So last week Monday (2 weeks ago now), I felt like a ‘meneer’ (‘the man’ for those that don’t understand Afrikaans)… I may be getting an act perhaps being amended next year, ok maybe not because of me, but I played some part in it, that’s my story and I am sticking to it! What am I on about, well there is a definition in the codes of best practice for triple B 2 E (broad based black economic empowerment) that makes mention of blacks being African, coloured and Indians. The definition further defines these African Coloureds and Indians as those who are South Africans as a result of birth or ancestry or were citizens prior to 1994. uh oh that excludes some of us Makwerekwere’s who have been here since the dawning of the age of Aquarius…we cant have that… So my quest began and it has been for about a year now.

So began the quest, and through some connections my concerns were heard by the chief director of BEE at the DTI who is the ‘custodian’ of the codes, she heard my story and said that us makweres should not be prejudiced by this but she did advise that I seek legal counsel on it, and so I made a few calls and engaged a law firm…u know how we roll…ok that sounds hectic, but something like that. Cut a long story short, I heard from a reliable source that a change in that definition is on the cards for next year sometime, so affected boys and girls, I will be giving you my bank account details in due course, so u can deposit my cut of whatever profits come your way from benefiting because you are black J

Sheesh how silly is that, bra if I went to the shops to buy some food, would some patron not stop me and ask me which isle we keep the milk?

So anyway how are u all? No worries on my side, hell how can I complain there’s going to be rugby on tv again this coming weekend!

Israel has stopped bombing Lebanon… that’s my story for this week. I don’t want to take sides, but one has to wonder about Israel’s intentions here…Hezbollah, captures 2 Israeli guards, Israel bombs Beirut killing plenty civilians, Hezbollah sends a couple missiles over the border into Israel, injures a couple of people, not too many because my understanding (stand corrected) is that the rockets weren’t that far reaching and the area was sparsely populated, anyway their stupidity taking a stone to a gun fight, retaliation Israel bombs and bombs and bombs and bombs. There’s been so much unnecessary loss of life, particularly for the Lebanese who have spent the last few years trying to rebuild their nation, after it was ravaged by war during most of my growing years. I am one of those conspiracy theorists and here is my take on this. Economies are taking a bit of a hiding at the moment, need to get some activity going, how do we create jobs? Oh wait lets bomb a country. US…mmm no no, we cant do it again, the world doesn’t like us much at the moment, after Iraq and Afghanistan, hey Isreal, why don’t you bomb them…A LOT! Then we stall the whole UN ceasefire talks so u can carry on some more, then come to the party and look like knights in shining armour then offer to rebuild the country…at a cost ofcourse. No one will suspect a thing. Isreal bombing Beirut, who would bat an eyelid, after all Hezbollah did kidnap 2 of your soldiers and launched a few rockets from the south of their borders so you can just bomb the whole of Lebanon at will, because, well because u can and the whole world will just stand by and watch…
So Hezbollah who are they? The name Hezbollah means ‘party of god’. It is currently led by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. The exact date of establishment is somewhat confused some say 1982 following the Isreali invasion of Lebanon others say the 16th Feb 1985, the day Sheik Ibrahim al-Amin declared its manifesto. The manifesto followed the Islamic Shi’a ideology as developed by Ayatollah Khomeni. Hezbollah’s belief (as defined by one of its leaders) is that the whole of Israel is “an illegal usurper (to commit forcible or illegal seizure of an office, power, etc., encroach) entity, which is based on falsehood, massacres and illusions and there is no chance for its survival”. Hezbollah and Isreal don’t get along and have never and I fear this cease fire may not last too long. The reason for the formation of Hezbollah was to provide resitance against Israeli occupation in Lebanon from 1978 - 2000

From my readings it seems Hezbollah is different from many other Islamic groups in that it bestows plenty rights on its women. One member of the political council (Hezbollah is also a political party with I think just over 10% of the seats in parliament) stated “Hezbollah differs from many Islamic groups in our treatment of women. We believe women have the ability like men to participate in all parts of life”. As such many women have been placed in positions of profile such as the head of Al Noor Radio, participation in the Political council (Hezbollah’s highest ruling body), running the elections etc.

On the social front Hezbollah is very active as well. A fair amount of economic and infrastructure development projects in Lebanon have resulted from its Jihad al-Bina (reconstruction campaign). According to a CNN report, the party/organisation does everything a government should do, such as collecting garbage, running hospitals, fixing schools etc. It operates 4 hospitals, 12 clinics, 12 schools, and 2 agricultural centres that provide farmers with technical assistance and training. Provides free medical care to its members and poor farmers

The military branch is known as Al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya (“The Islamic Resistance”). No one knows for sure how many operatives it has some say thousands of militia others say hundred. The international institute for strategic studies estimates between 600 and 1000 active fighters with 3000-5000 available as well as 10000 reservists (as I said, no one knows for sure). It is said to be rather well armed with a lot of its arms being purchased or obtained from Syria, Iran, Russia and China. The group is touted by many to be the ‘most capable’ (in terms of motivation, dedication and training) non-state armed group in the Middle East’. They are seen by many as freedom fighters rather than a terrorist group, because their actions are in opposition to Israeli occupation. Hezbollah itself has disclaimed the use of terrorist tactics, particularly those that resulted in non Israeli deaths. Its leaders have also condemned attacks against US tourists, intellectuals, doctors or professors that have nothing to do with the war. But then again in 2002 when the battle of Jenin broke out, the head defended the actions of the suicide bombings against Israeli targets. Apparently the condemnation of civilian casualties does not hold true for those caught in the ‘cross fire’ in Israel.

So where does Hezbollah get its funding from one might wonder?! Well its reported that between $60-$100mil a year is from Iran’s coffers other sources of funding includes South America. Other sources includes wealthy Shiites and the party’s investment portfolio

There are disagreeing opinions from the ‘outside’ on the status of Hezbollah. The US, Netherlands, Israel and Canada class it as a terrorist organisation, but many Muslim and Arab nations regard it as a resistance movement. What surprises me though is the fact that the UK didn’t jump on the band wagon in describing it as a terrorist organisation, it does however consider the Hezbollah External Security Organisation as a terrorist organisation (along with Australia). Funny thing though is that the EU doesn’t consider the organisation a terrorist organisation, but lists its intelligence officer as a terrorist.

Anyone enough about Hezbollah. Bottom line and with respect, the person who decided to create the state of Israel where it did/ re-establish it where it did, didn’t really think carefully about what s/he was doing. Gaza, Palestine, Jordan, West Bank, Lebanon, Egypt. Its like a thorn amongst the roses or a rose amongst the thorns depending on what ur take on it is. Hectic!! Another thing I found surprising was the fact that Islam is very prominent in Lebanon, I know quite a few Lebs, but they are all devout Catholics.

Very chuffed with myself, finally finished reading Angels and Demons. Book with the most pages I have ever read (that is not prescribed reading), very pleasing indeed. And the fact that the book was a great read didn’t hurt too much neither.

Anyway that’s me for this week…and last…

Birthdays
4th Moathludi
6th Bavisha
8th Claire B
10th Thlaleng
12th Elly and Angela
14th Degs
18th Lerato
19th Rob Lee
21st Julius and Nhlanhla
23rd Jem
26th Charl
29th Francois and Mrs Makanda

Maximum respect to the masses, whew, done, sorry I have been so scarce, you all have a good weekend.

Y

So on Sunday night I go to bed late, like have been every other night for the last month, the only difference would be that at 6.45 on Monday morning I would be rudely awoken from my deep slumber, by the riiiinnnngggg, of my cellphone. It was at this time I realised the honeymoon was over and back to routine I go. Even though it was a month, it felt far too short, but good whilst it lasted. I cant tell you it was just what the doctor ordered. A whole month, almost away from all the ‘ills’ and ‘wells’ in your life, on a different continent. Other than the exchange rate that’s breaking the bank account, not a worry in the world. Time, pah!!! What was that. Never wore a watch once. Good thing/bad about that is you have time…time to sit, time to step back, time to think about the days, months, years gone by, time to think about the days, months, years to come, time to take stock, time to just chill and be nje (just).

So guess what I did, other than missioning? Yip did a lot of thinking about where my life is at and where its going and what this life is all about. And no I am not sad and morbid, au contraire mona - mi I am pretty chuffed, a bit of direction in most facets of my life, something that has been lacking for a while. But in saying that I thought and am still thinking about what this life is all about? A series of tests? But for what? But anyway enough of that. Whilst away away I read what I found to be quite an amazing book…yes you read right, I read….Its actually the third or so book I have read by this author, Paulo Coelho. The book’s name was Veronika decides to die. Its an easy yet interesting read. It’s a story about a young girl, who seems to have everything going for her, but she decides to end her life, after all what is its purpose. She doesn’t succeed and she ends up in a mental institution where she is told her life on this earth is but a few days long. The story is written about how this young lady touches the lives of many of the ‘insane inmates’ as well as how she finds new meaning to her own life. There were many more messages in there, but if you like that kind of Alchemist type of book this book is fantastic. Not only did I read that one I started reading Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, also a fantastic read thus far. But not as easy as the other, damnit its about 3 times the size!!

On the 4th of July 2006, on board Emirates I go, 8 hrs later, we arrive in Dubai, shopping mecca…mmm not! I thought things would be swimming around for free, not quite, stayed there for a few hrs caught Italy beating Germany, then off to London I go, get to Gatwick, London on wednesday morning, its no joke, overcast, hot and sticky, what had the plane diverted to Durban? I’m clueless, no idea how to mission from Gatwick to where my mate stayed in Chelsea, so asked the train guys, guy told me buy a day pass for off peak I tune schweet. I buy it, but when is off peak? So I ask, the guy tells me 9, so I chill till about 9.20 to be on the safe side. Hook up the first train I see heading to Victoria station, it’s the Gatwick express, so I say this not so bad. About 15 min into the trip, this lovely lass steps to me and asks ticket please. Now me, I’m chiffed cos I’m on holiday, got my off peak day pass, so I pull it out, lass looks at me and says sorry mate (imagine the accent) you need to get another ticket yeah, eish mara why? She says the ticket is for normal trains, and what kind of train is this I ask? And she says its for off peak and I say but I was told off peak was after 9, she says no boss after 9.30. So how much will it be, she says 14 pounds, I say Eita! And so it started. Missioned all the way to Nana’s place, what a pleasure aircon! Place to rest! Thanks for hosting me bro really much appreciated. Didn’t rest for long, after all I had a day pass so make the best of it, took a shower. Roamed the streets. Caught up with Lebo and went gallivanting.

So we start hashing out our plans to head to Berlin on Friday for the handover ceremony, a long shot, yes, but a framework to work off. Friday comes Friday goes, London is actually a ripper, just hanging out, chilling. Enter Sunday about 5 or so pm, we decide ok cool lets go to Berlin. Armed with our suitcases and visas boasting our Schengens we headed to Heathrow. We get there and the only flight we could get that was somewhat reasonable, but even that was ludicrous, was the last BA flight, we got on by the skin of our teeth, cos we dilly dallied before leaving for the airport. Anyway we made it on the flight. Guess what, the flight is delayed for like an hour. So its not just in Jozi flights get delayed, so we cant get off the plane, game is on, sorry for us. Anyway we finally take off, just as we take off we are landing again…in Berlin, the beauty of living in Europe. We are in Berlin, now what, so we have mates who were already there so we drop them a line and they tell us where to make our way to, we do just that. We meet them, at about 11pm or midnite, who knew, I wasn’t wearing a watch, didn’t wear a watch once whilst I was gone.

The final was over, Italy were champions, Italy, France…didn’t matter much to me, its just about who is partying the most. So we drop off our bags, a bit oiled from the flight. Systems were fired up. We went looking for the masses and we didn’t have to look far, anyway so we ask this cab driver to take us to a place where it would be rocking, he takes us away from the masses to a club that would ordinarily be rocking, but not that night (being a Sunday and all…duhhh!!), but we decide its all good, there are quite a few people in the streets we will see what we can make of this. Wasn’t too long before we found plenty people. Tell them you are South African and all they can say is 2010 we will be there and then they shove you with loads of booze, tell them u were born in Ghana… make plenty of mates…sports is a beautiful thing. Anyway so at about 3 or so we decide to move on and head to another place on our way we come across this Brazilian marching parade of sorts, whole bunch of people beating, drums and blowing trumpets. They were going the opposite direction, ie heading to where we had come from. They were festive. Oh what the hell, we turned and joined in, it was a ripper. To make matters worse, Lebo got hold of a vu-vu-zela (plastic trumpet used by many South African soccer supporters, it was over. We marched in the streets till the sun was coming up. At this time our mates had left us and I was hitting the wall big time. But Lebo and his vu-vu-zela were in their element. Many an hour passed, I was moeg, had no idea where I was or where we were going to sleep. Anyway I managed to convince Lebo to go. We made it as far as an open park in front of a few offices. Lebo decided to take a seat, followed by a lie down, followed by a little laugh, followed by snoring. Oh well, so I took my fone and my wallet, put it in my one pocket and slept on that side of my body, to give would be burglars a tough time if they wanted to rob me J. I slept hard but not for no longer than an hour. Woke up to a ‘hey man!’ from Lebo, looked around, plenty other people from the marching carnival had sought refuge in the park too, but the worst part was there were plenty people missioning off to work, I felt very arb, ag but I was on leave. Anyway so we made it back to civilisation, sorted out a hotel to stay in for that night and the next.

Had a few experiences in Berlin, first off was we all went to visit my mates family and across the road was a brothel, I had never ventured into one neither had any of my companions, my mates cousin say go take a look. And shocked indeed I was. The décor was dodgy, looked very old and minging, but that wasn’t the shock. We sat there had a drink like you would any other bar, but once again that wasn’t the shock. There were some scantily clad lasses there, nope not the shock. So we are sitting there at the door, to the balcony that is overlooked by many apartments across the road, trying to catch some air cos it was a bit of a warm nite. In the corner of my eye I see this object moving back and forth like, but I cant make it out, at first I think its someone’s arm after a few more glances and the ferocity of the movement growing I realise it’s a woman’s backside moving to and fro, the thought never occurred to me that they were doing the dirty right there, because they have rooms for that. Curiosity got the better of me and I stood up to go take a closer look, and yes they were! I was shocked. It was a ripper!

Germany doesn’t care, every other shop is a sex shop we went past parks where people park off naked it’s a joke. We are sitting at this café looking for a burger some guy offers us coke (cocaine) which he had wrapped neatly in a ball in his mouth. My freakiest experience in my life happened to me in Berlin. So we decide its time to go find our hotel, we catch a bus to the vicinity and drag our suitcases through the streets. Its roughly 3am in the morning. We see this woman walking her dog, at 3am in the damn morning?!! But that’s not the freaky part, uh huh, the whole time we were missioning for our rooms, I felt a very heavy, negative presence all around me, it was freaky, cos I don’t freak out too easily. It was getting a bit much so I stop and ask Lebo, boss is it cos I am tired or do you feel like there is something that’s not right here, he said bra I was going to ask you the same thing. Anyway we decide its best to just find our hotel, we walk a few more metres, stop at the corner of a street just to re-orientate ourselves. Out of nowhere we hear a voice screeching something we couldn’t make out. We looked at each other, grabbed our bags and high tailed out of there. Needless to say that it took no time for us to find our hotel. Stayed there for a couple of days, nice city Berlin is, quite insane that it could be so divided, we went on a open air bus trip, nice to see the city, but hardly caught any of the names of places or significance thereof cos the lass spoke maily German…hmmm

From there off to Amsterdam, caught a train, took but a few hours and in a new city we were, it was just after 11pm, had nowhere to sleep, once again. Made some mates with some Canadian guys, who told us of this place where they were staying right in the heart of the red light district, I wasn’t too excited about that (tsk tsk) but oh what the hell, so we went with them. [Strolling through the streets we were greeted by the distinct smell of Mary J, ripper, nobody shy about smoking it neither, a different world I tell u]. Guess what? They were full, so the lady at the front was nice enough to phone around for us and she found us another place, they told her 50 euros, per night which was schweet. We get there and the guy tells us 70 Euros, still schweet, but I was bleak cos that’s bad business, cos he thinks we are desperate, but I quite loathe getting f***ed over, so anyway we take a look at the rooms, and they are properly minging! I say to Lebo, boss I am going to mission till I find a place that’s at least half decent, its late, he’s tired, I fully understand he was bleak. He managed to get the rate reduced to 60 euros but I said nooit. We missioned for an hour and a bit but finally my negotiation skills shone through. Someone bit. It was about 1.30 came to this styling looking hotel, young person at the desk I say to him how much for a night, the dude says 120 euros, I say ‘nigga’ please, I tell him I have a place offering me 60 euros, yours is empty and may well stay empty for the night, I think your boss would be happier with 60 euros than naught, cos I am sure out of season you go well below 70 euros, he says 90 I say 70 he says 85 I say 70, eventually I get my 70 plus another 2 for taxes…score. Enter the room, fantastic, clean, aircon, shower, toilet, tv. Oops shower, hmm, shower curtain busted, oh no, call guy in front, guy comes says oh no, we can move you but a mission. I say don’t worry how about you throw in breakfast (see breakfast was excluded cos I took him down to 70 euros) he says schweet I think…score!! It was a beautiful day J. Want to hear a funny story, so on the last day in Amsterdam we decide not to check in because we were going to sort out an early train ride to Paris, as early as 6.30. The hotel was kind enough to let us leave our bags in their storage room so we could roam freely. And freely we roamed, a bit too free because we walked all over Amsterdam. We came across a market, where we lost each other. A good few hours later we met up again and went through the streets. We finally finished our wanderings a little after 3 (I think 3 was our magical no). Now it didn’t make sense to go to the hotel for 3 hours, so what do we do, well we had bus passes that allowed us to hop on and off busses at any time, so how do we kill time, well lets hop onto this bus and see what route it takes. So bus one, didn’t see the route, before I knew it, we were back at the starting point 1 hour less to waste, another bus, different route, through the burbs, even saw the Ajax Amsterdam grounds. Hour later, bus returned to the station, driver screams last stop. One more hour to kill…next bus, round and round we go. Bus returns, just after 6. fetch bags, enter train, find seats all in a days work. Train leave station before you know it…Paris North station

My intention was to make my way down to my friend who lives near Toulouse cos I have already done Paris, but it was Bastille Day, okes were bleak to be working or maybe not liking the fact that I was speaking English to them or they just didn’t like me, cos people weren’t being too helpful. Anyway so I finally get some assistance and the told me it would take about as long if not longer than my trip from Amsterdam. I would have loved to venture into French wine country, but this amazing race sort of missioning was taking its toll, it was hot, I was tired, needed to shower, had hay fever…Paris was sounding a great alternative. Really do love that place though you don’t have to do much but its just such a beautiful place. Anyway didn’t really do much we stayed with Daniel and his girlfriend and really just mellowed out, walked around abit, through the parks etc, only thing I thought was missing was my Thash. I needed to chill a bit so after 2 days I headed back to London caught up with some friends and family I hadn’t seen in years.

Enter Saturday the real reason I went to Europe, my mates Vaughan and Victoria got hitched. Beautiful wedding it was. It was held in a place called Swallowfield near Reading. Another first…I actively participated in my first garter throwing ‘ritual’ only cos my mate was saying that he has been to 10 wedding and caught 9 of them and there was no way he would not get this one. Guess what? Its lacy, its light blue, its mine hee hee hee. From there I took a trip over to Oxford to visit Saul and Mandy, beautiful place that. Oxford or London, give me Oxford any day. Even went to the place they filmed Harry Potter…Christ Church College.

And so it ended and I am tired of writing. Thanks to all whom I saw, and the others another time perhaps. Thanks again to Nana, Daniel and Eddie for hosting us and to Jenn for all the help. Other than that a welcome to my cousin Bo, if you find this email to be clogging your mail box drop me a line, alternatively if u have any comments on how to improve this mail or topics of interest please do drop me a line.

Quote
“Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.”

“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”

On that note I end, maximum respect.

Y