My OperaDear Mama Winnie
Tuesday, August 7, 2012 12:06:37 PM
As we celebrate Womans Month here in South Africa, I thought I should post this...
“NEW AFRICANNESS” – A RESPONSE!
Sunday, July 1, 2012 7:50:55 PM
On the 3rd June 2012, a columnist of the City Press newspaper wrote, “There are many ways of being African in South Africa.”
Are there many ways of being a British in Britain? Are there many ways of being a Chinese in China, many ways of being a German in Germany or many ways of being a Russian whose minority dictate to the majority population?
The misconception about national identity in South Africa stems from a falsified colonial history. It is exacerbated by the 1955 political manipulation by which a certain section of the leadership of colonised African people abandoned the anti-colonial struggle for a civil rights movement. They claimed that their country belongs equally to the colonisers and the colonised, the dispossessors and the dispossessed owners. This is tantamount to saying that stolen goods can equally belong to the armed thieves and their rightful owners. It is not magnanimity. It is betrayal of the dispossessed.
Where has this happened anywhere in the world, except where British imperialism seized this African country at gunpoint, consolidated its colonialism through the Union of South Africa Act 1909 and allocated its 349,837 colonial settlers 93% of the country and left five million Africans with 7% through the Native Land Act 1913 and additional 6% through the Native Trust Land Act 1936? This 13% has now been entrenched in section 25(7) of the present Eurocentric constitution misleadingly called “the best democratic constitution in the world.”
For people who are now equal partners to Africanness in their own ways; a British colonial official Earl Glen long made it clear that “The Africans are generally looked upon by Whites as an inferior race whose interests must be systematically disregarded when they come into competition with their own, and should be governed to the advantage of the superior race….For this reason two things must be afforded to white colonists obtaining land…the Kaffirs should be made to furnish as large and cheap labour as possible.”
As long as there is still this colossal political fraud that “We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white…And we therefore, the people of South Africa black and white together, equals, countrymen and brothers adopt the Charter;” the land dispossessed Africans will wait for their authentic liberation to arrive until horses grow horns or there is a political explosion in this country.
If there is no Africanness, then there are no Africans. Fortunately, Africanness exists among Africans on all fundamental issues of their life. They have suffered the holocaust of the Slave Trade, Colonialism and ongoing racism. That is why many regard themselves as Africans first and their clan or country identities as secondary. They are anti-tribalism and have intermarried among themselves unlike in the past and unlike others who have kept to themselves. They regard those who owe their allegiance to Africa as African and respect the fundamental values of the African majority.
Africans belong together, whether they like it or not. Their survival and security depend very much on this togetherness, whatever problems they face in that togetherness. That is why they are all in the African Union. That is why the Organisation of African Unity was formed to decolonise the Continent. Pan Africanism itself is a manifestation of fraternal solidarity among Africans and people of African descent.
The recent Global Diaspora African Summit held in Johannesburg, on Africa Liberation Day 25 May 2012, is evidence that wherever Africans are, they share the same aspirations to restore Africa’s power to achieve the economic liberation of this continent and its technological advancement. So-called “New South Africa” cannot be an exception. Africanness is strongly related to Africanism, African Personality, Pan Africanism, African Nationalism, Afrocentricity and Africentric view of the world.
Let me now share briefly what some of Africa’s great leaders and visionaries have said about some of these concepts. On African personality Dr. Kwame Nkrumah said, “The desire of the African people to unite and to assert their personality in the context of the African community has made itself felt everywhere.” In March 1960 he added, “Ghana’s independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa and with the projection of African personality in the international community.”
On culture, Nkrumah said, “We are doing everything to revive our culture, but if this revival is to endure, it must be based on strong moral and spiritual foundation. Our moral and spiritual qualities should not lag behind the progress we are making in the economic field.”
This is very important when one considers what is happening with corrupt people who have gone to politics for self-enrichment at the expense of the poor they claim to “liberate.”
When looking at the colonially destroyed African civilisations and moral values, historian Arnold Tonybee wrote, “mankind may have to emulate Africans if world civilisation is to be saved.”
Africanness as Ubuntu/Botho is peculiarly African. It stems from a morality that teaches that people must do good and behave well towards one another. This is similar to Summum Bonum – doing the greatest good. It was a guide also to Africans in ancient Egypt that was ruled by the Black pharaohs such as Menes who united the upper and lower ancient Egypt.
That profound Pan Africanist scholar, Dr. Antony Muziwakhe Lembede observed that “Nationalism has been tested in the peoples’ struggles and fires and found to be the only effective weapon against foreign rule and imperialism….Africans are the natives of Africa from time immemorial. Africa belongs to them. Out of the heterogeneous tribes must emerge a homogeneous nation.”
In 1957 Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe, the first President of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) addressed the annual conference of the Basutoland Congress Party in Lesotho. In pursuance of building this homogeneous African nation and discouraging tribalism, Sobukwe said:
“I wish, in opening this conference, to quote the caption which appears on ‘Mohlabani’ since it expresses so clearly the reason for our sustained struggle:
‘Ts’oara thebe e tiee oa Rasenate
Oa bona fats’e leno le ea ea’
(Hold firmly your shield, son of Rasenate.You see your fatherland is being taken away from you)….
Sobukwe continued, “The policy of divide and rule is pursued today….We see this policy pursued by the whites who keep on reminding us that this is a Zulu the proud descendant of Shaka, with a glorious military history and should have nothing to do with the cunning Basotho; that is told he is a Mosotho, a proud descendant of the wise Moshoeshoe, and the only people never conquered by either the black or white, and should not associate with the wild savage Zulus nor with the treacherous, thieving Xhosas. And yet they call us all ‘Kaffirs….’
The British Prime Minister Harold McMillan recognised Africanness or African Nationalism, when he spoke in the apartheid colonial parliament in Cape Town on 2nd February 1960. In his ‘wind of change’ speech, he said:
“The wind of change is blowing throughout Africa signalling to those temporarily in charge of affairs – we fleeting transient phantoms….The striking of all impressions I have formed since leaving London a month ago, is the strength of this African national consciousness. It may take different forms, but is blowing throughout Africa. Whether we like or not, this growth of African consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact. Our national policies must take account of it.”
Macmillan concluded, “Of course, you (European colonial settlers), must understand it, as well as anyone. You are sprung from Europe the home of nationalism.”
Africanness is related to Africanism and Pan African Nationalism. It is a reality. African Nationalism will not go away. It is the African weapon for attaining authentic liberation where Africans control the riches of Africa for the benefit of the presently economically brutalised and criminally oppressed African people of this country and continent.
African Nationalism or Pan African Nationalism is a nationalism of self-determination. It has never been a nationalism of armed robbery and stealing of other peoples’ countries and riches. Pan African Nationalism is a nationalism of self-defence against imperialism and genocide. This nationalism views the personhood and humanity of African people as equal to that of any other people on this planet. Pan African Nationalism rejects with contempt, the racist philosophy that Africans are destined to exist in servitude to other human beings, whatever their skin colour, shape of their noses or texture of their hair.
African Nationalism does not look down on other members of the human race. It is also not in conflict with genuine socialism that serves the interests of the poor and powerless. Pan African Nationalism is in conflict only with the superstition of “white supremacy” propagated by some pink or pale skinned people. These are the people who have practised vile systems such as slavery and colonialism. Pan African Nationalism is the privilege of the African people to love themselves and give their way of life preference.
Africans who are ambivalent about Africanness and see nothing wrong with the brutal economic suppression of the African majority in the new “rainbow nation” of “miracle” that has not happened in the African community shall indeed, remain torn away from their past, propelled into a universe fashioned from outside that suppresses their values. They will be kept dumbfounded by a cultural imperialism that marginalises them. They will continue to be deformed images of others. Here I am paraphrasing Edem Kodjo author of AFRICA TOMORROW.
The African experience is that the invaders of Africa have always relentlessly pushed for command position in Africa, no matter how small their numbers. This arrogant behaviour must be brought to a swift end.
By Dr. Motsoko Pheko
(The writer is author of several books such THE HIDEN SIDE OF SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS and HOW FREEDOM CHARTER BETRAYED THE DISPOSSESSED. His latest book is TOWARDS AFRICA’S AUTHENTIC LIBERATION. He is a former Member of the South African Parliament)
Are there many ways of being a British in Britain? Are there many ways of being a Chinese in China, many ways of being a German in Germany or many ways of being a Russian whose minority dictate to the majority population?
The misconception about national identity in South Africa stems from a falsified colonial history. It is exacerbated by the 1955 political manipulation by which a certain section of the leadership of colonised African people abandoned the anti-colonial struggle for a civil rights movement. They claimed that their country belongs equally to the colonisers and the colonised, the dispossessors and the dispossessed owners. This is tantamount to saying that stolen goods can equally belong to the armed thieves and their rightful owners. It is not magnanimity. It is betrayal of the dispossessed.
Where has this happened anywhere in the world, except where British imperialism seized this African country at gunpoint, consolidated its colonialism through the Union of South Africa Act 1909 and allocated its 349,837 colonial settlers 93% of the country and left five million Africans with 7% through the Native Land Act 1913 and additional 6% through the Native Trust Land Act 1936? This 13% has now been entrenched in section 25(7) of the present Eurocentric constitution misleadingly called “the best democratic constitution in the world.”
For people who are now equal partners to Africanness in their own ways; a British colonial official Earl Glen long made it clear that “The Africans are generally looked upon by Whites as an inferior race whose interests must be systematically disregarded when they come into competition with their own, and should be governed to the advantage of the superior race….For this reason two things must be afforded to white colonists obtaining land…the Kaffirs should be made to furnish as large and cheap labour as possible.”
As long as there is still this colossal political fraud that “We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white…And we therefore, the people of South Africa black and white together, equals, countrymen and brothers adopt the Charter;” the land dispossessed Africans will wait for their authentic liberation to arrive until horses grow horns or there is a political explosion in this country.
If there is no Africanness, then there are no Africans. Fortunately, Africanness exists among Africans on all fundamental issues of their life. They have suffered the holocaust of the Slave Trade, Colonialism and ongoing racism. That is why many regard themselves as Africans first and their clan or country identities as secondary. They are anti-tribalism and have intermarried among themselves unlike in the past and unlike others who have kept to themselves. They regard those who owe their allegiance to Africa as African and respect the fundamental values of the African majority.
Africans belong together, whether they like it or not. Their survival and security depend very much on this togetherness, whatever problems they face in that togetherness. That is why they are all in the African Union. That is why the Organisation of African Unity was formed to decolonise the Continent. Pan Africanism itself is a manifestation of fraternal solidarity among Africans and people of African descent.
The recent Global Diaspora African Summit held in Johannesburg, on Africa Liberation Day 25 May 2012, is evidence that wherever Africans are, they share the same aspirations to restore Africa’s power to achieve the economic liberation of this continent and its technological advancement. So-called “New South Africa” cannot be an exception. Africanness is strongly related to Africanism, African Personality, Pan Africanism, African Nationalism, Afrocentricity and Africentric view of the world.
Let me now share briefly what some of Africa’s great leaders and visionaries have said about some of these concepts. On African personality Dr. Kwame Nkrumah said, “The desire of the African people to unite and to assert their personality in the context of the African community has made itself felt everywhere.” In March 1960 he added, “Ghana’s independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa and with the projection of African personality in the international community.”
On culture, Nkrumah said, “We are doing everything to revive our culture, but if this revival is to endure, it must be based on strong moral and spiritual foundation. Our moral and spiritual qualities should not lag behind the progress we are making in the economic field.”
This is very important when one considers what is happening with corrupt people who have gone to politics for self-enrichment at the expense of the poor they claim to “liberate.”
When looking at the colonially destroyed African civilisations and moral values, historian Arnold Tonybee wrote, “mankind may have to emulate Africans if world civilisation is to be saved.”
Africanness as Ubuntu/Botho is peculiarly African. It stems from a morality that teaches that people must do good and behave well towards one another. This is similar to Summum Bonum – doing the greatest good. It was a guide also to Africans in ancient Egypt that was ruled by the Black pharaohs such as Menes who united the upper and lower ancient Egypt.
That profound Pan Africanist scholar, Dr. Antony Muziwakhe Lembede observed that “Nationalism has been tested in the peoples’ struggles and fires and found to be the only effective weapon against foreign rule and imperialism….Africans are the natives of Africa from time immemorial. Africa belongs to them. Out of the heterogeneous tribes must emerge a homogeneous nation.”
In 1957 Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe, the first President of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) addressed the annual conference of the Basutoland Congress Party in Lesotho. In pursuance of building this homogeneous African nation and discouraging tribalism, Sobukwe said:
“I wish, in opening this conference, to quote the caption which appears on ‘Mohlabani’ since it expresses so clearly the reason for our sustained struggle:
‘Ts’oara thebe e tiee oa Rasenate
Oa bona fats’e leno le ea ea’
(Hold firmly your shield, son of Rasenate.You see your fatherland is being taken away from you)….
Sobukwe continued, “The policy of divide and rule is pursued today….We see this policy pursued by the whites who keep on reminding us that this is a Zulu the proud descendant of Shaka, with a glorious military history and should have nothing to do with the cunning Basotho; that is told he is a Mosotho, a proud descendant of the wise Moshoeshoe, and the only people never conquered by either the black or white, and should not associate with the wild savage Zulus nor with the treacherous, thieving Xhosas. And yet they call us all ‘Kaffirs….’
The British Prime Minister Harold McMillan recognised Africanness or African Nationalism, when he spoke in the apartheid colonial parliament in Cape Town on 2nd February 1960. In his ‘wind of change’ speech, he said:
“The wind of change is blowing throughout Africa signalling to those temporarily in charge of affairs – we fleeting transient phantoms….The striking of all impressions I have formed since leaving London a month ago, is the strength of this African national consciousness. It may take different forms, but is blowing throughout Africa. Whether we like or not, this growth of African consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact. Our national policies must take account of it.”
Macmillan concluded, “Of course, you (European colonial settlers), must understand it, as well as anyone. You are sprung from Europe the home of nationalism.”
Africanness is related to Africanism and Pan African Nationalism. It is a reality. African Nationalism will not go away. It is the African weapon for attaining authentic liberation where Africans control the riches of Africa for the benefit of the presently economically brutalised and criminally oppressed African people of this country and continent.
African Nationalism or Pan African Nationalism is a nationalism of self-determination. It has never been a nationalism of armed robbery and stealing of other peoples’ countries and riches. Pan African Nationalism is a nationalism of self-defence against imperialism and genocide. This nationalism views the personhood and humanity of African people as equal to that of any other people on this planet. Pan African Nationalism rejects with contempt, the racist philosophy that Africans are destined to exist in servitude to other human beings, whatever their skin colour, shape of their noses or texture of their hair.
African Nationalism does not look down on other members of the human race. It is also not in conflict with genuine socialism that serves the interests of the poor and powerless. Pan African Nationalism is in conflict only with the superstition of “white supremacy” propagated by some pink or pale skinned people. These are the people who have practised vile systems such as slavery and colonialism. Pan African Nationalism is the privilege of the African people to love themselves and give their way of life preference.
Africans who are ambivalent about Africanness and see nothing wrong with the brutal economic suppression of the African majority in the new “rainbow nation” of “miracle” that has not happened in the African community shall indeed, remain torn away from their past, propelled into a universe fashioned from outside that suppresses their values. They will be kept dumbfounded by a cultural imperialism that marginalises them. They will continue to be deformed images of others. Here I am paraphrasing Edem Kodjo author of AFRICA TOMORROW.
The African experience is that the invaders of Africa have always relentlessly pushed for command position in Africa, no matter how small their numbers. This arrogant behaviour must be brought to a swift end.
By Dr. Motsoko Pheko
(The writer is author of several books such THE HIDEN SIDE OF SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS and HOW FREEDOM CHARTER BETRAYED THE DISPOSSESSED. His latest book is TOWARDS AFRICA’S AUTHENTIC LIBERATION. He is a former Member of the South African Parliament)
Into My Backyard
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 10:37:54 PM
So it's been decided. Im going to Zimbabwe at the year end. My first into Africa adventure. What will I find there? Hopefully,whats not seen on tv. Excited?..... You bet!!!
Hurt ( The pains of growing)
Sunday, April 15, 2012 3:48:46 PM
Just had a huge ugly fight with mom. She said some pretty bad things to me. I swore at her. The minute the word left my mouth i felt sooo ashamed, so wrong,shocked! This comes after I recaived a warning in a dream yesterday,to be mindful of the things I say to her. I was on my way out,but I suddenly afraid of going. Didnt want to leave things the way they are between us. I might not arrive at my destination. So I went back,tried to explain,to apologise, but she has her pride, so I wore mine. The fruit doesnt fall far from the tree. My sister intervined,she tried shouting some sense into us. I tried to explain through my tears but she did not want to listen,she didnt want to listen. She didnt hear my sincere goodbye. I left...
This is a blog i read on twitter,i just had to post it....
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 11:10:45 AM
White People Annoy Me
White People Annoy Me
March 27, 2012 by MaBlerh
Okay, I’m lying, it is not the White people that annoy me in this country; it is our race relations or lack thereof.
We have become a nation of denialism and dinner table gossip. The issues that need to be discussed are shunned and those that are brave enough to bring them up in public are ridiculed and called named names in order to discourage them.
For the record, I am not an ‘angry black’ or a ‘professional black’ but a South African citizen that believes that my White fellow citizen really should sit down when it comes to some of the issues in this country. Agreed, I was not there during the times of racial segregation in our country, I narrowly escaped being brainwashed by the psychological poison that was being administered by the apartheid government and I was not offered inferior education because of the belief that all I’m good enough for is to be a garden boy or a factory worker and if I display “superior” intellect then I can become a nurse or a teacher.
Yes, all the above did not happen to me but:
I am the one stuck with parents who believe that White people are superior,
I am the one with relatives that live in squatter camps earning less than R1500 per month,
I am the one is expected to take care of my parents after their retirement because in their struggles to raise me, they never had the disposable income to save for retirement.
I am the one that had to give up my dreams of being a surgeon because I had to rush towards my financial independence in order to give my mother a break before she is 65 years old.
None of my White friends that I met at varsity and in the corporate environment could say that they have experienced some of the things that I have listed but whenever we would have a political debate, they would be the first ones to complain about employment equity, affirmative action and the tender process.
Irregardless of the fact that White people still benefit from the tender process and the fact that White people still run corporate South Africa.
When we complain, we are told that it has been 18 years since 1994 and that the playing field should be levelled by now. We are told that AA and EE are subtle forms of reverse racism. It is so funny how you can invade someone’s house (call her Nomonde), poison the minds of her children into them thinking they are inferior, biochemically inhibit the physical growth of her children so that they can’t be physically strong enough to revolt against you, torture her for speaking up against the injustice, go as far as to lock her or her children up if they try and revolt and then decide to give them back their home when the neighbours take action against you and your children.
You and your family are no longer allowed to buy in the neighbourhood shops, your kids are not allowed to play sport with other kids and you finally end the madness after suffering and bloodshed. Despite the your cruelty over a period of 90 years, Nomonde proposes that you shouldn’t be punished or evicted; she proposes that all of you can live together as a family and let bygones be bygones. She then proposes that you give her time to rehabilitate her kids and ensure that in the future they can have a fair advantage when competing with your kids. Nomonde went as far as to include your wife in the rehabilitation as she also suffered in your hands.
18 years down the line, your kids are now complaining that they are being mistreated and the arrangement is unfair as they are now being punished for your actions despite the fact that when Nomonde got her house back, she allowed you and your spouse to keep the main bedroom with the en-suite, your kids still kept their bedrooms, she moved inside the house whilst her children remained in the out building that you built for them without proper facilities. Basically, you and your family were left in the same position you were in whilst you kept her and family captive in their own home. Does your family really possess the right to bitch and moan? Does it make sense?
I will not lie; it pisses me off when a White person complains about Black people. It pisses me off even further that we live in a country where a Black man has to be “white” in order to climb the corporate ladder. I can’t stand the fact that Black DJ’s have been fired for saying 1/100 of the things that White DJ’s like Gareth Cliff get away with. It saddens me that we still have areas of this country where a White man can get away with racially motivated assault. Yes, we as Black people are far away from perfect in the way in which we are running this country politically but in all fairness we were thrown into “power” and exposed to trillions of Rands straight from prisons, exile and poverty. It is natural that there will be those consumed with greed and corruption, expecting less would be like starving 20 people for 3 days and then making them serve food at a luncheon without making some of it disappear into their mouths. Yes, some will have the integrity but some will not just steal something to eat at that moment but will steal enough to ensure that they are do not go hungry for at least a week.
My sentiments do not serve to justify the greed and corruption within our government, it is simply wrong and needs immediate action; they do not serve to vilify White people or to label my generation of Black people as victims that should be given handouts. My sentiments serve to ‘sensitise’ fellow White citizens and to allude to the fact that their bitching and moaning is an insult to us as fellow Black citizens. They serve to also ‘sensitise’ the Black people that become part of the chorus, in order to buy face, when White people whinge. We need time to level the playing field and be on par without the whinging of the people that contributed or benefitted from the problem that left us here. It is counter-productive and, to say the least, annoying.
Disclaimer:
*The word ‘sensitise’ appears courtesy of the African National Congress.
*I am a Gareth Cliff fan. Love his work.
*I am not an ‘angry poet’ or a ‘refugee’.
White People Annoy Me
March 27, 2012 by MaBlerh
Okay, I’m lying, it is not the White people that annoy me in this country; it is our race relations or lack thereof.
We have become a nation of denialism and dinner table gossip. The issues that need to be discussed are shunned and those that are brave enough to bring them up in public are ridiculed and called named names in order to discourage them.
For the record, I am not an ‘angry black’ or a ‘professional black’ but a South African citizen that believes that my White fellow citizen really should sit down when it comes to some of the issues in this country. Agreed, I was not there during the times of racial segregation in our country, I narrowly escaped being brainwashed by the psychological poison that was being administered by the apartheid government and I was not offered inferior education because of the belief that all I’m good enough for is to be a garden boy or a factory worker and if I display “superior” intellect then I can become a nurse or a teacher.
Yes, all the above did not happen to me but:
I am the one stuck with parents who believe that White people are superior,
I am the one with relatives that live in squatter camps earning less than R1500 per month,
I am the one is expected to take care of my parents after their retirement because in their struggles to raise me, they never had the disposable income to save for retirement.
I am the one that had to give up my dreams of being a surgeon because I had to rush towards my financial independence in order to give my mother a break before she is 65 years old.
None of my White friends that I met at varsity and in the corporate environment could say that they have experienced some of the things that I have listed but whenever we would have a political debate, they would be the first ones to complain about employment equity, affirmative action and the tender process.
Irregardless of the fact that White people still benefit from the tender process and the fact that White people still run corporate South Africa.
When we complain, we are told that it has been 18 years since 1994 and that the playing field should be levelled by now. We are told that AA and EE are subtle forms of reverse racism. It is so funny how you can invade someone’s house (call her Nomonde), poison the minds of her children into them thinking they are inferior, biochemically inhibit the physical growth of her children so that they can’t be physically strong enough to revolt against you, torture her for speaking up against the injustice, go as far as to lock her or her children up if they try and revolt and then decide to give them back their home when the neighbours take action against you and your children.
You and your family are no longer allowed to buy in the neighbourhood shops, your kids are not allowed to play sport with other kids and you finally end the madness after suffering and bloodshed. Despite the your cruelty over a period of 90 years, Nomonde proposes that you shouldn’t be punished or evicted; she proposes that all of you can live together as a family and let bygones be bygones. She then proposes that you give her time to rehabilitate her kids and ensure that in the future they can have a fair advantage when competing with your kids. Nomonde went as far as to include your wife in the rehabilitation as she also suffered in your hands.
18 years down the line, your kids are now complaining that they are being mistreated and the arrangement is unfair as they are now being punished for your actions despite the fact that when Nomonde got her house back, she allowed you and your spouse to keep the main bedroom with the en-suite, your kids still kept their bedrooms, she moved inside the house whilst her children remained in the out building that you built for them without proper facilities. Basically, you and your family were left in the same position you were in whilst you kept her and family captive in their own home. Does your family really possess the right to bitch and moan? Does it make sense?
I will not lie; it pisses me off when a White person complains about Black people. It pisses me off even further that we live in a country where a Black man has to be “white” in order to climb the corporate ladder. I can’t stand the fact that Black DJ’s have been fired for saying 1/100 of the things that White DJ’s like Gareth Cliff get away with. It saddens me that we still have areas of this country where a White man can get away with racially motivated assault. Yes, we as Black people are far away from perfect in the way in which we are running this country politically but in all fairness we were thrown into “power” and exposed to trillions of Rands straight from prisons, exile and poverty. It is natural that there will be those consumed with greed and corruption, expecting less would be like starving 20 people for 3 days and then making them serve food at a luncheon without making some of it disappear into their mouths. Yes, some will have the integrity but some will not just steal something to eat at that moment but will steal enough to ensure that they are do not go hungry for at least a week.
My sentiments do not serve to justify the greed and corruption within our government, it is simply wrong and needs immediate action; they do not serve to vilify White people or to label my generation of Black people as victims that should be given handouts. My sentiments serve to ‘sensitise’ fellow White citizens and to allude to the fact that their bitching and moaning is an insult to us as fellow Black citizens. They serve to also ‘sensitise’ the Black people that become part of the chorus, in order to buy face, when White people whinge. We need time to level the playing field and be on par without the whinging of the people that contributed or benefitted from the problem that left us here. It is counter-productive and, to say the least, annoying.
Disclaimer:
*The word ‘sensitise’ appears courtesy of the African National Congress.
*I am a Gareth Cliff fan. Love his work.
*I am not an ‘angry poet’ or a ‘refugee’.
Conversations of an Oppressor III
Monday, March 12, 2012 8:19:59 AM
This is every African to read and understand.
.30 years
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 1:38:12 PM
After being married for thirty years, a wife asked her husband to describe her.
He looked at her for a while ... then said, "You're A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K."
She asks ... "What does that mean?"
He said, "Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Delightful, Elegant, Foxy, Gorgeous, Hot.
She smiled happily and said ... "Oh, that's so lovely ... What about I, J, K?"
He said, "I'm Just Kidding!"
....The swelling in his eye is going down and the doctor is fairly optimistic about saving his testicles.
He looked at her for a while ... then said, "You're A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K."
She asks ... "What does that mean?"
He said, "Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Delightful, Elegant, Foxy, Gorgeous, Hot.
She smiled happily and said ... "Oh, that's so lovely ... What about I, J, K?"
He said, "I'm Just Kidding!"
....The swelling in his eye is going down and the doctor is fairly optimistic about saving his testicles.
Brittle
Friday, February 10, 2012 2:30:25 PM
Im so tempted to write what i feel. To anounce it publicly and be a fool for everyone to see. The thing is,im not sure how you feel anymore. I can only speculate. Maybe you do want me in your life,maybe you dont. I dont know. You've been so quiet. Reflecting... I'm still alive but im barely breathing...
What am i supposed to do..... u know the rest. Whats the reason for these bad things that are happening? I dont want to fall into pieces...
What am i supposed to do..... u know the rest. Whats the reason for these bad things that are happening? I dont want to fall into pieces...
Neta's Journey. In A Dream
Monday, January 23, 2012 2:19:43 PM
Heres a story with a character than has been on my mind for weeks now. Im just releasing it. I'll see where it takes me. PS Im not a writer.
Happy Birthday Imange
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 7:11:55 AM
Precisely at 8:45 on this day 2007, I gave birth to a baby boy...
I dedeicate this 1 to you my boy..
Unsure of what the balance held
I touched my belly overwhelmed
By what I had been chosen to perform
But then an angel came one day
Told me to kneel down and pray
For unto me a man child would be born
Woe this crazy circumstance
I knew his life deserved a chance
But everybody told me to be smart
Look at your career they said,
"Baby use your head"
But instead I chose to use my heart
You are the joy of my heart,You are my blessing
How beautiful if nothing more
Than to wait at your door
I've never been in love like this before
Now let me pray to keep you from
The perils that will surely come
See life for you my prince has just begun
And I thank you for choosing me
To come through unto life to be
A beautiful reflection of his grace
For I know that a gift so great
Is only one God could create
And I'm reminded every time I see your face
My boy I love and repect you. May you grow to love and respect women,treat them with love. That's responsibility I promise to instill in you as a mom....
I dedeicate this 1 to you my boy..
Unsure of what the balance held
I touched my belly overwhelmed
By what I had been chosen to perform
But then an angel came one day
Told me to kneel down and pray
For unto me a man child would be born
Woe this crazy circumstance
I knew his life deserved a chance
But everybody told me to be smart
Look at your career they said,
"Baby use your head"
But instead I chose to use my heart
You are the joy of my heart,You are my blessing
How beautiful if nothing more
Than to wait at your door
I've never been in love like this before
Now let me pray to keep you from
The perils that will surely come
See life for you my prince has just begun
And I thank you for choosing me
To come through unto life to be
A beautiful reflection of his grace
For I know that a gift so great
Is only one God could create
And I'm reminded every time I see your face
My boy I love and repect you. May you grow to love and respect women,treat them with love. That's responsibility I promise to instill in you as a mom....
Yolanda
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