Aaah I had one of those moments today ey. So I woke up pretty early, nice and warm in an otherwise cold world, checked my phone and I had received a potentially promising email about some stuff I have been working on for a while, had a chat…shoo she is lovely ;) and got ready for gym and set off, all the while thinking, man what a pretty ordinary start to my day but man am I blessed, and I guess to those not yet believers…man am I lucky.

After gym, which was largely painless, and if you know me well then you would also know that that in itself is a huge accomplishment me and my rattled bones and joints. Anyway as I was merily cruising along I saw this old dude on the side of the road struggling to put this large load on his head and bags in his hand…I started wondering how far he had walked and where he was going to. It to me was one of those ow shucks moments!

I guess I carried on driving shrugging my shoulders and thinking wow this life ey one minute contentment with my lot and the next despair at another’s with a coating of apathy, but I guess it is what it is!

So they said stadiums, why do we need stadiums? They wont ever be finished in time, look at all these strikes. They said airports, our airports are a joke they cant even handle the people that fly domestically what are they going to do? They said Gautrain, what’s that, for and what are the chances of them finishing it in time? Our roads, man what a mess what a nightmare. Hotels and accommodation where are these people going to sleep?

I ask now what are they saying? Yes I know it hasn’t started yet and plenty could go wrong, but be that as it may. Taking into consideration what I have seen around me, the atmosphere in Soweto with the Bulls, people with their flags, man we have done well for a third world African country!! I must say, Im not a big hype hype world cup kinda person, but its so damn good to see people getting into the mix. There were 2 Monday night Bafana Bafana games and the stadiums were packed to the hilt. Football Fridays. Its an absolute ripper. It gives a guy that ow shucks kinda feeling.

I received an email yesterday which was the transcript of a speech made by Christo Wiese and below is an extract…
How does one define a successful country ?
Would you agree that a country with the following score-card can rightly be defined as successful. Let us call the country X.
• X has the world’s 26th largest population and 29th largest economy.
• X’s per capita GDP, corrected for purchasing power parity, positions the country as one of the 50 wealthiest in the world
• X’s currency is the 2nd best performing emerging market currency of the 26 monitored by Bloomberg.
• The IMF’s World Economic Outlook ranks X in the top 10% of countries in respect of real GDP growth projections for 2010.
• X was ranked as the 18th most attractive destination for foreign direct investment by Global Strategic Management Consulting Firm AT Kearney.
• In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Survey of Democratic Freedom, X ranks 31st of 184 countries.
• X has sold $1.8bn worth of cars to the US last year, putting it ahead of Sweden and Italy as supplier to the US auto market.
• X, according to the Open Budget Index, ranks 2nd worldwide in terms of the transparency surrounding its budgets, just behind the UK, it ties with France, and is ahead of New Zealand and the US.
• X is ranked 30th out of 178 countries for ease of doing business ahead of Spain, Brazil and India according to a joint publication of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
• X’s media ranks 26th out of 167 countries in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007, higher than any country in Asia, the Middle East or South America, and ahead of Spain, Italy and the US.
• Tax revenue in X has increased by 220%, over the past 10 years.

And no points for guessing who country X is, its our very own South Africa. Its such an inspirational piece I tell you. Yes, yes we have our faults and its only right to point this out. Crime is a massive issue. We have a police force that really spends a lot of time looking for cooldrinks as opposed to fighting crime. We have a lot of money being pumped into education but frankly the results are no where to be seen. Our public healthcare system is in slight disarray at the moment, with a few such institutions being largely indebted, running out of food, having their power supply suspended and the list could go on.

If you take where we were in 1994 and compare it to where we are now and what we have achieved, boys and girls we haven’t done half bad. The article also makes reference to a piece written by Roelf Meyer in Die Burger, where he highlights that when we want to really see how well we have really done as a nation, we shouldn’t compare ourselves with developed world because we were never part of that world, but rather we should compare ourselves to developing countries and countries that have come out of internal conflict. If we use that as a point of reference we will see how well we have truly done.

I have mentioned this before in the past, there is no way we can sit back as a nations people and expect government to make everything nice nice for us. It wont happen. I take for example a simple event like taking rugby to Orlando, when it was first promulgated there were heads shaking fingers wagging, but when we as a people embraced it, how did we make it work??

In closing for this week let me plagarise another piece of this inspirational piece of literature….
Henry Kissinger once said:
“No policy – no matter how ingenious - has any chance of succeeding if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none” and Ronald Regan said: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government and I am here to help”.
Every South African who has the best interests of this country at heart, will need to do his or her bit. As general pointers I would like to leave you with a few suggestions:
"Make a positive difference, no matter how small, inter alia, by developing a positive mind set: Perhaps along the lines of what George Bernard Shaw said "You see thing and you say "WHY?, but I dream things that never were and I say "WHY NOT?"
1. Harness the power of community
2. Engage in constructive participation
3. Do not be overwhelmed by all that is still unacceptable or sub-standard. Look around at the great things that are happening - Soccer World Cup.
We should not only see the positive - but embrace it and contribute to it. Surely then, but only then will exponential benefits flow to all of us who share this beautiful country.

I’ll never stop saying this, as an individual I can make a difference. A lot of my mates are in the UK and Australia and more are looking to head out, and you have your reasons and good luck to you, but those of us staying, sheet man, lets do this thing!!!

Birthdays
30th Bedil
31st Nana Yaa, Rachel, Andre
2nd June Wande, Kitty, Vossie, Mame Ekua
5th Anton

And that’s a wrap, have a wikkid weekend, if you are in joburg, please join us tonight for a fun fund raising event at the restaurant next to Moloko in Rosebank, from 9pm. It’s the Cheesekids dance off 3. Cheesekids is an organisation of ordinary suburbian lets call ourselves youth ☺ who get together on occasions to help out less fortunate communities. Our events range from assisting habitat for humanity build houses, help out at soup kitchens, painting and assisting at orphanages, recently some people donated money which was used to take 30children to the new soccer city to watch the Nedbank cup final

Anyone can be a member, there are no rules and regulations, its simple we post events, if you can make it then you can if you cant next time…easi ne. There is a Cape Town chapter too.

Maximum respect my peoples

Y