Reasons to celebrate
Creation of a black elite
Eskom regular power cuts
Rising food prices & interest rates
Abortion and gay marriages
Spiralling crime
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Wednesday 23 April 2008
Why South Africans hate immigrants
Xenophobia hides behind a string of unconvincing reasons
The attacks by South Africans on foreigners are heartrending. Whether a person is in the country legally or otherwise we cannot sit and fold our arms while the dark flame of xenophobia engulfs the African nation.
During the apartheid years illegal migrant workers from Mozambique, fleeing the civil war in their country, settled in the black townships and lived peacefully with the locals. They used fake ID’s and surnames; they were taunted sometimes but they remained part of our communities.
After the 1994 democratic elections, the government allowed people from other African countries to move freely in and out of the country. Africans fleeing hunger, civil wars, repression and others seeking better career opportunities flocked here.
Some entered the country as refugees, and yet others illegally.
The years following 1994 eroded the hospitality and ubuntu of the South Africans due to a rising cost of living, spiralling crime, corruption in the home affairs department and joblessness.
Accustomed to blaming apartheid for their problems, the locals turned to the illegal immigrants as their scapegoat. Some of the reasons advanced for the inhumane treatment of black foreigners include, amongst others, that:
• They are taking our jobs (they sell their labour far below accepted minimum wages)
• Commit acts of crime (housebreaking, car theft, robbery, muggings, rape etc)
• Steal our names by buying fake ID’s
• Sell drugs and run brothels (mostly referring to Nigerians)
• Dirty and overcrowd the streets of Joburg with their markets (street stalls)
• Take "our" businesses (spaza shops and interent cafés)
• They bring illness and deseases
• Steal our wives and daughters (to make them live-in partners
• Corrupt our government officials
• Invade buildings in the Joburg inner-city
Although some of the concerns raised by South Africans hold water, not all immigrants living here are destroying the country. It is therefore important for us to practice tolerance and accommodate our neighbour in times of need. But obviously we must be wary of bandits who are here to loot and cause chaos.
http://www.reporter.co.za/article.aspx?ID=RP21A754242
The attacks by South Africans on foreigners are heartrending. Whether a person is in the country legally or otherwise we cannot sit and fold our arms while the dark flame of xenophobia engulfs the African nation.
During the apartheid years illegal migrant workers from Mozambique, fleeing the civil war in their country, settled in the black townships and lived peacefully with the locals. They used fake ID’s and surnames; they were taunted sometimes but they remained part of our communities.
After the 1994 democratic elections, the government allowed people from other African countries to move freely in and out of the country. Africans fleeing hunger, civil wars, repression and others seeking better career opportunities flocked here.
Some entered the country as refugees, and yet others illegally.
The years following 1994 eroded the hospitality and ubuntu of the South Africans due to a rising cost of living, spiralling crime, corruption in the home affairs department and joblessness.
Accustomed to blaming apartheid for their problems, the locals turned to the illegal immigrants as their scapegoat. Some of the reasons advanced for the inhumane treatment of black foreigners include, amongst others, that:
• They are taking our jobs (they sell their labour far below accepted minimum wages)
• Commit acts of crime (housebreaking, car theft, robbery, muggings, rape etc)
• Steal our names by buying fake ID’s
• Sell drugs and run brothels (mostly referring to Nigerians)
• Dirty and overcrowd the streets of Joburg with their markets (street stalls)
• Take "our" businesses (spaza shops and interent cafés)
• They bring illness and deseases
• Steal our wives and daughters (to make them live-in partners
• Corrupt our government officials
• Invade buildings in the Joburg inner-city
Although some of the concerns raised by South Africans hold water, not all immigrants living here are destroying the country. It is therefore important for us to practice tolerance and accommodate our neighbour in times of need. But obviously we must be wary of bandits who are here to loot and cause chaos.
http://www.reporter.co.za/article.aspx?ID=RP21A754242
Tuesday 22 April 2008
Why the bitterness
What do whites want?
Whites are angry, very angry. Just read their prominent columnists, including the former Sunday Times' David Bullard, Thought Leader contributors, letters to newspaper editors and their blogs. They are forever spewing bile at the government, the leaders and blacks in general.
Why they are angry I'm not certain. But I think it is because of crime, the black government, corruption, BEE, affirmative action, race quotas and racial integration. Although they have lost political power, whites still command economic power.
On crime and other issues they are not alone. Crime affects me too and my community and unfortunately we don’t have money to install sophisticated security systems or hire security companies. I 'm angry too on this one. We hate corruption and nepotism but we cannot overlook the good the government does because of a few black sheep.
Years after legislated racial segregation was abolished, most whites (not all of course) still think that blacks are criminals, incapable of leading, inherently corrupt, don’t deserve the best jobs and to share in the country's wealth. Did they criticize the apartheid government with the same passion they criticize the black government?
Apartheid was a reflection of the collective psyche of whites. And it is not easy for them to accept that the glory days of apartheid are behind us. But let's pray that they will wake up to the reality that you don’t build by trashing all and sundry just because they are of a different race.
Whites are angry, very angry. Just read their prominent columnists, including the former Sunday Times' David Bullard, Thought Leader contributors, letters to newspaper editors and their blogs. They are forever spewing bile at the government, the leaders and blacks in general.
Why they are angry I'm not certain. But I think it is because of crime, the black government, corruption, BEE, affirmative action, race quotas and racial integration. Although they have lost political power, whites still command economic power.
On crime and other issues they are not alone. Crime affects me too and my community and unfortunately we don’t have money to install sophisticated security systems or hire security companies. I 'm angry too on this one. We hate corruption and nepotism but we cannot overlook the good the government does because of a few black sheep.
Years after legislated racial segregation was abolished, most whites (not all of course) still think that blacks are criminals, incapable of leading, inherently corrupt, don’t deserve the best jobs and to share in the country's wealth. Did they criticize the apartheid government with the same passion they criticize the black government?
Apartheid was a reflection of the collective psyche of whites. And it is not easy for them to accept that the glory days of apartheid are behind us. But let's pray that they will wake up to the reality that you don’t build by trashing all and sundry just because they are of a different race.
Monday 21 April 2008
Please go back home fellow Zimbabweans
I would like to appeal to all fellow Zimbabweans to return to their motherland. Running away to South Africa in droves won't alleviate the problems you left behind in your country.
The self proclaimed martyr, Morgan Tsvangirai, should lead all the Zimbabweans back to their country to stage protests against perceived oppression, dictatorship, election rigging and theft. What do you want Thabo Mbeki to do, send an army to Harare to forcibly remove Mugabe?
If you want that go to the African Union (AU), they managed to remove Mohamed Bacar of Anjouan in the Comoros islands from the office he held illegally. The AU should be fair enough and remove Mugabe if it is true that he stole the votes.
Please stop blaming Mbeki and rather make your case to the AU. If that fails, call upon your courage and go and demonstrate in the streets of the capital. Apparently, you are on your own and it's every man for himself.
All you need is UNITY.
The self proclaimed martyr, Morgan Tsvangirai, should lead all the Zimbabweans back to their country to stage protests against perceived oppression, dictatorship, election rigging and theft. What do you want Thabo Mbeki to do, send an army to Harare to forcibly remove Mugabe?
If you want that go to the African Union (AU), they managed to remove Mohamed Bacar of Anjouan in the Comoros islands from the office he held illegally. The AU should be fair enough and remove Mugabe if it is true that he stole the votes.
Please stop blaming Mbeki and rather make your case to the AU. If that fails, call upon your courage and go and demonstrate in the streets of the capital. Apparently, you are on your own and it's every man for himself.
All you need is UNITY.
Thursday 17 April 2008
We'll miss Reporter.co.za
It was with heaviness of heart that I learnt Reporter.co.za will be going on a break at the end of April.
They want to revamp it. We don't know how long this will take but I hope that when it comes back, it will be better and livelier. We also don't know if it will indeed come back.
We will surely miss our champion of online journalism.
At least I have my own blog and it will keep me busy in the meantime. Further, I must express my gratitude to Reporter.co.za for motivating me to start my own blog and write what I like.
They want to revamp it. We don't know how long this will take but I hope that when it comes back, it will be better and livelier. We also don't know if it will indeed come back.
We will surely miss our champion of online journalism.
At least I have my own blog and it will keep me busy in the meantime. Further, I must express my gratitude to Reporter.co.za for motivating me to start my own blog and write what I like.
Wednesday 9 April 2008
I’m very afraid
My piece published in Reporter.co.za today
By Tsuai
Academic and freedom of speech under assault.
The flurry of criticism thrown at Unisa rector Barney Pityana for saying that Zuma is a leader who does not inspire confidence is alarming.
Pityana, a respected academic, recently told the Law Society of South Africa that JZ is a flip-flop leader. Most analysts concur that Zuma is a cunning politician who tells different sections of the population what they want to hear. In the process he sometimes contradicts himself.
Meanwhile, our society is degenerating as a select group of people want to claim monopoly of views in the battle of ideas. And those who differ with them are labeled as conservative, ultra-left, pushing the white/DA (Democratic Alliance) agenda, anti- transformation and racist.
Apparently I’m becoming a reactionary. But freedom of speech, freedom to differ with the opinions of others is a fundamental element of a democratic constitutional state.
I’m afraid to differ. I realised that you cannot differ and get away with it when I was personally attacked in a discussion forum of a prominent youth organisation for voicing a different opinion (http://tsuai.blogspot.com/2007/12/things-that-i-do.html). In this discussion forum, those who voice views that are not sanctioned by the majority are cut to pieces.
This makes me wonder what the purpose of debate is? Don’t we discuss and debate so that we can differ? After all, we are different and can never think alike.
http://www.reporter.co.za/columnists/article.aspx?ID=RP21A744650
By Tsuai
Academic and freedom of speech under assault.
The flurry of criticism thrown at Unisa rector Barney Pityana for saying that Zuma is a leader who does not inspire confidence is alarming.
Pityana, a respected academic, recently told the Law Society of South Africa that JZ is a flip-flop leader. Most analysts concur that Zuma is a cunning politician who tells different sections of the population what they want to hear. In the process he sometimes contradicts himself.
Meanwhile, our society is degenerating as a select group of people want to claim monopoly of views in the battle of ideas. And those who differ with them are labeled as conservative, ultra-left, pushing the white/DA (Democratic Alliance) agenda, anti- transformation and racist.
Apparently I’m becoming a reactionary. But freedom of speech, freedom to differ with the opinions of others is a fundamental element of a democratic constitutional state.
I’m afraid to differ. I realised that you cannot differ and get away with it when I was personally attacked in a discussion forum of a prominent youth organisation for voicing a different opinion (http://tsuai.blogspot.com/2007/12/things-that-i-do.html). In this discussion forum, those who voice views that are not sanctioned by the majority are cut to pieces.
This makes me wonder what the purpose of debate is? Don’t we discuss and debate so that we can differ? After all, we are different and can never think alike.
http://www.reporter.co.za/columnists/article.aspx?ID=RP21A744650
Tuesday 8 April 2008
Writing for our times
'... and I didn’t want to go to any other black I knew in London. It's one thing to be comrades against whites and it's totally another to be penniless; the comrades would be suddenly struck by amnesia as far as knowing you went.' p.58 The Black Insider Dambudzo Marechera.
These are the words of Zimbabwean born writer and poet Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987). He wrote The Black Insider while living in London where he had been offered a scholarship to study at Oxford.
In 1979 his book, The House of Hunger, won the prestigious Gurdian First Book Award.
I think many people living in post apartheid South Africa will identify with his words in. There was a time in my life when I felt alienated and hopeless and when I read these words they struck me like a gem of undiscovered truth.
The late Marechera was a terrific writer. And he would put to words through his incisive writing what many were afraid to say. He spoke truth to power. In post apartheid South Africa we need writers like Dambudzo who can fearlessly capture the state and mood of our nation and challenge the status quo. Notably, we need more young black writers.
I'm going to write a novel and tell about life from the south of Africa.
These are the words of Zimbabwean born writer and poet Dambudzo Marechera (1952-1987). He wrote The Black Insider while living in London where he had been offered a scholarship to study at Oxford.
In 1979 his book, The House of Hunger, won the prestigious Gurdian First Book Award.
I think many people living in post apartheid South Africa will identify with his words in. There was a time in my life when I felt alienated and hopeless and when I read these words they struck me like a gem of undiscovered truth.
The late Marechera was a terrific writer. And he would put to words through his incisive writing what many were afraid to say. He spoke truth to power. In post apartheid South Africa we need writers like Dambudzo who can fearlessly capture the state and mood of our nation and challenge the status quo. Notably, we need more young black writers.
I'm going to write a novel and tell about life from the south of Africa.
Friday 4 April 2008
Happy preparation day
I encourage you 'to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Nothing beats prayer.
'Prayer is the breath of the soul ...the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence ...and the opening of the heart to God as to a Friend.' Christ's Object Lessons p.129 in Great Prayers & Pray-ers of the Bible, Seventh Adventist Church Adult Bible Study Quarter 1 2001
'So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.' Luke 11:9,10
I wish everyone a happy day of preparation.
'Prayer is the breath of the soul ...the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence ...and the opening of the heart to God as to a Friend.' Christ's Object Lessons p.129 in Great Prayers & Pray-ers of the Bible, Seventh Adventist Church Adult Bible Study Quarter 1 2001
'So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.' Luke 11:9,10
I wish everyone a happy day of preparation.
Thursday 3 April 2008
Words of Inspiration
Now that we are living in the perilous last days, I entreat you to ‘...take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’ (Ephesians 6:17).
‘No man can gain insight into the Word of God without the illumination of the Holy Spirit. If we will but come into the right position before God, His light will shine upon us in rich, clear rays.’ Ellen G White Comments, SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 1152 in God Shows and Tells, p.60, SDA Adult Bible Study Guide Quarter 1 1999.
Stay blessed.
‘No man can gain insight into the Word of God without the illumination of the Holy Spirit. If we will but come into the right position before God, His light will shine upon us in rich, clear rays.’ Ellen G White Comments, SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 1152 in God Shows and Tells, p.60, SDA Adult Bible Study Guide Quarter 1 1999.
Stay blessed.
Tuesday 1 April 2008
Koolie, boesman, coconut, grigamba or makwerekwere
Another piece I wrote for Reporter.co.za published today.
By Tsuai
Observe the golden rule and stop name calling
During the dark repressive years of apartheid whites used to call black Africans kaffirs. This name is derogatory and Africans resented it and they still do today. White racists who are not happy with transformation in the country still call blacks kaffirs.
Blacks retaliated by calling Afrikaners boers. They did this to spite the Afrikaners but the boers were not offended in any way. They are, after all, boers, which means farmer.
Seemingly the whites were the masters of bigotry. They called the Indians koelie. And to be honest, I have known Indians as koelies and it was only later that I learnt that the name was derogatory.
Then there is the boesnman. This is used to refer to the coloured people who are descendants of white and black South Africans. The word boesman in fact means bushmen but some silly people use it to the humiliate coloureds.
But it looks as if black South Africans have not learnt their lesson. They continue to call their fellow Africans from across the continent with demeaning names. These are the people we should treat with more respect than with disdain. Instead of calling them grigambas and makwerekwere because of their darker hue and language, we should embrace and welcome them as our brothers and sisters.
Lastly, there are blacks who are privileged and live in the suburbs, go to private schools, speak English with an accent and shun the townships where they were born. They would rather keep white than black company. Is it necessary for us to call them coconuts? Why can’t we live and let live?
As a nation, we must learn to treat others as we would like them to treat us.
http://www.reporter.co.za/article.aspx?ID=RP21A737789
By Tsuai
Observe the golden rule and stop name calling
During the dark repressive years of apartheid whites used to call black Africans kaffirs. This name is derogatory and Africans resented it and they still do today. White racists who are not happy with transformation in the country still call blacks kaffirs.
Blacks retaliated by calling Afrikaners boers. They did this to spite the Afrikaners but the boers were not offended in any way. They are, after all, boers, which means farmer.
Seemingly the whites were the masters of bigotry. They called the Indians koelie. And to be honest, I have known Indians as koelies and it was only later that I learnt that the name was derogatory.
Then there is the boesnman. This is used to refer to the coloured people who are descendants of white and black South Africans. The word boesman in fact means bushmen but some silly people use it to the humiliate coloureds.
But it looks as if black South Africans have not learnt their lesson. They continue to call their fellow Africans from across the continent with demeaning names. These are the people we should treat with more respect than with disdain. Instead of calling them grigambas and makwerekwere because of their darker hue and language, we should embrace and welcome them as our brothers and sisters.
Lastly, there are blacks who are privileged and live in the suburbs, go to private schools, speak English with an accent and shun the townships where they were born. They would rather keep white than black company. Is it necessary for us to call them coconuts? Why can’t we live and let live?
As a nation, we must learn to treat others as we would like them to treat us.
http://www.reporter.co.za/article.aspx?ID=RP21A737789
Zim MDC must await official election results
The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirayi, must not preempt the election results by announcing early victory prior to the release of official results.
By so doing he is stoking the fires of post election violence should the MDC lose the election. Who wants another Kenya just across our border. We have more than enough illegal Zimbabwean immigrants living in South Africa.
Yesterday in the Johannesburg city centre, near the Noord street taxi rank, Zimbabweans were happily proclaiming that MDC has won and Mugabe is out. This is as a result of the irresponsible behavior of people like Tsvangirayi.
He should wait until the results are officially released. If there is any reasonable suspicion of election rigging, then the intervention of the African Union (AU) can be sought.
If the AU concludes that the elections were indeed rigged then they should act, and do so harshly. They can send an army to remove anyone clinging to power illegally like they did in the Comoros Island. Then I'll have confidence in the toothless AU.
By so doing he is stoking the fires of post election violence should the MDC lose the election. Who wants another Kenya just across our border. We have more than enough illegal Zimbabwean immigrants living in South Africa.
Yesterday in the Johannesburg city centre, near the Noord street taxi rank, Zimbabweans were happily proclaiming that MDC has won and Mugabe is out. This is as a result of the irresponsible behavior of people like Tsvangirayi.
He should wait until the results are officially released. If there is any reasonable suspicion of election rigging, then the intervention of the African Union (AU) can be sought.
If the AU concludes that the elections were indeed rigged then they should act, and do so harshly. They can send an army to remove anyone clinging to power illegally like they did in the Comoros Island. Then I'll have confidence in the toothless AU.
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