And the list goes on…Welcome Mr Townsend, Miss Price and Miss Moalusi, hope u guys get some value out of this mailing list, should you have any suggestions please feel free to impart them, if you have any comments you would like to make or would like to read some of the older stuff please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com

Its so insane how one week you are at a loss for words or ideas of what to write about and then the next it is near impossible not to write about this specific topic. This weeks topic better invoke some response! Now before I go on, I would like to make it very clear to all that I detest crime, it disturbs me when I pick up the newspaper and the cover story is about a 14year old who was raped and then stoned to death, that’s beyond crime its psychotic! I don’t do violence, in my 30 years…hmm make that almost 31 years (dear lollies I am almost 40 J) on this earth, bar a few playground scraps when I was younger and the younger brothers (no more scraps with them cos they huge now!!), I have never been in a fight, cos firstly someone could get hurt and that could be me and secondly and most importantly what purpose does it serve?

I am very tired and so bored about people willy nilly going on about how this government doesn’t care about crime etc. Hey, I am with all of you there is a lot the government can do to curb the spate of violent crimes! BUT, we make it seem as if the crime is something that is starting only now. I have lived here for 23 years this month. Crime has been here since I got here. I really don’t like talking about the bad old days, or living in the past, cos its all about moving forward, but I think its very relevant in order to make a point. I was a victim of crime in the late 80’s/early 90’s, before the new government took over. My brother and I had our first bicycles stolen from us at knife point, we had our car stolen. That my friends was crime. Ask a person who grew up in the worst parts of Soweto or the Cape Flats if the crime of today is any worse than it was when they were growing up? I was chatting to my mate Simon yesterday, and he grew up in the flats, and his response was that he has known crime all his days and it was much worse then than now, walking to school there could be a chance that you could end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Boipatong, Umlazi, June 16, Wouter Basson, Vlak plaas, I don’t want to go into details, because it serves no purpose and I don’t have much details J but this thing we called crime has been around forever. We, even I, point a finger at Jackie Selebi (which I think is very correct) for having a tainted image, yet in the past the head of police and the defence force were just as bad if not worse, they gave out orders to kill and maime and torture and then burry the bodies somewhere, that my friends is utter BULL!! We all cry crime now because its not just something that’s happening to those poor people over there, its now coming to find us. Its not just concentrated in that area over there but its right under our nose, and now all of a sudden the crime is getting bad, uh huh! Its always been bad, but now it can happen to us too!

Crime is the problem, my question is what is the solution? And I really believe we all have a part to play in finding the solution. A lot of us are in a position to make a difference to one persons life, be it one day, be it one year, be it 5 years. For example, FNB was going to run a campaign that would collect data about people that have been affected by crime to put pressure on the presidents office to take action. I don’t think the man is blind, he reads the same newspapers u and I do, he is aware of the crime issue. If it’s an issue for u and I somehow I doubt that he will be overlooking it. Now FNB were going to throw roughly R20mil at this campaign. When I first saw they had pulled the campaign, I was bleak, but then I thought about it R20mil can go a long way. How many bursaries can you provide? How many police officers can you employ for say 5 years? How many low cost houses can you build? How many homes can you provide water and electricity to? Yes its what we pay taxes for, but dropping R20mil into a campaign that does not much more than showing a person a blade of grass and telling them hey look this is a blade of grass, to me is an utter waste of very useful resources.

Crime is not just the governments problem, its our problem, it stems from abject poverty, lack of education, lack of something to do with my time. Big business has big cash! If a CEO can pay himself something like R60mil for a years work, I think there is some spare change to go around ;-)

We can all do something to help, I am sure we can! Call me an eternal optimist or a fool! We all believe that we cant make a difference cos the problem is just too big, but once again let me challenge us, and say just make a difference to one persons life, that my friends is one less person who’s hungry, uneducated etc. S/he may have a friend who is into crime and s/he can change this persons views mind, or not! But the bottom line is at least U tried. After all what are our options? We can bi tch and moan about how useless the government is, we can pack our bags and leave, or we can stay and make this beautiful country/continent work and I think we can, if we channel all our energies in the right direction there is nothing we cant do! This country is unique, it works, it has the beauty of Cape Town and the Eastern Cape, the hustle and bustle of Jozi, the insane opportunity to see game roam in the bush, no boss you can go, I will take my chances with cops throwing me in the back of the van for no reason and I will stay! One step at a time, one person at a time, one problem at a time, education and compassion is the key. Treat me like I am beneath you and I will not respect you just as you don’t respect me. Its that simple.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” – Chinese proverb

Hows this for a coincidence, on Friday I received the same email from Tracey and Jeremy, which highlights the positives of SA, just finished reading it and I am sure you some of you may have already read it but I will copy and paste part of it below.
I have devised my own pledge of allegiance and I'd like to repeat it to you now : "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Republic of South Africa and to the interesting people, places and idiosyncrasies for which it stands, one nation under several religions, languages and cultures, yet indivisible, with freedom, basic needs and progress for all."
That is my pledge of allegiance to my home, our home. I pledge to help others see what is so good about it.
Our Beloved Country!!! South Africa, almost alone amongst emerging market economies, is set to escape virtually unscathed from the latest bout of investor panic sweeping the developing world's fragile economies (The Times, London, August 2001)
The SA banking sector has been consistently ranked in the top 10 in terms of competitiveness (MD, Switzerland). When Nelson Mandela was inaugurated President in 1994, SA was insolvent (liabilities exceeded assets).
Today the Government's deficit is negligible - one of only a handful of countries in this position. We've had single digit inflation since 1993 - following 20 years of double-digit inflation.
Mortgage rates are at their lowest level since 1988. South Africa is one of only 12 countries, where we can drink water from a tap. Our tap water was found to be the 3rd best quality in the entire world.
Remember 15 years ago, in 1986: A state of emergency was declared White men did two years compulsory military service * 64 184 black people were removed from "white areas" * 3989 people were detained without trial * Our economic growth rate was 0.7 percent - today it is 3% * 64 countries had sports boycotts against SA!!!
South African wines win international awards every year and we have the longest wine route in the world. Nelson Mandela, an international icon of forgiveness, tolerance, and humanity is our favourite son. The Kruger Park has the most innovative management of a national park anywhere in the world - and is the world's most profitable game park. Eskom is the largest producer of coal-fired electricity in the world and South Africans pay the least for electricity in the world. South African Breweries is the 4th largest brewer in the world and produces over 50% of China's beer!
Mercedes Benz C Class, BMW 3 Series and VW Golf/Jetta vehicles for all right-hand drive markets throughout the world are produced in South Africa. Didata grew from a local IT service provider into a huge, global networking company with branches in 30 countries. The Cape Peninsula has more species
of plants here per hectare than any other area of the world.
Magnificent highways, warm, friendly, vibrant rainbow people! The world's most progressive Constitution; Kreepy Kraulies - a South African invention - Mrs Ball's chutney and biltong. The world's best looking population.
"For every guy who holds up a gun, there are 99 who hold out a hand of friendship" - Dennis Beckett, journalist.
This is something I've never done, but after reading this, all I ask from you is to send this on, to your friends, family and others. Let us in this way deal with our negatives and let us try to be positive. By being
positive we can continue to go far in life and we can all strive for a better and more positive life and country.
Regards to you all, peace, and positive thinking - that's the way to go!
- Extract from an article by Guy Lundy, think I mentioned this to you sometime last year or the year before because I went to a breakfast where he was the guest speaker

Birthdays
8th Bro Kwaku, Bibi H, Mr Degbor

That’s me for the week, maximum respect as always

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