Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika God bless Africa
Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo, May her glory be lifted high
Yizwa imithandazo yethu, Hear our petitions
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo. God bless us, Your children

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, God we ask You to protect our nation
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho, Intervene and end all conflicts
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, Protect us, protect our nation
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika. Nation of South Africa, South Africa

Uit die blou van onse hemel, Ringing out from our blue heavens,
Uit die diepte van ons see, From the depths of our sea,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes, Over everlasting mountains,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee, Where the echoing cliffs resound,

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

A couple of welcomes, Miss Leyya and Miss Cheryl (gr8 catching up with u during the week) …hope u find this email useful, if at any stage it loses its usefulness either let me know how I can make it relevant to you or ask me to remove you from the list. Comments and suggestions are always welcome, either by mailing me or going to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com

Racially charged times here in SA I tell you! To be honest I don’t think we’d have half the problems we have today if everyone had the pleasure of attending Umtata High School, all UHS peeps can I hear an Amen…

Anyway so last week I am having a chat with a good friend of mine and our conversation finds its way to BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) for those who don’t know. BEE is not working…when is it going to end…BEE is a method to attempt to rectify the injustices of the past. Is it working? Not perfectly but I think it is let me state a few examples.
• Banks are fighting hard to finance transactions such as housing projects for the less fortunate.
• A friend of mine has been facilitating a pretty big development project in the underdeveloped parts of the Eastern Cape. It’s a project that’s been funded and initiated by one of the big mines.
• Large corporations are looking to assist the less fortunate in terms of their corporate social responsibility
• Corporates are looking to maximize their BEE points when transacting with other corporates
• There is a huge middle class that’s developed which is fueling the South African economy at the moment
• At the risk of blowing my own horn, I am receiving calls from Afrikaans institutions which I dealt with in my past, asking me to consider a financial director position (dust to that, but thanks though)…
• Patrice Motsepe is on the Forbes rich list
• Sim Tshabalala has taken over as the head of Standard Bank’s South African operation

My question to my mate was if it wasn’t for BEE would any of these things actually be possible? Would people be given a chance to show what they are made of? Call me a skeptic, but for some reason I strongly doubt it.

The system is hugely far from perfect, but something had to give and I think it’s a decent enough base to build from. What we all need to get our heads around is the fact that BEE is more than ownership, it’s about assisting your community, empowering women, training your staff, recognizing members of your staff that have shown what it takes etc. Yes the average man on the street may not be directly benefiting in terms of moving out of the townships, but they are benefiting from job opportunities, they have the opportunity to get access to funding for some great (bankable) ideas they may have, they have the opportunity to get bursaries to further their studies, they have the opportunity to study in schools built from funding from the large corporates, they have access to books donated by these self same corporates.

Even if it’s just one day, one weekend, larger corporates donate their time to build and paint schools, feed kids, hand out books etc. Is it working, maybe not perfectly, but its sure helping some. If not this then what’s your suggestion? Its very easy for us to criticize but lets find some alternatives.

Dovetailing onto this is this thing called racism, both this and BEE are a result of that animal called apartheid. I really try and steer clear of this topic as much as I can but it’s the reality that is South African, and I am not painting everyone with the same brush. I am fortunate in that a great number of the people that I surround myself with (notice I say a great number, unfortunately not all, but alas its your choice), are enlightened enough to see a person for who they are and not restrict themselves as a result of fear. As I write this I realize I may have sung this song before, but in my mind it’s a song that needs to be sung over and over again. I say thank you to those 4 students in the Free State, I say thank you to Mr Lebo M too.

Lets start with those Free State 4, I don’t think that what they did warranted airtime on BBC. What they did was silly but none more so silly than what we pay Leon Schuster to do. I saw bits of the video on Carte Blanche last Sunday and from what I saw the workers looked like they were having fun. It was silly boys being boys, and I can bet my last rand that if that self same video was put together by Leon Schuster we would have all had a chuckle. What really exacerbates the situation are the trade unions saying that the workers were mentally and emotionally traumatized etc. Puh…lease…
Video aside, (and this may come as a contradiction but be that as it may…) I am convinced that those boys are racist (noun: a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others). I believe and fair enough its only from what I’ve heard and read, but the Reitz hostel at the University is being exploited by a political party called the Freedom Front +. This was very evident when members of the residence were interviewed in the television documentary. They all sounded very angry and full of hate. They were all against integration. In my view it’s a standpoint based on fear!

My take on integration is simple. There should be no segregation whatsoever. Group areas act is a thing of the past and that’s exactly how it should stay. There should be no university residences that are all white, black, Indian or coloured! That just makes matters worse. I don’t think we can force each other to like each other, just like…and excuse my crassness, but you can’t force someone to like someone they deem fat or ugly or unappealing, its what makes them who they are. I do however strongly believe in that we should integrate and interact more, engage in dialogue. From the outside I see that Muslims and Jewish people are very similar in how they believe not necessarily in what they believe, yet they are the ones that have the fiercest fights. No doubt if they actually put their guns down and started speaking to each other they would find more in common.

Then there is Mr Lebo M, who is telling the world how great he is and that he shouldn’t have to sit in the back seat. Firstly who is supposed to sit in the back seat? Secondly Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa (rest her soul), Martin Luther King, JFK, I didn’t once hear them telling the world how great they were or what they had achieved in this life yet the world held them in high esteem. Humility my good man, there is much to be said for humility! I heard bits of his acceptance speech and never once did I hear him acknowledging his co-producer Pieter Toerien, maybe there is beef there but still boss…Granted the Lion King was a great production possibly worthy of more than it received, but ey that’s awards, I think American Gangster should have received some nominations at the Oscars, but I don’t think it did…My man…give the man a hug when you see him. I need a bit more substance behind racist claims boss, you cant just go mouthing off cos u got a bad seat boss!

Just some thoughts…

Birthdays
10th Steve M
11th Bontle and Tebo

Take care all and have a smashing week, looking forward to mine 
Maximum respect

Y

Carpe Diem