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.