Former health minister dies

The former South African minister of health Dr. Manto Tshabalala Msimang (1940-2009) died today at the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre. In 2007 she underwent a liver transplant and she died as a result of complications from that liver transplant.

Tshabala-Msimang's statements that beetroot, lemon and garlic were good for HIV/AIDS caused widespread condemnation from AIDS activists. She was also reported to have smuggled wine into her ward while at hospital for a shoulder operation.

I think some will remember her as a struggle stalwart who served her people; while others will see her as the health minister who failed the nation.

Her work is done and only God can judge her. May her soul rest in peace.

Loud music drives me mad

It seems loud music and booze are the only means to celebrate?
Today is Reconciliation Day, and as far as I can remember it’s a holiday that everyone looks forward to. Everyone plans ahead for this day. People put money together and go out on trips, get together to buy meat, alcohol and play their music unbearably loud.

The air is thick with the smell of braai meat; loud music can be heard in every street; neighbours are playing their music loud as if to compete with one another while they drink themselves numb.

I doubt if tonight we are going to sleep peacefully with all the loud music. Sometimes I don’t blame the blacks who, once they get an opportunity to, immediately move out of the township to buy houses in the suburbs. They have had enough of neighbours who are not considerate of others.

I don’t care when people braai their vleis and drink their liquor and have fun in their backyards, as long as they don’t make noise for the rest of us. Why is it that when they enjoy they do so at our inconvenience. If they want loud music they should go to the disco or club.

When I enter the comfort of my home I expect that peace and quiet that can only come from my own home. But unfortunately I cannot enjoy that because when people party, they don’t care whether or not they cause a nuisance to others. What is to be done?

Corruption top to bottom

Civil servants are living large, and spending taxpayers money like there is no tomorrow.

Corruption in government is rampant and parastatals have become cash cows for administrators to live large. If administrators are not busy mismanaging municipal funds, they are busy with parastatals or government departments.

It came as a shock to learn that about R1 billion from the Gauteng provincial health department cannot be properly accounted for. It's not surprising that the department is in such financial disarray; that's because the people who govern us do not care about our wellbeing. Former GP health MEC, Brian Hlongwa, did his job half-heartedly while at the helm of he GP health department, hence the corruption that happened under his nose. He didn’t give a fig about the shenanigans in the department because his business were making money than what the department paid him.

Hlongwa bought a house for R7.2 million. It makes you wonder, looking at the money that cannot be accounted for by the Gauteng Health department. It seems GP health is not the only one.

The guys at the land bank are having it good spending money that was meant to assist poor farmers. In an intriguing expose (see report) of how the some smart land bank employees allegedly siphoned off money meant for the AgriBee fund to buy businesses, cars and expensive houses. Mismanagement of funds is everywhere, it was the SABC, then Eskom, corruption is everywhere in state departments. The department of correctional services has awarded a tender to a company under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit, and a director of that company was appointed national intelligence head.

The administrators and corrupt politicians are wasting our money while the government wants us to pay hefty Eskom electricity tariffs. The service delivery strikes that have hit some municipalities will surely continue as long as we are led by incompetent, corrupt leaders and self serving leaders.

SAFA not proudly South African

Will South Africa make it to the quarterfinals of the 2010 Soccer World Cup? The Brazilian coach, Joel Santana has been sacked and another Brazilian coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira has been appointed.

Parreira left the job of coaching Bafana Bafana a few months ago, citing family commitments; and he recommended Joel Santana who failed to make any significant improvement to the national squad.

I wonder why Parreira was re-appointed; why the obsession with Brazilian coaches? It means the South African Football Federation (SAFA) is not proudly South African. I don't think Bafana's perfomance would improve because of Parreira's appointment, but I do believe a South African coach would do a much better job and our nation would improve.

I'm eager to see if the team's performance would improve in the next three games, but the real challenge is whether we will make it past round one of the world cup. Looking at our performance at the moment, I think we will be out in round one.

Nice day, nice mobi blogging

It's been cloudy from this morning, and around 2pm rain started pouring. The weather's is cool indeed, the kind I like. The only thing missing from the equation is my family. If I was home I would obviously spend the day in bed, asking for tea with cakes while teaching my daughter how to read and write. It's true; east or west, home is best. I'm very tired, I think I should forthwith retire to sleep so that I can dream about home, my woman and daughter. It was great blogging from my phone. I have sent tweets and updated my Facebook profile from my phone, so it was high time I got myself used to mobile blogging.

Inmate couch potato

Being a prisoner seems like going on a holiday.

According to a news report published on news24.com prison officials were taken to task by the correctional services potforlio committee for hiring a company to clean after prisoners and another to fix TV's in prisons.

It seems that the prisoners spend the whole day watching TV while hired cleaners tidy up for them. And when the TV's are not working technicians who are hired by the department of correctional services come and fix the TVs.

The chair of the correctional services portfolio committee, Vincent Smith, asked if they hired a company to clean for the prisoners and repair TV's for them while they (prisoners)sit the whole day doing nothing but watch TV.

It is no wonder some people don't mind to readily commit crimes. They know they will go to prison to laze around and become couch potatoes. The Diepkloof Prison is even known as Sun City Prison.

The recession has made life a bit difficult for me, so I'm simply gonna still steal a roasted mutton leg from Pick n Pay even though I don't eat meat and casually walk out of the shop so that I can get arrested. I wanna eat free, laze around, watch TV (though I'm not a TV fan) at taxpayer's expense.

South Africa is going left

Some people appear to be alarmed at the influence Cosatu and the SACP are exerting on the ANC. Both the labour federation and the communists have a vested interest in the ANC and by extension the running of the country. At the heart of the battle is the country’s macro-economic policy. Over the years the two organisations, which together with the ANC constitute the Tripartite Alliance, have complained about marginalisation during the era of Thabo Mbeki’s presidency.

Mbeki told the SACP plainly during the ANC policy conference before the Polokwane congress that the SACP should not delegate it’s goal of bringing about a socialist revolution to the ANC. In its congress resolutions and general meetings the SACP encourages it’s members to “swell the ranks of the ANC” in order to ensure that the ANC is influenced by the working class and not business interests. The ANC is said to be a broad church that represents civic leaders, business people, the working class, religious people, the poor and communists who were united by the objective of overthrowing apartheid and building a non-racial society. But the communists are the ones who are supposed to ensure that they give leadership and policy direction, and that is the reason they are encouraged to hold both the SACP and ANC membership, known as dual membership.

And now that apartheid has been defeated and there is no common enemy to fight a struggle has ensued within the ruling party and its allies for control of resources and to shape the economy of the country, which is largely owned by mostly white monopoly capital. Thabo Mbeki marginalised the two Tripartite Alliance partners, hence it was imperative to get rid of him and find a person who is malleable and whom the leaders of the working class could discuss policy issues with, and if need be instruct on what socio-economic policy the country should follow. The communist party’s aim is to lead the revolution for a socialist state and it needs a mass based organisation like the ANC to ensure it keeps its socialist agenda alive. Without the people behind them the SACP will be unpopular, and the ANC has the support of the majority of South Africans. It is not surprising that the current crop of SACP leaders do not see a socialist revolution ushered through the electoral platform but rather by swelling the ranks of the ANC. For this reason they have continuously sidestepped suggestions that the SACP must contest elections, and opted to emphasise the alliance with the Tripartite Alliance as paramount.

Those who are afraid of a left leaning ANC should brace themselves for more vigorous control of the ANC by the Cosatu and the SACP. The battle begun before Polokwane with the push for Jacob Zuma to become president and continues with the drive for Ebrahim Patel, the minister of economic development, to be given more powers and the attempts to subdue Trevor Manuel’s influence in president Zuma’s cabinet. Manuel is seen as one of the people who introduced the macro-economic policies that the communists and the labour federation leaders opposed. He is the last person they want to stand on their way as they assert their influence in government and shape government policy.

As things stand, it looks like Zuma is not willing to stand up to the communists and working class leaders like Mbeki did, and no one within the ANC dare challenge the left as they gain influence in the running of the country, appointment of ministers and the economy of the country. It remains to be seen how long Zuma will continue to give in to the leaders of the SACP and Cosatu before he tells them to back off.

Let the people blog

But majority are excluded because of lack of internet acccess

I have stayed away from my blog for a very long time, maybe I'm suffering from blogger's block, the blogging equivalent of writer' blog. But I'm back, what more can I do than join millions of people around the world who use their blogs to share news, their thoughts, views and offer advice on a range of issues.

What is disconcerting in the South African blogosphere is that many black South Africans are not blogging, thereby making blogs something of an elitist and irrelevant medium of communication for the greater majority of South Africans.

Once I was covering a story for the now defunct Reporter.co.za in my township. Residents raided a house where stolen goods were found after a string of house breakings. They wanted to burn the house and beat the owner of the house. This happened last year just before Reporter.co.za closed down.

"For which publication are you writing the story?" one youngster asked me. I explained that I was a citizen reporter writing for a citizen journalism website. "I undersatnd, but it does not help much because many people in Buhle Park dont' have internet."

I agreed with him but nevertheless I contniued with my work. As I write this blog I still vividly remember his words, and it looks as if the best medium to reach most black South Africans is via the printed words. Despite declining newspaper circulation figures the print medium is the best mode of delivering the news to the masses and initiating dialogue. The reach of blogs is limited.

Our mass based internet revolution is still far off. I doubt if it will happen in our lifetime. According to the internetworldstats.com iternet usage on the continent is the lowest compared to other continents and here in South Africa about 9.4% of the population has access to the internet.

We have a challenge to ensure we make the internet accessible to the great majority of Africans. I hope the governement will take progressive steps to make the internet cheap, fast and a reality for the majority of the population.

In the meantime I should continue blogging, it is the best way to exercise my section 16 right to freedom of expression.

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End of four week vac work

After writing my last story, I sat at my desk staring at the monitor, a cocktail of emotions. It is my last day. Four weeks can seem like four days when I'm deeply immersed in what I love and forget to look at the clock ticking furiously on the wall.

It was time to bid farewell to the journalists I've been with for the past four weeks and the newspaper that has offered me a scholarship to study journalism and follow my dream of becoming a reporter. It was only after I'd stepped out of Media Park that I felt an overpowering sense of sadness for leaving.

Even though I was going to be away for about four months, the days I've spent in the City Press newsroom were worthwhile. I've seen the practical face of reporting and it was not as easy as I had imagined. To be a successful reporter one has to work hard and be committed to the work of reporting.

I experienced the sadness and frustration of the newsroom, and subsequently the sheer pleasure of seeing my name on the City Press print and online editions. But I think I could have done better by being more proactive and aggressively coming up with more story ideas and producing clean copy.

I have identified areas where I need to improve, thanks to my supervisor and colleagues who were supportive during my brief stint. During the next semester at university I'm going to work on areas where I have shortcomings and hope that when I return in December I'll be a step ahead.

Our nation of 'action'

South Africa is a nation of industrial action. Teachers, doctors, police officers, and emergency service workers go on strike without any compunction. Even students sometimes go on strike; I'm waiting for the time when primary school learners and soldiers demand their right to go on strike.

In a democratic society workers have the right to negotiate better working and salary conditions. It is an essential right which lies at the core of our society like the right to dignity, equality and freedom of speech. But all rights are not absolute; they can be limited as enshrined in section 36 of the Constitution. Obviously they cannot be limited arbitrarily but only by a law of general application.

Workers like police, doctors, emergency services workers, and teachers should not be allowed to strike. The government is currently revising labour laws. It will be advisable for the government to classify the aforementioned work as essential services and therefore drastically curtail their right to strike.

Soldiers have a union but they do not have the right to embark on industrial action. They have mechanisms in place to resolve their grievances. If they go on strike they threaten national security and they will be charged with mutiny.

There is no reason why the same shouldn't happen to doctors, teachers and police officers. The doctors hold the life of their patients in their hands and if they strike they endanger precious and innocent lives.

As for the police, crime is a national crisis and if the cops go on strike they give criminals Carte Blanche. During the last civil service strike the police couldn't strike as they were declared to be essential services by the court.

With regard to education, South Africa is bottom of the list in literacy, maths and the standard of education. And the education of our kids is important to ensure a prosperous and productive society that can compete globally. The right of teachers to strike must be outlawed and a special bargaining council be put into place.

If it should be necessary for industrial action it should happen outside school hours. Student organisations like Congress of South African Students must not be allowed to embark on class boycotts or be banned from organising in schools. Education must be classified as the number one essential service above national defence.

To ensure that people who work in the essential services do not go on strike the government must pay better salaries for these workers. It does not help to work as a qualified teacher for 10 years and earn a salary equivalent to that of a Personal Assistant who has only matric.

The top officials must trim their fat pay cheques, beginning with the president, and pay good salaries to people who really matter most, those who hold our life, future and security in their hands.

Our nation of 'action' is my article published on MyNews24.com today.

"The man of fiction"

The books I will be reading during the winter vacation

“Eish wena, you like fiction too much,” Lolonga said to me. I looked at him curiously. I’m a literature major, what does he expect of me. He told me that he’d rather read classics and inspirational novels like the Alchemist. “I love fiction and I read as widely as I can,” I countered.

“You know sister Ellen White calls fiction readers liars,” he admonished. I know sister White does not approve of fiction reading (Fundamentals of Christian Education). “I’m not a liar, but I’m honest and truthful ad I tell the truth to the best of my ability,” I protested. Lies are not part of my agenda. I find no reason to lie; even a so-called white lie is not something I indulge in. But I’ve been reading fiction since I was a child. I also read motivational books and other non fiction books but literary fiction makes for the bulk of my reading.

Lolonga took out a Cyril Ramaphosa’s biography; he reads a lot of biographies. I’ve not read a biography, only fictional autobiography. I decided to take out President Jacob Zuma’s biography by Jeremy Gordon. I’ve always seen Zuma through the eyes of the media, and reading his biography might give me fresh eyes to look at him. And who knows, maybe I’ll develop an appreciation for biographies.

But I will continue to read and enjoy fiction. That’s the world I’m comfortable to live in. When many decide to be couch potatoes and click on the remote, I open a novel and read. And this winter vacation I’ll be indulging in a lot of fiction, because I am, as Lolonga calls me, “the man of fiction”. But I protested and told him to call me a literati or man of letters instead. I have taken out a few novels and an omnibus of short stories in addition to JZ’s biography. I have a buffet of books to keep my mind going, both fiction and non fiction.

When I’m not working or teaching my daughter how to read I’ll relax with a book. What more can a man wish for. At least I’m no longer involved with political organising. I used to spend the bulk of my time attending meetings and mobilising young people to take a proactive role in the community. I did this under the banner of a socialist youth organisation. But I think I can make a meaningful contribution as a community member than I will ever achieve in a lifetime of political activism. So next year I will continue to be a community activist, sans “political.” Political activists are less interested in community development, but rather their concern has to do more with power and their wellbeing in the form of tenders and lucrative jobs for themselves and their friends and family.

I’ve learnt a lot from my involvement in the mass democratic and the working class movements, and I’m happy that I’ve put this chapter of my life behind me. I have learnt a lot about my history and the current political activism in the country. But now I have to continue reading. Maybe next year I will do an Honours degree in English Literature.

The 1976 youth deserve the 21 gun salute

Today is National Youth Day. We remember the June 16 1976 generation of youth who stood up and challenged the apartheid government?s policy to make Afrikaans the medium of instruction in schools. The students were shot at by the police and some were detained.

This started an era of student and youth activism that culminated in the 1980?s unrest in black townships and the crisis in the culture of learning and teaching as the student took the battle against apartheid to the streets. The aim was ?to make the country ungovernable? and ensure that freedom was achieved at all costs even if it meant their education had to suffer. Their motto was  ?liberation first and education later.?

The 1976 youth were an inspiration to youth and students to be militant and sacrifice for the liberation of South Africa. Their are national heroes and heroines who deserve our deepest respect. We owe them a lifetime of nation building and service to our country. All of them deserve the highset honour in the land and the 21 gun salute every year on 16 June.   

Journalism in my lifetime

On the 22nd of June I'll be writing my last exam, and on the very
same night I'll be boarding the 18:45 Greyhound coach from Grahamstown
to Johannesburg. I miss my daughter, her mom and my vegetable
garden. It is not easy to live far from my two year old daughter,
she needs me to teach her how to read and play computer games with
her. And her mom needs me to give her the love and appreciation she
deserves.

Furthermore, I'm going to spend the four weeks of vacation at Media
Park, the City Press office in Auckland Park, putting to the test
theoretical approaches I've learnt about the media and reporting. When
I left Joburg to come and study Journalism at Rhodes University I was
a bit naïve and thought journalism was about fighting the powers that
be on behalf of the poor. Little did I know that the media is not
primarily about giving a voice to the poor or challenging the status
quo. It is a business motivated by the profit motive.

I'll be going into the newsroom with a clear and yet incomplete
picture of what it means to be a reporter beyond the theorising of
lecturers and theorists. I have to learn as much as I can from the
actual practice of newspaper reporting in the four weeks I'll be at
City Press. At the end of the four weeks I'm going to tell my daughter
and her mom how I love them and thereafter return to Grahamstown for
term three and four.

For the rest of term three we will be doing pracs at the local Grocott's Mail newspaper. This newspaper was celebrating 140 years this year, and it will be a memorable experiene to work for the newspaper. I went around the township of Grahamstown and identified
some issues that I think are worth pursuing when I'm at Grocott's Mail.

In term four I will specialise in New Media, and when term four ends I will be looking forward to serving my year's internship at the City Press. In the meantime, let me go back to my study desk. I must study and complete this course, exciting times lie ahead of me.

Boitumelo Tumi Mape 1966-2009

In life we live under the shadow of death. It lurks about in the very air we breathe, ready to strike randomly like lighting. Every second death strikes and leaves bereavement in its wake. And no one is spared, rich or poor, black or white, sick or healthy, death comes regardless. Publilius Syrus correctly pointed out that "as men, we are all equal in the presence of death. "

Death, always hungry and devouring people, has claimed the life of Mr. Boitumelo Tumi Mape. He was an entrepreneur and conveyancer. Tumi was a charming and talented man. We have lost a good man and a leader. He paid for my studies at Vista University and I worked for him in two of his companies.

May your soul rest in peace Ntate Boitumelo Mape.

So we must all know that anytime, the hand of death might strike.

President Jacob Zuma: not worth his word

You cannot trust president Jacob Zuma or take him at his word. He has proved himself to be self-contradictory. And how can we trust him when he says he will not change because he is president. I think already he has changed his tune on running for one term when he said that it will be up to the ANC to decide if can serve as president for a second term.

Before he was elected he made a pledge to serve only one term. He did not say the ANC will decide. When Zuma does not what to take responsibility for thinking, something he should have mastered by now as president, he always refers to the alliance and the ANC.

Gwede Matashe, the secretary-general of the ANC and Julius Malema, ANCYL president, should stop acting in an immature way by claiming that Cosatu has no right to say Zuma must continue for a second term. Do they suffer from political amnesia? Have they forgotten that Cosatu and the SACP were vocal in their support for Zuma before the Polokwane conference? Maybe both Mantashe and Malema wanted to be the first to announce the proposal for Zuma to run for two terms so they are angry Zwelinzima Vavi of Cosatu overtook them and is now busking in the political limelight.

Mantashe has said that it is up to the ANC branches to decide if Zuma will run for two terms or not. But Zuma must start to be a man of integrity, own up to his words and say that he is not available to run for a second term. We might start to take him seriously and believe some of the things he says. But if he dilly dallies and hides behind the ANC, then what he said at his party in Nkandla over the weekend that being in office won’t change him will go down in history as nothing but empty words.

If Jacob Zuma does not become a firm leader and an independent thinker most of us will sadly remember him for being a political chameleon who found the charming and glittering trappings of political office irresistible.

Words of inspiration

I am a spiritual being. Sometimes the spiritual man gets hungry and wants to be fed. It is difficult to ignore him even if I am satiated or content. He wants his share of food. Jesus Christ said that man cannot live by bread alone but by the word of God. And there's nothing good like connecting with one's maker.

This week's memory verse: “Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath’ ” (Mark 2:27, 28, NIV).

“If there is any command hurried and hassled modern people need, it is the Sabbath. We are so busy trying to create meaning in our own life and serving ourselves that we forget that God is the only One who can give meaning to our lives. We show our ‘resting’ in Him by resting on
His day.”—Jon L. Dybdahl, Exodus, The Abundant Life Bible Amplifier (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press® Publishing Association, 1994), p. 186.

“God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. He needed to lay aside his own interests and pursuits for one day of the seven, that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and meditate upon His power and goodness. He needed a Sabbath to remind him more vividly of God and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 47, 48.

“The Sabbath is a powerful testimony to the sovereignty of God. Only he can create, and only he can make something holy. This is why Adventists object so strongly to the change from Sabbath to Sunday as the Christian day of rest and worship. Without a clear divine mandate, such a development is nothing less than an affront to God.” —Richard Rice, The Reign of God (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews University Press, 1997), p. 403.

“Setting aside a holy Sabbath means that we can cease our productivity and accomplishments for one day in every seven. The exciting thing about such a practice is that it changes our attitudes for the rest of the week. It frees us up to worry less about how much we produce
on the other days. Furthermore, when we end that futile chasing after wind, we can truly rest and learn delight in new ways.”—Marva J. Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), p. 19.

“Heaven’s work never ceases, and men should never rest from doing good. The Sabbath is not intended to be a period of useless inactivity. The law forbids secular labor on the rest day of the Lord; the toil that gains a livelihood must cease; no labor for worldly pleasure or profit
is lawful upon that day; but as God ceased His labor of creating, and rested upon the Sabbath and blessed it, so man is to leave the occupations of his daily life, and devote those sacred hours to healthful rest, to worship, and to holy deeds. The work of Christ in healing the sick
was in perfect accord with the law. It honored the Sabbath.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 207.

From the Adult Sabbath School Lesson, Lesson 8, May 16-22, 2009.

Young tsotsi caught in Buhle Park, Germiston

A young man was apprehended by residents of Buhle Park, East of Johannesburg, with the assistance of a Chubb security officer last week Saturday after he stole clothing from a washing line of one of the residents.

Residents wanted to beat the tsotsi but the Chubb security officer called the police who then took the young man into custody.

General elections 2009

Millions of South Africans voted yesterday. I also made my mark at the local library here in Grahamstown. The queue at the voting station on campus was still long in the evening so myself and Matedi, fellow Journalism student, decided to go to the voting station at the local libary after we were tipped that there were not many people there.

We did not take more than 15 minutes at the polling station to cast our votes. When I left the polling station I felt satisfied that my vote would make an impact, no matter how small, in breaking the monopoly of power held by one party.

I'm eagerly awaiting the results like most South Africans but in the meantime I will be closely following the process of counting through radio, television and the internet. It is predicted that the ANC will win but it remains to be seen if they will still get an overwhelming majority like they did in the previous elections.

So one must prepare to live under the fallible Jacob Zuma's presidency. Interesting times lie ahead of us. Verbal assaults against the media and the judiciary are coming our away in leaps and bounds.

News values 101

The re-defection of former South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) president Mlungisi Hlongwane from the Congress of the People (COPE)to the African National Congress (ANC) is not surprising.

I wonder why the Congress of the People (COPE) allowed a leader of his calibre into its own ranks in the first place.

Hlongwane has been one of the most divisive and controversial leaders. Sanco has become dysfunctional and irrelevant under his leadership.

Talk Radio 702 refused to allow the ANC to air the announcement live because it was not a "matter of national importance."

I wonder why the ANC did not use its propaganda mouthpiece, the SABC. I think the comrades will go back to their political dictionaries and try to unpack the word "national importance" in respect of newsworthiness.

More students need financial aid, says Manamela

Buti Manamela, YCL secretary, addreessing students at rhodes university, south africa


Young Communist League national secretary, Buti Manamela, told students that they must ensure that higher education becomes accessible to all the youth who cannot afford to pay by pressuring university management to enrol more students.

Addressing about 200 students at Rhodes University on Thursday night Manamela said: “There are students who have passed matric and are considering doing crime or prostitution because they cannot afford to go to university.”

He said that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, set up by the government to finance destitute students to study at tertiary institutions, must fund more students and stop operating like a bank by charging interest on loans.

Before Manamela’s arrival, some of the students left the venue after they were told that ANC Youth League president, Julius Malema, would not be attending the meeting.

Manamela said that the university had refused to grant Malema permission to come and address students and that this should be discouraged because “students have a right to invite leaders of their choice to address them in the run to the national elections.”

He took a swipe at the Congress of the People (COPE) when he said that the party goes around “creating uncertainty by telling people that the president will be a reverend.”

A group of protesters belonging to the 1 in 9 Campaign waved placards in protest against the statements made by Malema when he said that the Jacob Zuma rape complainant had a good time.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters Larissa Klazinga said that they believe that rape survivors had to be treated with dignity and that Zuma’s statements during his rape trial were uncalled for.



members of the 1 in 9 Campaign wave placards in protest against Zuma & Malema's statements regarding the Zuma rape complainant

Anglican Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George in Church Square, Grahamstown, South Africa

The breath taking Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George in Church Square, Grahamstown, South Africa. I set off early in the morning to get some shots of this monumental building.

The DA, the ANC and the missing COPE

1 nation, 1 future.
A poster of the DA on Prince Alfred street next to the Rhodes Theatre, Grahamstown


JZ for President
The ANC car, with a poster of party president Jacob Zuma, parked on Prince Alfred street next to the Rhodes Theatre, Grahamstown



COPE logo



Ever since I arrived in Grahamstown I've never seen an African National Congress (ANC) poster in the city centre except the one on this car. Democratic Alliance (DA) posters are all over the place.

Does that mean the ANC does not bother about winning the white voters of this place? Have they given up even before they try? It looks like the DA will have a field day in the city. But in the African townships posters of the ANC are plenty and the people will probably vote for the ruling party.

The less said about the Congress of the People (COPE) the better. I've never seen an election poster of this party anywhere else. COPE needs to catch a wake up call otherwise no one will take them seriously.

The queen hugs me

The queen poses for a pic (photo by Alinka Brutsch)



The queen hugs me (photo by Alinka Brutsch)



While we were touring the African township of Grahamstown as part of our assignment for the Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism and Media studies class we arrived at a place called Joza.

People were going up and about, some were sitting under the trees to avoid the scorching sun, and children were running around generally indifferent to the curious students who had just alighted from the bus and were looking around, listening to the tour guide while taking down notes.

An unkempt, petit dark skinned woman, with a thick layer of clay smeared all over her face emerged from nowhere and pounced on the team. Her locks looked as though they had not seen water for ages. She greeted everyone and asked for money. Otto Ntshebe, our tour guide, called her the queen.

“I have no money,” one team member said as she stepped backwards when the queen approached her. I recalled that I had a few coins and so I gave her some. Unexpectedly she hugged me, cheerfully thanking me.

“God will bless you, He is in the sun” she told me as she pointed at the sun as though she could see God in it. When the bus left I happy that I had met the queen. But later it turned out that the woman was not of royal descent; “the queen” was merely a name Otto affectionately used to call her.

Time voters show ANC the door

The African National Congress has too much power for its own good. The release of Shabir Shaik from prison on medical grounds is unfair and unreasonable. The man was not terminally ill.

It is time Nqconde Balfour stepped down. In the past the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Poprcu) called for his resignation and this is the right time for him to resign and save his department the embarrassment.

Shaik is the next president's friend and former financial adviser. It is clear the minister was acting on instructions from his masters within the ruling party. Besides, Shaik was going to be released sooner or later.

So justice favours the rich. Prison is a place for the poor who don't have money and political connections. I wonder what happended to "all shall be equal before the law." Evidently, some are more equal than others.

The only people who hold the power to stop the ANC's abuse of power is the voters.

COPE comes to Rhodes University, South Africa

COPE is busy launching branches of its youth and student movements. About 340 students attended the meeting in spite of the heavy rain and power outage on campus minutes before the meeting started.

Anele Mda, COPE’s youth convener, Lynda Odendaal, the second deputy president and, Smuts Ngonyama, head of policy, were ushered into the gas lamp illuminated Barratt Hall. But power was restored about 30 minutes later.

After the meeting I interviewed four students. Two said they supported COPE, one was undecided and the other one supported the ANC.

Yesterday I, Thandeka Mapi and Floyd Musekwa, my fellow prospective reporters, were ready to cover the ANC meeting which was supposed to be held at the same hall. The meeting was cancelled.

Tsuai's pix

Tsuai's pix

Tsuai's pix

Journalism is for me

On Friday last week I quit my job as a public servant in the Gauteng public works department to take up the City Press Percy Qoboza Scholarship that I was offered after I applied and was interviewed.

I will be doing a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University this year and next year I will be working as an intern at the City Press. Thereafter the sky is the limit.

From Tuesday I have been coming to Media Park to get a feel of the newsroom and how reporters and journalists work.

Today we went to the printers, Paarl Gravure and the distributors, NND24 to get an idea of what happens to a publication from the time it leaves the offices of the newspaper until it reaches the reader.

On Saturday I'll be leaving for Rhodes University in Grahamstown. I love this career and I want to work as a reporter.

Give us this day our dose of moral regeneration

The allegations against president Kgalema Motlanthe, reported in today's independent online, are serious and deplorable.

I'm concerned when a president, someone the people look up to, has an affair and impregnates a 24 year old woman. A few years back ANC president Jacob Zuma slept with an HIV positive woman and later made regrettable remarks about a shower and women asking for it.

Motlanthe has the right to privacy but that needs to be balanced with the fact that he is a public figure. As head of state we expect him to behave in a manner that is beyond reproach and to abide by the Moral Regeneration Movement's charter of values.

People like Kgalema, Zuma, Winnie Mandela and Angie Motshekga are leaders and our children are supposed to look up to them as role models. But I think I'll be damned if I let my child look up to them as role models.

The Firm by John Grisham

Mitchell Y Mcdeere, known as Mitch, has just graduated from Harvard Law school with flying colors when he joins a law firm in Memphis, Tennessee. The firm makes him an offer he can't refuse and he becomes an associate. Little does he know that Bendini, Lambert & Locke, his new employer, is owned by the mafia.

 

The FBI makes contact with him after two associates die under mysteriously circumstances in an accident. From there he learns about the shady business of the firm and how the FBI has been investigating the firm for years.

 

Even though he was apprehensive at the beginning he decides to make a deal with the FBI. He uses his wit and skill as a lawyer to get a favourable deal and help the authorities in their fight against organised crime.

 

This is an interesting book that is not easy to put down until you finish it.

 

Friends of JZ and Friends of Democracy

Following the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment in the NPA v Zuma appeal case on Monday I decided to check the Friends of Jacob Zuma  website for messages of support for the ANC president Jacob Zuma. The Friends of JZ trust was established in 2005 after Zuma was fired by the then state president Thabo Mbeki after judge Hillary Squires found Zuma's former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, guilty of corruption.    

 

Most members pledged their support to Zuma while some attacked the acting Deputy Judge President Harms who read judgment.  True revolutionary, (13/01/2009 07:50 PM) wrote that:

 

The day our shameful judiciary sentences Zuma to prison will be a start of my exile days where as former guerillas we will again rekindle old memories because we will fight the Boers led persecution of our leader...  fortunately we are ready for such a possibility. When they touch Zuma (our commander) they will have overstepped the mark. They must know that we are prepared to die and take up arms in order to defend him plus this country. But thankfully that will never happen... because Zuma is only going in one direction and that is at the Union Buildings, come rain or sunshine. Zuma served time for nothing and we'll be damned before we can allow that to ever happen again. It does not matter whether it is our own who are part of the conspirators, we will clean them all

 

The website contains a long list of documents, inter alia heads of argument, affidavits, judgments, Special Browse "Mole" Consolidated Report, SACP and Cosatu documents which touch on Zuma's persecution by the forces bent on undermining his ambitions to become the state president. It also features a biography of Zuma and a photo gallery with samples of his autographed photos.  

 

Another website of interest is The Friends of Democracy which was set up following the recall of former president Thabo Mbeki as the country's president after Judge Chris Nicholson suggested that Mbeki had interfered in the prosecution of Zuma.

 

The home page has a picture of an apparently distressed Zuma rubbing his right eye and a debate on the decision of the SCA in the NPA/ Zuma case. There is also Thabo Mbeki’s resignation letter from the country’s presidency after he was recalled.

 

Various issues are posted for comments and the debates get heated as critics and members of COPE slug it out in the battle of ideas. Insults fly back and forth in the process. A comment by QedaqmangaKZN (Wednesday, 14 January 2009 at 04:48 PM) reads:

 

 The Bum Flashers have every right to follow their leaders whom President Mandela is ashamed of, Julius Joburg Butcher HH Matric Pas's Malema, Angie Do'g Matric Pas's Is Not Important and Reverend Showerhead Kangamam. But please leave us alone to be part of the clever and smart people in the COPE. You see, President Mbeki appealed the Nicholson judgement because he is smart and clever and he knew that he was innocent. He won. Your leader, the Reverend Showerhead Kangaman did not appeal Judge Hillary Squires judgement because he is a dud head and he knows he is guilty;and was too busy with shower and baby oil! That is why we no longer look forward to ANC Today ever Friday!

I couldn’t stop laughing as I read the comments on both websites.

 

New Year, new beginnings

It is the New Year. And this is the time to start afresh. Therefore I’m making changes to my blog and I hope it will be more interesting and lively. I’m going to add more images, photos, poems and stories and essays. If I don’t publish my stories here no one will publish them elsewhere. This is my blog, my writing space. So I’ll go for it.

 

The name of the blog will change from express thought: life from the south of Africa to Tsuai’s World: writing is an expression of the self and a medicine of the soul.

 

My cousin Nombulelo set up her own blog just before the end of last year. I checked her blog and she put powerful poems and images on it. I think this will be an interesting blogging year.