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