the ANC, in November he was booted out as chief of Groutville. In 1952 he was elected as president general of the ANC. The government’s response was to ban Luthuli, Mandela (his then deputy president) and about 100 other people. This ban was for 2 successive periods of 2 yrs each. In 1956 when the ban was lifted, he attended an ANC conference where he was arrested. He was charged with treason along with more than 150 others. He and 64 others were released after a year due to insufficient evidence. More banning prohibited him from effectively carrying out his tasks as the ANC president.

In 1960, post the Sharpville Massacre where 72 blacks were shot dead and a further 200 injured, he called for more protests. He even went as far as publicly burning his pass book in opposition for the apartheid laws. Once again he was called to explain himself, thereafter he was detained and placed under house arrest which restricted him from venturing further than a 15-mile radius from his home. In 1961 he was awarded the held over 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the fight against Apartheid (he was allowed to travel to Oslo for this presentation), this award was described by Die Transvaler as “an inexplicable pathological phenomenon”…somewhat like the acceptance of apartheid J.

His health wasn’t what it used to be, his eyes were failing him, yet he remained the president of the ANC. On the 21 July 1967, whilst walkin near his home, he was hit by a train, he was supposedly crossing the line a story many of his followers have dismissed as hogwash. Many believe that a third force was at play.

Birthdays
8th Kwaku, Emmanuel H
12th Garrin
14th Dennis and Barbs
17th Nadia
18th SB and Lourie

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I have been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that’s why I succeed” Michael Jordan (thanks for the quote Doug)

On that note I am out once again have a ripper day and maximum respect

Y