Poof! Sprinkles of happy dust for you all….haaa! Whats going on dear people?
Pretty eventful last couple of weeks hey? Thoughts go out to the people of Turkey who have experienced 2 massive earthquakes in the last few weeks. Michael Jacksons Doctor is sent to jail, someone is paying you $150k a month, how do you say no to him, secondly MJ was pretty forked anyway, his time was going to come one way or another, Dr Murray’s only crime was being a medical practitioner on the scene when he passed. Smoking Joe Frasier lost his fight to cancer, Heavy D, who asked me a very poignant question when I was growing up and it still resonates with me, he asked me Now that we’ve found love, what are we going to do with it? He too is no more. Greek prime minister Papandreou is tired of his debt crisis and passed the dutchie on the left hand side. Silvio Berlusconi was tired of having his escapades with young bombshells making headlines because he was a president so he too stepped aside to frolic in peace. Cricket writer jumps out of a window whilst a former Bok gets gunned down like an antelope in the woods. On the plus side though, Table Mountain made it as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, I voted for the flat rock, but I think Kilimanjaro should also have been there but alas…votes count.
The most interesting news for us as South Africans however was the ‘firing’ of Julius and his merry band. Many people ask me if I like Julius Malema, and to be perfectly honest with you, I am absolutely indifferent to the man, he makes a many an unnecessary (from the point of view of the privileged man that I am) inflammatory statements, but in them lies a lot of truth, delivery may be poor but content I believe is spot on. He claims to be on a crusade for the economic freedom of the masses, but I guess he started by freeing himself economically first, good…bad…we all have our opinions. I read something on Twitter I think that said, so what if Malema has made money, saying he should be poor in order to fight the cause of poor people is like saying only people with STDS should raise awareness and fight against STDs…
I believe his hearing and sanction was largely politicking more than anything and it shows the hypocrisy of the ruling party. He has said many things over the years, insulted many person both in the ANC and outside it. He launched a scathing attack on President Mbeki somewhat akin to his attack on Zuma recently, only difference though was Tboz, chose to ignore it, JZ took heed and dealt with it. Of all the things they could have wrapped him over the knuckles for, they choose to select a statement over Botswana??!!! SERIOUSLY??!! Anyway this is but the beginning of some very interesting times in South Africa.
So anyway I mentioned that the man speaks a lot of truth. Nationalisation debate has merit, but zeeeero by way of correct execution or a future. The current government cant do simple things like maintain roads, deliver basic services, yet they want to run mines and banks? Nah man, but in saying that something has to be done to change the status quo, because the current situation is not sustainable. The country’s resources are being properly ‘exploited’ and a few individuals and their families are the main beneficiaries. There are thousands of jobs that are created by these mining activities, granted, but those lives and jobs are properly dispensable, commodity prices are adversely affected, who is the first to go, the poor guy who earns R5000 per month and the guy who earns R50mil a year keeps earning it…not right man. Something definitely has to give there, but the best way is for all stake holders to meet and have proper constructive discussions….oops there in lies another obstacle, the interests of the stakeholders will be diametrically opposed…
Taking land without compensation, its akin to the Zim story, it’s a story that has been spoken about for years, there is a right way to do it and there is a wrong way, right way would be for there to be a willing buyer and seller who both see the greater good and work towards that through a proper skills transfer, where business continuity is guaranteed and supported, then there is the wrong way…ask Zimbabwe. Some people cry foul over the rhetoric of land without compensation, but how many of these voices sounded a good few years ago when many people were driven off their land in what is now the leafy suburb of Bishopscourt, Sandhurst, etc and relocated to what was then the Transkei, Bop, Ciskei, Venda, District 6, Soweto, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plein etc. Those voices were silent but more importantly what compensation did they get when their land was taken? I wasn’t there, but I’d hazard a guess and it would tend to a big sweet fork all. No one cried, but those who were moved, but who cared their voices were irrelevant, they didn’t wield a gun nor did they have any economic power or an education or tools to fight for what was theirs. But now we are privileged, we have knowledge so now we can speak?!
Economic freedom…I read a staggering statistic the other day and it read that a minority of the country controls something like 80% of the country’s wealth and resources. Any fool can tell you that stat is not sustainable. The other day I was in Alex with my mate Ed, we were heading to Pretoria and he took a short cut through Alex, I was absolutely besides myself. I was like a little boy, I was like sheet bro, its like I am in a Ghanaian village, chickens in little coops being sold by vendors on the side of the road along with food, cooked and fresh, it was a little street market on the side of the road, it was Africa, it was a ripper, then I joke not perhaps 2 km with Africa behind me I see the majestic structure known as Michaelangelo Towers, where a dwelling can cost R22mil and then some, that’s pure opulence. In the rear view, we have the reality of many who’s reality will only be that and that’s juxtaposed to the view infront of the capital that is known as Sandton…now you tell me if that is sustainable. Recently I visited Cape Town, I absolutely love that town I do. But its not Africa, don’t care what anyone says, ok well it is we went to do some feel good stuff in the township one Saturday and man that was proper Africa. Anyway back to CT, love the place properly but its not right man, if you don’t see it well then I guess I cant help you. But if you can, that’s the clearest picture of the economic freedom he preaches.
But you preach economic freedom, yet you are building a R16m house, fly to Mauritius for a party, drive Range Rovers, wear Breitlings etc. If his gains are ill-gotten, then the law should take its course, but remember this though those who point fingers, remember how this country was built. Friends taking care of friends, and making sure the majority was disenfranchised to a point that they believed they were worthless. If he has all this money, he didn’t rob a bank and steal it so who paid it to him? We are all too quick to point out bribery and corruption, fingering only the recipient, but who pays it? How many of us work at large corporates where buying gifts for our top clients or entertaining them is the order of the day? In order to secure further favour from them? You run a business and you want to expand into the continent, first thing you do is find the president or government official or decision maker who you can win over and proceed to win him or her over….as it is so it is, so lets not cry foul over corruption, because somebody has to pay in order for a corrupt relationship to exist.
This economic freedom for which he wants to fight is not against a particular group of people, I strongly doubt that he hates white people, who do you think funds his lifestyle??
The man has afrikaans (box)-like tendencies he does, but there is much truth in his words. We cant be like ostriches with our heads in the sand and carry on as if everything is hunky dory, because its not. Ingrained in the minds of many of us haves, is that the disenfranchised are lazy and have a sense of entitlement, that has some truth to it, but I struggle with the laziness, part though, ask your helper /gardener when she gets up and how she gets to work, how many children they have and when they get to see them. Go spend even 2 hours down a mine shaft, then come back and we can have the laziness conversation….
We can make this place an even better place, but every person has to do his or her bit…
Birthdays
1st Zara
2nd Isabel
6th Adoma, Lesley
8th Michelle
9th Cous Bo
10th Shanwyn
11th Rachel, Akin
14th Celeste
15th Rowan, Ylanda
16th Kingdom, Kris
17th Jordan, Jabs, Donna
18th Fede, Taya
And that’s a wrap folks, it’s a cruel, crazy, beautiful world we live in so do your thing and just luuurve the consequences of your actions.
Have yourselves a superb week
Y
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
What does a Holy man and Gadhafi have in common, not much other than being on this blog :)
I need a dollar dollar dollar is what I need hey hey…
Another Monday, another week ends a new one begins, a chance to right the wrongs of the week before, a chance to say and do the things we didn’t the week, but most importantly a chance to grow and become a better self…top of the morning to you my good people.
There are 2 topics pounding in my head like the aftermath of a red wine hangover for the last few weeks and I have sparked many debates with friend and foe alike to get their take on these topics.
The first one was this thing with the Dalai Lama wanting to come to SA for the Arch’s birthday party. Let me start off by saying as a citizen of this nation, I don’t think I have a right to know when Faithfulness Ndlovu from Harare’s entry visa is denied, towing that line, I don’t think that I have any right to know whether the Dalai Lama’s visa has been approved or not. The government doesn’t have to tell me jack, buttttt, where I lose my nut is when the government, in its infinite wisdom, decides they need to help the SABC reach its revenue targets and speaks but such speech is heavily laden with untruths such as “its still in process” (2 weeks or so later). Neaaaggaaaa, best you hush your mouth man, my mama didn’t raise no fool!!!
That leads me to my next point on this, why not grant a harmless old man a visa to visit his fellow freedom struggler, spiritual friend on his birthday? Does SA recognize Tibet as a nation, ehhh No, therefore in conclusion ne, its so called spiritual leader should be a non entity and his application should have been viewed on its own merits, just like any other individual visiting this nation of ours. Its not like he came here to march with Juju for our economic emancipation or to sing everyday I’m shuffling with JZ, he was just here to have a cuppa tea. The irony in this whole debacle is that through refusing the man a visa, the plight of the Tibetans was once again put to the fore along with our hypocrisy
Hypocrisy you might be asking…yes hypocrisy…. how soon we forget, (we being the government of today) that not so long ago it was them self same non-visa grantors who were oppressed and considered persona non-grata on their own land, it was them, that were the persecuted and down trodden and many pockets of this world stood beside them and with their help managed to gain the emancipated of the people of SA and with that those that were once spat on can now spit on people too…haaa (but you know what I mean) yet here we are… turning our back on a man of peace….shame on us
Ok so I say those things, then I hear something. Cha ching is what it sounds like, almost like the sound of a slot machine once you have stuck it…I think a few weeks prior to this debacle I had read that China had pledged over 20bn in trade with South Africa. Note I wrote trade not grant/donation, we have something that they want. That being said though, put yourself in the shoes of the government. You have a nation that you have set growth targets of 7% for, but for so long we cant even make 3% consistently, we promised millions of jobs but with the economic slow down, we cant even make a couple of thousand a month…along comes Bruce Lee’s father with deep pockets and a kick to boot and offers to spend money in your country that will:
- help you in terms of getting your economy moving forward;
- hopefully reducing unemployment;
- and also creating an opportunity for your fellow government employees to earn some supplementary income
…what would you do??
I know what I would. I would try my best to be an independent, self regulated and run nation, obviously taking into account what at the end of the day is best for my people. More importantly however would be that I want my people to know that I am an honest government, my moral compass is set right, I do the best for my citizens and I can not be bought.
What do you do? Let him in and potentially anger your (soon to be, if not already) biggest trading partner, so 2 old men can kick it and have a yarn or don’t let him in and the world thinks you are a puppet nation that can be bought, yet potentially stimulate your economy…
Speaking of puppet nations, Libya, in my view is now enroute to becoming such a nation! Prior to the recent uprisings, yes Gadhafi (rest his soul) had been in power for decades, blamed for the Lockerbie Bombing and he accepted it. I am sure he was far from a saint in many respects, but I am not so sure if the images of his capture and death being so freely broadcast over the news networks are deserved, even if he was nutjob!
Now I don’t believe everything that I read, but I did a little google search on this and there is nothing that shows the points below to be a fabrication. Have a read of these:
- There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.
- There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law.
- Home considered a human right in Libya.
- All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family. Is this what you call a dictator Traditional wedding in Tripoli, Libya.
- Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%.
- Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms – all for free.
- If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance.
- In Libyan, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price.
- The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.
- Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally. Great Man-Made River project in Libya… $27 billion.
- If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.
- A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.
- A mother who gave birth to a child receive US$5,000.
- 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $ 0.15.
- 25% of Libyans have a university degree.
- Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country
Now say Gadhafi was indeed a dictator and offered his people even a third of the items below, in my mind he is streets ahead of many (if not all) of the so called leaders of the free world, a free world where the taxpayers money is being used to bailout reckless behavior of a few individuals.
The saddest thing is, in as much as the world would like us to believe that Libya has been ‘freed’, I think its going to be in a MAAASSIIIVEE world of pain before it sees any sanity, if it actually ever does see any ‘sanity’ at all. The country has been ruled by one government…family for about 4 decades, there has been no opposition. No one else knows what it takes to run a country. You want to tell me that the county is better off? Under Gadhafi, at least you knew that if you were an upstanding citizen that towed the line, when you went out in the morning, it was almost guaranteed that you will return home to la familia. I see another situation like Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt…just sheer lawlessness, but I guess that was all part of the plan so that the powers that be can rape and pillage the resources. NATO comes and states that it helped the rebels, perhaps, but what’s the price for this so called help…what’s the price!!!???
Anyway same conversations I am sure many of us have been having, nothing changing, but I must take this time to make special mention to JZ for actually stepping to the plate and swatting aside 2 shall we say…rogue ministers today and suspending the chief of police(even though its with full pay and benefits…cant have it all can we). That’s the kind of decisiveness that the voting public seeks in its leadership, next time, a little more swift but alas baby steps! More than we can say for the previous government, now lets see some action plans to stimulate this economy of ours yeah?!!
Birthdays
17th Leila, Tshepo
18th Sylvia
19th Khudu
20th Thandi
23rd All Blacks win the world cup ;)
24th Philip
27th Chief
And to you my dear friends, here’s to a fabulous week!
Massive respect!
Y
Another Monday, another week ends a new one begins, a chance to right the wrongs of the week before, a chance to say and do the things we didn’t the week, but most importantly a chance to grow and become a better self…top of the morning to you my good people.
There are 2 topics pounding in my head like the aftermath of a red wine hangover for the last few weeks and I have sparked many debates with friend and foe alike to get their take on these topics.
The first one was this thing with the Dalai Lama wanting to come to SA for the Arch’s birthday party. Let me start off by saying as a citizen of this nation, I don’t think I have a right to know when Faithfulness Ndlovu from Harare’s entry visa is denied, towing that line, I don’t think that I have any right to know whether the Dalai Lama’s visa has been approved or not. The government doesn’t have to tell me jack, buttttt, where I lose my nut is when the government, in its infinite wisdom, decides they need to help the SABC reach its revenue targets and speaks but such speech is heavily laden with untruths such as “its still in process” (2 weeks or so later). Neaaaggaaaa, best you hush your mouth man, my mama didn’t raise no fool!!!
That leads me to my next point on this, why not grant a harmless old man a visa to visit his fellow freedom struggler, spiritual friend on his birthday? Does SA recognize Tibet as a nation, ehhh No, therefore in conclusion ne, its so called spiritual leader should be a non entity and his application should have been viewed on its own merits, just like any other individual visiting this nation of ours. Its not like he came here to march with Juju for our economic emancipation or to sing everyday I’m shuffling with JZ, he was just here to have a cuppa tea. The irony in this whole debacle is that through refusing the man a visa, the plight of the Tibetans was once again put to the fore along with our hypocrisy
Hypocrisy you might be asking…yes hypocrisy…. how soon we forget, (we being the government of today) that not so long ago it was them self same non-visa grantors who were oppressed and considered persona non-grata on their own land, it was them, that were the persecuted and down trodden and many pockets of this world stood beside them and with their help managed to gain the emancipated of the people of SA and with that those that were once spat on can now spit on people too…haaa (but you know what I mean) yet here we are… turning our back on a man of peace….shame on us
Ok so I say those things, then I hear something. Cha ching is what it sounds like, almost like the sound of a slot machine once you have stuck it…I think a few weeks prior to this debacle I had read that China had pledged over 20bn in trade with South Africa. Note I wrote trade not grant/donation, we have something that they want. That being said though, put yourself in the shoes of the government. You have a nation that you have set growth targets of 7% for, but for so long we cant even make 3% consistently, we promised millions of jobs but with the economic slow down, we cant even make a couple of thousand a month…along comes Bruce Lee’s father with deep pockets and a kick to boot and offers to spend money in your country that will:
- help you in terms of getting your economy moving forward;
- hopefully reducing unemployment;
- and also creating an opportunity for your fellow government employees to earn some supplementary income
…what would you do??
I know what I would. I would try my best to be an independent, self regulated and run nation, obviously taking into account what at the end of the day is best for my people. More importantly however would be that I want my people to know that I am an honest government, my moral compass is set right, I do the best for my citizens and I can not be bought.
What do you do? Let him in and potentially anger your (soon to be, if not already) biggest trading partner, so 2 old men can kick it and have a yarn or don’t let him in and the world thinks you are a puppet nation that can be bought, yet potentially stimulate your economy…
Speaking of puppet nations, Libya, in my view is now enroute to becoming such a nation! Prior to the recent uprisings, yes Gadhafi (rest his soul) had been in power for decades, blamed for the Lockerbie Bombing and he accepted it. I am sure he was far from a saint in many respects, but I am not so sure if the images of his capture and death being so freely broadcast over the news networks are deserved, even if he was nutjob!
Now I don’t believe everything that I read, but I did a little google search on this and there is nothing that shows the points below to be a fabrication. Have a read of these:
- There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.
- There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law.
- Home considered a human right in Libya.
- All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family. Is this what you call a dictator Traditional wedding in Tripoli, Libya.
- Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%.
- Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms – all for free.
- If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance.
- In Libyan, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price.
- The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.
- Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally. Great Man-Made River project in Libya… $27 billion.
- If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.
- A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.
- A mother who gave birth to a child receive US$5,000.
- 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $ 0.15.
- 25% of Libyans have a university degree.
- Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country
Now say Gadhafi was indeed a dictator and offered his people even a third of the items below, in my mind he is streets ahead of many (if not all) of the so called leaders of the free world, a free world where the taxpayers money is being used to bailout reckless behavior of a few individuals.
The saddest thing is, in as much as the world would like us to believe that Libya has been ‘freed’, I think its going to be in a MAAASSIIIVEE world of pain before it sees any sanity, if it actually ever does see any ‘sanity’ at all. The country has been ruled by one government…family for about 4 decades, there has been no opposition. No one else knows what it takes to run a country. You want to tell me that the county is better off? Under Gadhafi, at least you knew that if you were an upstanding citizen that towed the line, when you went out in the morning, it was almost guaranteed that you will return home to la familia. I see another situation like Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt…just sheer lawlessness, but I guess that was all part of the plan so that the powers that be can rape and pillage the resources. NATO comes and states that it helped the rebels, perhaps, but what’s the price for this so called help…what’s the price!!!???
Anyway same conversations I am sure many of us have been having, nothing changing, but I must take this time to make special mention to JZ for actually stepping to the plate and swatting aside 2 shall we say…rogue ministers today and suspending the chief of police(even though its with full pay and benefits…cant have it all can we). That’s the kind of decisiveness that the voting public seeks in its leadership, next time, a little more swift but alas baby steps! More than we can say for the previous government, now lets see some action plans to stimulate this economy of ours yeah?!!
Birthdays
17th Leila, Tshepo
18th Sylvia
19th Khudu
20th Thandi
23rd All Blacks win the world cup ;)
24th Philip
27th Chief
And to you my dear friends, here’s to a fabulous week!
Massive respect!
Y
Friday, September 30, 2011
Rogue trader living in the state thats Palestine
Top of the morning to you my dear ‘brethren’. Had a wee chuckle this Sunday chatting to my moms. So I had a little op last week right, so on Sunday as per usual I go home for the healing magic of Mammas cooking, but I was a wee bit fragile. So I’m done grazing, hop onto the couch moms, on the other side, she looks at me with sad eyes and says “Yaw, eh look at you, get married so someone can take care of you” I say to her moms its not a good enough reason is it? I have coped pretty well on my own through this period, she concedes and then she throws in, “but even though this is not ideal, just you get me a grand child to spoil, I promise you I will help you raise it, they will take care of you and bring you joy blah blah” ☺ just one of those moments…if you know the school my mom comes from, for her to reach this stage where she is not excited about it but willing to consider a child out of wedlock haaa, not that I am going to do it, who woulda thunk…
Anyway on we move…in the last few weeks, 2 things have been weighing on my mind more than all the other stories life throws out there, and really I’d love your thoughts on these.
Sub prime lending, securitisation of toxic debt, reckless lending, you name it its been done, so many people lost their homes. So many big banks collapsed, the central governments of many countries stepped in to bail out the CEO’s of these big banks that went bang, and most of these top CEOs walk away inspite of the pooh they presided over, with a trunk full of gold. But let my brother who I am sure is a British citizen, speculate on the stock market, which I guess is the job of a trader and lose $2,3bn and boom front page news, man gets arrested, life is all but over now and he is only 31. Does anyone know the name of the person who was in charge of the underwriting business unit at Citi Bank, at the time they realized that 60% of their mortgages they bought from over 1600 mortgage companies were toilet? What is the name of the CEOs of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the US government had to raise $182,5bn or so to bail out AIG but who were the guys that caused the fine mess they were in, well not too many of us know their names. But mention the name Kweky Adoboli and the world is like that West African, what was he thinking??? Yet no where near the same sort of head shaking is directed at the architect of this financial crisis that threatens to bring a lot of Europe and the United States to its knees.
So the man did a few trades that went wrong, had it gone right would his name have been plastered all over the papers, chances are not, I doubt that I would hear maverick UBS trader, Kweku Adoboli, earns UBS $2,3bn, hell no it would be UBS had another stellar year in its comeback trail from billions in losses, CEO whoever earns another x hundred million bonus!! Another thing, if you have worked in a bank yeah, there is no way that such a situation should be allowed to happen. When I worked in one yeah, the amounts of hoops you had to jump through and the amount of people that had to cross t’s and dot I’s before a few hundred ZAR could be paid over to anyone was enough to field a rugby team…with reserves. I am no trader, but I am sure that at the close of every day marks to market and reconciliations and closing of positions etc have to be performed and independently audited. People lets be real, I check my bank statement and if R23,57 is incorrectly debited or missing I’d know, so you tell me how does $2,3bn just sommer disappear and no one is none-the-wiser? And these trades spanned a period dating as far back as 2008 or something.
Give me a break will ya…he is not without fault in this, but he is just the fall guy man! I mean after raising money from governments a few years ago how do you now go and say, eish ya boss, our controls, she’s not too big and some bra took us for 2double big ones?
The other thought is this one so Palestine wants to be recognized as its own state. OK I don’t know the history so well. I am not Jewish nor am I Muslim, I am just a guy who has a lot of time on his hands to do a little research, listen to the news and provide some social commentary to which he would like to spark some sort of debate, because I believe that’s the best way for us to SEE each other!! Shana Tova to my Jewish peops too, may it be a prosperous new year!! So for over 50 years or so Palestine has been operating as a properly fractured state almost under Israeli rule. Israel has money, a lot of the western world’s backing and is also under serious threat because parts of the Palestinian and Arab world don’t want to recognize it and want to wipe it off the map…so sad!! What makes it even more sad is if you had to trace back all 3 religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, they are all branches of the same tree…So anyway this whole thing with Palestine wanting to have membership of the UN, reminds me even more of what a farce this UN really is in all honesty. All the other member countries are there but I think there are 5 countries whose opinions really matter, China, Russia, UK, US, France. They can veto any Security Council decision so you tell me whats it all for? UN tells the US don’t go into Iraq they still do and there are no consequences. FARCICAL!!
This whole Israeli-Palestinian impasse is clearly a mess, because if it wasn’t it would have been solved by now. Both sides have their claims, which to them and their supporters may seem to make utmost sense. One side can say we and our camels watching tumble weed fly by for decades, you guys go to Europe, things don’t go so well now you wanna skop us out? Hmm something about this doesn’t make sense…Other side will say we’ve been here forever, not all of us left firstly and secondly Judea…remember it, the historical Jewish land it was right heeerrrreee, we’ve been here as long as you cous!
In 1988 the state of Palestine was declared, but Israel rejected this declaration. It was occupying parts of Palestine since the 6 day war in 1967 and as such it could…because it had big guns too. Israel knows full well that for there to be lasting peace and harmony in the region Palestinians need to be able to govern themselves as a fully recognized state. They need to know that they can trade freely with the rest of the world they don’t have be couped up like pigs in a stye. Buuuuut, how do you get it right though when even the Palestinians themselves are divided, on the one hand there is Hamas that governs the Gaza Strip and on the other Fatah governing the West Bank. Fatah denounced violence and terrorism, hence why most talks are seen to be held with Mahmoud Abbas. Even though Fatah lost the elections to Hamas in 2006 or so, they still have all the military arsenal so they rule the roost, I guess kinda like Israel does over Palestine. Hamas on the other hand have openly and repeatedly stated that they want the state of Israel destroyed, poqaed, dead, kaput. They have shown this to be more than just words too. Hamas and Fatah formed a unity government, but there was spate of bombings and violence in 2007 I think I read, that lead Fatah to expel them from the unity government.
So say Palestine does get recognized as a state yeah so what? Well they have their land, their issue is the ‘illegitimate’ Israeli settlements. Now these settlements will not be destroyed I am sure, so what then, well then there will be some land swaps happening, result…the settlements are legitimized…proper waste of time.
To me whether Palestine is recognized as a state or not is neither here nor there, what the powers that be need to do is stop pu ssy footing around the issue and make some tough decisions, because as it is no solution will ever be reached and who suffers…largely the poor people of Palestine! 50 years of fighting with no end in sight you would think that a leader with foresight from either camp would have stepped to the plate by now and tried to find a lasting solution, because I am sure the average Palestinian and Israeli would not mind living next door to the other one provided there is the basic human elements of trust and respect…it is just that simple, but then again I can see my old man accusing me of trying to use logic to solve an emotive situation. Live and let live that’s what I say!
Birthdays
14th Will, Anoka
15th Gooch
16th Maskew
18th Tahir, Thuli, Chetan
19th Aleya, Naasei
20th Feh
21st Riyad, Mickey Moo, Nats
23rd Kbz, Pali, Si Black
24th Vaughano
25th McLenan
28th Kells and Mohi
29th Eve
30th Brett
1st Oct Herman
And that’s all folks, you all have a pleasant weekend now ya hear
Maximum respect to you all…trust and respect man!
Y
Anyway on we move…in the last few weeks, 2 things have been weighing on my mind more than all the other stories life throws out there, and really I’d love your thoughts on these.
Sub prime lending, securitisation of toxic debt, reckless lending, you name it its been done, so many people lost their homes. So many big banks collapsed, the central governments of many countries stepped in to bail out the CEO’s of these big banks that went bang, and most of these top CEOs walk away inspite of the pooh they presided over, with a trunk full of gold. But let my brother who I am sure is a British citizen, speculate on the stock market, which I guess is the job of a trader and lose $2,3bn and boom front page news, man gets arrested, life is all but over now and he is only 31. Does anyone know the name of the person who was in charge of the underwriting business unit at Citi Bank, at the time they realized that 60% of their mortgages they bought from over 1600 mortgage companies were toilet? What is the name of the CEOs of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the US government had to raise $182,5bn or so to bail out AIG but who were the guys that caused the fine mess they were in, well not too many of us know their names. But mention the name Kweky Adoboli and the world is like that West African, what was he thinking??? Yet no where near the same sort of head shaking is directed at the architect of this financial crisis that threatens to bring a lot of Europe and the United States to its knees.
So the man did a few trades that went wrong, had it gone right would his name have been plastered all over the papers, chances are not, I doubt that I would hear maverick UBS trader, Kweku Adoboli, earns UBS $2,3bn, hell no it would be UBS had another stellar year in its comeback trail from billions in losses, CEO whoever earns another x hundred million bonus!! Another thing, if you have worked in a bank yeah, there is no way that such a situation should be allowed to happen. When I worked in one yeah, the amounts of hoops you had to jump through and the amount of people that had to cross t’s and dot I’s before a few hundred ZAR could be paid over to anyone was enough to field a rugby team…with reserves. I am no trader, but I am sure that at the close of every day marks to market and reconciliations and closing of positions etc have to be performed and independently audited. People lets be real, I check my bank statement and if R23,57 is incorrectly debited or missing I’d know, so you tell me how does $2,3bn just sommer disappear and no one is none-the-wiser? And these trades spanned a period dating as far back as 2008 or something.
Give me a break will ya…he is not without fault in this, but he is just the fall guy man! I mean after raising money from governments a few years ago how do you now go and say, eish ya boss, our controls, she’s not too big and some bra took us for 2double big ones?
The other thought is this one so Palestine wants to be recognized as its own state. OK I don’t know the history so well. I am not Jewish nor am I Muslim, I am just a guy who has a lot of time on his hands to do a little research, listen to the news and provide some social commentary to which he would like to spark some sort of debate, because I believe that’s the best way for us to SEE each other!! Shana Tova to my Jewish peops too, may it be a prosperous new year!! So for over 50 years or so Palestine has been operating as a properly fractured state almost under Israeli rule. Israel has money, a lot of the western world’s backing and is also under serious threat because parts of the Palestinian and Arab world don’t want to recognize it and want to wipe it off the map…so sad!! What makes it even more sad is if you had to trace back all 3 religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, they are all branches of the same tree…So anyway this whole thing with Palestine wanting to have membership of the UN, reminds me even more of what a farce this UN really is in all honesty. All the other member countries are there but I think there are 5 countries whose opinions really matter, China, Russia, UK, US, France. They can veto any Security Council decision so you tell me whats it all for? UN tells the US don’t go into Iraq they still do and there are no consequences. FARCICAL!!
This whole Israeli-Palestinian impasse is clearly a mess, because if it wasn’t it would have been solved by now. Both sides have their claims, which to them and their supporters may seem to make utmost sense. One side can say we and our camels watching tumble weed fly by for decades, you guys go to Europe, things don’t go so well now you wanna skop us out? Hmm something about this doesn’t make sense…Other side will say we’ve been here forever, not all of us left firstly and secondly Judea…remember it, the historical Jewish land it was right heeerrrreee, we’ve been here as long as you cous!
In 1988 the state of Palestine was declared, but Israel rejected this declaration. It was occupying parts of Palestine since the 6 day war in 1967 and as such it could…because it had big guns too. Israel knows full well that for there to be lasting peace and harmony in the region Palestinians need to be able to govern themselves as a fully recognized state. They need to know that they can trade freely with the rest of the world they don’t have be couped up like pigs in a stye. Buuuuut, how do you get it right though when even the Palestinians themselves are divided, on the one hand there is Hamas that governs the Gaza Strip and on the other Fatah governing the West Bank. Fatah denounced violence and terrorism, hence why most talks are seen to be held with Mahmoud Abbas. Even though Fatah lost the elections to Hamas in 2006 or so, they still have all the military arsenal so they rule the roost, I guess kinda like Israel does over Palestine. Hamas on the other hand have openly and repeatedly stated that they want the state of Israel destroyed, poqaed, dead, kaput. They have shown this to be more than just words too. Hamas and Fatah formed a unity government, but there was spate of bombings and violence in 2007 I think I read, that lead Fatah to expel them from the unity government.
So say Palestine does get recognized as a state yeah so what? Well they have their land, their issue is the ‘illegitimate’ Israeli settlements. Now these settlements will not be destroyed I am sure, so what then, well then there will be some land swaps happening, result…the settlements are legitimized…proper waste of time.
To me whether Palestine is recognized as a state or not is neither here nor there, what the powers that be need to do is stop pu ssy footing around the issue and make some tough decisions, because as it is no solution will ever be reached and who suffers…largely the poor people of Palestine! 50 years of fighting with no end in sight you would think that a leader with foresight from either camp would have stepped to the plate by now and tried to find a lasting solution, because I am sure the average Palestinian and Israeli would not mind living next door to the other one provided there is the basic human elements of trust and respect…it is just that simple, but then again I can see my old man accusing me of trying to use logic to solve an emotive situation. Live and let live that’s what I say!
Birthdays
14th Will, Anoka
15th Gooch
16th Maskew
18th Tahir, Thuli, Chetan
19th Aleya, Naasei
20th Feh
21st Riyad, Mickey Moo, Nats
23rd Kbz, Pali, Si Black
24th Vaughano
25th McLenan
28th Kells and Mohi
29th Eve
30th Brett
1st Oct Herman
And that’s all folks, you all have a pleasant weekend now ya hear
Maximum respect to you all…trust and respect man!
Y
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Racism or Victism??
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds…” Robert Nesta Marley
I uploaded these words as my status update yesterday and how apt it is today.
Sheesh guys, I have been so struggling with something positive to write man. All around is just negativity, yo, its only when you leave SA and don’t watch the news and come back when you really realize how much negativity surrounds us. There is a great initiative happening in SA this week called the National Book Week which is trying to get more people reading, but do I hear about it emmm nope whats there to write about instead…Lets see Tornados and Hurricanes…ummm naah, Mogoeng Mogoeng circus, Juju’s, in my mind farcical hearing and is stoopid followers throwing stones and bottles in the city centre….ehhh so tired, and my current bugbear, which is NATO and the UN, passing a resolution to bomb/invade a country that isn’t even party to any of their causes nor a member, finance its rebels etc and then they say eish boss this one its not me man, all we did was just protect civilians, who are in a country that doesn’t subscribe to your rules…epic fail… then today I wake up and hear about Darren Scott, waxing lyrical with the k word and everyone is on his case about being a racist. There is also the story about the designer who made some random comments about a Jewish person and an Asian…which somehow only got dubbed an anti-Semitic slur, but that’s a story for another time…
Racism - Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief
Now before I go on lemme just say I don’t know Mr Scott, so he may well be a racist, but based on what I have read thus far and the circumstances surrounding the incident is he a racist?
A man gives another money to help him out. Would a racist want to help out a brudda in need? Ya maybe, cos there were a few banks who could have been run by people who subscribed to the apartheid legacy that used to lend money to bleks…Man doesn’t want to pay me back…repeatedly…I’ll get angry, blaady angry. Short of raising my fists I’d find words that are extremely excruciating to his being. So if I called this bra, a forkin K-word dude, would I be racist? Lets move from race, say 2 fat people were having an argument and the one called the other a fat f**k, would the reaction be different if a thin person, having the same disagreement with a fat person, called a fat person a fat f**k. For example right if a woman and her man are having a fracas he did something terrible to her and she cant beat him up so she decides to call him a short di*k Muthaforker, would that make her a pen isist?
You see in all those instances mentioned, ones ability to be rational is gravely compromised by red mist and as a result your mindset is in fight mode, and in fight mode there is only one winner, so you will say whatever you can to hurt the mofo not so. So you become rude and insulting, but does that make you a racist or a fatist or whatever? I am really not convinced that those words in isolation make a person a racist. To be honest, in my absolutely humble experience, the only time a word has some true deep meaning is if it brings to the fore a deep complex or something that you are not all together comfortable with about yourself not so? For example, if someone called me a fat, bald useless dooooos, right I am a tad podgy at the moment and my forehead is reclaiming some skin at the moment, so now if it bothered me, id be offended not so, if I wanted to blame someone else for my lot in life I’d take it to be offensive, but if I have accepted my fate and either decided to move from where I am to a place of more happiness, I will use those words to harness my pursuit of better things not so?
I think I have said it before, but we as a nation are very sensitive and I guess rightly so coming from the past we have, but are we so sensitive to a point that it clouds our judgment and reason and every disagreement or something done that is not to our liking is dubbed racism. Darren’s words aren’t the issue here I believe, there is a deep set -ism in all of us who live in this country. Class, race, nation, sex we hate each other. We mask it a lot, but man we just have some mad blind hate in this house!
Bottom line is we have to change. And skirting around the issues won’t correct it. A brother walks into a mall with a fine light skinned lass, don’t look at em cos it looks like the set from Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney’s song Ebony and Ivory, clap cos she is lucky to have landed a fine brother damnit!! ☺
Jokes aside, I consider myself a rather level-headed individual. People from the old school have to understand that its really by God’s grace that this country hasn’t ended up like Zim…yet, BEE, EE, AA, Quota etc. are necessary, one need only just step out and look at the lie of the land and see, worse so if you go to Cape Town. Now I’m not advocating that things should be otherwise….all I’m saying is that things could have been much worse. People cry foul, corruption, this, that and the next, my dear friends, what we are seeing now is but a smidgen of what happened in the past. I was watching Carte Blanche a few weeks back and they were exposing some multi billion rand fraud advocated by the reserve bank of the olds regime, to help fatten the coffers of some bank and in return its shareholders which were Caucasian. The only difference between the corruption of then and now is that now, its reported on freely, tell me which is a better world to live in.
To tell me that BEE, quotas and AA, EE etc should end after 20 yrs, I step back look at the floor, then the sky, then look at you and shake my head. Let me give u paint you a picture, not a Picasso or a Van Gogh, but a Pic-true. Lets use a black’ born-free, kid born in 1994, so currently 17 years old, they should have the freedom of the nation right, ehhh no! Why? You see lets look at the current lie of the land as a gauge right. Father most probably has bantu education as does mother, they probably only recently got running water and a proper roof over their heads, if at all. What they know is what pops and moms taught them, or black and white, both have the old school mentality which they passed on to their kids. A persons formative years are first 8 or so years not so, yes your personality morphs as you grow, but the basis is formed early on. So what do I know….old school ish. Right! Now I am 17, next year its either tertiary education or work. No money for school eish, no job, eish…see where I am getting at. Use the converse a white born-free, moms and pops have tin, kid goes to Saints, Saint Marys, Kes, you name it, lifes still rosy, not so? Finish school, go to varsity easi, finish varsity, moms and pops say, youngster, no job here go to Australia or England, because you can… see what I am saying…
Right, these kids turn 26, get married or pops a little one, what will they teach their kid, mainly what they learnt as a youngster but a whole lot more toned down because we are learning to get along, trust me, it will take at least 3 generations for us to be truly a rainbow nation.
Now for my Africans…The reason why we as Africans are progressing at such a slow pace is largely, not entirely, because we are the architects of our own demise. It takes me a trip to Ghana every so often to be reminded of this. Don’t get me wrong, love the land of my birth, we are definitely progressing, but man there are some things that still baffle me…I digress…We, as Africans, are all too quick to play the role of the victim. Slavery/apartheid came, slavery/apartheid left, it left a massive legacy but so what do we do? Wallow in self-pity? Blame all our ills on the past or take stock realize what an opportunity, no matter how hard lies ahead and make it work for us, using whatever resources we have available to us. Yes I know it’s a theoretical way to approach things, but theory most times can be translated into practice, otherwise why would we have to study books in order to work in this world neh ☺
I know the world has been set up for us as Africans to rely on the west, because they have money! Yes they do, but lets see, as a continent we have all the resources, if I look at England or the states what do they have, yes money, oil, some resources and people but they need us about as much as we need them as a continent not so. I look at this majestic continent of ours, I see trees of green, red roses too…sing it Louis, Silver and gold have I All (none) said he… what don’t we have, yet we dispose of it for a mere pittance. So we can buy it back at a hugely inflated price. (This is proper generalization because as a continent we have had some leaders with some foresight) We live for today, its all about making many quick bucks today and not about tomorrows people how long will they last…(sorry too much singing). I wanna be the only guy on these dusty streets to have a Ferrari California and a big mansion, and helicopter, so the world will know I have landed, how am I going to get it, instead of using the 100million grant to build houses for the poor in my land, I will use 20mil and spend the 80mil on myself. I am dissing my peops, I know, but its because seeing this stuff really does break me.
Lets think about it, are there any derogatory words for caucasians, what hon key, really now?!! There aren’t why, because they were never the victims nor will they ever play that role, but my bruddas, we hear the word co olie, ni**er, ka**ir, gooook, you name it and its like we have been shot and our corpse spat on. Till the day we forget about being a victim and rise up and build and be the boss of something that’s worth boasting about till the day that as a nation our people don’t have to live in tin huts, till the day that a country with much rain isn’t a net importer of basic foodstuffs like rice, till that day peoples, we’ll never be right with ourselves. And when anyone says anything that is adverse to us we will latch on it and squeal like pigs to the slaughter.
I take Jewish people for example, the suffered the holocaust, but them bruddas run this world now. Ok fair enough with utmost respect, the victim card is played to an extent there as well, and I am in no way lessening the atrocities that they had to face as a result of their faith, but what slavery and colonization did to Africans was just as detrimental to the African race, yet the difference is in a relatively short period of time their adversities have been turned into monumentus triumphs. Show me a Jewish person who isn’t economically sound. Why is that, yes they had the assistance of a lot of the world, but they together as a people stood up, stood together, worked hard and achieved what they have and keep achieving.
I am a Ghanaian born, African man living in South Africa, but hell no I am not victim! Emancipate yourself from mental slavery…
I missed a few birthdays in the last 2 months so let me just do for this month thus far and ask for forgiveness to those that I didn’t announce…
Birthdays
3rd Rob Wed, Stu, JC
5th Riba, Smangi
9th TBKaranja, Decs
10th Basquait, Sefa
Maximum respect always, because thats where it starts...
Be the change you want to see...simple
Y
I uploaded these words as my status update yesterday and how apt it is today.
Sheesh guys, I have been so struggling with something positive to write man. All around is just negativity, yo, its only when you leave SA and don’t watch the news and come back when you really realize how much negativity surrounds us. There is a great initiative happening in SA this week called the National Book Week which is trying to get more people reading, but do I hear about it emmm nope whats there to write about instead…Lets see Tornados and Hurricanes…ummm naah, Mogoeng Mogoeng circus, Juju’s, in my mind farcical hearing and is stoopid followers throwing stones and bottles in the city centre….ehhh so tired, and my current bugbear, which is NATO and the UN, passing a resolution to bomb/invade a country that isn’t even party to any of their causes nor a member, finance its rebels etc and then they say eish boss this one its not me man, all we did was just protect civilians, who are in a country that doesn’t subscribe to your rules…epic fail… then today I wake up and hear about Darren Scott, waxing lyrical with the k word and everyone is on his case about being a racist. There is also the story about the designer who made some random comments about a Jewish person and an Asian…which somehow only got dubbed an anti-Semitic slur, but that’s a story for another time…
Racism - Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief
Now before I go on lemme just say I don’t know Mr Scott, so he may well be a racist, but based on what I have read thus far and the circumstances surrounding the incident is he a racist?
A man gives another money to help him out. Would a racist want to help out a brudda in need? Ya maybe, cos there were a few banks who could have been run by people who subscribed to the apartheid legacy that used to lend money to bleks…Man doesn’t want to pay me back…repeatedly…I’ll get angry, blaady angry. Short of raising my fists I’d find words that are extremely excruciating to his being. So if I called this bra, a forkin K-word dude, would I be racist? Lets move from race, say 2 fat people were having an argument and the one called the other a fat f**k, would the reaction be different if a thin person, having the same disagreement with a fat person, called a fat person a fat f**k. For example right if a woman and her man are having a fracas he did something terrible to her and she cant beat him up so she decides to call him a short di*k Muthaforker, would that make her a pen isist?
You see in all those instances mentioned, ones ability to be rational is gravely compromised by red mist and as a result your mindset is in fight mode, and in fight mode there is only one winner, so you will say whatever you can to hurt the mofo not so. So you become rude and insulting, but does that make you a racist or a fatist or whatever? I am really not convinced that those words in isolation make a person a racist. To be honest, in my absolutely humble experience, the only time a word has some true deep meaning is if it brings to the fore a deep complex or something that you are not all together comfortable with about yourself not so? For example, if someone called me a fat, bald useless dooooos, right I am a tad podgy at the moment and my forehead is reclaiming some skin at the moment, so now if it bothered me, id be offended not so, if I wanted to blame someone else for my lot in life I’d take it to be offensive, but if I have accepted my fate and either decided to move from where I am to a place of more happiness, I will use those words to harness my pursuit of better things not so?
I think I have said it before, but we as a nation are very sensitive and I guess rightly so coming from the past we have, but are we so sensitive to a point that it clouds our judgment and reason and every disagreement or something done that is not to our liking is dubbed racism. Darren’s words aren’t the issue here I believe, there is a deep set -ism in all of us who live in this country. Class, race, nation, sex we hate each other. We mask it a lot, but man we just have some mad blind hate in this house!
Bottom line is we have to change. And skirting around the issues won’t correct it. A brother walks into a mall with a fine light skinned lass, don’t look at em cos it looks like the set from Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney’s song Ebony and Ivory, clap cos she is lucky to have landed a fine brother damnit!! ☺
Jokes aside, I consider myself a rather level-headed individual. People from the old school have to understand that its really by God’s grace that this country hasn’t ended up like Zim…yet, BEE, EE, AA, Quota etc. are necessary, one need only just step out and look at the lie of the land and see, worse so if you go to Cape Town. Now I’m not advocating that things should be otherwise….all I’m saying is that things could have been much worse. People cry foul, corruption, this, that and the next, my dear friends, what we are seeing now is but a smidgen of what happened in the past. I was watching Carte Blanche a few weeks back and they were exposing some multi billion rand fraud advocated by the reserve bank of the olds regime, to help fatten the coffers of some bank and in return its shareholders which were Caucasian. The only difference between the corruption of then and now is that now, its reported on freely, tell me which is a better world to live in.
To tell me that BEE, quotas and AA, EE etc should end after 20 yrs, I step back look at the floor, then the sky, then look at you and shake my head. Let me give u paint you a picture, not a Picasso or a Van Gogh, but a Pic-true. Lets use a black’ born-free, kid born in 1994, so currently 17 years old, they should have the freedom of the nation right, ehhh no! Why? You see lets look at the current lie of the land as a gauge right. Father most probably has bantu education as does mother, they probably only recently got running water and a proper roof over their heads, if at all. What they know is what pops and moms taught them, or black and white, both have the old school mentality which they passed on to their kids. A persons formative years are first 8 or so years not so, yes your personality morphs as you grow, but the basis is formed early on. So what do I know….old school ish. Right! Now I am 17, next year its either tertiary education or work. No money for school eish, no job, eish…see where I am getting at. Use the converse a white born-free, moms and pops have tin, kid goes to Saints, Saint Marys, Kes, you name it, lifes still rosy, not so? Finish school, go to varsity easi, finish varsity, moms and pops say, youngster, no job here go to Australia or England, because you can… see what I am saying…
Right, these kids turn 26, get married or pops a little one, what will they teach their kid, mainly what they learnt as a youngster but a whole lot more toned down because we are learning to get along, trust me, it will take at least 3 generations for us to be truly a rainbow nation.
Now for my Africans…The reason why we as Africans are progressing at such a slow pace is largely, not entirely, because we are the architects of our own demise. It takes me a trip to Ghana every so often to be reminded of this. Don’t get me wrong, love the land of my birth, we are definitely progressing, but man there are some things that still baffle me…I digress…We, as Africans, are all too quick to play the role of the victim. Slavery/apartheid came, slavery/apartheid left, it left a massive legacy but so what do we do? Wallow in self-pity? Blame all our ills on the past or take stock realize what an opportunity, no matter how hard lies ahead and make it work for us, using whatever resources we have available to us. Yes I know it’s a theoretical way to approach things, but theory most times can be translated into practice, otherwise why would we have to study books in order to work in this world neh ☺
I know the world has been set up for us as Africans to rely on the west, because they have money! Yes they do, but lets see, as a continent we have all the resources, if I look at England or the states what do they have, yes money, oil, some resources and people but they need us about as much as we need them as a continent not so. I look at this majestic continent of ours, I see trees of green, red roses too…sing it Louis, Silver and gold have I All (none) said he… what don’t we have, yet we dispose of it for a mere pittance. So we can buy it back at a hugely inflated price. (This is proper generalization because as a continent we have had some leaders with some foresight) We live for today, its all about making many quick bucks today and not about tomorrows people how long will they last…(sorry too much singing). I wanna be the only guy on these dusty streets to have a Ferrari California and a big mansion, and helicopter, so the world will know I have landed, how am I going to get it, instead of using the 100million grant to build houses for the poor in my land, I will use 20mil and spend the 80mil on myself. I am dissing my peops, I know, but its because seeing this stuff really does break me.
Lets think about it, are there any derogatory words for caucasians, what hon key, really now?!! There aren’t why, because they were never the victims nor will they ever play that role, but my bruddas, we hear the word co olie, ni**er, ka**ir, gooook, you name it and its like we have been shot and our corpse spat on. Till the day we forget about being a victim and rise up and build and be the boss of something that’s worth boasting about till the day that as a nation our people don’t have to live in tin huts, till the day that a country with much rain isn’t a net importer of basic foodstuffs like rice, till that day peoples, we’ll never be right with ourselves. And when anyone says anything that is adverse to us we will latch on it and squeal like pigs to the slaughter.
I take Jewish people for example, the suffered the holocaust, but them bruddas run this world now. Ok fair enough with utmost respect, the victim card is played to an extent there as well, and I am in no way lessening the atrocities that they had to face as a result of their faith, but what slavery and colonization did to Africans was just as detrimental to the African race, yet the difference is in a relatively short period of time their adversities have been turned into monumentus triumphs. Show me a Jewish person who isn’t economically sound. Why is that, yes they had the assistance of a lot of the world, but they together as a people stood up, stood together, worked hard and achieved what they have and keep achieving.
I am a Ghanaian born, African man living in South Africa, but hell no I am not victim! Emancipate yourself from mental slavery…
I missed a few birthdays in the last 2 months so let me just do for this month thus far and ask for forgiveness to those that I didn’t announce…
Birthdays
3rd Rob Wed, Stu, JC
5th Riba, Smangi
9th TBKaranja, Decs
10th Basquait, Sefa
Maximum respect always, because thats where it starts...
Be the change you want to see...simple
Y
Friday, July 29, 2011
Juju the poor trustafarian and the US debt crisis
Its like 4am on Friday morning, I should be sleeping but all of a sardine I am inspired to write, perhaps it’s the company I kept or the vulgarity of the opulence of some of the residences I traverse on my way home this morning. Yes it’s a beautiful world we live in, a grossly unfair and unjust one, but it’s what makes this existence so interesting not so.
I truly hope that you have all been well and challenged in being the best you, you can be in the last few weeks when I have been absent. Yoh, so early and yet such English spewing forth ☺
Shoo what a week ey, Amy Winehouse’s passing, a lovely talent gone too soon, but I guess her job here was done and her maker was calling her home. Then there is that crazed dude in Norway, I mean really what goes on in some peoples minds ey? Such a damn shame so many young lives lost once again as a result of one mad man’s interpretation of religion and what they perceive to be right. Damn shame ey.
One thing that has been grating me a lot is all this talk of the US defaulting on its 14.3 trillion dollar debt. The saddest thing is I feel nothing for them and to be quite frank I am quite bored with the whole dialogue about whether or not they will increase their debt ceiling or whatever. Someone tell me what the consequences of a default would be? A downgrade in credit ratings? Resulting in an increased cost of borrowing? You tell me how different that is from the rest of the world, particularly this lovely continent of ours? What did you expect when you let the bankers run amok and then decide to hire them into senior government position and continue borrowing? What did you think would happen when you borrowed to fund an unnecessary and never ending war in the Middle East? I don’t know enough about this ‘financial armagedeon’ that will beset the world come 2nd August and the mighty USA defaults on its debt obligations, but to be honest if I had to speak to a street vendor on the streets of Accra or a budding entrepreneur in Diepkloof, with not much to his name, looking for a loan to finance his bright idea, if I had to speak to either of them and ask them about their thoughts on this big deal, they my dear friends would be like welcome to my world byaaatch!!!!! ☺ Default don’t default, I am sure on the 3rd the sun will rise and set again…
Ooh then there is this breaking story of how a man who earns R20 000 a month can afford to drive a pimped out car, allegedly sport a R250k watch and knock down a perfectly sound R3,6mil house so he can build a R16m military barak meets the One and Only. There is a fat expose about how he has a trust fund set up where business people looking for a little bit of influence make a donation for a good cause. Dear friends, as wrong as it may seem, there are a few things I need asking. A lot of us are in business or work for big business right, or even in just general life. How often have we entertained certain people in a special manner hoping that they would influence a decision in our favour? Yes that’s right all the time. A rugby game here, a VIP treatment to theatre shows, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue because its your birthday….my good people, that’s all in the name of generating good favour when certain tenders or jobs are up for grabs. It is what it is fair enough the difference between those situations and Juju’s is that its public money, but at the end of the day. Lets be honest, how many of us have set up trusts so we can dodge Mr taxman as best as we legally can?
The saddest thing about all this noise about rules being broken, is that the self same people who made the rules to suit themselves are the ones crying foul because Juju is adopting those rules…
I have been helluva fortunate to be residing in the tranquil suburb of Bishops Court in the Western Cape for the last few weeks, and my friends, there hasn’t been a day when I haven’t been gob smacked by the vastness of the enclosed areas around some of these houses. Insane I tell you. My comparison on many days, is how many informal settlements can you fit onto one of these plots, note I said settements, not houses, because that’s how big these places are. That got me thinking. A good few years ago, these beautiful lands at the base of Table Mountain (not just here also those lucrative ocean facing lands on the Atlantic Seaboard) had some thriving communities living on here till one day someone, in their infinite wisdom decided to pull up with a truck and a gun and tell all these communities to vamoose to outlying areas. And that was that. No compensation, no alternatives provided, just see you later! Yet there is talk of expropriation of lands with no compensation and we all lift up our hands and wave them wildly chanting no no no as if reciting Amy Winehouses response to a suggestion of attending rehab.
There is a complexity in solving the issue that is South Africa, make no bones about it. Our checkered past has been built on forcible removals at no compensation because it served the purposes of a few. Time has past and we have realized that these ‘ill gotten’ gains and the ramifications on the vast majority of the population was unjust, yet we are hesitant to entertain corrective measures. There has been years of talk of compensation for certain lands in dispute but very little agreement seems to have been reached on a number of these lands. What is next? I pray not a Zim style expropriation because that my dear friends does no one any good. So my suggestion is before we point fingers and wax lyrical in racial and unconstructive ways, best we start engaging each other with the sole aim of finding an amicable solution, speak to each other not at or past each other. Because these rules were created many years ago and we best all learn to play with them or find new rules that will work for us all…
Birthdays
8th DJ
11th Rudi, Santie, Mark
12th Yao
14th Natasha
15th Garth, Yashika
21st Belinda
22nd Mish
26th Gina
27th Mike, Tabi, Courts
28th Folks 38th Wedding anniversary
29th Sheya and Reids
30th ETO, Lesley
Sleep summons I, trust you all will have a great weeks end!
Till we next ‘e-speak’, lots of light and laughter man, because its damn good for the soul
Maximum respect
Y
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Kids without marriage....
I’m sitting here looking out the window, all I see is brightness, blue skies, it looks like such a majestic day. Don’t be fooled its as cold as a woman rejecting a guy who is pestering her out there. But its pure bliss, I love me some cold.
Most Sundays I pull in at my folks, this Sunday was no different, I was having a chat to my pops about last weeks blog. You know what he said to me, Yaw, I see that nowadays you are becoming more radical in your views and that doesn’t suit your conservative profession. I thought it was just pure social commentary but if he thought that was radical, I think he will disown me after reading this weeks blog, I can see him sitting in a dark corner shaking his head saying oh dear Lord, where did I go wrong with this young man, I tried everything but look at these things he writes, whyyyyyyyy!!!! ☺
So anyway over the last few years yeah, I have been thinking about this more and more and I guess the more mind time I give it the more a reality it becomes but alas. It is what it is (iiwii). I have touched on it a few times. Ok so I am in my mid 30s and not once ever have I seen myself as Mr married guy. Perhaps it’s a function of not having found the one lass who makes me say hmm…wait correction perhaps it’s a function of not having found the lass who makes me say hmmm and is available in mind body and soul, cos you know these things neh…that being said, for the longest time, I have wanted the spawn of Yaw. A mini me that will wake me up at 2am screaming its lungs out, for what I will never know till they are about 2 when they can tell me what they want. A little mini me that will force me to find a way of earning regular income, bleed me dry of my available time, emotions and money. A young one to play around with. A young one that I’ll try pass on what my folks, friends and this world has taught me in the hope that they will become good citizens of the world. I say HOPE cos you can try your best with these young ones and they could turn out stooped. Ok so established I’d dig to have a kid.
Problem though is ideally (a few months ago it was a definite no no) I would prefer to raise a kid in an environment like the one I was raised in. Folks there most if not all the time….BUTTTTT this marriage situation she is a problem. A lot of my mates are married at the moment, some are as happy as Leisure Suit Larry, others are as bleak as a Stormers supporter over the past weekend. A good few are divorced, and the many others are cheating on their spouses in one way or another. If I had to be honest those that are content with their marriage situation are by far overshadowed by those who are bleak. It makes me think what is it all for. Yes granted you create your own situation, but my dear friends lets be honest, its not an environment where you operate in isolation, there is another person involved and in as much as you could have done all your due diligence things em change. My view on marriage is its for ever ever ever…but us people we are selfish, instant gratification peops. In the old days people used to stick with a job for example for 30-40 years, someone must tell you that they are in a job for 5 years nowadays, you clap your hands….after asking them if they are ok. The world has changed. Stats are there to show, more marriages are failing than succeeding. I am not passing commentary on whether its right or wrong, but it is what it is and it would be naïve to assume otherwise. Gone are the days of the guy being the dude, out there slogging to make the deniros to look after his family, hell no, world has changed so much that the lass has to go out and also earn a living just to make ends meet. So now there are 2 bosses, no one really needs the other to make it in the world. So you want blue walls, I want cream of mushroom walls…boom explosion you take me for granted, you don’t respect me, the love is gone, we are just co-existing in this house, I want out…boom divorce, because its OK!! NO its not OK, but you cant have a situation where just one party is putting in the effort to make something work cos I don’t care who you are, it wont!!! Shoot I sound cynical, but its not the intention at all, actually total opposite man. So enough about knocking marriage and back to my radical thought
So I’m in my mid 30s yeah, folks in their mid to late 60’s they would make such great grand parents particularly my moms, cos kids are her thing. I want a little one. So what is wrong with finding a lass (with decent genes ;)) that I am reasonably compatible with, because you have to get along, cos this is a lifelong journey. Unlike you ladies who can just tell the man to step, its not so easy for us boys. So find this lass who is also not on too hectically on this bright lights, fat piece of pressured coal on the finger, white dress, princess for a day, look at me now thing, cos if you know me, me im a simple soul, if you have come to my punch parties you’ll know mos, its not about trying to put on a show, music, good people, booze, and we have a good time…simple to the point and effective I think. Speaking of which I think a punch party is well overdue, watch this space. I digress, so I meet/rediscover this lass, we hang for a while see if we cool. Manufacture a little us, fun way or artificially. Both commit to making sure this little one is all good and well taken care of and and and. What happens between us is irrelevant well as long as we keep the young ones interest at heart then we will end well hopefully.
I have come to this softening of my stance regarding children out of wedlock because, I know kids who grew up with both parents and some of them are pretty poked, some are well balanced. Other side of the coin is true too, some kids from broken homes are pretty stable, whilst others are pretty poked too, so I am not sure what difference it makes as long as one or both of you are available and committed to the cause, the odds are the young one will be ok…no guarantees in this life.
So that’s my plan you think it will fly? I am open to commentary and suggestions and expressions of interest, no joke ey ;)
Easi now…
Birthdays
3rd Jenn
7th Mark Evans
8th Dinesh
Respect always
Y
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Who runs this??
Greetings my good people, trust this email finds you super peachy. I must be honest, for some reason I am walking on sunshine. I don’t know if you want to hear it, but ey its said…Had a pretty neutral weekend but pretty meaningful one all the same, had a lunch and a movie with a good mate, met another crazy mate, had a hot chocolate, spoke endless feces, met someone I didn’t know before, caught up with some old mates, hung out with family and friends, had a chat to Vix and she showed me pics of baby Izzy…too cute she is, did some exercise (nearly had a heart attack…no joke because its honestly been so long), Michael and Adobea had baby Piers today… I came home reflected and to borrow a phrase I just heard earlier from Syds…it made my ‘heart smile’. It wasn’t a rock star weekend or Monday but man was it a meaningful one??!!
If you haven’t noticed, well let me spell it out for you, I am properly going through a simple things in life phase. I am not going to lie to anyone, me I absolutely “like things”, I like not having to worry about cash, cruising around in a drop top, blaah blaah, but more than things, I like not having to sell my soul to obtain it.
Leads me to this weeks topic. I have this mate Dangerous Dave, well he used to be now he is neutered (marriage and kid does that apparently ☺), but anyway for months, years, Degs and I have been conversing about the state of this our dear universe and the forces at play who have us on a string like Pinocchio under Gepetto’s control and how we are all controlled by this machine called debt and those that grant them…BANKS. We had plenty a chatter about this. One day he suggested I watch a documentary called the Obama Deception, but I didn’t want to watch it, because here was this guy who has sold us all hook line and sinker into this Barack Obama craze, for no real reason other than the fact that he seemed like he was of the people and for the people. He has enough charisma to sell ice to an Eskimo. He speaks a superb game he did. Going to change the States and the world…In the back of my mind there was always a nagging thought…I always thought nah man, this Anglo American machine is waaay too powerful for you Mr Semi African American guy to alter.
The more time passed the more I realized that this guy is no different than the rest. He said that the troops would be out of Iraq and Afghanistan in something like 18 months, errr almost 3 years and more troops have been sent. Guantanamo Bay closure, close what?? The bailout packages for banks, biggest load of toilet ever ever ever heard of. And the fools that caused it are still cruising around in their G6’s. The last straw for me was this war on Libya, say what you will man, but there are countries out there whose leaders cause far worse crimes against its people yet I don’t see the Lone Ranger and his band of X-Men invading them. Isreal…Palestine, lets be real this issue is bigger than any of us on this earth and will carry on way after I am gone, truth is if America and the powers that be wanted to do anything meaningful there they so could. But its not in their interest. These big banks who have sent the world into a tailspin over the last few years. They are all run by big shots. The ordinary man on the street has sufferered numerous ills and will continue for a long time to come, countries have been brought to their knees. People who had nothing to do with the situation as it is now have to suffer because of escalating prices, reduced spending because of increased debts which inevitably leads to job losses. The man on the street. CEO x of Bank Y is still laughing hard! I made plenty millions and making plenty more. We’ll mess up the world economy and you what are you going to do about it???!! Barrack came and made promises about bailouts and the conditions attached to them, I haven’t thought it through but I would be like let those banks burn! Ramifications of such a situation may be far reaching but imagine me with my little company make some real fundamental and heinous miscalculations which brings my company to it knees, can I now go to Jacob Zuma or Gil Marcus to say eish boss, im in trouble, please can I have n nyana bailout man??!! Hell to the Nizo!! I can go on and on
Bottom line just like with all other politicians, I am jaded by Mr Obama. So over my neutral weekend during I watched the Obama Deception, like most other documentaries and like anything else in the world there is a lot of noise made, but in the noise are some facts that are indisputable. The crux of the documentary was that the world as we know it is being run by an elitist group called the Bilderberg Group, made up largely of the worlds wealthiest people mainly bankers, a few politicians here and there. They apparently funded Barrack Obama’s campaign. He has during his political life been at one stage or another, groomed directly by some of its members. A large part of his current political team is made up of members of this group as well as the Tri-lateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Bilderberg Group for me is pretty interesting. There is some stuff on the net about the group but some of the highlights from the documentary and the stuff I read is that their first meeting was in May 1954. The main aim of this meeting was to try and bridge the widening dislike of America by Western Europe. The reason for bridging the divide was to discuss issues around politics, economics and defence. Which makes a lot of sense in what has recently transpired in the wests INVASION of a few Middle Eastern countries, who I guess are seen as soft targets and seen as a threat. Their meetings are generally held at hotels, and the whole hotel is generally cleared out and guarded by well armed private security personnel. It’s the secrecy around this group and its meetings that opens the door for conspiracy theorists as no minutes, votes or agenda is ever taken or tabled. A lot of the conspiracy theorists out there have blamed the group of trying to form a government of the world, run by a bank of the world or trying to instill a new world order.
Its funny how its all around us this mention of a corporation that’s more powerful than governments running this world. I can reference 2 of my favorite series’ that make reference to “The company” or “the corporation”, those being Heroes and Prison Break. There is Dan Browns reference to the Illuminati..same same…but different. Interesting.
Hmm me thinks lest see. The last few invasions countries with leaders who many of the leaders of the west would assume not to tow the line not so… I mean Saddam what did he really do, yet you invade his country and look at it now the place is forked! It may well not have been heaven, but it sure wasn’t the hell it is now. The guys who masterminded these invasions under the guise of Weapons of Mass destruction…save the cheerleader save the world, walk the earth like MC Hammer…Cant touch this. No War crimes tribunal for them, but we will find a 60 something year old stroke victim and try him for war crimes. Libya, was there any unrest there? Niet but look at it now and then the ICC or whatever its called has issued an arrest for Gadaffi on charges of crimes against humanity, but Libya is not a party to whatever convention that gives the ICC jurisdiction over such matters…gimme a break, its just Nato trying to give credence to its activities in that country…come to think of it this whole Middle East uprising, fair enough could well be human beings being tired for their lot in lot in life but If it came out that it was all influenced by the West, I would say uh huh. One Bank of the world that controls the world, hmm lets see. Africa. We have the World Bank and the IMF that owns us, and even though I am not privy to loan agreements, I wouldn’t be surprised if the collateral for the debt is the any and all the Natural resources available in the country. We look at Greece, owned… Italy I am sure is on its way too. The federal reserve owns America. So imagine you get a few big banking institutions to own a few countries, the heads or leaders of these institutions all part of one group and there you go in the words of Shaquille O’Neal…Twisam the world is mine. You ever think that Trevor Manuel or the guy from Mexico has any chance of heading up the IMF? Chances…Nah man…
Hey don’t get me wrong, a new world order or one world government would be wikkid, provided it’s a world where everyone can live and let live. One currency, one passport. None of these drawn out visa application processes when you want to go and visit Europe or the States. I guess I live in a ‘utopic’ (don’t know if it’s a word…derivative of utopia) world in my head.
In reality the world will always be unfair. That’s how it is all I ask is don’t think lie to me and think I’m a stupid jusus…
☺ started this mail on Sunday finished on such a lovely Thursday morning, may your weekend be blessed all. Till next we yak you be good, warm and safe
Birthdays
26th Kemi
27th Tebs, Seanie Rule, Minki, Gail
29th Simone
30th Dineo, Alun
1st July Keith John
Maximum respect to you all
Y
Thursday, June 23, 2011
2 great fallen soldiers of our democrcy
Its been an insanely long time my dear friends trust the world is alright with you. Laziness has been my friend as well as the lack of anything positive to write about.
I am not sure if its just me being sensitive, but as human beings we absolutely love to moan and complain. Everyday its I cant believe this guy or girl did that, why cant things just work out, why do they have to be like that blah blah bleedy blah, so I decided I don’t want to add to that, because all the news of today is nothing but negativity. Lets see, this 500m building in SA for the police that doesn’t want to die, the ANCYL’s annual conference and JuJu being likened to Madiba and Oliver Tambo, I mean really???!! Same guy waxing lyrical about nationalization and land grabs without compensation, let me not get into it, just rather choose to shake my head. Cops getting killed, Cops beating people. Earthquakes, volcanoes, Greece’s flailing economy.
I am not trivializing these issues because Lord knows that these issues are real particularly the ones that JuJu raises regarding land reform etc. we would be very dof and naïve to think that the status quo can remain in place. That people who were forcefully removed from their land and placed in crappy areas with NO compensation can just carry on plodding along without shelter or land to call their own. We know what happened in Zim, same story and people got fed up , the country and its people suffered yes, but the people got their land. Lets look at whats happening in the middle east, lets not fool ourselves and say that Juju is just causing problems. There are real problems in this lovely land of ours, and the sooner those that are continually benefitting from the ills of the past are addressed the sooner we can live in harmony.
Our current ills aren’t racially driven, they are possibly communicated as such but they are economically driven, and it just so happens that the majority of those that are not well to do are blacks (African, Coloured, Indian) and those that are styling are white, so it is easier to classify it as a race thing…lets call a spade a spade its real and it must be addressed and you and I can address it, because even if you are not earning millions you have old clothes you can give a bergie or some dude on the street. You think its not a lot but trust you me its more than you will know, cos if I have clothes, I can use the little I have to get food, if I have none of those I will always be at a loss so I will take.
Enter the police, fools they are becoming. They beat up and kill protestors, because they can,they get military style training which ofcourse plants firmly in their heads that they are above the law. Criminals say right, dog eat dog, they have guns we’ll get guns, instead of running we will shoot the popo! I’m no psychiatrist or psychologist, but I only see one ending to this story, anarchist state akin to the likes of Mexico…it’s a jungle out there I tell you.
Yes there is a great chasm in the current leadership echelons, but we cant really be too surprised because as sad as it is it’s a function of the quality of education afforded to some who are part of the ruling party. Transformation isn’t an option in this country, its imperative. The current ruling party and those that are tasked with delivering services and revving up the masses were afforded a standard of education that will only allow them to be someone’s helper or gardener. A lot of those with a better education I guess aren’t in public service. It’s a situation that was created yet we complain when the chickens come home to roost….
I can go on but I said no dwelling on negativity.
During the period since I last wrote and now, 2 really great South Africans have left this world. The saddest thing about their passing is that not too many of us actually got to appreciate who they are and what they stood for. Not too many of the young crop of wannabe future leaders interacted with them and if nothing at all managed to receive an inkling of their ethos and what it truly means to be selfless in the fight for the rights and to be for or of the people….what it truly means to be selfless in the fight to better the plight of others.
My mate Shaka’s grandmother, Ma Albertina Sisulu, wife of the late struggle hero, Walter Sisulu was born in Tsomo in the good old Eastern Cape in 1918, she was the first of 8 daughters to a sickly mother. Due to her mothers ill health she adopted the role of nurturer from a young age. She was constantly away from school looking after her younger sisters. She was bright at school but she was a few years older than her peer because of her absenteeism from school. Regardless of her absenteeism, she was a pretty top performer at school and was the recipient of a high school scholarship. So selfless was she that after school her mind was set on being a professional somebody, so she could look after her family instead of being somebody’s other. She got into nursing because back then people were paid to study for the profession. She qualified at Joburg Gen as a midwife, cruised the streets often on foot to see patients in the townships.
She met Walter in 1941 and they married in 1944, he was a lawyer and a young activist and Madiba was the best man. They stayed together for 59 years, 5 kids and 4 adopted kids…Robben Island robbed Albertina of Walter for 25 years and death permanently in 2003. She also spent a few months in Jail. Inspite of all this ‘adversity’ or challenges she faced she managed to help raise her siblings and gather enough resources to educate her children outside the country, away from the bantu education system that they would have been subjected to had they stayed in the country. She was part of the launch of the Freedom Charter, the only woman present when the youth league was born, she marched with the women to Pretoria to protest against the passbook rule (a day celebrated today as Women’s day)
Part of her legacy was the recruitment of nurses to Tanzania to replace the British ones that were leaving as well as a life long commitment to the improvement of the lives of children and the elderly. A committed wife, dedicated mother and a selfless member of her community, will there ever again be such women in our life time? If there are lets celebrate and give praise to them now!! Not when they are gone!!
The other great South African to pass on are Laila and Zahira’s uncle Prof Kader Asmal. Never had the pleasure of meeting this great man, but you could tell that when he spoke he had something of substance to say, unlike the political mumbo jumbo that sprays forth nowadays when the powers that be step to the mic!
Oh yes by the way I am not sure if you heard the big thuds on both occasions…don’t mind it too much it was me just dropping names ;)
So where was I, Prof Asmal from Stanger…man was a proper smart guy who was vocal when there was someone in the movement that was out of order. So strong was his conviction that he stood down from active ANC duty when he found out that the Scorpions were being disbanded aaaaand some of the government officials that were investigated and found guilty voted against it. He was also one of the vocal ones against uncle Bob Mugabe. Recently he had this to say about the very controversial and potentially detrimental Information Bill: "Since this has not happened, my conscience will not let my silence be misunderstood. I ask all South Africans to join me in rejecting this measure in its entirety,"… he was calling on all South Africans to oppose this bill. No one was safe when he was around, he attacked Fikile Mbalula who was then the deputy chief of police when he suggested that the Police should be militarized, labeled Juju a tenderpreneur and even the National Youth Development Agency was described as a farce, which is in my mind not far from the truth because all I know is what I read, and what I read isn’t too complementary about the agency.
I have scoured a few websites to find as much as I could about this man and all that stood out was the glowing yet consistent message about his intellectual capacity, selflessness and his inability to stand down where matters contrary to good governance, common sense, (which appears to be a whole lot less common nowadays) and a fight for the people were concerned.
He was from Stanger in KZN, moved to London as a teacher, furthered his studies at the London School of Economics and Political Studies where he qualified as a lawyer. Whilst in exile, he was a professor at Trinity College where he specialized in International Law, Labour, and Human rights for 27 years. He was one of the custodians of the international anti-apartheid movement.
In 1990 when he returned he was instrumental in shaping our democracy and the constitution he served in both President Mandela and Mbeki’s cabinet, first as mister of Water and Environmental affairs and later as Minister of education.
Will this current generation be able to deliver to this nation people of similar ilk? My answer is an optimistic No. No because we as tomorrows leaders are too focused on the advancement of self…good or bad you decide. As tomorrows leaders our thoughts aren’t on the plight of tomorrows people at all. As tomorrows leaders, we seem to have lost comprehension of whats right and wrong. Optimistic in that there is always a breaking point. Something always has to give and hopefully it gives before the horse has bolted
Birthdays….
Shoo I have missed sooo many since my last email so no disrespect intended I will just do this weeks birthdays please.
21st Kgash and Jake
22nd Simmybunny, Dakes and Zulfiq
23rd Kroppies and Redhead Ed
24th Gretchen
25th Dolce and Ofei
To all you others that I didn’t give special mention to, im sure I mailed you texted you or Facebooked you, hope you had sublimely stupendous birthdays.
On that note I’m out my dear friends you take care of you and 2 things to remember:
1) Whatever you think it is that its insurmountable, trust you me it too shall pass
2) 2 even little old you can make a difference
3) if none of these 2 thoughts made any difference in your psyche, its Thursday or Friday depending on where you are so go on and get dronk ☺
Peace, happiness and maximum respect to you all
Y
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
What is there to celebrate?
"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." -- Martin Luther King, Jr
The last few days have been pretty interesting/significant in the history of the world. On Friday the 29th April, most of the world was on a go slow in order to witness a rich guy born into a fortunate family marry a pretty lass! Yes, I think it was a pretty massive non-event in my life not because I am a hater, but because I failed to see the relevance of the Royal family, theirs or any other royal family. What value do they add other than preserve some archaic order that in my mind has no real relevance in today’s world, but ey if that’s your thing, hope it was fantastic!! Kate’s sister is quite hot though ;)
Then on the 1st May, I heard on the 2nd May, the ‘Big One’ Osama Bin Laden dead. 11th September 2001, we all remember where we were when we heard about the falling of the twin towers. Roughly 3000 lives lost, blame…Osama. 1998 US embassy bombing in Kenya and Tanzania, 225 dead, blame…Osama, Bali, London, Spain. There are more I am sure but we will just focus on those for now. So for 3225 lives or so, the Western World set on a 10 year hide n seek adventure with Mr Bin Laden costing billions if not trillions, how many lives in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been lost, hundreds of thousands? The world is a whole lot more full of hate or should I say the world is now able to unveil its deep rooted prejudices and its almost acceptable….
Hey oh oh hey, democracy is the future. I mean look at what is happening in the Middle East, the people are tired, the people are speaking! What’s that song, we’re not gonna take it, no we aint gonna take it, we not gonna take it…anymore!! Some might argue that its all West induced, but I don’t buy that one, for the West to get 100s of thousands of people to risk their lives in the hope of a better life, to fight against a machine that has ruled their lives and the lives of their parents for many a year…well that means that they truly do believe in this quest of theirs and as such this was more their will than any external forces will.
So anyway this evening was the first time I tuned into the news stations to watch the sensationalism going on regarding Osama Bin Ladens death. To be honest when I heard of his death this morning, I think indifference is the word I can use to describe my emotion. Osama, dead or alive is all the same to me, not because I feel nothing for those lives that have been lost, but more because his death will make no difference. Before him there were others and after him there will be more. There is a lot of skepticism in me as well. Who was this man Osama, was he truly the master mind behind those horrid attacks on September 11, 2001? Yes says the US and the media machine, but they also told me Saddam had weapons of mass destruction of which they are yet to produce 1, they also assisted in selling the world a dream of a financial system that is fundamentally sound and a safe haven for my hard earned retirement funds, and we all know what happened to that! They set a man on the moon many years ago but haven’t done it again since…
What evidence do I have that this man truly existed in the form that he was portrayed to have been? When did independent somebody, have sight or a conversation with this man, was he really alive up until his reported death on the 2nd May or did he die a good few months/years ago? Yes there were a few strategically released video footages, which happened to occur prior to some election or announcement that the Bush administration was about to make, since then, there haven’t been too many videos released or his name mentioned too much.
What evidence do I have that even if he did exist, that he wasn’t made to become a scapegoat for a controlled explosion of the twin towers on September 11, a way to give this terror a face and allow the US and its allies a reason to go into Afghanistan and later Iraq so they can fulfill whatever their agenda is there?
What evidence do I have that there actually was a bad guy called Osama and he did all these bad things? I don’t think I will ever know now, because on the 1st May (2nd May for the soldiers and ‘Osama’) he was killed. I am well sure he could have been captured, shot to the shoulder disarm him, knee caps immobilize him and whala you have your guy, but nope, 2 shots to the head, and why not? Makes us the heros again no-one can ask questions. And to make certain of this, the body is dumped in the ocean. These people are pretty smart. No one is any wiser. DNA test, compare it to his deceased sister, ok thanks.
Aaaaaand they still go and try make matters worse and tell me that they gave him a proper Muslim burial?! You tell me how that is possible, when reports and footage of gross abuse, perpetrated by marines against captured Al Qaeda prisoners are being shown to the world and you are going to tell me that these self same people will provide any dignity to a man on the TOP of the CIA’s most wanted list, come now??!! Secondly which part of a proper Muslim burial was he afforded, was it the prayer for the forgiveness of sins or his grave being perpendicular to the Qibla (Mecca), ie his body lying on the right hand side facing Mecca, what they sent navy divers to the sea bottom to dig the grave?…err me thinks not, but call me a skeptic if you must!
For me though the saddest pictures I saw were the jubilant celebrations at ground zero and all over America over his death. Tell me what justice that is? Will the lives of your mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, son, friend, husband, wife be restored? Not so much!! Will the thousands that have died as a result of this war on terror’s lives be restored….ehh not so much! Willl the trillions that has been spent on this farcical war come back to fill up the ever increasing US coffers? Emmm not so much! Will the many young soldiers who lost their lives out there fighting a pretty winless war return home to their grieving mothers…mmm not so much! Is the world a safer place now….mm not so much. So does this mean that now when I fly I can leave my laptop in my bag, have a can of deo in my bag so the person sitting next to me doesn’t have to smell my pits, leave my shoes on and not have to go through stupid x-ray machines that is radiating(germinating) those lovely cancer cells?? Au contraire security is so gonna be heightened now! All these scenes of jubilation just fuels the hate! Soundbites stating this is a good day for America, someone please tell me what good it does anyone?! What is there to be jubilant about then? There is no closure, there is no explanation why those lives were lost! The face of this terror is no more, but something worse will take its place, a faceless terror that looms around any corner. If he did in fact exist and was the person he was made out to be, make no bones about it, there will be others and there will be many a brainwashed fanatic out there more than willing to continue his work and the saddest thing for us is we wont know who they are!
Ok say Osama did these crimes, for me to be truly satisfied I would have loved to have seen him have his day in court at least answer for some of his crimes. Both he and George Bush, it really amazes me how the world seems ok with the fact that this bra lead the world into an unnecessary war basically invaded another country because he didn’t like their government and so toppled it….because he can and that’s ok…nah man! Do the crime damn well best be prepared to do the time!
I guess this has all but guaranteed president Obama a second term in the Oval Office but even this invokes a feeling of indifference, because I think I have lost faith in there being a truly good guy left out there who is true to his word. In the beginning President Obama said the search for Osama was not his priority but the war on terror, today he says when he got into office his first command was to make the search for Osama top priority…POLITICIANS all the same…
Birthdays
18th Patrick, Emmanuel
19th Dini, Bronwyn
21st Thashneee, Anthosh, Ronelle
22nd Rowlene, Cedric
24th Tasneem, Kirsty
25th Lizelle, Shaka
26th Kwaku
29th Melody
1st May Nic
2nd Lilian, Michael
4th Gayreth
5th Nana, Peace
6th Mommy Taz
7th Shakira, Bishnen, Claude
We are different in this world, even in my family of 7(folks, 4 siblings and I) we are so different in many aspects but yet we are the same. That’s everyone in this world. Respect for each other, tolerance of our differences and acceptance that inspite of our lot in life, race, social standing, height and beliefs at the end of the day we are all humans alive one day, dead another…
Much love and respect!
Y
The last few days have been pretty interesting/significant in the history of the world. On Friday the 29th April, most of the world was on a go slow in order to witness a rich guy born into a fortunate family marry a pretty lass! Yes, I think it was a pretty massive non-event in my life not because I am a hater, but because I failed to see the relevance of the Royal family, theirs or any other royal family. What value do they add other than preserve some archaic order that in my mind has no real relevance in today’s world, but ey if that’s your thing, hope it was fantastic!! Kate’s sister is quite hot though ;)
Then on the 1st May, I heard on the 2nd May, the ‘Big One’ Osama Bin Laden dead. 11th September 2001, we all remember where we were when we heard about the falling of the twin towers. Roughly 3000 lives lost, blame…Osama. 1998 US embassy bombing in Kenya and Tanzania, 225 dead, blame…Osama, Bali, London, Spain. There are more I am sure but we will just focus on those for now. So for 3225 lives or so, the Western World set on a 10 year hide n seek adventure with Mr Bin Laden costing billions if not trillions, how many lives in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been lost, hundreds of thousands? The world is a whole lot more full of hate or should I say the world is now able to unveil its deep rooted prejudices and its almost acceptable….
Hey oh oh hey, democracy is the future. I mean look at what is happening in the Middle East, the people are tired, the people are speaking! What’s that song, we’re not gonna take it, no we aint gonna take it, we not gonna take it…anymore!! Some might argue that its all West induced, but I don’t buy that one, for the West to get 100s of thousands of people to risk their lives in the hope of a better life, to fight against a machine that has ruled their lives and the lives of their parents for many a year…well that means that they truly do believe in this quest of theirs and as such this was more their will than any external forces will.
So anyway this evening was the first time I tuned into the news stations to watch the sensationalism going on regarding Osama Bin Ladens death. To be honest when I heard of his death this morning, I think indifference is the word I can use to describe my emotion. Osama, dead or alive is all the same to me, not because I feel nothing for those lives that have been lost, but more because his death will make no difference. Before him there were others and after him there will be more. There is a lot of skepticism in me as well. Who was this man Osama, was he truly the master mind behind those horrid attacks on September 11, 2001? Yes says the US and the media machine, but they also told me Saddam had weapons of mass destruction of which they are yet to produce 1, they also assisted in selling the world a dream of a financial system that is fundamentally sound and a safe haven for my hard earned retirement funds, and we all know what happened to that! They set a man on the moon many years ago but haven’t done it again since…
What evidence do I have that this man truly existed in the form that he was portrayed to have been? When did independent somebody, have sight or a conversation with this man, was he really alive up until his reported death on the 2nd May or did he die a good few months/years ago? Yes there were a few strategically released video footages, which happened to occur prior to some election or announcement that the Bush administration was about to make, since then, there haven’t been too many videos released or his name mentioned too much.
What evidence do I have that even if he did exist, that he wasn’t made to become a scapegoat for a controlled explosion of the twin towers on September 11, a way to give this terror a face and allow the US and its allies a reason to go into Afghanistan and later Iraq so they can fulfill whatever their agenda is there?
What evidence do I have that there actually was a bad guy called Osama and he did all these bad things? I don’t think I will ever know now, because on the 1st May (2nd May for the soldiers and ‘Osama’) he was killed. I am well sure he could have been captured, shot to the shoulder disarm him, knee caps immobilize him and whala you have your guy, but nope, 2 shots to the head, and why not? Makes us the heros again no-one can ask questions. And to make certain of this, the body is dumped in the ocean. These people are pretty smart. No one is any wiser. DNA test, compare it to his deceased sister, ok thanks.
Aaaaaand they still go and try make matters worse and tell me that they gave him a proper Muslim burial?! You tell me how that is possible, when reports and footage of gross abuse, perpetrated by marines against captured Al Qaeda prisoners are being shown to the world and you are going to tell me that these self same people will provide any dignity to a man on the TOP of the CIA’s most wanted list, come now??!! Secondly which part of a proper Muslim burial was he afforded, was it the prayer for the forgiveness of sins or his grave being perpendicular to the Qibla (Mecca), ie his body lying on the right hand side facing Mecca, what they sent navy divers to the sea bottom to dig the grave?…err me thinks not, but call me a skeptic if you must!
For me though the saddest pictures I saw were the jubilant celebrations at ground zero and all over America over his death. Tell me what justice that is? Will the lives of your mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, son, friend, husband, wife be restored? Not so much!! Will the thousands that have died as a result of this war on terror’s lives be restored….ehh not so much! Willl the trillions that has been spent on this farcical war come back to fill up the ever increasing US coffers? Emmm not so much! Will the many young soldiers who lost their lives out there fighting a pretty winless war return home to their grieving mothers…mmm not so much! Is the world a safer place now….mm not so much. So does this mean that now when I fly I can leave my laptop in my bag, have a can of deo in my bag so the person sitting next to me doesn’t have to smell my pits, leave my shoes on and not have to go through stupid x-ray machines that is radiating(germinating) those lovely cancer cells?? Au contraire security is so gonna be heightened now! All these scenes of jubilation just fuels the hate! Soundbites stating this is a good day for America, someone please tell me what good it does anyone?! What is there to be jubilant about then? There is no closure, there is no explanation why those lives were lost! The face of this terror is no more, but something worse will take its place, a faceless terror that looms around any corner. If he did in fact exist and was the person he was made out to be, make no bones about it, there will be others and there will be many a brainwashed fanatic out there more than willing to continue his work and the saddest thing for us is we wont know who they are!
Ok say Osama did these crimes, for me to be truly satisfied I would have loved to have seen him have his day in court at least answer for some of his crimes. Both he and George Bush, it really amazes me how the world seems ok with the fact that this bra lead the world into an unnecessary war basically invaded another country because he didn’t like their government and so toppled it….because he can and that’s ok…nah man! Do the crime damn well best be prepared to do the time!
I guess this has all but guaranteed president Obama a second term in the Oval Office but even this invokes a feeling of indifference, because I think I have lost faith in there being a truly good guy left out there who is true to his word. In the beginning President Obama said the search for Osama was not his priority but the war on terror, today he says when he got into office his first command was to make the search for Osama top priority…POLITICIANS all the same…
Birthdays
18th Patrick, Emmanuel
19th Dini, Bronwyn
21st Thashneee, Anthosh, Ronelle
22nd Rowlene, Cedric
24th Tasneem, Kirsty
25th Lizelle, Shaka
26th Kwaku
29th Melody
1st May Nic
2nd Lilian, Michael
4th Gayreth
5th Nana, Peace
6th Mommy Taz
7th Shakira, Bishnen, Claude
We are different in this world, even in my family of 7(folks, 4 siblings and I) we are so different in many aspects but yet we are the same. That’s everyone in this world. Respect for each other, tolerance of our differences and acceptance that inspite of our lot in life, race, social standing, height and beliefs at the end of the day we are all humans alive one day, dead another…
Much love and respect!
Y
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
More money more problems...
Greetings to you all, hope you guys are having a more eventful day than a bit of Michael Buble playing in the background, email pings going off and gloomy weather out yonder…but I say this yet I sit here with a we bit of excitement/anxiety ☺. I am off to Ghana tomorrow for a few days, don’t get me wrong there are some pretty rock star Ghanaians, but there is nothing like going back to the roots to get a bit of grounding and perspective…well here is to hoping and opportunities! ☺ yep you see…always looking to the next thing…hence this weeks email!!
So early yesterday morning I was fortunate enough to head out to a good friend’s house and have a few sets of tennis before my normal day began. My tennis has gone to the dogs, but that’s a function of my fitness, but halfway through the match I said to him boss, this is the life man. Two, three years ago that was not the case, it was all about hustling, growing the business, dealing with peoples admin dealing with admin, stressing, money money money. Don’t get me wrong things haven’t changed much, other than I sleep less, always looking for opportunities, I deal with a whole lot more peoples admin because I guess I require their assistance, I still stress possibly even more now and I am definitely chasing tin, which seems to be a problem because it seems to be running faster than I can so I am not catching it, but we will persevere.
This blog has been floating around for a while but last night when I was watching BBC, I saw a little insert where they were talking about Britons who have embarked on a campaign to generate happiness. The reason for this is because they have noticed that even though a large number of Britons have gained much in respect of material wealth and the level of sophistication society has suffered in terms of moral fibre etc. check out their website: http://www.actionforhappiness.org/
I spend a lot of time observing and pondering the world around me and myself. My observation over the last few years being in large corporate and my previous job/business, is that the world around me/us is becoming a whole lot more depressed and self absorbed. Everyone is earning more now than 15 years ago, yet 15 years ago we were happier. Yes fair enough we were at university, school or just fresh out of uni, but mind you we still had some responsibilities, such as rent, expenses and passing our exams etc. Similar to the responsibilities now, except for the fact that the responsibilities have grown exponentially.
What this means is we are constantly out to chase what we don’t have as opposed to really appreciating what we have been blessed with. Simple example we chase tin (money right) and we get it, we become wealthy, yet we spend our lives infront of a laptop till silly hours, spend many a night in a hotel room or airplane cabin. Say you have a young family, wife/husband, boy/girlfriend…what does that do to your relationship at home. Lets forget that. Say you are spending 2 out of every 4 weeks a month in Brazil trying to close this insane deal. You are mr/s Bigshot, you meet Seniorita Angelica/ Senior Ramon on your first trip and almost regularly every trip there after because she frequents the same restaurant…you grow a fondness….moral fibre gone…I am sure some people are reading this and thinking hmm is it really so bad? That’s where we are right now. Go to Hush/Taboo, blow plenty deniros on Verve have some champagne ho’s (with respect ofcourse) floating around…sneak off with one or 4 of them…Moral decay is rife and ofcourse that will lead to unhappiness. Whilst doing it you might think you are the business and you most probably are, I am not judging here, just calling it…
We still interact with our friends and the community around us but at a much more superficial level when compared to before. There lack of real meaningful human interaction. Yeah we meet with our colleagues daily, friends from time to time, but do we engage properly? Hardly! Go out tonight and see. A person will be with their friends or family but instead of focusing on the one they are with their heads are bowed looking at their cell phones, even if they are not, they are thinking about what someone could have sent them or what Pdiddy has tweeted.
But what do you do? Most of us I guess are unaware that we are unhappy because we are just carrying on…just living. The thing though is its easy to get the love back in the world. Like in the old days a look in the eye and a handshake meant a truck load, but today we have to sign mammoth legal agreements. Trust for your fellow man is gone. In the past it was the unwritten law that another girl/boyfriend was just off limits to their mates… no such luck, now its like it’s a sport. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say was nothing special, it was just how it was. We don’t exercise much, just get in the car and drive everywhere. Sit the whole day, get home jump on the couch and sit some more, eat at 10pm and go to sleep same thing the next day… Get out exercise interact. Most importantly and very simply, just being generally nice to each other, greet a stranger. The look on a guy/gal at a traffic light when you give them something, out of the blue…priceless…simple things. One example cited by the BBC insert was instead of making coffee or tea for one when you get, make for everyone around you, by now you should know what they drink and how seeing as you spend all day and night with them…
The site lists 10 keys to happiness namely:
Giving, Relating, Exercising, Appreciating, Trying out…Direction, Resilience, Emotion, Acceptance, Meaning
Birthdays
3rd Shan
4th Otto
5th Kirst Nethers
9th Gontse
10th Tania, Langa
13th Debbie/Jonty
14th Justin, Dominique
15th Zuko, Oren
16th Uncle Mike, Samantha
Stop…breathe…respect…appreciate!
Mucho smiles! !
So early yesterday morning I was fortunate enough to head out to a good friend’s house and have a few sets of tennis before my normal day began. My tennis has gone to the dogs, but that’s a function of my fitness, but halfway through the match I said to him boss, this is the life man. Two, three years ago that was not the case, it was all about hustling, growing the business, dealing with peoples admin dealing with admin, stressing, money money money. Don’t get me wrong things haven’t changed much, other than I sleep less, always looking for opportunities, I deal with a whole lot more peoples admin because I guess I require their assistance, I still stress possibly even more now and I am definitely chasing tin, which seems to be a problem because it seems to be running faster than I can so I am not catching it, but we will persevere.
This blog has been floating around for a while but last night when I was watching BBC, I saw a little insert where they were talking about Britons who have embarked on a campaign to generate happiness. The reason for this is because they have noticed that even though a large number of Britons have gained much in respect of material wealth and the level of sophistication society has suffered in terms of moral fibre etc. check out their website: http://www.actionforhappiness.org/
I spend a lot of time observing and pondering the world around me and myself. My observation over the last few years being in large corporate and my previous job/business, is that the world around me/us is becoming a whole lot more depressed and self absorbed. Everyone is earning more now than 15 years ago, yet 15 years ago we were happier. Yes fair enough we were at university, school or just fresh out of uni, but mind you we still had some responsibilities, such as rent, expenses and passing our exams etc. Similar to the responsibilities now, except for the fact that the responsibilities have grown exponentially.
What this means is we are constantly out to chase what we don’t have as opposed to really appreciating what we have been blessed with. Simple example we chase tin (money right) and we get it, we become wealthy, yet we spend our lives infront of a laptop till silly hours, spend many a night in a hotel room or airplane cabin. Say you have a young family, wife/husband, boy/girlfriend…what does that do to your relationship at home. Lets forget that. Say you are spending 2 out of every 4 weeks a month in Brazil trying to close this insane deal. You are mr/s Bigshot, you meet Seniorita Angelica/ Senior Ramon on your first trip and almost regularly every trip there after because she frequents the same restaurant…you grow a fondness….moral fibre gone…I am sure some people are reading this and thinking hmm is it really so bad? That’s where we are right now. Go to Hush/Taboo, blow plenty deniros on Verve have some champagne ho’s (with respect ofcourse) floating around…sneak off with one or 4 of them…Moral decay is rife and ofcourse that will lead to unhappiness. Whilst doing it you might think you are the business and you most probably are, I am not judging here, just calling it…
We still interact with our friends and the community around us but at a much more superficial level when compared to before. There lack of real meaningful human interaction. Yeah we meet with our colleagues daily, friends from time to time, but do we engage properly? Hardly! Go out tonight and see. A person will be with their friends or family but instead of focusing on the one they are with their heads are bowed looking at their cell phones, even if they are not, they are thinking about what someone could have sent them or what Pdiddy has tweeted.
But what do you do? Most of us I guess are unaware that we are unhappy because we are just carrying on…just living. The thing though is its easy to get the love back in the world. Like in the old days a look in the eye and a handshake meant a truck load, but today we have to sign mammoth legal agreements. Trust for your fellow man is gone. In the past it was the unwritten law that another girl/boyfriend was just off limits to their mates… no such luck, now its like it’s a sport. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say was nothing special, it was just how it was. We don’t exercise much, just get in the car and drive everywhere. Sit the whole day, get home jump on the couch and sit some more, eat at 10pm and go to sleep same thing the next day… Get out exercise interact. Most importantly and very simply, just being generally nice to each other, greet a stranger. The look on a guy/gal at a traffic light when you give them something, out of the blue…priceless…simple things. One example cited by the BBC insert was instead of making coffee or tea for one when you get, make for everyone around you, by now you should know what they drink and how seeing as you spend all day and night with them…
The site lists 10 keys to happiness namely:
Giving, Relating, Exercising, Appreciating, Trying out…Direction, Resilience, Emotion, Acceptance, Meaning
Birthdays
3rd Shan
4th Otto
5th Kirst Nethers
9th Gontse
10th Tania, Langa
13th Debbie/Jonty
14th Justin, Dominique
15th Zuko, Oren
16th Uncle Mike, Samantha
Stop…breathe…respect…appreciate!
Mucho smiles! !
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Even if you think Helen Zille dances like a monkey, there are some real things about her you should know
Politics is nasty business I tell you. I spend a fair bit of time watching Al Jazeera, BBC, e-News and CNN reading the Times online etc. and I can’t help but shake my head at the manner in which politicians conduct themselves. In one instance we have a politician who believes that the country belongs to him and his family and they are the only ones capable of running a country then we have instances where the people who voted you into power have voted you out of power and you refuse to go and the only way you will go is if the city is bombed and people are killed. I don’t know bru?!! I shake my head still as I write this.
So this week I log on to get my daily news highlights and boom front page there is an allegation of an insinuation that Julius made mention that Helen Zille dances like a monkey. If that was said or not and if it was in reference to Mrs Zille, I know not because I was not there nor did I say it. But it got me thinking again. Is it necessary this mud slinging? Is it because I have nothing else to base my attacks on that I have to attack something as trivial as the way a leader of the opposition party dances? Anyway so I know that Helen Zille has some struggle credentials, so I decided to take some time out and google her and came across her biography on Wikipedia.
She was born in Jozi, schooled in St Mary’s then varsity at Wits. She joined the Rand Daily mail a newspaper in that time. She was very politically active in her early days, a strong anti-apartheid campaigner. In Sept 1977 after the NP government put out a statement that Steve Biko had died of an extended hunger strike, her and her editor Alistair Sparks smelt a rat and so they went digging. They managed to find 2 doctors who confirmed their suspicion. They broke the story that Steve Biko had in fact died from head injuries. Anglo American took over the newspaper a few years later and asked the editor to tone it down a little she then left and moved to CT I think. She became a member of the Black Sash an organization founded by Jean Sinclair in 1955, This organization was a non-violent, white women’s movement against the apartheid system which included the ‘Pass laws”. The Black Sash disbanded or metamorphosised into some other non-racial women’s movement after 1994 after the period where political parties were unbanned and Mr Mandela was released from prison. Mrs Zille also campaigned to end conscription in the Western Cape. Add to that the fact that in 2008 she was awarded the WORLD Mayor award out of 820 other mayors for the work she did in the Western Cape, regarding crime, drug abuse etc.
So I then googled Julius Malema and to be honest there is nothing by way of achievement listed on there other than being the leader of the ANC Youth League. Maybe it hasn’t been recorded as yet but there is no mention of any positive contribution or input that he has made that has benefitted even a section of the country. And please, I am not buying into this big media machine, I live in Joburg and I am in Cape Town often, yes fair enough I don’t go to Khayelitsha and Gugs often but to be honest I don’t spend much time in Alex or Soweto when I am in Jozi and the places I do go to in CPT work, I’d like to say the same thing about Jozi, I live in the burbs and the roads here are poked, traffic lights are constantly on the blink. BUUUUUTTTT that’s not the aim of this email, all I wanted to do was give people some insight into this face of the opposition who in my mind has done more for the people of this country than some of her detractors. She walks or at least has walked the talk.
Birthdays
27th March Thuli Z, Fedile
28th Nigel K
29th Philip R, Marc W
30th Randall
1st Gorata, Grace
3rd Shannon
4th Otto
5th Kirsty v/d B
Take care
Y
So this week I log on to get my daily news highlights and boom front page there is an allegation of an insinuation that Julius made mention that Helen Zille dances like a monkey. If that was said or not and if it was in reference to Mrs Zille, I know not because I was not there nor did I say it. But it got me thinking again. Is it necessary this mud slinging? Is it because I have nothing else to base my attacks on that I have to attack something as trivial as the way a leader of the opposition party dances? Anyway so I know that Helen Zille has some struggle credentials, so I decided to take some time out and google her and came across her biography on Wikipedia.
She was born in Jozi, schooled in St Mary’s then varsity at Wits. She joined the Rand Daily mail a newspaper in that time. She was very politically active in her early days, a strong anti-apartheid campaigner. In Sept 1977 after the NP government put out a statement that Steve Biko had died of an extended hunger strike, her and her editor Alistair Sparks smelt a rat and so they went digging. They managed to find 2 doctors who confirmed their suspicion. They broke the story that Steve Biko had in fact died from head injuries. Anglo American took over the newspaper a few years later and asked the editor to tone it down a little she then left and moved to CT I think. She became a member of the Black Sash an organization founded by Jean Sinclair in 1955, This organization was a non-violent, white women’s movement against the apartheid system which included the ‘Pass laws”. The Black Sash disbanded or metamorphosised into some other non-racial women’s movement after 1994 after the period where political parties were unbanned and Mr Mandela was released from prison. Mrs Zille also campaigned to end conscription in the Western Cape. Add to that the fact that in 2008 she was awarded the WORLD Mayor award out of 820 other mayors for the work she did in the Western Cape, regarding crime, drug abuse etc.
So I then googled Julius Malema and to be honest there is nothing by way of achievement listed on there other than being the leader of the ANC Youth League. Maybe it hasn’t been recorded as yet but there is no mention of any positive contribution or input that he has made that has benefitted even a section of the country. And please, I am not buying into this big media machine, I live in Joburg and I am in Cape Town often, yes fair enough I don’t go to Khayelitsha and Gugs often but to be honest I don’t spend much time in Alex or Soweto when I am in Jozi and the places I do go to in CPT work, I’d like to say the same thing about Jozi, I live in the burbs and the roads here are poked, traffic lights are constantly on the blink. BUUUUUTTTT that’s not the aim of this email, all I wanted to do was give people some insight into this face of the opposition who in my mind has done more for the people of this country than some of her detractors. She walks or at least has walked the talk.
Birthdays
27th March Thuli Z, Fedile
28th Nigel K
29th Philip R, Marc W
30th Randall
1st Gorata, Grace
3rd Shannon
4th Otto
5th Kirsty v/d B
Take care
Y
Friday, March 25, 2011
UN 'no fly zone' over Libya, human rights protection of regime change?
Why, why why does the world insist on treating me like I am a stupid? Why eh? Warm greetings to you wherever you are, I hope this email finds you well and in great spirits if for nothing at all at least for the fact that its Friday and you have 2 days to ‘yourself’.
Ok so to this week’s observation. These guys from the west thing we are dof eh? Right so Gadaffi yeah the man is a bit looney at the moment and has dropped a few bombs on his own people and is subjecting his people to a whole lot of lunacy! I aint saying that its right but what I’m saying is that its not new. Tiananmen Square in China, Tibet and the Chinese government, something a little closer or more recent, Ivory coast, I have just read that the recorded cost of the unrest post elections is 462 lives, a little further south we have our good friend Robert, there is Bahrain where the government has brought in troops who are allowed to use force on its own people and have.
There isn’t much difference between these other countries and Libya. All these leaders think they know best(like all other leaders I guess). Their actions have or is still leading to civilian deaths and human rights violations, yet in none of these instances have I heard a single muttering of the UN security council putting out a resolution to protect the human rights of the population. No No No…
You know I look at the pictures from Libya and the size of the demonstrators compare those to those in Tunisia and Egypt for example, I am like oh give me a break really?!! A couple of hundred maybe a few thousand as compared to tens of thousands. Then you look at the demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, largely unarmed protestors, yet in Libya we have armed forces who are revolting against the regime and who does the UN intervene to assist? What message does that send to the world?
This whole Libya thing is plenty fishy to me. Yes Gadaffi has been there way too long and its time to take a stroll it is, I mean over 40 years in power treated his people relatively well. Its currently Africa’s richest country, its population is defined by the World Bank as upper middle income. Even though unemployment levels are roughly 21%, Libya has low levels of absolute and relative poverty. So in relation to a lot of the other African countries, Libyans are kind of taken care of…if you don’t mind not having human rights ☺. Please do forgive me because I am no political analyst or reporter, just your average Joe passing commentary like most others, but so for 40 odd years the Libyan machine has been plodding along, there have been no undertones, In Egypt for example there have been calls for reform from the people which was echoed by President Obama when he visited there earlier on in his term, so that uprising wasn’t a surprise, but who would ever have guessed it would happen in Libya.
I digress, the uprising, it happened, but the degree to which it happened well I think it is negligible when compared to those that preceded it, yet they were loud enough to warrant an audience at the United Nations, maybe it was the sound of the gunfire from the opposition rebels that got the attention of the UN, because clearly silent deaths don’t really matter much to them. Be that as it may in around 48 hours the powers that be managed to push through a resolution that declared a no-fly zone over Libya…well done! BUTTTT a few hours later jets are scrambled and they start bombing military assets of Gadaffi…did I miss something> what happened to a bit of dialogue, see what the problem is and how best it can be dealt with…nooo…we start by bombing! Can you say suspect. Meanwhile whilst bombing yeah, the constant message is “we aren’t aiming for a regime change, just protecting the rights of the Libyan people”. RIGHT!!! Its definitely not about the proven 47billion barrels of oil reserves that Libya currently holds, I mean what are you talking about Willis??! Its all about human rights yeah and I am a Nobel Peace Prize laureate! The west knows too well that they will have to silence Gadaffi else he will teach them ala Lockerbie or the British flight (I think it was) that was blown up in the African skies.
I think you all can see where I am going with this. And China how smart of them to fence sit indirectly. As a nation they have the ability to veto any resolution should they feel strongly about it. They were happy to vote in favour of sanctions, but when it came to the no fly zone resolution vote, they opted to abstain and shout “hey stop it you are hurting them’ from the sidelines instead, go figure, is it because they too have their own question marks over the human rights afforded its people??
It absolutely sickens me the hypocrisy of some of these western rulers, who conduct the self same atrocities that they wish to rid nations of but the come under the guise of the protectors of the world…ie the UN. Iraq, WMD….ie OIL, same thing here in Libya. Gadaffi is a tad looney, well judging by some of the rhetoric I have heard him utter over the last few weeks and I am well sure his time was up many years ago, but the people must make this happen not westerners, I laughed when I saw Italy was part of the peace keeping force, those guys are about to be declared bankrupt as a nation yet they have time and money to be sending out soldiers and bombs in the name of human rights, what about using that money to reduce your impending debt burden which will in turn preserve the human rights of your own people.
Another question I have is after Gadaffi then who? Its not like Libya has a flourishing multiparty democracy. There is definitely going to be another power vacuum akin to Afghanistan and Iraq in which the negative elements will thrive!
I guess in this world, he with the biggest gun…and most bullets rules! I don’t mind that the resolution was passed, I have a problem with a) its application and b) the consistency of the UN, because they should have tackled China, Zim and the Ivory Coast first before telling me that this is in the interest of protecting human rights!
Birthdays
21st Mike Cross
22nd Emily, Raj
23rd Tim, Funmi, Glenda
25th Damsie
And Im out till next time…
Ok so to this week’s observation. These guys from the west thing we are dof eh? Right so Gadaffi yeah the man is a bit looney at the moment and has dropped a few bombs on his own people and is subjecting his people to a whole lot of lunacy! I aint saying that its right but what I’m saying is that its not new. Tiananmen Square in China, Tibet and the Chinese government, something a little closer or more recent, Ivory coast, I have just read that the recorded cost of the unrest post elections is 462 lives, a little further south we have our good friend Robert, there is Bahrain where the government has brought in troops who are allowed to use force on its own people and have.
There isn’t much difference between these other countries and Libya. All these leaders think they know best(like all other leaders I guess). Their actions have or is still leading to civilian deaths and human rights violations, yet in none of these instances have I heard a single muttering of the UN security council putting out a resolution to protect the human rights of the population. No No No…
You know I look at the pictures from Libya and the size of the demonstrators compare those to those in Tunisia and Egypt for example, I am like oh give me a break really?!! A couple of hundred maybe a few thousand as compared to tens of thousands. Then you look at the demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt, largely unarmed protestors, yet in Libya we have armed forces who are revolting against the regime and who does the UN intervene to assist? What message does that send to the world?
This whole Libya thing is plenty fishy to me. Yes Gadaffi has been there way too long and its time to take a stroll it is, I mean over 40 years in power treated his people relatively well. Its currently Africa’s richest country, its population is defined by the World Bank as upper middle income. Even though unemployment levels are roughly 21%, Libya has low levels of absolute and relative poverty. So in relation to a lot of the other African countries, Libyans are kind of taken care of…if you don’t mind not having human rights ☺. Please do forgive me because I am no political analyst or reporter, just your average Joe passing commentary like most others, but so for 40 odd years the Libyan machine has been plodding along, there have been no undertones, In Egypt for example there have been calls for reform from the people which was echoed by President Obama when he visited there earlier on in his term, so that uprising wasn’t a surprise, but who would ever have guessed it would happen in Libya.
I digress, the uprising, it happened, but the degree to which it happened well I think it is negligible when compared to those that preceded it, yet they were loud enough to warrant an audience at the United Nations, maybe it was the sound of the gunfire from the opposition rebels that got the attention of the UN, because clearly silent deaths don’t really matter much to them. Be that as it may in around 48 hours the powers that be managed to push through a resolution that declared a no-fly zone over Libya…well done! BUTTTT a few hours later jets are scrambled and they start bombing military assets of Gadaffi…did I miss something> what happened to a bit of dialogue, see what the problem is and how best it can be dealt with…nooo…we start by bombing! Can you say suspect. Meanwhile whilst bombing yeah, the constant message is “we aren’t aiming for a regime change, just protecting the rights of the Libyan people”. RIGHT!!! Its definitely not about the proven 47billion barrels of oil reserves that Libya currently holds, I mean what are you talking about Willis??! Its all about human rights yeah and I am a Nobel Peace Prize laureate! The west knows too well that they will have to silence Gadaffi else he will teach them ala Lockerbie or the British flight (I think it was) that was blown up in the African skies.
I think you all can see where I am going with this. And China how smart of them to fence sit indirectly. As a nation they have the ability to veto any resolution should they feel strongly about it. They were happy to vote in favour of sanctions, but when it came to the no fly zone resolution vote, they opted to abstain and shout “hey stop it you are hurting them’ from the sidelines instead, go figure, is it because they too have their own question marks over the human rights afforded its people??
It absolutely sickens me the hypocrisy of some of these western rulers, who conduct the self same atrocities that they wish to rid nations of but the come under the guise of the protectors of the world…ie the UN. Iraq, WMD….ie OIL, same thing here in Libya. Gadaffi is a tad looney, well judging by some of the rhetoric I have heard him utter over the last few weeks and I am well sure his time was up many years ago, but the people must make this happen not westerners, I laughed when I saw Italy was part of the peace keeping force, those guys are about to be declared bankrupt as a nation yet they have time and money to be sending out soldiers and bombs in the name of human rights, what about using that money to reduce your impending debt burden which will in turn preserve the human rights of your own people.
Another question I have is after Gadaffi then who? Its not like Libya has a flourishing multiparty democracy. There is definitely going to be another power vacuum akin to Afghanistan and Iraq in which the negative elements will thrive!
I guess in this world, he with the biggest gun…and most bullets rules! I don’t mind that the resolution was passed, I have a problem with a) its application and b) the consistency of the UN, because they should have tackled China, Zim and the Ivory Coast first before telling me that this is in the interest of protecting human rights!
Birthdays
21st Mike Cross
22nd Emily, Raj
23rd Tim, Funmi, Glenda
25th Damsie
And Im out till next time…
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Japan...local government elections in SA
A few weeks ago, I decided to finally pick up my Bible and read the New Testament. If you are going to do it let me save you some time, Matthew, Mark and Luke….exactly the same story, written differently…save yourself, start from Luke, wish someone had told me ☺ anyway so I was reading yesterday and I came across these few verses that stood out for me in light of where the world is at the moment…
”He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven….” LUKE 21:8-11
I’m not saying anything, it made for interesting reading just thought I’d share that with you all. You know I sit and watch what’s going on in Japan (and Christchurch) and I can’t help but smile and applaud the fact that the human spirit is far from dead. Many of us can learn from the manner in which the Japanese are carrying on with things. People from different parts of the respective countries helping each other, no looting, guys seem to be just trying to move forward, fair enough I am not there and all I see is what is being reported, but I am not seeing images of people running into shops stepping over dead or dying people and saying yo new Nokia, Sony Vaio thank you very much…what would happen if God forbid, such a catastrophe was to hit our shores/this continent? Are we even prepared for any such disaster? Worse still how will our people react?
But lets forget about that and come back to the present. Last weekend we had our last voter registration drive for our local government elections. Now I consider myself pretty ok in terms of education, but I have but a feint idea of how this local government election process works, in terms of these so called wards, how ward councilor are selected and how it all ties into the greater local government spiel! What concerns me even more is when I am listening to 702 (a talk radio station here in SA) and I hear people calling in and saying their sisters domestic worker is running to be ward councilor, no disrespect but I am sure to be a ward councilor you have to have some sort of basic education level and ability to deliver, now I am not saying she doesn’t or cant, but the odds are stacked up against her not so?
So now that all steam rolls into service delivery shortcomings that we are experiencing in so many overlooked areas. We have potholes in roads that year are after year get patched up instead of the roads being redone in its entirety? Because next year, come the rains the same pothole will appear, you will fix it after 1 month, next rains it will reappear and the cycle continues. We have situations where mayors are telling us that there is no problem when 65000 or so people have complained about overbilling. Even if its 5 it’s a problem. We have a situation where roads have been built, the method of recouping costs have been discussed prior to the projects commencing. Now all of a sudden it’s a problem, duh any smart person would have known that it would have been a problem earlier. Watch after the elections if even boom back to 66c/km its all electioneering.
You know the truth though is that I for one am living the life I am living because of the ANC. Yes, I went to school, studied kinda hard, worked kinda hard ;) etc. But say 1994 hadn’t happened, firstly would I have been afforded a bursary by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in my final years at university, which guaranteed me a job? Not too likely there have been a National Empowerment Fund, not too likely. Would Standard Bank have been interested in hiring me? Would it have been as attractive for my ex partner at Habari to partner up with me in our little Joburg operation? Not a sausage. Would I have been able to own property, hang where I choose and with whom I choose etc… and the list goes on…
I am grateful, because a lot of people have an opportunity because the ANC said no more and the world listened and helped. But does my gratitude mean that I should sit down and watch the ideals for which (in my mind) they stood for become eroded. There are glaring signs of this. Convicted fraudsters out on bail behaving as he pleases and being allowed to, buildings being allegedly fraudulently purchased but no person of power has come out and said NO, this is nonsense, instead the investigators are being harassed and targeted. There is so much more, deals happen all the time so I wont even bring that in. I just haven’t seen anything this new administration has brought in themselves, a lot of what’s been currently done is a continuation of the Mbeki era.
I comment as a layman who wants to see a better SA for all and not another failed African state. But for this to happen accountability is paramount. I am not privy to the inner workings of the ruling party, which in itself to me points to a lack of leadership, because as a leader you would want your supporters know what you are doing, how and when which would instill continued confidence in the electorate.
So come to a lot of peoples dillema. Who to vote for? There is no viable opposition for many people because many people see the DA as a white party, sad but true, and there will have to be a lot done to change these perceptions. Personally I like Madam Zille, she is a gazillion times better than Tony Leon. She has walked the struggle walk, she talks the talk of the people, all people. But the reality is from where this country has come it will be hard for them to do better than the western and maybe northern cape. COPE what a sorry sorry state. A party that was to give many hope, ends up being a hopeless quarrel between 2 power hungry buffoons (with respect). The confidence in the party and its ability to govern a country…province is nowhere, because it cant even govern itself. Where are respectable politicians like Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka? Is there no one that can steer this COPE ship, because what this country needs is an opposition of some credibility and no disrespect to the DA because I think they do a fine job of that, but what you need is a party capable of taking votes away from the ruling party if they aren’t on their toes. In that case we will hopefully see an about turn in service delivery and accountability…
I really love this place. Even though some may call me a makwerekwere, its been home forever and its given much to me, hopefully I have given much back but I think its time for us all to be accountable too, we have some sort of a voice or ability and time. It doesn’t take much for us to try and make a difference. www.cheesekids.org.za teach someone, help build something somehere, whenever you can or whatever you can for however long. I don’t know old clothes to someone. It seems like nothing now but it all counts when you are counting how do you get to 100? You start off at 1 not so (tsk tsk just thought of that one now haaaaa) anyway when election time comes, get off your bum, stand in the queue and make your mark you think it doesn’t matter if you do or you don’t but trust me it does!
Anyway have yourselves a marvelous Thursday and if you are in South Africa have a great long weekend, Human Rights day in these parts. 21 March 1960, a couple of 100 people injured, about 69 killed when police opened fire on people demonstrating about the pass laws, we’ve come a long way, lets not go back!
Birthdays
15 Jules
16 Zaheer
18th Nasrin
Take care,
Y
”He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven….” LUKE 21:8-11
I’m not saying anything, it made for interesting reading just thought I’d share that with you all. You know I sit and watch what’s going on in Japan (and Christchurch) and I can’t help but smile and applaud the fact that the human spirit is far from dead. Many of us can learn from the manner in which the Japanese are carrying on with things. People from different parts of the respective countries helping each other, no looting, guys seem to be just trying to move forward, fair enough I am not there and all I see is what is being reported, but I am not seeing images of people running into shops stepping over dead or dying people and saying yo new Nokia, Sony Vaio thank you very much…what would happen if God forbid, such a catastrophe was to hit our shores/this continent? Are we even prepared for any such disaster? Worse still how will our people react?
But lets forget about that and come back to the present. Last weekend we had our last voter registration drive for our local government elections. Now I consider myself pretty ok in terms of education, but I have but a feint idea of how this local government election process works, in terms of these so called wards, how ward councilor are selected and how it all ties into the greater local government spiel! What concerns me even more is when I am listening to 702 (a talk radio station here in SA) and I hear people calling in and saying their sisters domestic worker is running to be ward councilor, no disrespect but I am sure to be a ward councilor you have to have some sort of basic education level and ability to deliver, now I am not saying she doesn’t or cant, but the odds are stacked up against her not so?
So now that all steam rolls into service delivery shortcomings that we are experiencing in so many overlooked areas. We have potholes in roads that year are after year get patched up instead of the roads being redone in its entirety? Because next year, come the rains the same pothole will appear, you will fix it after 1 month, next rains it will reappear and the cycle continues. We have situations where mayors are telling us that there is no problem when 65000 or so people have complained about overbilling. Even if its 5 it’s a problem. We have a situation where roads have been built, the method of recouping costs have been discussed prior to the projects commencing. Now all of a sudden it’s a problem, duh any smart person would have known that it would have been a problem earlier. Watch after the elections if even boom back to 66c/km its all electioneering.
You know the truth though is that I for one am living the life I am living because of the ANC. Yes, I went to school, studied kinda hard, worked kinda hard ;) etc. But say 1994 hadn’t happened, firstly would I have been afforded a bursary by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in my final years at university, which guaranteed me a job? Not too likely there have been a National Empowerment Fund, not too likely. Would Standard Bank have been interested in hiring me? Would it have been as attractive for my ex partner at Habari to partner up with me in our little Joburg operation? Not a sausage. Would I have been able to own property, hang where I choose and with whom I choose etc… and the list goes on…
I am grateful, because a lot of people have an opportunity because the ANC said no more and the world listened and helped. But does my gratitude mean that I should sit down and watch the ideals for which (in my mind) they stood for become eroded. There are glaring signs of this. Convicted fraudsters out on bail behaving as he pleases and being allowed to, buildings being allegedly fraudulently purchased but no person of power has come out and said NO, this is nonsense, instead the investigators are being harassed and targeted. There is so much more, deals happen all the time so I wont even bring that in. I just haven’t seen anything this new administration has brought in themselves, a lot of what’s been currently done is a continuation of the Mbeki era.
I comment as a layman who wants to see a better SA for all and not another failed African state. But for this to happen accountability is paramount. I am not privy to the inner workings of the ruling party, which in itself to me points to a lack of leadership, because as a leader you would want your supporters know what you are doing, how and when which would instill continued confidence in the electorate.
So come to a lot of peoples dillema. Who to vote for? There is no viable opposition for many people because many people see the DA as a white party, sad but true, and there will have to be a lot done to change these perceptions. Personally I like Madam Zille, she is a gazillion times better than Tony Leon. She has walked the struggle walk, she talks the talk of the people, all people. But the reality is from where this country has come it will be hard for them to do better than the western and maybe northern cape. COPE what a sorry sorry state. A party that was to give many hope, ends up being a hopeless quarrel between 2 power hungry buffoons (with respect). The confidence in the party and its ability to govern a country…province is nowhere, because it cant even govern itself. Where are respectable politicians like Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka? Is there no one that can steer this COPE ship, because what this country needs is an opposition of some credibility and no disrespect to the DA because I think they do a fine job of that, but what you need is a party capable of taking votes away from the ruling party if they aren’t on their toes. In that case we will hopefully see an about turn in service delivery and accountability…
I really love this place. Even though some may call me a makwerekwere, its been home forever and its given much to me, hopefully I have given much back but I think its time for us all to be accountable too, we have some sort of a voice or ability and time. It doesn’t take much for us to try and make a difference. www.cheesekids.org.za teach someone, help build something somehere, whenever you can or whatever you can for however long. I don’t know old clothes to someone. It seems like nothing now but it all counts when you are counting how do you get to 100? You start off at 1 not so (tsk tsk just thought of that one now haaaaa) anyway when election time comes, get off your bum, stand in the queue and make your mark you think it doesn’t matter if you do or you don’t but trust me it does!
Anyway have yourselves a marvelous Thursday and if you are in South Africa have a great long weekend, Human Rights day in these parts. 21 March 1960, a couple of 100 people injured, about 69 killed when police opened fire on people demonstrating about the pass laws, we’ve come a long way, lets not go back!
Birthdays
15 Jules
16 Zaheer
18th Nasrin
Take care,
Y
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Whose morality is it anyway?
The world and people have become even more fascinating for an inquisitive soul like mine. Let's start with a simple question that most...
-
The world and people have become even more fascinating for an inquisitive soul like mine. Let's start with a simple question that most... -
So he is a little story to tell. But to begin I need to provide a little context. First off, I am a man of faith, I am either physically a...