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Drop Charges Against Ayanda Kota

2012-01-12T23:52:00.000-08:00

DEMOCRATIC LEFT FRONT

13 January 2012

PRESS STATEMENT: DROP CHARGES AGAINST AYANDA KOTA AND CALL FOR PUBLIC ACTIONS AGAINST STATE/POLICE REPRESSION OF ACTIVISTS

The Democratic Left Front (DLF) calls for the immediate release and dropping of all charges against comrade Ayanda Kota, the Chairperson of the Grahamstown-based Unemployed People’s Movement. Kota is also a founder and member of the National Committee of the (DLF). Kota will appear at 9am this morning at the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court to answer to charges of theft and assault of police. He has been in police custody from yesterday afternoon.

According to a UPM press statement issued yesterday, a certain Constable Zulu and other members of the South African Police Services (SAPS) savagely assaulted Kota at the Grahamstown police station. This assault took place in front of several witnesses including Kota’s 6-year old son. Kota was at the police station in response to charges laid against him by a controversial academic from Rhodes University. Ostensibly, Kota had not been returned a book he had borrowed from this academic. She then proceeded to lay a charge of theft against her. The police added the assault charge.

As stated in separate statements by the UPM and by the Rhodes University-based Students for Social Justice (SSJ), Kota’s treatment at the police station is consistent with increasing police repression against activists of social movements involved in social mobilisation challenging the neo-liberal and anti-poor policies of the ANC-led state. As the SSJ statement said “We have seen this behavior in Durban, when the ANC led an attack against Abahlali basemjondolo members in the Kennedy Road Settlement. We have seen this behavior when ANCYL members attacked DL and UPM activists (including Ayanda) at the international day of climate action during COP 17. We have seen this behavior when Rehad Desai was assaulted in front of Zuma”. At its most tragic, this led to the killing of Andries Tatane by the SAPS during a protest in Meqheleng in April last year.

The state’s increasing use of excessive force is reminiscent of the old apartheid police style tactics to suppress dissent and maintain social control. The more than 50 social movements that mobilise under the DLF umbrella have a list of at least 14 others whose deaths have been reported in the media since 2000 (seven of whom had their lives ended in 2010 and 2011). In addition, a much greater number of people have been traumatised by the use of rubber bullets fired at point blank range, and by improper use of live rounds, tear gas and water cannon. Taken as a whole, it is clear that there has been widespread intimidation of people wishing to take up their constitutional right to protest, and that this threatens our hard-won democracy. The DLF is extremely concerned about the sustained actions of Jacob Zuma’s ruling elite to enhance the coercive capacities of the state.

The DLF is not surprised by yesterday’s actions of the SAPS against Kota. For a number of months now, Kota has reported suspected surveillance of his movements and family home by the local SAPS. The DLF also recalls that over the last two years, several UPM activists including Kota have been subject to problematic arrests, false charges, intimidation and harassment from the local SAPS. These SAPS actions were in cahoots with local ANC politicians and councilors following sustained UPM social mobilisation in support of demands for service delivery and accountability by the Makana Local Municipality which is mired in inefficiency, failed service delivery and corruption.

The DLF strongly condemns the SAPS for its treatment of Kota. This attack on Kota is an attack on constitutionally protected human rights and the very essence of democracy itself. This attack is an attack on social movements and the DLF itself. No amount of police brutality will solve the mass misery and poverty inflicted on our people by the pro-capitalist ANC government. This attack is a direct call to all poor and working people to intensify their actions of disciplined social protest and mobilisation against the anti-poor policies of the ANC government and municipalities as well as against police brutality.

For all the above reasons, the DLF endorses the SSJ call for an investigation of, and action against those SAPS members responsible for yesterday’s assault on Kota. We also join the UPM and SSJ call on the Makana municipality and the ANC to condemn this action against Kota in the strongest possible terms.

This is the time to mobilise affected communities and organisations to bring evidence of police brutality into the public sphere. Poor and working people subjected to police brutality and other repressive action must be able to speak out and act on the violations of their rights. Such action must also send a strong signal to the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Public Protector to undertake official investigations in terms of their constitutional and legislated mandates on cases of police violence directed at citizens engaged in protests. The DLF calls on the ICD, the SAHRC and the Public Protector to undertake statutory investigations of police brutality in a responsive and pro-active way that can also ensure that police brutality is exposed and declared a violation of, and a crime against the constitutional rights to speak and associate freely.

Beyond what these statutory institutions can do, the DLF also reiterates another call it made last year: the call for a People’s Tribunal Against Police Brutality. In the view of the DLF, such a Tribunal must hear evidence from affected communities, thus providing a voice for working class experience and anger whilst also building solidarity between organised workers, poor communities and others committed to human rights, social justice and freedom of expression. Such a Tribunal can also lay the foundation for a mass campaign that can mobilise poor and working people to speak out and act against police brutaliy, and challenge the increased militarisation and centralisation of power in an increasingly unaccountable security cluster of the state.

Finally, the DLF is extremely concerned at the failure of the Rhodes academic to take political responsibility for her action to lay charges against Kota. No matter whatever unhappiness and ill-feeling she has against Kota she is a politically mature and experienced enough individual who knows the struggles of the UPM and its harassment by the local SAPS. We are however not surprised by her actions as she has sustained an almost sadistic individual campaign against the UPM ever since it did not agree with her political views regarding participation in the May local government elections. Yesterday afternoon, our comrade Jane Duncan (a DLF national committee member and fellow academic at Rhodes University) spoke to this academic to no avail. In our engagement with her, it became clear that the actions of this individual unwittingly aid the efforts of the local ANC and SAPS to demonise Kota and his other UPM comrades. None of this will take UPM attention away from its programme of action.

ENDS

FOR COMMENTS, CONTACT:

DLF Spokespersons:
Brian Ashley – 082 085 0788
Mazibuko K. Jara – 083 651 0271
Vishwas Satgar – 082 775 3420
Website – www.democraticleft.za.net

SSJ: Benjamin Fogel, 071 224 6524

UPM: Xola Mali, 072 299 5253

Emotional Numbness

2011-12-17T11:56:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

He or she is remote
Unable to emote
To fall short like asymptote
To fail to touch the asymptote
Facial expression robotic
Like unexploded ballistic
Cerebral mastery of syntactic
Mechanically wired robotic
Emotional numbness
Emotional absence

To explode like the ballistic
To disregard the syntactic
Unable to emote is ruthless
Like ballistic is emotionless
Incapable of empathy
Unable to connect emotionally
Unwired at the Eukaryotic
Unable despite Eucharistic
Emotionally numb
Emotionally absent

Contextual Commentary

The brain structure PLT is responsible for emotional processing. It can be induced, through environmental conditioning, to become fear based and over-reactive to an environmental stimulus. If another brain structure PFC does not balance out the PLT then an organism is a cold fish with no altruistic sentiments. Such a cold-blooded organism becomes a threat to the survival of those who stray into its life’s orbit.

Is South Africa’s 10111 A Death Trap?

2011-12-16T19:11:00.000-08:00

By Mfene ka Ngelengele

Have you been in a life-threatening situation and you dialed South Africa’s police emergency number 10111? Did you get an immediate response? This is my story of what happened to us.

We got into a life-threatening situation whereby a 20-year-old man hit us with a brick and a bottle. My cousin was hit by the brick and the bottle. He suffered serious lacerations from the bottle and excruciating bodily harm from the brick that hit him below the belt. He dropped to the ground as a result and bled.

I rushed for a phone and dialed 10111. I couldn’t get through the first time but the second time around we spoke to someone. We gave the address, description of the life threatening situation and the urgency of the matter. The police officer promised to dispatch police to the situation.

More than 20 minutes passed and no police vehicle materialized. We called again and we had to give the address and the description of the life-threatening situation. Police vehicle was promised to be dispatched but no police vehicle was dispatched. We called the third time and spoke to a lady called Mia. She looked on the computer and found there was no record of our previous 10111 call. We lodged the new call with her and she promised that the police were being dispatched. Fifteen minutes later, no police had been dispatched. We called and spoke to a Ms. Mia to inquire if the police were coming to the scene and she said yes with a voice of irritation.

Fifteen minutes later, there was no police vehicle and in the meanwhile the situation is escalating. We called again 40 minutes later and spoke to a Mr. Pule whom we had to give the details afresh as if we had never called about this matter. He suggested that the area was too busy but agreed to take the call and dispatch the police to assist us. We called 30 minutes later and he confirmed that the police were on their way to assist us but no police showed up. The incident started around midnight and the time now is 4am and no police has materialized.

10111 Not A Free Call From Cell Phone

We ran out of airtime and couldn’t get our call through to the emergency. We had to purchase extra airtime in order to call 10111. We also discovered the hard way that calling 10111 on your cell phone is not free or cheap. You must have airtime in order to make a 10111 call.

In the meanwhile the assailant threatened to kill us all by shooting. We waited in vain for the police. This must explain why some communities take the law into their hands and solve the problems theremselves because they have the harsh experience of calling 10111 and no one showing up to assist you.

Is Calling 10111 in South Africa a Worthless Exercise?

Does this then mean that calling and pinning your hopes on 10111 is a false hope and as such a death trap? Do you have to get hurt or killed before the police are dispatched to the scene. What are your thoughts on this? In this case no police showed up! The South African Police Services are very professional and among the best on the planet but this situation is very disappointing and does not confirm our trust in 10111. If you are a police officer, politician or government officer reading this please share your thoughts and assist us in anyway you can.

I attended an emergency police and emergency services orientation whereby they teach people about emergency services and they educated us about the use of emergency but when we called the emergency on this violent situation there was no police vehicle that showed up and that means if we didn’t manage to handle the situation the best way we knew how then we would have ended up like dead.

We called again to 10111 and was just getting disconnected. We then called 10177 and asked to be put through to a police station and we were told that it was not possible. The lady then put us through to the 10111 and we spoke to a lady whom we gave the details afresh. We asked her name and she said she was Mia. We then said we had spoken to her before and lodged a police emergency call but she said she never spoke to us. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

End of the Rope for Malema

2011-11-11T10:30:00.001-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

The ANC Youth League President Julius Malema has been dealt a deathblow with respect to his political influence within the ANC after getting his membership suspended for five years. Mr. Malema received an unusually harsh disciplinary sentence from the National Disciplinary Committee of the ANC via its Chairperson Mr. Derek Hanekom.

Since this is the second conviction of a similar charge for which Mr. Malema was given a suspended two year sentence last year, this means he must effectively vacate his post as the President of the ANC Youth League as of yesterday. Even though he has expressed his intention to appeal the sentence, this is not going to change the fact that he is automatically suspended for two years in accordance with the 2010 charge and guilty plea and at a minimum he must still stay outside ANC politics for two years. This shows that his political wings have been clipped as of yesterday.

Why Malema Got Into Trouble?

The problems of Mr. Malema are avoidable i.e. he didn’t have to call for the downfall of the Botswana Government, he didn’t have to embarrass a White journalist calling him by his genitalia and others. Considering that he had already been sentenced last year, one would have expected him to do whatever it took to preserve his ANC and ANC Youth League membership and never allow the repeat of the same offence. Perhaps Mr. Malema is an inflexible thinker when it comes to adaptation? He would rather be kicked out of his ANC home than comply with the rules as articulated by the ANC leadership?

He understandably represents the voice of the economically disenfranchised and has demonstrated the necessary valour, fortitude and uncompromising spirit needed. He has articulated the right issues of economic marginalization of the African natives. Along with his gutsy spirit, Mr. Malema needed to show an adaptable personality and honourable character in order to preserve his role as a champion of the disenfranchised. Above all else, he needed to show respect to his leaders and others something that he failed to do. Instead, Mr. Malema was perceived as disrespectful, confrontational and ill-disciplined when it came to selective judgement. I spoke to an old African man about the case and he observed that Mr. Malema hit the right points on the issues that affect the African natives but he was rather too impatient, unrully and disrespectful to the older generation and the President of the country Mr. Zuma. This man told me that in respect is an extremely important attribute in an African society and if you are perceived as disrespectful and not waiting your turn then you become an outcast. Mr. Malema has found himself in that position as we write these lines.

He needed to take a page from a great African military commander Umkhuzi wa Mabutho Ndlela Ka Sompisi who showed a superior skill as an adaptable individual when he served without contradiction in the two opposing regimes of King Shaka and then King Dingane who assassinated his brother Shaka. How was it possible for General Ndlela to serve under administrations that were antagonistically opposed to each other in the 1800s? The secret lies in the fact that General Ndlela was loyal to the Kingdom of Zululand regardless of who presided over it whther King Shaka or King Dingane. King Dingane was satisfied that General Ndlela was a professional and loyal soldier whose uncompromising loyalty lay in the preservation, continuity and survival of the Zulu Kingdom.

If Mr. Malema had read about General Ndlela maybe it would have made him wiser. As it stands, he fought too many battles without a unifying strategy. Today he is out in the cold with many daggers ready to backstab him politically.

Even though he is out and down, he is still in the game because all he has to do is appeal his sentence with a hope of reducing the time from five years to two years so that he takes the two year period as an introspective sabbatical to plan his comeback in 2013. If he is wise, he mustn’t get into any more fight. He must retreat in order to fight another day as the great Chinese philosopher Sun Tsu once wrote in his book The Art of War. The same philosopher also says that providence is on the side of big battalions. Mr. Malema needs time to rebuild his battalions and two years is more than enough.

Another advice is that Mr. Malema must reduce his battles. He must only fight one battle at a time and not two or three or six but just one battle! Going to Botswana to bring about the downfall of that Government was a misguided battle he didn’t need to fight.

All who are gleeful about Mr. Malema’s troubles must not count out him yet. The ANC is the only show in town and Mr. Malema understands that when he says the ANC is his only home. He has the right frame of mind. He can still recover from setback and he will rise again and this time around, hopefully wiser.

A Rare Combination

2011-10-27T00:29:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

Hot pink like gentle fire
Decked as if to inspire
To make the heart warm
To adorn a beautiful form
To be forever heartwarming
Even though unseen before
The physique like a golden sun
Is pleasing to the eye
But blinding to behold
Despite trying to be bold
The restraint of the syntactic
Solidifies like emphatic

To induce beauty like refrain
To blend beauty and brain
A flawless curvature is galore
Must resist to avoid disfigurement
For now to embrace curtailment
Devoid of self-interest that sticks like glue
To obey the gravitational pull
To resist like the great Sitting Bull
In his tribute to the Great Spirit
To observe perils of disfigurement
While approaching the pearls by the water
Even though the water will engulf

Contextual Commentary

When the moon glowed like a red ball, it was unfeasible to resist the gentle attraction of the gravitational pull. She commanded like a majestic globe while rising soothingly above the horizon. The surface was like texture mapped to highlight the glow that inspired a sense of a worshipful approach. It was appealing to advance to the moon’s surface for purposes of exploring and admiring the lunar morphology but the anxious feeling of gravitating towards the galactic core was prohibitive. To admire the moon by the sea is death defying because her gravitational pull equally amplifies the amplitude of the rolling waves in whose body of water the admirer will be contained. Is it possible and commendable to traverse the waterways of the moon?

Tactile Flow

2011-07-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

Tactile flow must never atrophy
Like molasses, before they solidify
Cautious juices flow unimpeded
After gaining their sacred trust
Lubricant flows from the depths
A sacred oil to salute the gods
To reward a directed pilgrim
Whose life hitherto is interim

Tactile flow oozing even higher
Like black molasses by the fire
To overflow before nightfall
To fall into trance after squeezing
A glorious appearing like sapphire
Black molasses before they retire
To peel away like yellow plantain
The sweet innermost we must retain

Contextual Commentary

The medicine plant of Matamong is most trusted for its healing powers. The sacred juices of the plant are embedded and locked inside to preserve a flawless purity. A barbed membrane guards the innermost to prevent tampering by those not sanctioned by the ancestors. When the medicine woman approaches the sacred grounds, she makes incantations to the ancestors to seek a rite of passage. When the ancestors disapprove, she must gracefully adjourn until another day. Happily for her, it is fortuitous that the planets are in alignment and she is permitted to come within reach of the sacred grounds.

The galactic core of the heavens has accepted her because her people are descendants of Mphatlalatsane of the stellar universe. She burns a special incense Impepho to announce her presence to the ancestors. Thereafter, she breaks into a warrior chant of those who have gone before her, brandishing a shining spear that has been fortified with strong medicines. The gathering of the spirits is like an insignia authorizing the pilgrim to explore and relish the succulent plant of the African soil. The revered tradition must continue so that the future generations can walk on footsteps of those who have gone before them.
The Indomitable Mongoose, by Vusi Moloi © 2008, Canada.

The Broken Triangle

2011-07-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

The genesis like a triangle
To evolve after an angle
We observed geometric rules
Unaware of entrenching tools
Hitherto, a broken triangle
Disconnected despite an angle

When connection they impede
The magnetic must recede
Chastised on Canadian ice like spruced
Beautiful connection was refused
A microscopic mind partitioning
Arrested angle to atrophy
Broken lines were connective
But network prohibitive

Contextual Commentary

The unfaltering desert flower Mponeng hides underground while awaiting the advent of the falling rain. Until the heavens persuade some clouds to burst and pour their hearts out, the flower must remain in the safe hands of the great underground for the coming rain.

The thunderous lightening has already flashed across the heavens to turn a page on the dry season below. The vicarious stallion and great protector was fired up to make the treacherous crossing across the fearsome waterways but the zebra clan remains behind raising questions on the timing of his crossing. The large body of water, like the great Atlantic, is now a fearsome divide between him and the clan. Did the great protector cross prematurely and thus misjudged the crossing? This may very well explain the persistence of the dry season in the great Kalahari which puts him at the mercy of the harsh circumstances because there is no going back after the crossing.

However, the positive energy of the African soil is endless. The brilliant red sand of the Kalahari dances beautifully in the musical wind currents of the heavens while the electric heartstrings of the Kalahari vibrate energetically as if under a gentle plucking by the heavens. Her heartstrings are like the masterful kora strings of West Africa which trigger a trance response in the heart of the great protector as he contemplates the crushing dry season below. Such an activist energy, which cannot be scientifically accounted for, refuses to be interjected by the harsh events on the ground as attested by the apparent transcendence of the desert spirits. The desert flower is oblivious to such convivial ambience and thus unable to relish the momentous enjoyment because she remains underground listening intently for the coming rain. While the desert sands shift and dance endlessly under the infusion of the red disco colors of the heavens, the flower’s patience is wearing thin as she religiously listens for the slightest signs of the falling rain. Is the much awaited rain coming soon? Who knows when that shall be?
The Indomitable Mongoose, by Vusi Moloi © 2010, Canada.

The Great Mother Ant

2011-07-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

The great underground she constructs
To resist power that corrupts
When new offspring arrive
They are well defended
Schooled in the teachings
Of the antiestablishment
The collective is interested
While self-interest arrested

They learn about altruistic
To commit like genetic
To uphold ancient wisdom
Like the great mother ant

When sovereignty is breached
Sterile soldiers must be reached
To defend the great mother ant
To preserve their cherished value
They repel foreign occupation
To regain territorial honor
To serve the great mother ant

Contextual Commentary
The queen ant is the supreme ruler of the underground chambers of the ant colony. She chooses and pre-determines the social and functional roles of the ants. In her great wisdom, she has determined that ants that carry out critical functions like food resources and military defense are fundamentally sterile. Interestingly, these individuals who serve the ant society in the sectors of the economy and military defense are expressly devoid of self-interest. They get vetted of self-interest while still in the womb of their mother. This makes sense because a mother’s language and her environment do influence a human baby while inside its mother’s womb. Analytically, sterile ants make better defenders of the ant society because they uphold the norms and values of their society without fear or favour. They are superior economic producers of their society. Sterile soldiers, workers, porters, janitors, among others, translate into a human concept of selflessness. Such individuals are incapable of self-interest.

The ant society highly values the attributes of selfless service. Self-interest, in which a member of society puts his or her personal desires ahead of social service would have his or her membership revoked and kicked out of the ant society. In a worse case, such an individual would be sentenced to public execution because the ant society cannot tolerate self-interest. Why is that? The ant society regards self-interest as an antagonistic contradiction of their way of life. Self-interest is treated like treason, a betrayal of their society. A society cannot advance, thrive or prosper if those who serve in it are governed by self-interest. They must be sterilized of any traces of self-interest in order to contribute greatly to the well being of others using the Sesotho philosophy of Bonyopa (the process of sterilization).

Colonial conquest was achieved primarily with the help of guns, foreign religion and self-interest. The modern popular media use this idea to perpetuate self-interest among the colonized so that the society remains trapped in an infinite state of a stalemate with respect to radical transformation and economic emancipation. There is a lot of talk about transformation but very little to show for it. There is a lot of talk about ubuntu but very little evidence on the ground. The greatest question is: are we ready to learn from the great mother ant or do we remain loyal to the status quo that robs the society of economic emancipation? What are the consequences of self-interest for future generations?

Haditaba Dimfihlela

2011-07-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

Rasebonane pele ofalla
Bofokodi ba matsapa ke lethathama le matheba
Fela hone hosa rereha
Jwale ofalletse
Hao satla hlola obonahala
Haditaba dimfihlela
Katsitsibana nkare leqebeng
Kechechela kahare
Kekgathatswa ke hotsamaya hahao

Haditaba dimfihlela
Kaqhoma jwale ka hofotholwa
Ke hokgomarollwa sefateng
Moo nkekeng kahlola kekgutlela
Haone orehlokomela jwale ka Mme ya nyantshang
Reile rakgoriswa ka honyanya howena
Otla kgumamelwa kahosafeleng
Kebana baneng balahleile

Qapollo Ya Taba

Hake kena dihekeng tsa lelapa la hao le mofuthu mmoho le Ouma wa Ngonyama, oile wa re amohela ka lerato lesenang moedi leo lekekeng la le lebalwa. Redutse maotong a hao, ore rupella ka mantswe a maholo a tlhalefo jwalo ka sebuhi sesoholo sa dipale lekgotleng la borena. Oile wa rephaella ka lerato la honyantsha, ontse ore tataisa hole le mehlare e buleileng ya mekonko ya apartheid. Hoile hwa kgahlisa ka dipelong haoboka babaholo bahaMfene! Bo Jambas! Mantswe reile rawa ananela jwale ka bana bahlokang haholo honyantshwa. Hofalla ha hao osarerisi hoya mahodimong hotlile ka pele! Kgohlo ekgolo ebulehile esatlokgona hotlatswa moo wena ohatileng teng jwale ka mme wa mampudi. Retla dula rebabatsa pelo yahao etletseng kgalalelo jwale ka Mme Masisulu wa Phomong.

When I Heard the News

2011-06-03T21:52:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

Unseen before forever away
My feeble effort like sparse array
But it was never to be
You are now departed
Never more to be seen
When I heard the news
I cringed like from a wound
Retreating into the inmost
Deeply saddened by the passing

When I heard the news
I jolted like shell-shocked
As if detaching from a tree
Never more to be re-attached
When you mothered us at Phomolong
We prized your mothering
To be forever cherished
By children once diminished

Contextual Commentary

When I walked with Ouma of Ngonyama through the gates of your receptive home, you embraced us with unbounded loving that shall never be forgotten. While seated at your feet, you shared great words of wisdom like a legendary griot in an African royal court. You showered us with mothering love while steering us away from the voracious jaws of the apartheid killing machinery. It was heartwarming when you reaffirmed your ties with the great Mfenes! Oo Jambas! We took your words to heart as your children in great need of mothering. Your sudden departure for the heavens is too soon! An empty void now haunts the terrestrial globe on which you once walked like an indefatigable superwoman. We shall forever pay tribute to your sacred heart as Mama Sisulu of Phomolong.

Appreciating the Freedom

2011-05-21T18:13:00.001-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

I was deeply touched by the remarks made by Ntate J. Motlhabane who was being interviewed on Soweto TV. Ntate Motlhabane made deeply moving words when he referred to many young South Africans who don’t show the same sense of appreciation for their freedom and urgency for the future like the self-sacrificing youth who have gone before them.

Ntate Motlhabane made an instructive example about a young person who goes to University being supported by her mother. Since many of her school mates at University are well off and their parents drive in style when the come to University, this particular young person develops a sense of shame and embarrassment about his/her mother because she does not have many finer things in life. The student cringes when his/her mother who is dressed in poor shoes and shabby dress shows up to give the little money that she earns to her child. Eventually the child tells the mother not to bother to come to University but rather send the money by mail because this will save the student some embarrassment of his/her mother showing up at University.

Lesego Moleofane produced this interesting Soweto TV show. Ntate Motlhabane pointed out that the freedom in South Africa came at great sacrifice as a result of the youth of 1976. Even though the parents at the time disagreed with the youth in terms of their militant strategy in fighting apartheid, the youth took the initiative to confront, challenge and bring down apartheid at great risk to themselves. Ntate Motlhabane said he was grateful that the freedom had arrived in South Africa and people were treated on the same level as the whites. He credited the ANC for championing the cause of the oppressed along with other liberations movements like PAC.

Ntate Motlhabane turned his attention to the youth of today who don’t seem to be forward thinking as leaders of tomorrow. They seem to be more interested in themselves. The situation is made worse by the fact that some of the political leaders in government positions think more about themselves and their immediate families at the exclusion of the rest of the people. This phenomenon of self-interest and corruption is demoralizing the collective spirit of the population.

Africa Unbound: Harnessing Africa's Creative Potential

2011-04-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Leaders Meet in Addis Ababa for an Inaugural Conference to Launch a Continental Movement for Change

Addis Ababa, April 26, 2011 - Leaders at all levels from across the continent and beyond will meet in Addis Ababa on April 28 and 29, 2011 for the inaugural symposium of Africa Unbound Inc.- an organization that seeks to change the course of history in Africa by unleashing the continent's creative potential through a process of individual transformation.

"The Symposium will provide a forum for candid conversations about our internal barriers that continue to impede our growth and development," said Africa Unbound Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Rahel Kassahun. "It will launch a movement of people who know that a new day is dawning and peace, prosperity and freedom can be realized in Africa."

The symposium, which will be held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, will bring together development practitioners, community activists, academicians, youth, and public and private sector leaders to discuss the strategic outlines of a continental movement for change through a process of self-examination, individual responsibility, and transformative action.

The symposium will seek answers to the questions: what is ailing contemporary Africa? What will constitute the continent's age of enlightenment and what are the tools for initiating and sustaining it? Participants will also focus on creating enabling conditions for effective transformation in the region.

"Enough of walking in the dark; we want to live a life that is free of aggression, deprivation, and indignity," said Rahel Kassahun. "This is the liberation movement of our time and it calls for commitment and bold action; for a new spirit of citizenship based on the conviction that we can do things differently."

The symposium is a launch pad for a movement of peaceful activism towards enlightenment and social transformation. It will set the stage for a wide range of activities and programs that will seek to enable individuals to be powerful change agents on the continent.

###

Contact: Eric Chinje
echinje@africaunbound.org

www.AfricaUnbound.org

WDF Celebrates Pioneering Women MPs

2011-04-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

There were only a few women in the South African parliament (less than 1%) during the National Party government before 1994. The gender imbalance was radically corrected in 1994 when fresh troops, numbering more than 100 women and mostly from the African National Congress, swelled the ranks of women members of parliament in the new democratic government led by South Africa’s first African President Mr. Nelson Mandela. By 1999, the number of women MPs in South Africa’s parliament had become 169 strong or 42% and it was these women, including those now deceased, who were honoured by the Women’s Development Foundation in Johannesburg on 25th March. The event took place in the former Old Fort women’s prison and now Constitution Hill, the new home of South Africa’s Constitutional Court.

Movers and Shakers

Ms. Wendy Mayimele, the former Member of Parliament and one of the 169 honoraries, was amongst many other movers and shakers like the unbought and the unsold Ms. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Mrs. Zanele Mbeki, Hosi Philia Nwamitwa, Dr. Nkosazana Zuma, Ms. Lydia Makwena Ngwenya (mentored and inspired this writer during the struggle years) and many others. Ms. Mayimele pointed out it was Ms. Madikizela-Mandela who first proposed in Parliament to have Mr. Nelson Mandela as President. She also proposed August 9th as a South African Women’s Day. In this way, women MPs had a direct impact on the unfolding of the new political dispensation in South Africa. These indefatigable heroines received memorable awards and had their names unveiled in the memory wall constructed by the Women Development Foundation. The ceremony, dubbed A Celebration of Women in the First National Assembly, was a celebration of democracy between 1994 and 1999.

In 1994 there were 111 women comprising 28% of women MPs that put South Africa at eighth place in the world in terms of women’s parliamentary representation. That number rose to 42% by 1999 and today stands at 45% making South Africa number two in the African continent and number three on the planet in terms of women MPs. The number one position in the world and the African continent belongs to the African country of Rwanda. However, South Africa remains number on the continent in terms of the actual count of women MPs in parliament.

According to Ms. Mayimele, the women MPs faced a number of formidable challenges including having to give up a sacrosanct time with their families in order to bolster the fledgling democracy in helping to write the constitution which was adopted by the Constitutional Assembly on October 11, 1996 and ratified by the Constitutional Court on December 4th of the same year. President Mandela signed the new constitution into law on December 10 ushering the new constitutional era and thereby decommissioning the 1993 interim constitution. There has been a minimum of 16 amendments to the new constitution since it was adopted in 1996. The last amendment to the constitution was made in 2009.

Sacrifices Made

Speaking to Zulumathabo on the Internet blog, Ms. Wendy Mayimele spoke emotively of the many sacrifices and the lack of facilities for women in parliament because it was primarily an exclusively white male parliament. When women raised issues about aspects of parliament that were not woman friendly, they were forced to choose between being women or members of parliament. It cost some women MPs their families for choosing to serve the new South Africa. In fact one could say there was no choice because how does a mother choose between her children and serving her country? It looks like a choice but is it really a choice? The movie Sophie’s Choice comes to mind.

Dr. Thandi Ndlovu of Motheo Construction directed the WDF programme of honouring the women pioneers in parliament. The Chief Justice welcomed the audience including the women MPs, the diplomats from other countries, leaders of political parties, families of those who had passed away, women judges, civil society, young women invited to be here and the trustees of the WDF.

Dr. Brigalia Bam, a founding President of WDF, gave opening remarks in which she referred to the women pioneers of South African parliament as The Class of 1994 and her speech was dubbed Why The Class of 1994? Dr. Bam, who also serves as the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, expressed the sentiment of women taking charge of leadership. She told the captivated audience that she had threatened, together with other women, that women would form their own church if they were not ordained as priests.

A Sangoma medicine woman of Gauteng performed an African ceremony using impepho as an invocation of the sacred spirits prior to the commencement of the unveiling. This African ceremony seeks the prior permission of the ancestors before an important event is allowed to begin. The HE Thenjiwo Mtintso, HE Sheila Margaret Camerer and Ms. Suzanne Christina Vos gave their reflections on the main event while Ms. Lebo Mashile performed a poetry rendition. Chief Justice Ngcobo officiated at the unveiling ceremony along with Archbishop T. Makgoba and the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities Ms. Lulama Mary-Theresa Xingwana.

Addressing the audience, Chief Justice Ngcobo spoke of “a class of 1994” as “distinguished women” thanking them for having accepted the invitation to be present at the unveiling of the Memorial of The Class of 1994. He commended WDF for organizing the event of “courageous women” who served with distinction with the support of families and friends and organizations that provided a support system and equipped the women with skills and research.

Justice Ngcobo referred to the site, which currently houses the Constitutional Court as a historic “site of injustice and deprivation” with heroines like Bertha Gxowa having been incarcerated in the Old Fort prison for women. He pointed out that the women MPs served the country with “dignified humility” in accordance with the decorum of the role they occupied.

Dr. Thandi Ndlovu thanked the honoraries for their graduation as a class of 1994. The company Motheo Construction built the wall of honour (with the help of Mr. Hobb) on which the names of 169 women pioneers were engraved. Awards were also given to the surviving families of the parliamentary stalwarts who had since passed on.

The women MPs faced some stiff challenges as they sought to transform an institution designed by and for men into a woman friendly institution. This was not easy because women had to initiate a lot institutional changes to retrofit the parliament to become user friendly for the women MPs. This meant adding women toilet facilities, child care facilities and other necessary facilities so that women MPs could function in an evironment that was conducive to the fulfillment of their mission-critical tasks.

Historical Insight of Women’s Struggle

Prior to 1994 women were also affected and divided by the racial policies, which existed for generations, as some White women didn’t see themselves as having a common cause with Black women. Even though the struggle for women’s suffrage had been going on in South Africa as far back as 1894, as attested by prominent feminist scholars like Sheila Mentjies in her scholarly paper The Women's Struggle For Equality During South Africa's Transition To Democracy, many White women subscribed to the sexist-racist adage “Die vrou wil nie saam met die kaffer stem nie” meaning a “White woman does not want to vote with a nigger woman”. However, the new women of 1994 broke past these racial barriers as attested by one woman Ms. Suzanne de Vos of IFP when she said women seated in parliament as patriots more than politicians to an extent that even party politics did not divide them.

This makes the experience of the women MPs the most powerful story of transformation. Even Dr. Bam expressed this sentiment when she said the story of South Africa had not been told as long the story of the women was not told.

The Names of the Heroines on the Memorial Wall

1. Abrahams Lizzie Adriana
2. Adams Feroza
3. Badenhorst Margaretha Johanna
4. Baloyi Sponono Francinah
5. Bam Nomancube Jillian
6. Benjamin Jean/Dr Swanson-Jacobus Jean
7. Bhengu Nozabelo Ruth
8. Biyela Nokwethemba Thelisile
9. Botha Ntombazana Gertrude Winifred
10. Botha Yolanda Rachel
11. Camerer Sheila Margaret
12. Chait Esme Joy
13. Chalmers Judy
14. Chohan-Khota Fatima Ismail
15. Coetzee-Kasper Mietha Patricia
16. Cupido Paulina Wilhelmina
17. De Lille Patricia
18. Didiza Angela Thokozile
19. Direko Winkie Isabela
20. Min Dlamini Bathabile Olive
21. Dlulane Beauty Nomvuso
22. Fazzie Ethesian
23. Ferguson Jennifer
24. Fester Gertrude Magdalene Nethania
25. Fraser-Moleketi Geraldine Joslyn
26. Gamdana Thembeka
27. Gandhi Ela
28. Gasa Xolile Faith
29. Gcina Cikizwa Ivy
30. Ginwala Frene Noshir
31. Govender Devagie
32. Govender Pregaluxmi
33. Gxowa Bertha Nonkumbi
34. Hajaig Fatima
35. Hangana Nomatyala Elizabeth
36. Hani Limpho
37. Hlangwana Nomvula Lillian
38. Hogan Barbara Anne
39. Jacobus Loretta
40. Jana Devikarani Priscilla
41. Kemp Alida Elizabeth Louisa
42. Kgoali Joyce Lesawana
43. Kgositsile Mbete Baleka
44. Khobe Olive Ntombikayise
45. Khuncu Nancy
46. Dr King Tersia Johanna
47. Kondlo Ncumisa
48. Deputy Min Kota Zoliswa Albertina
49. Kuzwayo Nnoseng Ellen Kate
50. Lamani Nocwaka Emmcie
51. Langa-Capa Rosemary Zoleka Nokuzola
52. Lausberg Cheryll Ellen/Gillwald Cheryll Ellen
53. Losabe Lorraine Keamogecoe
54. Love Janet Yetta
55. Lubidla Evelyn Nompumelelo
56. Mabandla Brigitte Sylvia
57. Min Mabudafhasi Thizwilondi Rejoice
58. Mabude Ntomile
59. Mabuza Lindiwe
60. Mabuza Manana Catherine
61. Madikizela-Mandela Nomzamo Winnie
62. Madubula Nonyaniso Trusma
63. Madumise Meisie Maureen
64. Mahlalela Cengi Christine
65. Mahlangu Lindiwe Gwendoline
66. Mahlangu Qedani Dorothy
67. Mahomed Farida
68. Maine Sophia Makatse/Morule-Maine Sophia Makatse
69. Majola-Pikoli Nozuko Temperance
70. Malan Theunetta Johanna
71. Malepane Busisiwe
72. Maloney Lorna
73. Maphisa-Nqakula Nosiviwe Noluthando
74. Marcus Gill
75. Mars Inka
76. Marshoff Frances Beatrice
77. Mashamba Happy Joice
78. Masuku-Ntuli Lindiwe Faith
79. Matsepe - Cassaburi Ivy Florence
80. Maunye Maggie Margaret
81. Mayimele Hlamalani Wendy
82. Mbatha Mary Smangele
83. Dr Mbulawa-Hans Bulelwa Gilberta
84. Mbuyazi Lindiwe Rosebud
85. Mdutyana Sylvia Nomaza Noluthando
86. Mfono Nosisa Babalwa
87. Mkhwanazi-Modise Thandi Ruth
88. Mlambo-Ngcuka Phumzile Gloria
89. Mnandi Pamela Nana
90. Mohale Maite Emily/ Nkoane-Mashabane Maite Emily
91. Mokgalong Moshito Rosina Victoria/Mashigo Moshito Rosina Victoria
92. Molebatsi Maapi Angelina
93. Molewa Bomo Edna Edith
94. Mompati Ruth Segomotsi
95. Morulane (Masango) Eneria Nana/Masango Eneria Nana
96. Mothoagae Percylia Kereng
97. Mthembi-Nkondo Sankie Dolly
98. Mtintso Thenjiwe Ethel
99. Mtsweni Nomsa Sanny-Florah
100. Mutsila Irene
101. Myakayaka-Manzini Yvette Lillian
102. Ncube Bernard
103. Ndzanga Rita Alita
104. Nel Bernine Fredrika
105. Ngubane Harriet
106. Ngwane Lindiwe Benedicta/Hendriks Lindiwe Benedicta
107. Ngwenya Makwena Lydia
108. Njobe Makhosazana Abigail Alicia
109. Nkuna Constance
110. Nqodi Sally Belvia
111. Nqwemesha Kuku Winnie
112. Ntlabati Senorita Nombulelo
113. Ntuli Bongi Maria
114. Nyembe Nomzantsi Dorothy
115. Nzimande Buyisiwe Maureen
116. Olckers Martha Elizabeth
117. Min Olifant Mildred Nelisiwe
118. Min Pandor Naledi Grace Mandisa
119. Min Peters Elizabeth Dipuo
120. Phakathi Nomasonto Emmah
121. Phantsi Nosakhele Elizabeth
122. Rabinowitz Ruth
123. Ramakaba-Lesiea Mandu Mildred
124. Ramotsamai Cecilia Mampe Papadi
125. Rantho Mamodupi Maria
126. Ranuga-Maphazi Nondumiso
127. Ratsoma, Maggie
128. Reubenheimer Veronica Marlene
129. Routledge-Madlala Nozizwe Charlotte
130. Schreiner Jennifer Ann
131. Seaton Sybil Anne
132. Sekgobela Priscilla Sindisiwe
133. Seperepere Mittah Selekanya
134. Shabangu Susan
135. Shandu Eileen Eidana Nkosi
136. Shilubana Tinyiko Phillia
137. Shope Gertrude Ntiti
138. Shope Ntombi Regan
139. Sigcau Alice Nothembisa
140. Sigcau Stella Margaret Nomzamo
141. Singh Lalita
142. Sisulu Nontsikelelo Albertina
143. Min Sisulu-Guma Lindiwe Nonceba
144. Smuts Mudene
145. Snyders Frances Elizabeth
146. Sonjica Buyelwa Patience
147. Sosibo Jabu Elsie
148. Tambo Adelaide Frances
149. Thabethe Elizabeth
150. Themba Priscilla Malesane
151. Thompson Barbara
152. Tshabalala-Msimang Edmie Mantombazana
153. Tsheole Ntshadi Martha
154. Tshivhase Tovhowani Josephine
155. Turok Mary Elizabeth
156. Twala Ntombikayise Margaret
157. Tyobeka-Lieta Vuyiswa Margaret
158. Van der Merwe Annette Margrietta
159. Van der Merwe Susan Comber
160. Van Wyk Anna
161. Versfeld Antoinette Maria
162. Verwoerd Melanie
163. Vilakazi Jeanette Ntombizodwa
164. Viljoen Valerie
165. Vos Suzanne Christina
166. Min Xingwana Lulama Mary-Theresa
167. Zerwick Frieda
168. Min Zuma Dlamini Nkosazana Clarice

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Ms. Wendy Mayimele for speaking to Zulumathabo on the Internet about the WDF event and also for providing the photos posted in this article. Thank you to Mr. Nhlanhla Mthethwa for assisting with the list of the honoraries.

Sanya Declaration of the BRICS Leaders Meeting

2011-04-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

SANYA, Hainan, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of five BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, released on Thursday a joint document, Sanya Declaration, at the BRICS Leaders Meeting in south China's resort city of Sanya.

The following is the full text of the document.

Sanya Declaration

(BRICS Leaders Meeting, Sanya, Hainan, China, 14 April 2011)

1. We, the Heads of State and Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa, met in Sanya, Hainan, China for the BRICS Leaders Meeting on 14 April 2011.

2. The Heads of State and Government of Brazil, Russia, India and China welcome South Africa joining the BRICS and look forward to strengthening dialogue and cooperation with South Africa within the forum.

3. It is the overarching objective and strong shared desire for peace, security, development and cooperation that brought together BRICS countries with a total population of nearly 3 billion from different continents. BRICS aims at contributing significantly to the development of humanity and establishing a more equitable and fair world.

4. The 21st century should be marked by peace, harmony, cooperation and scientific development. Under the theme "Broad Vision, Shared Prosperity", we conducted candid and in-depth discussions and reached broad consensus on strengthening BRICS cooperation as well as on promoting coordination on international and regional issues of common interest.

5. We affirm that the BRICS and other emerging countries have played an important role in contributing to world peace, security and stability, boosting global economic growth, enhancing multilateralism and promoting greater democracy in international relations.

Mau Mau Uncovers Hidden Colonial Files

2011-04-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

The British Foreign Office was dealt a hard blow after an earthshaking discovery that it was illegally hiding some 2000 boxes of colonial records despite the fact that these records were meant to be part of the public domain. An estimated 8800 colonial files, kept under wraps by the British authorities, will soon see the light of day thanks to the new legal offensive from the unconquerable, unbought, unsold and highly revered Mau Mau of Kenya.

More than 60 years since they took the first steps in fighting the English establishment head-on, these Kenyan African revolutionaries are still agitating for change in modern times in a case that poses an impressive threat to the English establishment. The Mau Mau mean serious business because early this year they stormed the British Embassy in Nairobi demanding 105 trillion shillings in compensation for torture, dispossession, rape and murder when Britain ruled Kenya during the colonial era.

The Mau Mau veterans have launched a legal battle to be compensated along with their families for the torture and pain they suffered under one of the most violent administrations of the British Empire. A British High Court will hear the reparation case on Thursday. Armed with one of the best human rights lawyers in England with a track record of historic victories against the British Governement, the Mau Mau have enlisted the eagle-eyed services of Leigh Day.

President Barack Obama’s grandfather, Onyango Obama, is one of the victims of torture and state terrorism carried out under the British colonial rule in the 1950s and 60s. President Obama writes about this painful part of his family history in his memoirs Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance which he launched before his historic bid to become the President of the United States. Some have even suggested that President Obama harboured some degree of bitterness towards the English for the torture of his grandfather a charge President Obama has consistently denied.

The Mau Mau Genesis

The Mau Mau began an armed struggled against the intransigent British system in 1950 with lots of members drawn from the Kikuyu people. The Mau Mau used a secret and powerful African code for each of their members in the fullfilment of their mission-critical task of liberating Kenya from the swipping clutches of the English colonial system. They fought with irrevocable determination to emancipate their country which they achieved when Kenya became independent in 1963 under the iconic Jomo Kenyatta more than thirty years before South Africa could taste its own freedom.

The political liberation did not come cheap as the tree of freedom could only be watered with blood. The Kenyan Human Rights Commission reports that more than 90,000 Kenyans were executed, maimed or tortured by the British authorities while another 160,000 were interned under cruel and inhuman conditions. In comparison, the official British figures report 20,000 Mau Mau fighters killed in combat, about 1000 supporters hanged and another 70,000 Kikuyu members of the civilian population subjected to internment. No apology or reparations have ever been tendered to the Kenyan survivors and their families. Kenyan Human Rights Commission is supporting the Mau Mau in this case and has collected signatures from human rights organizations and individuals like South Africa's legend Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

This must not come as a surprise because the English prefer to ignore the truth and bury their head in the sand than to face it head-on. This is due to an apparent English philosophy, which regards the non-English as an expendable commodity. The British claim 300 British soldiers who died in gun battles with the Mau Mau fighters although this number is higher according to the Kenyans I have spoken to.

Voodoo Mystery

The historical records, which cover more than thirty British colonies, in Africa, Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean have remained the best-kept secret of England for many decades. It’s a voodoo mystery as to why these documents have been kept hush hush and away from the public domain. As soon as Kenya declared independence, the British administrators made a clean sweep in removing all records associated with their brutal rule in Kenya. This practice also took place in other colonized countries like South Africa.

Official Policy of Information Hiding and Falsification

The official policy of information hiding or falsification of history is a unique feature of the English establishment and their colonial descendants continue to live in denial of the atrocities inflicted upon the African natives to this day. This makes it nearly impossible to achieve closure when a denialist philosophy is the order of the day. As a matter of fact, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has told everybody that the British Government had no liability with regards to the bleak events that took place between 1952 and 1960 in Kenya. Obviously, this surviving cache of historical data was supposed to be inaccessible or wiped out of existence but somehow it got stashed away only to be rediscovered in our lifetime. These are the interesting times because history is unfolding right in front of our eyes. It is a judicial judge who ordered the examination of all historical records for purposes of dealing with the legal claimant case of the Mau Mau veterans and their surviving families.

Today we know about the existence of these documents due to the surviving members of the anti-colonial fighters still in the forefront of the great struggle to emancipate the sacred land of their foremothers and forefathers nearly fifty years after independence from British colonial rule. The resurgent Mau Mau have risen from the dark shadows of death to launch an ambitious case of reparations against the British Government by specifically naming the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office as defendants in the lawsuit. Other liberation movements like the African National Congress of South Africa must take a page from the Mau Mau.

One of the Wikieleaks cables has reported that the new generation of the ANC lacked a sense of history and was more interested in self-interest than appreciating the scrutiny of history. Hopefully this Mau Mau case will inspire many ANC members to take an interest in history because this is the only way we can retrace our steps in order to arrive at the correct destination otherwise we are like aimless people dancing around on the dance floor without any strategic plan to really take us anywhere.

Scripted Statements and Denialism

For their part, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has dished out scripted statements of denial of responsibility in Kenya. Instead of announcing an unconditional release of all the colonial files, the Minister of the British Foreign Office Lord Howell of Guildford told the House of Commons "The intention is to make as much of this material as possible available to the wider public". He added, "This work will begin shortly but given the size of the archive the process may take some years to complete." It would appear that the FCO is intending to release a sanitized version of the files so that the real truth can never be known.

It must be understood that the FCO had previously denied any existence of colonial files pertaining to the Mau Mau and it was only after Mau Mau’s lawyers had presented an undeniable material evidence in court that the FCO was compelled by the judge to go get those files. These 300 Mau Mau files uncovered thousands of other colonial records pertaining to many countries to a total of 8800 files contained in 2000 boxes as already mentioned.

Nonetheless, the FCO still denies liability in the case of the Mau Mau. They invoke some voodoo statement, which says that if the English occupy, rob and rape your foremothers and forefathers, brutalize them and disinherit them of the land, and impound, burn alive or cull their cattle, then all those legal and moral liabilities associated with colonial conquest become the responsibility of the new government by succession and England can no longer be held liable.

One Mau Mau lawyer Dan Leader of Leigh Day & Co made an interesting rebuttal when he declared, "Every leading historical expert on the Kenya Emergency has filed statements in support of the victims. To seek to pin the liability for British torture onto the Kenyan government is an appalling stance for the government to take and one which we hope the judge will reject."

The former Prime Minister Tony Blair also reneged on legal responsibilities (treachery of the highest order) towards the African country of Zimbabwe when he wrote (see my article Why The West Is Not Influential in Zimbabwe) to Zimbabwe, through one of his Ministers, that England did not intend to honour the contractual agreements between England and Zimbabwe in spite of those treaty agreements being signed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on behalf of England. This is like saying if material evidence cannot be wished away then it eventually goes away if officially denied.

South Africa Must Demand Colonial Records

South Africa must take an interest in this case because there is likely to be Zulu boxes there too. This will help to cast light on the thousands of Black Africans who were interned and left to die in the British concentration camps between 1899 and 1902 in one of South Africa’s well hidden holocausts. Those Black mothers who died in these camps with their children have not been given a proper burial and many were buried in unmarked mass graves in the Free State and Gauteng provinces where the largest British concentration camps existed.

Perhaps these colonial papers can shed much needed light on the matter so that there can be some closure and resolution in order to move on with our lives as a people of the rainbow nation. In the article Black involvement in the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902 published in the Military History Journal of October 1999, Nosipho Nkuna writes about the Black Africans in these cruel concentration camps.

Celebrated Hero of the Mau Mau

The celebrated heroic figure of the Mau Mau armed rebellion Dedan Kimathi was captured in 1957 (having served seven years in the armed struggle against British rule) and sentenced to death by execution while still bleeding from his fresh injuries sustained in a shootout with British troops. The Chief Justice Sir Kenneth O’Connor sentenced Kimathi to die by hanging while the man was still wincing from his gaping wounds at his hospital bed. It’s one thing to clash with a man on the battlefield but is quite another story to subject him to such extreme indignity even when he is wounded lying in a hospital bed. As if this is not bad enough, the body of Kimathi has never been found to this day as we write these lines.

The strange thing about the judge is that he was not even an English native but an Irishman whose ancestors had been brutalized in the same if not worse fashion by the English establishment he now swore allegiance to. It’s hard to believe that someone whose ancestors were captured, chained, raped, beaten and caused to die under some of the most atrocious conditions would not be moved by another human being whose only crime was that of fighting for the emancipation of his people. In a number of articles like Political Contempt – Senator McCain and Senator Obama Debate 2 I write about the intersecting historical questions of the Irish people and the African descendants.

Today Kimathi enjoys the status of ancestral reverence in Kenya and his adored statue in Nairobi is a fitting tribute to an immortal legend in the great fight against colonial conquest by the English establishment. There is also a University named after him Kimathi University College of Technology.

The Mau Mau apparently established on August 12, 1950 under the leadership of Jomo Kenyatta (according to some historical accounts) and was later arrested and kept in one of the British prison camps in Kenya, which British officialdom preferred to call “Administrative Camps”.

However, Jomo Kenyatta never acknowledged his leadership or membership of the Mau Mau and it remains an open question as to whether he really was involved in the formation of the Mau Mau. Interestingly, Kenyatta never even unbanned Mau Mau during his rule and the movement only became unbanned after more than 50 years in August 2003. Notwithstanding, Kenyatta was an intellectual heavyweight. He studied economics at Moscow University in the USSR. He was able to pursue these advanced studies as a result of financial support from another African legend of Trinidad and Tobacco, the great George Padmore.

Kenyatta worked hard to bury the past and unite Kenya. Could there be parallels here with South Africa where the indigenous history of the African natives is suppressed in favour of official Eurocentric history that is till being taught through the lenses of colonial descendants who continue to occupy and exploit the lands of the African ancestors? More than three quarters of the food producing land is still controlled by colonial descendants who seem pleased with the status quo as it stands right now and the African natives seem powerless in doing anything about it. One thing is certain and that is the patience of the people is not endless. When another rebellion erupts in South Africa, it will become unstoppable.

As previously mentioned, the discovery of the colonial documents have implications for many countries. Following is the list of countries, colonies and protectorates affected by these files:

1. Aden (and protectorates)
2. Anguilla (Birthplace of the Rastafarian bible)
3. Bahamas
4. Basutoland (Lesotho)
5. Bechuanaland (Botswana)
6. British Indian Ocean Territory
7. Brunei
8. Cameroons
9. Ceylon
10. Cyprus
11. Fiji
12. Gambia
13. Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony
14. Gold Coast (Ghana)
15. Jamaica (Home of the Rastafarian movement)
16. Kenya (Mau Mau Country)
17. Malaya
18. Malta
19. Mauritius
20. New Hebrides
21. Nigeria
22. Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)
23. Nyasaland (Malawi)
24. Palestine (Occupied by Israel)
25. Sarawak
26. Seychelles
27. Sierra Leone
28. Singapore
29. Solomon Islands
30. Swaziland
31. Tanganyika (Tanzania)
32. Trinidad and Tobago
33. Turks and Caicos
34. Uganda
35. West Indies Federation
36. Western Pacific High Commission
37. Zanzibar (Tanzania)

Thabo Mbeki Leadership Institute Celebrates Women

2011-03-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

Women are the main engines of Africa’s growth. Statistical evidence shows that women comprise 50% of Africa’s farmers and 70% of production workers in the structure of Africa’s economy. For this reason, women should not see themselves as victims but agents of change. These are the powerful expressions of a Senegalese Dr. Yassin Fall of the UN Women Research and Economics Advisor to the United Nations. Dr. Fall was giving a keynote address at the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute at the University of South Africa in Tshwane on Tuesday. This fanfare event was celebrating 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. A German fighter on behalf of women’s rights Clara Zetkin began this day of women’s celebration when the movement for international women’s celebration was first begun on March 8, 1911.

African Woman Contributing More

Dr. Fall decried the fact that an African woman was contributing more to the economy than she was recognized for because most of her work fell under the classification of unpaid labour even though her labour was critical to the functioning of society like caring for the sick so that someone else is able to go to work and the economic functions of society are not interrupted. The high degree of poverty in society also meant a greater extent of unpaid labour that is consequently not counted towards the GDP. Part of the problem is that the Western models of economic analysis (strongly embraced by African leaders) only consider quantifiable labour as a valid economic activity. This calls for modern African women to take a bigger role in the policy making decisions so that the kinds of policies developed can be truly reflective of Africa’s real needs. The innovation and fresh thinking in economic policy will come from talking to the African women who are bearing the brunt of economic disadvantage.

Outsiders Prescribe To Africa

For the longest time, Africans have had their economic policies prescribed and modeled after the European systems even though most of Africa’s economic activities were not market based (something that requires Africans to evolve their own economic methodologies). As a result, the alien models were not addressing real African economic needs. Another paradox is that the kinds of economic models that Western societies had been prescribing to Africa were suddenly not applicable to European economies and instead these prescriptive foreign powers were themselves throwing away what they had imposed on Africa and instead pursuing stimulus packages that essentially were Keynesian models designed to create and resuscitate aggregate demand in the market economy. Leaders like President Obama and his predecessor President George Bush, among others, implemented these Keynesian policies.

Women Must Refuse To Take Prescriptions

This calls for women to take a stand and to refuse to be prescribed to while excluded from the decision-making structures. The women must take an active role in the decision-making, Dr. Fall told the captive audience.

Response To The Keynote Address

In her response to Dr. Fall’s keynote address, Dr. Mbambo Thata, Executive Director of E-Knowledge Society for Women in Southern Africa, underscored the importance and relevance of Dr. Fall’s challenge to the women and pointed out it was not enough for women to participate in the decision making structures of policy makers but it was equally imperative for the rules of engagement to be changed in order to effect a favourable outcome. Otherwise, participating in decision-making under the same status quo rules would not lead to a different outcome.

A number of powerful movers and shakers made similarly powerful presentations like Ms. Cecilee Phatudi, CEO of Eternal Park and Founder Women with Purpose who spoke with fervor about womanhood, equal opportunity with men and not competition with men and the critical importance of ethics and values; Dr. Anniekie Ravhudzulo of UNISA Women’s Forum; and Dr. Thandi Ndlovu.

The Program Director of the event was Dr. Maureen Tong who is Head of Thabo Mbeki Leadership Institute and Dr. Annikie Ravhudzulo. Dr. Tong opened the event and welcomed the audience while Dr. Ravhudzulo introduced the speakers. Professor Shadrack Gutto of the Institute for African Renaissance Studies at UNISA gave a vote of thanks.

The Gracious Former President Thabo Mbeki

The former President Mr. Thabo Mbeki together with his wife Zanele was in attendance along with a number of people who served under his administration. Dignitaries including former ambassadors were also in attendance. The forever graceful Thabo Mbeki was a heartwarming presence at this auspicious gathering and this writer was honoured with his autograph.

Libya Slapped With UN Resolution 1970

2011-02-26T19:09:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

The UN Security Council has imposed tough and binding sanctions upon the repressive regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya for using extreme force against ordinary people who are demanding a democratic change in their own country. In a unanimous vote, the UN Security Council members registered a strong message that those who violated human rights were to be held accountable for their actions. The sanctions of UN Resolution 1970 ban travel and use of mercenaries, freeze assets, and refer the Libyan Government actions to the International Criminal Court (also known as ICC) in The Hague for violent repression against anti-government protesters.

This resolution addresses the question of systematic attacks on the citizens like the use of African mercenaries, among others, to intimidate and silence the Libyan people who are entitled to a democratic change like any other human beings in any part of the world. The use of African mercenaries from countries like Chad is particularly sickening since it blemishes the image of the rising Mother Africa. These soldiers of fotune are clearly blinded by instant rewards and unquestiong loyalties. The Libyans are our brothers and sisters and we must remember the words of the great Zulu King Shaka who refused to pollute his hands in shedding the blood of his brother Dingan even though Dingan posed a threat to King Shaka’s life.

Gaddafi's Mercenaries Stationed in Tripoli Libya

From ibnomar2005 of Youtube

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon expressed appreciation for the resolution saying it sent a strong message that those who flagrantly violated human rights would be held accountable for their actions. He referred to the sanctions as a necessary step in dealing with the situation in Libya.

The US Ambassador to the UN Ms. Susan Rice said it was the first time in recent memory of the UN to refer a case of heinous killing of citizens to the ICC. Ms. Rice warned that the UN business in dealing with the deteriorating situation in Libya was not finished and the resolution would remain under review in response to the situation in Libya. She said these tough and binding measures were also intended to prevent the flow of arms in and out of Libya.

The Libyan Deputy Ambassador to the UN Ibrahim Dabbashi supported the resolution against what he termed a “fascist” regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Interestingly, the members of the diplomatic mission of Libya to the UN have chosen to side with the people of Libya and they no longer recognize the administration of Muammar Gaddafi. The US President Barak Obama who said that Muammar Gaddafi must go now for having lost his “legitimacy” to rule, also echoed this sentiment.

The case of Muammar Gaddafi is a tragic case of reversal of fortunes considering his stellar record of anti-colonial fight in his country as well as many parts of Africa including supporting the people of South Africa in their fight against apartheid. Gaddafi is fondly referred to as “Brother Leader” because he has no official title of President or Prime Minister like in other countries but rather he is just a leader. Gaddafi is the son of a camel herder and was born in a tent in the African desert. The concept of being a leader and rejecting official tittles was probably inspired by the herder experience of his father. His rise to prominence as an African revolutionary is no less than legendary which explains the extent to which he had captured the imagination of the African leaders. This most likely explains the slow response of the African leaders to the crisis in Libya.

The Crossing To The Other Side

2011-02-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

Zebras drill for the voyage
To cross to the other side
Assembled babies must drill
To ditch dry seasons that kill
She teaches them
To remain within view
To transcend the coming surge
If they obey they shall live
To inherit the other side
To venerate the land of the ancestors
Humans averse to risk taking
Because they fear the other side

To disembark a raging flow
Despite hit by waves like a blow
To embrace the unknown
To cross the finish line
Where sorcerers await
To spook the finish line
To impose an incline
The colossal crocodiles lie in ambush
To destroy those easy to fleece
Yet a diligent zebra’s kick is fierce
To crush ambushing jaws to fragments
Never more to be victimized by the ambush
Unperturbed by those bewitching the mind

Contextual Commentary

The teachings of the African zebra exist forever. These teachings are held to be true in perpetuity. Her unconquerable spirit powers the imagination of many generations on a long and arduous road in the quest to reach their destination where the land is teeming with diversity of vibrant life. As a teacher and professor emeritus, the grandmother zebra has gathered the young to instruct them about the myths and legends of those who have gone before them. The vicarious stallion and great protector who protects the clan with his life, provides assistance by offering his domain knowledge on the rudiments of tactical defense and survival. The zebra society uses cultural knowledge as a time-tested template on which their survival depends. This gives the young members of society a head start in exploring their natural environment while obeying the supreme law of self-preservation. The green pastures are inviting and the zebras who find them irresistible embark on a journey that requires tenacity to embrace the land that nurtures their way of life.

Ermelo Protests Turn Violent

2011-02-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2011

South African residents of Wesselton near Ermelo in the province of Mpumalanga exploded into a militant protest on Tuesday for poor services or lack thereof. News24 quoted an unemployed Mr. Musa Moyo in their news report who pointed out that as residents they had no say in the drawn up list of candidates nominated to stand for elections in the Municipal Elections. Mr. Musa also complained about more women being hired while men were left out in the cold. This kind of trend (increasing jobless rate among African men) has given rise to a disturbing phenomenon that some feel seriously undermines the stability of the African family. Official unemployment figures stand at 25% but since the official methodology of these figures excludes those outside the last two weeks of job seeking, the actual unemployment rate is between 45% and 50%.

The live eNews TV coverage showed a White police officer firing live ammunition into the protesting crowd. A protestor was confirmed dead according to Captain Leonard Hlathi of the South African Police Services at Mpumalanga but it is not clear if police shooting killed him. The police first used rubber bullets to control the crowd but later switched to live ammunition. The protesters responded with rocks and everything they could find. An eNews cameraman had to be treated for slight injuries after a group of angry protesters attacked the news crew. The police had to run for their lives when an unstoppable wave of defiant young militants chased them out of the community.

Compassion Fatigue for the 1994 Miracle

There seems to be a growing compassion fatigue for the idealism of South Africa’s Rainbow Nation since the 1994 democratic dispensation in which the African natives turned out to be the economic losers of what was otherwise an internationally acclaimed peaceful revolution under the impressive leadership of the Nobel Prize winning legends like Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu and F.W. de Klerk. As things stand right now, less than 50 000 of White farmers control more than 80% of the food producing land while many African mothers scratch for food on the garbage dumps. In a traditional African society, it's the women who own the food producing land while the men tend the livestock. Without land, the African natives have become a reservoir of redundant low-priced labour. The reason for this is that the African natives in South Africa were handed a landless revolution which is not in itself sustainable over the long term. The fact that the African natives are economically disenfranchised despite 17 years of democracy poses a serious threat to the future stability of the beautiful land of the ancestors.

Object Lessons From the Egyptian Protests

The way the protesters were handled at Ermelo by police was in stark contrast to the manner in which the Egyptian protesters interacted with their security forces. In Ermelo there was a clear adversary relationship between the members of the law enforcement and the community while in Egypt the protesters were in a cordial relationship with the law enforcement. This shows that it is more dangerous to protest in Ermelo but safer to protest in Cairo.

This is incredible because in Egypt the protests threatened the very existence of the political establishment and yet the Egyptian law enforcement didn’t lose the trust or get into a violent confrontation with the protesters whereas in Ermelo where the protesters pose no threat to the political existence of the country, there is a clear breakdown of trust between the aggrieved community residents and the police who are supposed to protect them. Maybe the political leadership must take a page from the Egyptian peaceful revolution?

The Rebellion of the Poor Comes to Grahamstown

2011-02-14T01:53:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: The opinions and ideas expressed in this article belong to the writers of the press release. This press release is posted as is as a community service and is not in anyway endorsed, edited or checked for accuracy by the blog of Zulumathabo on the Internet. By reading this article you agree to indeminify Zulumathabo on the Internet and everyone associated with it.

Press Statement by the Unemployed People's Movement, Grahamstown
Sunday 13 February 2011

The Rebellion of the Poor Comes to Grahamstown

The rebellion of the poor has been spreading from town to town, from squatter camp to squatter camp, since 2004. Last week it arrived in Grahamstown.

There is no third force, political party or communist academic behind our struggle. It is oppression at the hands of the African National Congress that has driven us into the rebellion of the poor. We are in rebellion because we are being forced to live without dignity, safety or hope.

For more than ten months we had to live without water all over the township. When we do get water it is unfit for human consumption. Temporary teacher's contracts are not renewed and so there are 11 vacant teacher's posts at the Mary Waters School. How does SADTU allow this? The unions are leading the working class and poor people into defeat. In Thembeni, Phaphamani, Extension 6 and 7, Zolani, Tantyi, and eLuxolweni people are still using the bucket system. Half of Grahamstown does not have toilets 17 years into democracy. Unemployment is at around 70%. The jobs that do exist are allocated on the basis of party political loyalty. There are no lights on our streets. There is an attack on women and girls in Grahamstown. There were around 40 cases of rape in December alone and a number of killings. One of the people that was raped and killed was Zingiswa Centwa a standard ten learner from Nombulelo High School. She was the only hope for her family as she was the only one at school. She was raped and killed in December. In January her results came. She got aggregate B.

We cannot be expected to live like this. Under these conditions it is right to rebel. It is moral to rebel. It is necessary, as a matter of survival, to rebel.

The Unemployed People's Movement and the Women's Social Forum called a march in protest at the rapes and attacks on women for Wednesday last week. We applied for permission to protest and complied with all our obligations in law to stage a legal march. But the Makana Municipality said that our march was prohibited. They never consulted with us and this unilateral decision of the Makana Municipality was an illegal banning. This is not the first time that our basic democratic rights to organise and to express ourselves have been denied. Of course we could not accept a unilateral and unlawful ban on our right to protest and so we went ahead with the march in defiance of the ban.

Sit in at the municipality's office

From Zeerize of Youtube

We went to the Magistrate's Court to demand justice for ourselves, for our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our neighbours, our comrades. It is obvious that the violence against women is linked to the hopelessness and desperation that we are experiencing as well as the lack of street lights, safe places to go to the toilet and so on. So after marching on the court we marched on the Municipality. This was a peaceful march of around 300 people.

This was not our first march on the Municipality. We have marched many times and we have never received answers to our questions from the Municipality. All we are told is that the issues that we have raised are being addressed but they are never addressed. It has been too much for too long.

So we decided to stage a sit in at the Municipal offices. We organised our own little Tahrir Square here in Grahamstown. We occupied the Municipal offices for the whole day. They closed the offices and sent the workers home. We demanded to speak to the mayor. We were eventually promised a meeting with the mayor within 48 hours but it hasn't happened.

Sagena sagena!

From Zeerize of Youtube

The municipal manager, Ms. Ntombi Bart, said that she would come back to the people with answers but instead of coming back she sent the police to move the people out of the municipal offices by force. They forced people out by threatening to shoot and saying that they are entitled to use force.

This is when the anger started. People felt that they were being treated like criminals when they were having genuine demands and questions. The anger and frustration that has been building for the last 17 years came to a head at this moment.

The protest was dispersed and people then spontaneously organised road blockades in Phaphamani, Joza and Phumlani. In Phaphamani people burnt tyres and dug up the new tar road. People never wanted the tar roads. They wanted houses, electricity, toilets, water and jobs. The tar road is for the officials to be able to drive in comfort. This is an indication that when services are delivered they are not delivered in the interests of the people.

Grhamstown says 17 years of kak is ENOUGH!

From Zeerize of Youtube

The police responded with violence – with rubber bullets, dogs and pepper spray. A number of people were beaten, bitten by the dogs, pepper sprayed and shot with rubber bullets at close range.

On Thursday morning the people woke up and started where they left off. The UPM received a call from people on the road blockades and we ran there to see what was happening. When we arrived we went to ask the police why they were resorting to violence. They refused to talk to us but just put us in handcuffs and in the van They could not even say what was the charge.

The people who were arrested were Ayanda Kota (UPM Chairperson), Xola Mali (UPM Spokesperson), Nombulelo Yame (UPM Deputy Chairperson) and Ntombentsha Budaza, an ordinary citizen. Ntombentsha was beaten by the police.

The comrades were detained for five hours without being charged and the police tried to compel them to sign statements saying that they were the leaders of the road blockades which was not the case.

We are not the leaders of the people. People lead themselves. People continued to meet and to discuss their issues and to take action even though we were locked and not part of them. Therefore it is clear that people can lead themselves.

The four comrades were detained overnight and released on Friday morning at 11:30 on R500 bail each. Their bail conditions are that:

they can't participate in any march or demonstration and they can't address any crowd they must stay at least 100m from the Makana Municipality and the Magistrates Court. They must never been seen inciting people to protest.

The Municipality has now hired private security guards to protest the councillors, the mayor and various officials. It is amazing to us that the politicians and officials feel the need to use public money to protect themselves from the same public that they are supposed to be serving. It is amazing how quickly they can do this when they can't build a toilet in 17 years. It is amazing to us that, as S'bu Zikode has said, any challenge to oppression is taken as an offence. A demand for dignity is taken as criminal. It is incredible that our demand for justice is taken as violence while the way that we are supposed to live without jobs, houses or toilets or basic safety is taken as normal. Where are the private security guards for the women facing rape and even murder?

We are not struggling for service delivery. We are struggling for justice and dignity. We are struggling for land, jobs, decent schools and homes, safe streets, equality between men and women and a democracy that includes the poor and allows poor people to plan their own communities and their own future.

When the arrested comrades were in the police station they saw that someone who was on the march and encouraging people on one of the road blockades was there working in the police station. She was part of us in the whole process and then we saw her working at the police station. We are well aware of the role of the National Intelligence Agency and the Crime Intelligence unit in trying to destabilize popular movements elsewhere in the country. We know that, for instance, an officer in Crime Intelligence was present throughout the attack on Abahlali baseMjondolo in the Kennedy Road squatter camp in September 2009. The Anti-Privatisation Forum, the Landless People's Movement and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign have all had their own experiences with the intelligence services. Now they are doing their work here in Grahamstown too.

We know the price of struggle. We know the stories of Mandela Park, of eTwatwa, of Harrismith, of Protea South, of Pemary Ridge, of Kennedy Road. But the price of obedience is joblessness, hunger, rape, disease, depression and an epidemic of hopelessness. The price of obedience is a generation that has no way forward – no jobs, no opportunity to study, nothing. Therefore we are willing to pay the price that will have to be paid in the the struggle against oppression.

Around the world the road blockade is recognised as the weapon of the unemployed, of those who have no jobs at which they can strike. Those who condemn the road blockade as a tactic do not understand that our everyday lives are lived in crisis – in serious crisis. They want to deny the oppressed the right to disrupt the system that oppresses us. They want to deny us the right to demonstrate our anger. They want us to accept the paternalism of civil society. We are not blind to the fact that there is always a class element and often a racial element to the paternalism of most of civil society. We will, in solidarity with our comrades around the country, insist on our right to take our struggles forward as we think best. We have always seen people's power and not civil society as the way forward. After Tahrir Square the whole world can see the logic of this position.

We continue to take inspiration and courage from our political ancestors, from Leon Trotsky to Steven Bantu Biko. We continue to learn from our intellectual ancestors. Some of us are reading and discussing Frantz Fanon in the squatter camps and broken RDP houses. But it is clear that a new politics is required. We are inspired by movements and communities in struggle around the country and around the world. We need what has been called a living politics, a politics that is rooted in the everyday lives of the people, a democratic politics, a politics of the people, for the people and by the people.

The African National Congress and their goons in the ANC Youth League are the party of the national bourgeoisie They are not the party of the people. We cannot accept a society of sushi parties, ever bigger BEE deals for the rich and broken RDP houses, transit camps, hopelessness, joblessness, rape, prison and murder for the poor. The debates within the ANC are debates between those who think that they can get away with naked oppression – rubber bullets for some and sushi parties for others – and those who think that oppression needs to be dressed up with a little bit of misdirected top down service delivery and calls for patriotic patience. We will not be intimidated or bought off. We insist that everyone has the right to dignity and justice.

We continue to reject the sectarianism, gutter politics and cults of personality that have done so much damage to the left in post-apartheid South Africa. We continue to support all attempts to build what Abahlali baseMjondolo have called a living solidarity between all the struggles across the country. We believe that the formation of the Democratic Left Front is an historic opportunity to build such a unity.

Like popular movements across South Africa and across the world we are deeply inspired by the commune in Tahrir Square. We salute the heroes of Tunis, Cairo and Algiers, We would like to see a Tahrir Square in every town in every country. Tahrir Square has reminded us that the will of the people will be realised when the people are sufficiently united and determined.

We thank everyone who stood with our movements outside the police station and the court while the four comrades were locked.

Kwanele! Kwanele!
Genoeg is genoeg!
Enough!

Contact people:

Xola Mali – 072 299 5253 – xola.mali@yahoo.com
Ayanda Kota – 078 625 6462 – ayandakota@webmail.co.za
Nombulelo Yame – 078 328 9740

17th Festival of Student and Youth Declaration

2010-12-31T10:37:00.000-08:00

17th World Festival of Youth and Students, 21 December 2010

FINAL DECLARATION

We the delegates to the 17th Festival of Student and Youth, gathered from 126 countries, more than 15000 in numbers, have met under the theme "Lets Defeat Imperialism for a world of Peace, Solidarity and Social Transformation" on the shore of the majestic, dynamic and vibrant South Africa. Here we have fought for decades, side by side, from all walks of life to bring down the tyranny of the Apartheid system, fostered to increase the hold of Imperialism on our people. We fought with the people of South Africa and today we meet here to further our struggle against, all injustices and discriminations.

We meet in South Africa on the eve of the Centenary of the Liberation movement the ANC, in 2012. This we do to take stock with our comrades on how far they have come in building a non –racial, non –sexist, democratic and prosperous Society, fighting with every fiber in their beings to defeat imperialism in all its forms. We have come to celebrate the hosting of the festival in South Africa, aware of the magnificent role played by its movement to bring about democracy to South Africa, aware that the ANC YL was amongst the founding members of the Festival movement and the 1st African President of WFDY. We have come here to pay tribute to the contribution of Andile Yawa and all the festival veterans for giving to us a tool for Solidarity, brotherhood and an agent for change through the festival movement. We have dedicated this festival to the struggle and legacy of 2 heroes, who have made it possible for us to speak about Solidarity and World Peace: Commander Fidel Castro and Madiba Nelson Mandela. We thank them for their tireless spirits.

The contribution of Socialist Cuba

63 years after the first World Festival of Youth was organized in Prague, we highlight the important role that the Socialist camp has played in the support of this top event of the anti-imperialist youth. The location of the WFYS itself is a statement of solidarity with the struggle of its people. The WFYS is an expression of the struggle against imperialism and the struggle against the exploitation of man by man. Of particular importance is the contribution of Socialist Cuba, not only because it has hosted twice the festival, but also because by doing so in 1997 it helped the Festival movement to be re-launched despite the difficulties of the international anti-imperialist and working class' movements in the 1990's. We congratulate WFDY on its 65th anniversary for its contribution to the struggle for peace, justice and the Festival movement, in this year that we celebrate also the 65 years of the peoples' victory against Nazi Fascism.

Down with NATO and AFRICOM!

As the anti-imperialist movement of the youth and of the people developed its struggle, the imperialists also seek to consolidate their forces and to fortify their structures. They use all mechanisms in their hands such as NATO, AFRICOM, EU, IMF, WB, WTO and all ways of intervention such as blockades, sanctions, embargos, conflicts, military intervention, wars and occupations against sovereign states and progressive movements. The new strategic concept "NATO 2020", decided in Lisbon earlier this year incorporates all the changes made in its structure of the previous years (12 new member-states, utilization of the "Partnership for Peace" in its plans), changes its position towards contesting imperialist forces eg. Russia, signing agreements with them; it reinforces the cooperation with EU, proving it as an imperialist organism for the creation and education of military corps, acting against "extremism" inside and outside of the member's borders, targeting firstly all those struggling to defend the rights of the peoples and the youth against imperialism. Under these circumstances, it is intensified the attack against anti-imperialist forces, with particular expression in anti-communist measures.

The crisis of the capitalist system is inherent to the deepening of its inner contradictions, unveiling its historical incapacity to achieve progress for mankind. This crisis provides the ground for emerging imperialist forces that in the past have either clashed with the USA or EU, or have been their allies, to use the different timing in the manifestation of the crisis to increase their influence in the imperialist pyramid, to hold a bigger piece in the capitalist struggle for markets and exploitation. It is not a result of the administration models of the economy or the corruption of the system; it is now expressed all around the capitalist world in both neoliberal and social-democrat led countries. We are in a phase of deepening of the crisis; the recuperation in the following years will be minuscule: the rights of the youth will continue to be attacked at social, economical and cultural level every day. It demonstrates the historical limits and the failure of the capitalist system to answer to the peoples' needs and aspirations; it highlights the need for the creation of a society and a mode of development that will strive to fulfill the youth's and the peoples' needs and rights.

The youth generations' human rights and liberties are violated categorically in every corner of the planet. The "capitalist globalization", the system of exploitation and control of the people and resources is pushing masses of young people into the margins of society. They are the first victims of the social inequalities at all levels. The 212 million of people unemployed, in a world that precarious, temporary occupation is the rule, are a proof of this. Only between 2007 and 2009 increased 34 million. Due to the economic crisis, even more jobs were lost, condemning more people to misery and poverty. We struggle against the elimination of the majority of labor rights, especially those of young workers who suffer more the effects of unemployment. An entire generation of young people is being transformed in a generation without rights.

No Woman, No Revolution

We highlight the role of young women in the struggle for their emancipation as part of the general struggle against imperialism. Women, who are even more strongly attacked by the imperialist policies, deserve our appreciation and full support to end all abuses and discriminations existing in our world as part of our combat to defeat imperialism.

The "external debts and deficits" that have become a reality for many countries are results of the policies followed by the capitalist forces in all countries independently of their position in the correlation of forces. They reflect the unequal development and the division of work in the capitalist system. They are utilized so that the dominant class in both loaner and loaning countries becomes more potent while the people suffer from the load of the crisis on their backs. In the international imperialist system there is no place for equal and respectful relationships between the states and the peoples, it is another proof of the need for revolutionary social transformation of the system that bears inequality and misery.

The imperialist profit drive and unbridled exploitation of planet's natural resources follows the logic of destruction and is the main threat to the environment and to the future of the planet. The environmental issue is taking on an alarming dimension due to the production of genetically modified (GM) organisms, which are jeopardizing humankind's future. Water all around the globe is being more and more a target to the exploitative nature of capitalism and is being used as a strategic and political weapon by imperialism. Imperialism's strategy is to pass the responsibilities for the environmental problems onto the people, individualizing what are presented as solutions in order to increase even further the big companies' profits through the so called "green" products.

Imperialist warmongering policies produce such crises as refugees, millions of people who are compelled to leave their homes, lands, jobs and families. We strongly condemn the imperialist economic policies, interventions and occupations that have produced millions of immigrants, we uptake the struggle in the defense of the rights of the immigrants in work, education, social services. No human being can be illegal.

Education is not commodity!

Imperialist policies attack the full development of education and of the young people, preventing them from accessing a free and quality education that is a school of freedom and commitment with peace. We defend and struggle for education as a public and social good, a universal human right, which gratuity must be ensured by the state. We reject the intentions of privatization that several public institutions of different levels are being victims of. We demand the withdrawal of education from the agreements of the WTO – education is not commodity!

The increase in use of drugs in young people is a dangerous phenomenon that proves the decay of the capitalist system. Millions of young people live with AIDS, mostly in Africa and Asia. The big pharmaceutical trusts monopolize the production and distribution of needed medicine are profiting from pandemics instead of providing the means of treatment. Children are being abused and forced into military operations, prostitution, and drug trafficking; the number of street children is increasing.

Despite this offense the progressive and peace loving forces have been resisting, conquering important victories and growing stronger. The struggle for peace has been very important along the years and with these recent actions we try to raise the consciousness of the youth masses and focus the struggle against the enemy of peace, imperialism. The fight at national level plays a central role in the fight against the specific measures affecting the youth. We highlight the importance of the victories achieved by the struggles of the students, workers, peasants, indigenous and women's movements in times as these. We underline the importance of several electoral victories and other positive results of progressive parties and coalitions

We condemn the occupation of Western Sahara by the Kingdom of Morocco!

Africa, many years after the attainment of political independence still remains a political and economic playground for America and its allies. HIV/AIDS still remains a life threatening challenge promising to wipe out the entire African race, alongside Malaria and other imperialist manufactured diseases. A child dies every three seconds from AIDS and extreme poverty. We condemn the unjust sanctions against Eritrea and call for the bilateral solving of the conflict with Ethiopia without any external intervention. The growing US presence in Africa through AFRICOM, used as its military expansionist project in Africa, has allowed the Americans to pose serious military threats to African countries. We denounce the setting up of military bases in the name of AFRICOM and demand Botswana to immediately remove them as they pose a perpetual security threat to SADC countries and we support that people's struggle to achieve democracy. We condemn the deliberate funding of civil society and opposition parties in Africa by the West to bring about regime change agenda's guised in the name of 'development". We further attack the ICC for its apparent onslaught of African leaders as well as all the media campaigns promoted by imperialism to destabilize the region. We stand in solidarity with the people and youth of Swaziland and demand the release of all political prisoners. We strongly condemn the continued military occupation of Western Sahara by the Kingdom of Morocco and request the respect of the Saharawi people right to self-determination and independence. The Moroccan government should immediately put an end to the blockade of the occupied territories of Western Sahara and allow entry into the territory to international observers and independent media. We denounce and condemn all forms of human rights violations including persecutions, arbitrary detentions, disappearances and irregular trials etc.., committed by the Moroccan authorities against the Saharawi civilians and demand the release of all political detainees and the disband of the wall diving the territory. We further make a clarion call for the immediate lifting of economic sanctions on Zimbabwe that have continued to cause untold pain and suffering on their people which are also a catalyst for their regime change agenda in Zimbabwe. We are in solidarity with the revolutionaries in Africa, and urge them be steadfast against imperial tendencies. We welcome the second phase of the African people's struggle, the struggle for economic independence through indigenization, nationalization or any other form of empowerment to its people. We congratulate the people of Angola for the reconstruction process that is being implemented in the country. We empathize with West African countries in crises, coups and political instability, caused by imperial infiltration, and call for an urgent resolution and retention of political stability. We call for the stop of the violations of human rights in Sudan, especially in Darfur and we call for peace in the country, as well as freedom for labor organizations. Despite that, we condemn any sort of imperialist intervention against Sudan. The crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, Niger and Guinea, as the problems in Nigeria are instructive in the assessment of the current political landscape in West Africa. The involvement of imperialist allies in the assassinations of heads of state in Burkina Faso, among others. Also, pressures from Europe and the US has forced the signing of exploitatory contracts on mineral resources (as also happens in Western Sahara by the EU), as this has ruined and impoverished most countries, denying them the ability of local investment and causing a runaway youth, in search of better living conditions resulting in massive loss of life during the emigration.

65th Anniversary of the Vietnamese Republic

The Asia-Pacific region has remained one of the explosive areas in the world, a springboard of military provocation and armed conflicts as well as of arms build-up and interference that have seriously threatened peace and security in Asia and the world. The present developments in this region have proved that the US and the NATO having more common imperialist strategies for Asia-Pacific Region. They are pursuing to establish new political-military groupings in order to extend the sphere of military activities covering the whole area of Asia and the Pacific. The growing US military presence in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, the US-Israeli strategic alliance, and the growing military cooperation with reactionary regimes in the Gulf poses a serious threat to peace, stability and security in the region. In South Asia, imperialist intervention has deepened, particularly due to US intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The so called Af-Pak strategy of the US to pursue its utterly selfish interests has only resulted in serious political instabilities in the region, not to mention the brutal killings and loss of lives and property faced by the common people of people of South Asia due to the blatant aggression of US imperialism. We express our support for the people and youth of Iran in their struggle against the repressive, anti-communist and undemocratic regime, which should be overcome by the people without any sort of imperialist intervention, which is for us unacceptable. We denounce the huge US military presence in the Korean Peninsula and demands that the Armistice Agreement of 1953 should be replaced with a compressive peace agreement. We call upon the young people of the world to join the international solidarity campaign in support with Korean people and youth in their just cause for the national reunification under the banner of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration, and for building a prosperous, powerful and socialist country. We condemn the deployment of US troops in Philippines and its role fighting the national revolutionary forces. We stand in solidarity with the struggles of the young people of Bangladesh. We express our solidarity towards the people and youth of Nepal in their struggle for a new federal democratic republic. We demand the return of all Bhutanese refuges to their country with respect and dignity. We support the struggle of the Burmese people for the restoration of democracy and for the release of all political prisoners as we welcome the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. We express support for Sri Lanka's progressive movements struggle for national unity. We salute the Vietnamese youth and people in their struggle for national independence and socialism, at a time when the 65th anniversary of the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now Socialist Republic of Vietnam) is celebrated, and we express our solidarity towards the Vietnamese victims of the US' Agent Orange / Dioxin in their struggle for justice.

Free the Cuban Five!

In Latin America and the Caribbean the progressive forces have given important steps in the struggle against the interests of imperialism and its free trade policies. These steps are expressed in the integraton mechanisms in the region as the ALBA-TCP, UNASUR, MERCOSYR and the future creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States; it is our goal an equitative distribution of the resources of the continent with fiscal measures over the big monopolies, which allow us to recover from more than 500 years of exploitation and underdevelopment. We denounce the imperialist policies of interventions of USA through the deployment of military bases and missions in the region, as happens in Panama, Colombia and Haiti and the reactivation of the 4ht Fleet, which goal is to reinforce the attack against the revolutionary processes of Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and particularly the revolution in Venezuela, since they represent a historical and revolutionary alternative to the capitalist system. We further denounce other mechanisms of interference as terrorism and drug dealing because they have a direct impact on peoples like the Mexican. We stand in solidarity with the Colombian people, victim of constant political murderers imposed by imperialists, as we also express our rejection of the usage of the canal of Panama for interventional geoestrategic, with the transit of war and nuclear armament. We support the struggle of the people of Puerto Rico for its full self determination and we are in solidarity with the harsh situation of Haiti, victim of colonialism. We strongly condemn the coup d'etats that took place in Honduras and Ecuador, aiming at the desestabilization of the progressive processes in the region and we recognize the role played by the members of WFDY in both countries resisting and struggling. We demand justice for the assassination of comrade Edwin Perez, Secretary General of the Communist Youth of Ecuador, and we condemn the unfair persecution that has been targetting the people of Mapuchi in Chile. We express our solidarity towards the struggles of the young people of the Caribbean. We express our solidarity with the struggles of the aboriginal and first people's for full self determination. We know the youth of Canada and USA stand in friendship with the peoples of the world, not war and imperialism that their Governments promote. We condemn the unfair economical, financial and commercial blockade imposed against the Cuban people for more than 50 years in what is a clear violation of the International Law as well as we demand from the USA government the immediate release of the five Cuban unjustly imprisoned in their jails for more than 12 years.

European Union: an imperialist tool

The last years have confirmed the European Union as an imperialist tool that supports and promotes measures of exploitation of the peoples and youth, intervening both outside and in its member states, many times under the alleged defense of the "human rights" that itself fails to respect. The recent "austerity measures" that the National Governments have agreed upon with the EU to be implemented, with the pretext of the capitalist crisis, demanding sacrifices by the workers while the monopolies (banks and big corporations) are receiving billions to ensure their profits, as well as the measures imposed by the governments to the peoples are proof of our analysis. However the peoples' resistance has had big expression in Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, with young workers playing an important role. In Education, there's been a general trend of imposing class barriers and privatizing throughout all Europe, with particularly strong expression in the "Bologna Process" and its implementation in each country. Important struggles at Higher and Secondary Education level have been taking place in most of the countries to resist the general offense against the right to education. Side by side with the attack at social level, the attacks against the democratic rights, in general, and anti-communism, in particular, have been increasing rapidly, with a growing persecution of communist parties and youth organizations in many European countries, with particular expression in Eastern Europe with cases as the ones happened in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia with the ban (or attempt) of communist organizations and the rise and promotion of neo fascist forces. As background to the crisis, the xenophobic measures guided by the "European fortress" doctrine of the EU have been promoting the persecution of immigrants as justification to the social problems that arise from the profit-only orientated policies of the national governments, in a process with big implications in countries as France, Germany and Italy. We stand against the change of borders continuing in the Balkans with the so called "independence" of Kosovo, which became a huge military base for NATO and USA. We further express our solidarity with the people and youth of Cyprus, Greek and Turkish Cypriot, against the Turkish occupation, highlighting the big efforts made since the election of Dimitris Christophias as President of the Republic and our commitment to the bicommunal bizonal federation with one citizenship, one international identity and one sovereignty as the fair solution for the end of the occupation.

Middle East and Maghreb

We express our solidarity with the students and youth of Palestine, Iraq and Arab countries and support the persistence of Palestine in the resistance against the blockade and oppression. We denounce the racist inhumane practices of the Zionist Israel, with the policies of killing, expelling and settlements in Palestine, especially in Jerusalem, and in different occupied Arab Lands. We also demand an end to the Israeli occupation, removal of settlements and wall of apartheid and we support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, according to UN resolutions, requesting the UN and the countries of the world to recognize the Palestinian state immediately. We denounce the war and blockade against Gaza and demand its breakdown and that the Zionist war criminals are persecuted; we also request to re-instate the UN resolution that equalizes Zionism with racism. We call for the immediate release of all Palestinian and Arab prisoners detained in Israeli and US prisons. We denounce the occupation of Iraq and support the right of the Iraqi people for resistance and demand the immediate withdrawal of the occupation forces out of it. We support the sovereignty, security, stability and unity of Iraq. We denounce the terrorism in all of its forms as well as the US secret military operations in the region. We express our solidarity towards Syria against the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Heights and denounce the "Syria Accountability Law" approved by the USA Congress. We also support the struggles of the Lebanese youth to complete their liberation of Sheba and Kfarshoba from the Israeli occupation and denounce the Israeli war of 2006 that lead to 1300 Lebanese victims. We denounce external interferences in the internal issue of Lebanon. We support the national dialogue of Yemen and emphasize the security and unity of Yemen. We demand the withdrawal of Spain from Ceuta and Melilla. We support the Egyptian youth and the youth of the Gulf States in their struggle to implement democratic rights, principles of justice and equality and we express solidarity with them against repressive laws and for labor rights. We also ask to treat the causes of immigration from Africa to Europe through Northern African countries. We support the struggles of the Arab youth for economic integration and demand the immediate dismantle of the Israeli nuclear arsenal.

UN International Year on Youth

The 17th WFYS is held during the UN International Year on Youth. As happened in 1985, once again the WFYS is, so far, the biggest youth event of this year. More importantly, the WFYS is the most relevant activity, because it most clearly raises the real problems of the youth. Unlike many other activities and the actual framework of UN Year on Youth, in this Festival the youth of the world finds the biggest stage for denouncing the problems and offenses that they suffer from imperialism and its agents.

We, the youth and students of the world gathered in this historical festival, raised our voices against all the ills generated by imperialism, which is undergoing its greatest global crisis. The imperialist world order is driving humanity to the verge of a global confrontation, with the ever-present danger of a nuclear war, through its hegemonic policy that will determine the present and future of the mankind.

It is time to continue the struggle for youth development and our economic, social and cultural values and not those of a decadent system they are trying to impose on us. We shall build a future of justice, equality, peace, hope and joy for humanity. The future of a new stage of history is in our hands and it depends on the peoples, working masses and world youth and their power of transformation, to build a world of peace and solidarity, where the power and the produced wealth will belong to the peoples and the youth of the world.

Thank you, South Africa

We thank the people of South Africa for welcoming us to their country and celebrating with us the opportunity to see South Africa change. We commit to you that we the youth of the world will never let our guard down in pursuance of a world free of imperialism. Let us start getting ready for the 18th World Festival of Youth and Students!

Ali Khangela Hlongwane
Chief Curator: Museum Africa

Ottawa March Against Racial Profiling

2010-12-02T05:01:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

The Ottawa Police are under a pressure of public spotlight as a result of alleged racial profiling and brutality. The Coalition Against Racial Profiling Ottawa is marching today on Thursday in the Canadian City of Ottawa to protest racial profiling by the Ottawa police. The march begins at 11am to 2pm Canadian time, which is Eastern Standard Time. The march starts at 589 Rideau Street on Charlotte Street to 474 Elgin Street where the Ottawa Police station is situated. According to the press release of the Coalition issued by Tegi Obanda “We invite all who want to see a more humane police system in Ottawa to turn up and show support for Stacy Bonds, Roxanne Carr among others.”

Black Female Brutalized

This event is focusing attention on one of the African Canadian victims of police brutality Ms. Stacey Bonds who was allegedly jailed half naked for 3 hours after an Ottawa male police officer had ripped apart her blouse and bra at the police headquarters on Elgin Street. Stacey Bonds had been stopped by police back in September of 2008 for alleged intoxication but released after a police computer showed she was a clean and law abiding citizen and there was no material evidence of her alleged intoxication. When she demanded to know why she had been stopped and manhandled in this way, she was then arrested and charged with intoxication and public disturbance.

She was taken to a police office building where she was repeatedly brutalized by a group of police officers while the brutal action was being recorded on a security camera. The judge recently released the video to the public domain prompting a public outcry from the segment of the Ottawa society who care about human rights.

A Youtube video Ottawa Police Attack and Strip Search Innocent Woman shows the police brutalizing Stacey Bonds of Ottawa, Canada.

Courtesy FrederictonNews of Youtube.

The Premier of Ontario Mr. Dalton McGuinty whom this writer has met more than once expressed outrage over the incident and reminded the Canadian society that Stacey Bonds was someone else's daughter and it was important to deal with each other appropriately and according to the law. Mr. McGuinty is the most consciencious Premier since Premier Bob Rae who also showed great empathy towards the multiculural society of Ottawa and the entire province. Mr. Bob Rae even commissioned Mr. Steven Lewis to investigate the question of racial discrimination against the visibile minorites. Other Premiers like Mr. Mike Harris were anti-immigrant and we all had a difficult time under him including the Canadian natives like Mr. Anthony O'Brien Dudley George who was shot dead by the Ontario Provincial Police of Mike Harris for claiming their own land at Ipperwash which was taken away from them by the Ontario authorities. The Judge Sidney Linden who conducted the inquest ruled that the OPP, the Premier and his administration together with the Federal authorities bore responsibility for the events that led to a tragic loss of life.

Erasing the Gains Made

It's regrettable that a proud Ottawa Police organization for which the late and legendary Police Chief Thomas Flanagan had worked so hard on its behalf to build amicable relations with the Ottawa visible minorities should desecrate those gains in this fashion. This writer pays tribute to this great Canadian Police Chief Flanagan in the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles. The Police Chief must be rolling in his grave as these unfortunate events play out in the National Capital.

Brutality a Historical Problem

The powerful lawyer representing Ms. Stacey Bonds, Mr. Lawrence Greesnpon told the media that the problem of police misconduct towards the racial minorities was a systemic problem he had observed since practicing as a lawyer in Ottawa more than 30 years ago. When this writer landed in this beautiful City of Ottawa more than 20 years ago, the Ottawa Police had found themselves on the defensive as a result of a number of police shootings targeting the young Black males on “mistaken identity” or some questionable circumstance including Mr. Vincent Gardener who was shot in his apartment and later died of his wounds in the hospital. The noteworthy aspect of Mr. Gardener’s case is that his shooting raised no public outcry in Ottawa but in another separate incident (hot on the heels of this one) the police shot and killed a dog and there was a massive outcry in the whole of Ottawa including the OC Transpo buses. This left many of us wondering if the predominantly Anglo-Saxon Ottawa society valued a dog more than a human being. The University of Ottawa later honoured the life of Vincent Gardener by establishing a memorial scholarship in his name. Carleton University also honoured the life of another Somalian man Ahmed Ali Hashi who was attacked and killed by a group of White Canadians in Ottawa and who were later cleared by the Ottawa judge.

Distressing for Black Parents

As parents of Black kids, it’s distressing that someday our children may be brutalized either by the law enforcement officials or some members of the Caucasian society because of some hate that was instilled into their hearts and minds by some Caucasian parents. Hopefully the Coalition Against Racial Profiling Ottawa will go a long way to sensitize the society that we are all human beings despite our differing inherent characteristics like skin pigmentation or linguistic accent. After all, Ottawa is one of the most beautiful places that has been kind to many of us and must continue to be accepting to all peoples of the land.

The CTV News of Ottawa covered the story and you can read more here.

The Triangle: A Tool of Analysis

2010-11-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

A contradiction exists between what a democratic society appears to be and what is experienced on the ground. This raises the question: How do we know what we know about society? To address this question, it’s necessary to reduce a society to a case that can be intimately observed and cross-examined without getting bogged down in detail.
Read the full article in The Thinker, Volume 21 (edited by Dr. Essop Pahad) and available at CNA, Exclusive Books and other PnP and Spar stores.

Gutsy Sisters Shall Arise

2010-10-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

They blossomed over a decade
Despite winds cutting like a blade
An arduous road inspired them
Teaching us to embrace the cause
They gained transcendence
After navigating the difficult terrain
The door of achievement is ajar
To celebrate achievements thus far
Formidable exercise
Gutsy sisters shall arise

Combined forces in the terrain
Transcend the fierce mundane
To preserve the direction
Like a feeble signal received without delay
Hereafter amplified before relay
Shell-shocked children are received
To be equipped before leaving the nest
Formidable exercise
Gutsy sisters shall arise

Contextual Commentary
An input brain structure, known as the thalamus, receives stimulus input from the ganglion cells of the retina. After boosting the signal strength of the stimulus, the stimulus gets passed to other higher brain structures for further processing. As a result, the thalamus acts like a relay station that ensures that the signal is strong enough for processing. It is noteworthy that the signal boost does not alter the signal information other than to ensure that the signal is strong enough to be received by other parts of the brain. This is crucial since the organism must make informed decisions based on the input from the environment. A wrong impression of the environment could spell swift demise to the organism.
For the MSS The African Mongoose by Vusi Moloi © 2010

Vicarious Existence

2010-09-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

To ruffle the clan formation
To infuse them with trepidation
A peaceful paradise in disarray
A gallant flesh hereafter affray
To attack them without provocation
To make them flee in their land

Foreign occupation; the chains!
Their motherland is arrested
The tree of defence is parched
The tree nurturing now starched
In this way the tree atrophies
Yet to rise like a furious tree
To honour the land like the Cree
To interject the crushing jaws
Despite arrested by the paws
To live vicariously
To defend furiously

Contextual Commentary:

The African zebra assumes the role of a rear guard when the cruel winds of death blow strongly against the clan. The ruthless predators who throw the clan in disarray, have the power to instil great fear in the hearts of the beautiful zebras. The illustrious stallion with a command of the hardest kick in the African grasslands purposely slows down in order to shield the clan from the cruel blows of death by asphyxiation and simultaneous tearing of the flesh and crushing of the bone. While the zebra does not underestimate the magnitude of demise before him, the selfless stallion accepts the challenge with aplomb and immense bravery so that the clan can live to fight another day. The new generation must forever pay tribute and model themselves after the unequivocal zebra who ensures the clan’s survival with his own life. From The African Mongoose by Vusi Moloi

Emancipating Pedagogues

2010-08-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi© 2010

To converge hitherto
To consult at Potchestroom
To architect solutions via SELEN
Solution framework for the fallen
To deliberate, they must congregate
To emancipate, they must conjugate
To solve the problem domain
To emancipate despite the pain

The great son of Mahlomaholo
Has assembled the great minds
A phenomenal exercise assembled
When the gutsy, grill the exercise
The melting pot, must contextualise
Never more to be circumscribed
Like a maiden flight, undefined!
To interrogate like synaptic
To articulate the syntactic

Contextual Commentary

A buffalo parent who cares about the survival of her young buffalo in the African grasslands may find it reasonable that learning the ways of the predatory lions would confer a survival advantage to the young buffalo at which point she commits the young buffalo to the lion school. The subjects of study require clawing, swiping, stealth walking, stalking, tearing and puncturing flesh using the canines including the most difficult manoeuvre of tree climbing which the lions themselves haven’t been able to master. The school utilizes claws, paws, and canines as material objects of learning.

As time progresses, the previously enthused buffalo begins to slow down after finding it difficult to process the teachings of the lion. Despite the young buffalo raising a number of pertinent questions about the teaching and learning situation, the lion school authorities do not incorporate the buffalo methods of natural defence like stomping, charging, goring and ground assault. In fact the lion teachers pejoratively discount the use of stomping or horns as lacking in evolutionary sophistication citing the feline ability to open and retract the claws, while in motion, as the only skills worthy of accreditation in the University of the African Jungle.

Unable to relate to the teachings, the young buffalo begins to drift on account of a dichotomous existence. It gets even harder to embrace the buffalo community because the new experience has become a wedge between the young buffalo and other buffalos. What will it take to engineer a more relevant form of teaching and learning which relates and re-awakens the prowess of the buffalo as the indomitable ruler in the African grasslands?

ANC Backs Away From Vavi

2010-07-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

The National Working Committee of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has decided against charging the Secretary General of the Congress of South African Trade Unions Zwelinzima Vavi. In a statement issued last week the NWC referred to Vavi’s call for investigation of alleged corrupt practices as "alien behaviour" but decided against hauling him in front of a punitive disciplinary committee.

This follows a tense standoff between Minister Nyanda and Cde Vavi in which Minister Nyanda threatened harsh legal action against Cde Vavi unless he recanted his statements and apologized to the honourable Minister. Vavi refused to budge on the apology front invoking his powerful COSATU’s stand behind him as he was articulating COSATU’s policy in the fight against corruption. Moreover, Vavi had spoken at the South African Communist Party’s gathering on SACP March Against Corruption in Durban in the KwaZulu Natal Province on April 30th this year and had vowed to fight corruption. The COSATU members threatened to pull out of the alliance if Vavi was charged by the ANC something that would spell the demise of the ANC as we know it.

ANC is the majority party that stands a better chance of transforming the South African society from the current extremes of inequalities where the African natives are economically disenfranchised while their White fellow citizens are economically capitalized. The second biggest party is the DA but that party is perceived to be defending the interests of the white establishment as observed in the Western Cape where the African Natives of Khayelitsha have to make do with the most dehumanizing forms of toilets. The ANC is the only powerful party that has the desire, the will and the demographic base to effect a real change in people's lives but that ability is getting paralyzed by allegations of corruption.

Threat of Legal Action Surprising

Minister Nyanda’s threat of legal action came as a surprise given highly publicized reports that despite being offered an official residence in Cape Town, the Minister stayed among the most expensive hotels which reportedly exceeded half a million bucks in less than a year. Cde Vavi did not accuse Minister Nyanda of corruption but rather called upon President Jacob Zuma to probe the allegations of corrupt practices among his Ministers. So far President Zuma has not shown decisive action in probing alleged corrupt practices.

Threatening your boss when he decries excessive expenditure of scarce resources would constitute a career limiting move. Vavi is a taxpayer and as such the boss of Minister Nyanda. A taxpayer employs both the President of the Republic and his Ministers. The right thing for Minister Nyanda to do was to bow to the demands of the boss because he would not be there unless the taxpayer put him there. Not only that, Vavi represents millions of other taxpayers who expect him to champion the cause of good governance.

As a corollary some members of the ANC who had decided to formulate punitive charges against Vavi decided not to proceed because it was felt that “In dealing with this alien behaviour charging comrade Vavi will not be the best route to take.” Rather the ANC has decided to politically engage COSATU in bilateral talks. This tells of an aha moment on the part of the ANC.

Why ANC Cannot Intimidate COSATU

There is a reason why charging Vavi was not “the best route to take”. The ANC’s biggest powerbase is from COSATU members who are more than two million strong. Virtually all ANC members are COSATU members. Punishing COSATU would be a masochistic act of self-punishment. The ANC’s registered members in good standing are less than a million. Antagonizing COSATU, for purposes of silencing anti-corruption calls, would be tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot. Vavi has also noted that the NWC does not have the same powers like the NEC and such it was bound to fail. The people who were trying to take action against Cde Vavi were pushing the ANC to a point where it would self-destruct. Fortunately the ANC is very much interested in its self-preservation and will do whatever is possible to ensure that. Rooting out corruption is part of that great effort to stay alive.

Suarez Kills African Hopes at Soccer City

2010-07-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

Uruguay’s Luis Suarez dealt a fatal blow to Africa’s momentum when he denied Ghana’s goal with his hands during the extra time at South Africa's Soccer City Stadium. Although he was red carded, it was a vicarious sacrifice that kept Uruguay alive into the penalty shootout which ended Ghana’s great run in this FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010. The referee awarded a penalty to the Black Stars in which the great striker Asamoah Gyan, to his dismay, overshot the net and missed. He was deeply saddened by that and this may very well be the most painful memory he will ever have to live with.

Ghana is the only African country to play in the quarter finals. All the soccer giants like Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon were eliminated early.

To Ghana’s credit, they played extremely well and set a good example in terms of playing like a team. Although greatly disappointing that they are now out of the World Cup, the members of the Black Stars showed the spirit of togetherness when they embraced their sobbing Gyan in an attempt to console him.

Even though the World Cup is hosted in Africa for the first time in history, it’s not African time in terms of capturing the cup. The Africans must go back to the drawing board to reverse engineer their strategic play if they are to have a realistic chance of winning the cup during the next World Cup in Brazil. This is like a mathematical equation; if you don’t solve it correctly you will get the right answer no matter how hard you work at it. Unless some drastic reverse engineering is carried out, the status quo will be edged in stone and the cup will remain forever elusive.

Africans do not particularly have a strong culture of self-critique as confirmed by the President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan who recently took an unusually punitive approach of banning his national team from the World Cup instead of nurturing it and finding innovative ways of making it better. The problem with this approach is that Nigeria could be permanently banned by FIFA and never be able to compete on the World stage something that FIFA has warned against.

Germany Buries England Alive in South Africa!

2010-06-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

Germany wiped out England in a stunning 4-1 win in South Africa’s 2010 FIFA World CUP in Bloemfontein at the Free State Stadium on Sunday evening. In a clear mismatch of styles where Germany relied more on team work vis-à-vis England which relied on individual stars, Germany’s fast-paced cooperative effort prevailed.

The electric attacking style of the Germans is the philosophical brainchild of both the former coaching boss Jürgen Klinsmann and current coach Joachim Löw (Löw served as assistant coach to Klinsmann before taking over in 2006). It’s a reinvention of Germany’s football based on their critical analysis of what was the indomitable English football. Such an enterprising mind is observable in the natural world where an animals like an African mongoose scrutinize the dangerous manoeuvres of a killer cobra before inflicting a counter-strike based on the philosophy of getting it right the first time because the African jungle does not allow for second chances. In the case of Germany, they used their analytical knowledge of English football to beat the English team at their own game.

Not Easy To Innovate Against Tradition

The fact that Germany’s football tradition is more than a century old did not make it easy to be innovative something that invited harsh criticism from the likes of Germany’s football legend Der Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer. Interestingly, Klinsmann and Löw did not give up and their engineering efforts bore fruit when Germany finished at the top of their Group A in Fifa’s 2006. Even Beckenbauer praised the coaching style of this new football philosophy.

This match lends credence to this writer’s article Why Africans Need CSR which highlights the strategic value of cooperative effort. Ghana is the only African country carrying the African hopes on their shoulders at this moment. They played extremely well against the tenacious USA and have raised a real possibility of Africa snatching the World Cup. Part of the success of Germany is their soccer academy which has helped to produce highly disciplined players with an ability to score with less than three touches on a ball something that is watched with keen eyes by soccer giants competing in this do or die Fifa contest.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Ghana Defeats USA in South Africa

2010-06-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

Ghana made history when they defeated USA 2-1 on Saturday in the second round of the World Fifa South Africa 2010 at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in South Africa. The first goal was netted by Kevin-Prince Boateng followed by Asamoah Gyan who scored an amazing goal in the extra time after the two teams drew 1-1 in the 90 minute scheduled game. They were given a 30 minutes extra time in which Ghana established a lead after a number of enterprising attacks against the USA.

Ghana is the third African country to reach the quarter finals after Cameroon in Italy in 1990 and Senegal in Korea in 2002. Ghana will be facing off with Uruguay.

Although the American team played with incredible spirit, tenacity and determination, Ghana was able to match those attributes with better determination and impressive football skill.

This historic win follows in the footsteps of gutsy Bafana Bafana who bowed out of the first round with honour when they defeated France 2-1. Ghana now carries the African continent in their spirit as they advance to the next round. Historically Ghana has carried the Pan-African flag under great legends like Kwame Nkurumah and today's victory is a continuation of that indomitable spirit.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Why Africans Need CSR

2010-06-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

This article was inspired by the poor performance of African soccer giants like Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon in the current FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010.

The African natives need CSR (Consistency, Self-Discipline, Resolution) in order to become the architects of their own destiny without which the African people are confined to having their destiny determined and shaped by others. The CSR provides the critical ingredients in the great struggle for African freedom and advancement.

The Lack Thereof

As a result of colonial conquest, colonial religion and colonial education, the African has become risk averse and more tentative towards being an architect of his or her own destiny. This was demonstrated on the soccer field when soccer giants like Cameroon where beaten by less than stellar teams like Japan and Denmark making Cameroon the first country to be eliminated from the FIFA 2010. Initially, the Indomitable Lions exuded charisma with a sense of urgency to bury the Danish which they did when they scored in the first 10 minutes of the first half. As time progressed, their precise passing, impressive dribbling and the many goal scoring chances provided the right combination that could have won the game but it was not to be as Denmark subsequently scored two goals in the second half to win the game 2-1 against Cameroon. What went wrong?

The Africans lacked consistency and resolute character. Sometimes a player who was clearly in the open was not sure whether to score or to pass it to someone else a proverbial problem of identity crisis. With loss of consistency, Cameroon became wasteful of that scarce energy and started squandering a very important capital of goal scoring opportunities. In many cases the Cameroonians did things the hard way by dribbling their way through a well defended side of Denmark instead of consistently passing the ball to the nearest player. Self-discipline had flown out of the window and as a result they became less resolute.

This phenomenon was observed among the Nigerians and Ivory Coast including the home team of Bafana Bafana who played well against Mexico only to be buried alive by Uruguay. Some people will say Brazil was an unassailable team with respect to Ivory Coast. The Africans must take a page from the Orient. Look at North Korea which clashed with Brazil last week. This was their first ever World Cup qualification and they played Brazil like they didn’t care if Brazil were the living legends. Even though they lost 2-1 to Brazil, they went down with honour something that cannot be said of others. Brazil had a tough time against North Korea because the Orientals showed consistency, self-discipline and resolution and as a result gained the respect of the mighty Brazil. North Korea had come to represent their country with honour and valour and the collective effort during their game against Brazil was a thing of beauty. When Brazil attacked they were met with a wall of red. This game could have gone either way but the superior skills and experience of Brazil proved to be a game changer.

The Consistency and Discipline of the Orient

Having schooled and lived with the people of the Orient, this writer has come to a conclusion that the Africans must take a page from the Orient. A good example is the case of African Canadians who have been in Canada for more than four hundred years since the 1600s something that should have given them a survival advantage over the Orientals who arrived nearly two hundred years later in the 1800s. The two hundred years of survival, adaptive and settlement experience in the inhospitable land of Canada does not seem to have accorded the African Canadians a noticeable survival advantage given the fact that the Chinese Canadians are doing better than the African Canadians. When this issue is raised with the African descendants they point to a litany of endless external disadvantages as the reason why they couldn't advance ahead of the Chinese who arrived only two centuries after them despite being seriously disadvantaged by their inability to master the English language. Today there are more Chinese Canadians than African Canadians in Canada. In a city like Ottawa, where the African descendants outnumber the Chinese, the African Canadians are embedded on the periphery of an otherwise affluent City. Chinese Canadians continue to struggle with the English language but this does not halt their socio-economic advancement.

Interestingly, the ruling African National Congress is sending a delegation under the leadership of its national chairman Ms. Baleka Mbete to China on an educational tour. The ANC statement says “We can learn more on the Chinese around their Planning model and also their political education model.” It will be instructive to learn about the outcome of this fact finding delegation.

Technical Barriers

In fairness to the African teams during the FIFA World Cup 2010, there are specific technicalities that may be disadvantaging the Africans like the grass field. African teams usually play and practice on the kikuyu grass. FIFA ordered South Africa to uproot all the African grass and replace it with the ryegrass which the Europeans are more accustomed to. The ball bounces differently under this grass as opposed to the kikuyu grass. As if this is not a bad enough disadvantage, the Europeans require that the turf be wet in contrary to the African teams who customarily play on a dry turf. Could the Eurocentric turf (this ryegrass was bio-engineered in Canada) be making for an uneven level playing field? This is like engaging in a debate where you are not allowed to articulate yourself in your linguistic competency. Even if you have great ideas and a sharp mind, can you win an argument in a language that you are not competent in?

Learning From the Jungle

The most successful animal societies are those that follow the paradigm of collective effort like the lions, hyenas, African wild dogs, wolves, indomitable African buffalos and many others. As a result of collective effort, a lion is able to bring down an animal like an elephant which is more than twenty two times its weight. The spotted hyena is even better than a lion in that it can drive a group of lions out of their food or pride as a result of collective effort. What is even more interesting is that the hyenas are led by a lady whereas lions are led by a guy. Hyenas are more intelligent than lions because their brains are similar to the primates whose brain processing speed has been experimentally established to be faster than that of humans. The historical legacy of colonial conquest either under Christian colonization or Islamic colonization has stripped the African of the collective so that the African is unsure about the benefits of collective effort. This is observable even during the World Cup where an African player wants to show off his individual football prowess while his team is getting clobbered.

Re-education of the African

The great African revolutionary and former President of Mozambique Samora Machel introduced an exotic concept known as campos de reeducação "Reeducation Camps" which were designed to cause the African to unlearn colonial ways. He was assassinated by the apartheid authorities in a plane crash before he was able to realize the positive outcome of his ambitious project. Samora Machel came from the Gaza province where the great Zulu General Soshangane established a military empire that inflicted punishment upon the Portuguese invaders. As a matter of fact Samora Machel’s family had a long standing relationship with the great Gungunhan a direct descendant of Umkhuzi wa Mabutho Soshangane. He understood the power of indigenous African education and the need to recast the new African outside the colonial mould.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Blue Bulls Makes Soweto History

2010-05-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

A new chapter in nation building was added to South Africa’s history pages when the rugby heavyweights Blue Bulls of Pretoria and Stormers of Western Cape clashed in the Soweto township of Orlando East for the Super 14 trophy. In accordance with the African proverb that says “when elephants fight the grass suffers”, tufts of green grass were seen flying in the air in this ferocious match where the defending champions Blue Bulls defeated their worthy opponents Stormers 25 to 17. This is the 3rd Super 14 trophy for the Bulls a wall of experience that proved unscalable for the Stormers despite their laudable effort.

Electrifying Game

The game was electrifying as strong defensive positions on both teams made scoring extremely difficult. Penalty kicks by the Bulls’ sharp shooting fly-half Morne Steyn gave an early lead to the Bulls. The Bulls capitalized on these opportunities with the highlight of an indelible performance when Fourie du Preez gave a pass to Francois Hougaard who exploded like a lightening flash to outwit Stormers’ Joe Pietersen to bolster the Bulls' early win against the Stormers. The Stormers responded with their own impressive highlight when Brian Habana stole a pass from Morne Steyn, like a super opportunist, to score a resounding try against the Bulls even though this was not enough to reverse the winning streak of the Bulls.

Playing in Soweto’s biggest and most impressive Orlando Stadium was as much a history making event as it was a showcase of both finesse and tradition. Normally an event of this magnitude would have been played at Loftus Versveld a home ground of the Bulls but since it was not available due to the FIFA World Cup of 2010, Soweto offered their most beautiful Orlando Stadium and the Bulls accepted in what has been billed to be a historic moment in the nation building process of South Africa.

Historical Roots

Since rugby is historically rooted in the Afrikaans tradition of the great legends like Paul Roos affectionately known as Oom Polla of Stelenbosch, this historic rugby match has had the effect of bridging the racial divide between the Afrikaaners and the African natives as boeremusik mixed with the powerful vuvuzelas. The makarapas (hard hats) associated with football were adapted for rugby and made available for sale by the African natives. Local shebeens were heavily patronized by rugby fans. The Afrikaaners enjoyed pap and vleis in the townships something that they have always enjoyed since coming in contact with the African natives generations ago.

Historical Importance

South African leaders have underscored the historical importance of this event like President Jacob Zuma who attended the event and told reporters that even though he grew up in Natal where rugby was not a popular sport, he gained the appreciation of rugby when he was a political prisoner in Robben Island. Robben Island is where the former President Nelson Mandela was jailed. Zuma added he had become a rugby fan like anyone since it coursed through his veins and marrow. President Zuma was accompanied by the Minister of Sports Makhenkesi Stofile.

Minister Stofile pointed out that South Africa should be proud of last week and this week’s events at Orlando Stadium in what he described as the South coming to meet the North symbolizing the coming together of South African society to enjoy the game of rugby. He pointed out that even though people tended to focus more on the top players of rugby, a lot of work was happening on the ground in schools and elsewhere where the young players were gaining appreciation of the sport.

Other leaders who attended the game included Helen Zille of the DA and supporter of Stormers of her Western Cape Province of which she is Premier, General Bantubonke Holomisa of the United Democratic Movement, multibillion dollar mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many others. As it was expressed by others, South Africa will not be the same after this historic moment at Orlando Stadium.

History of Orlando Stadium

Orlando Stadium was built on May 2nd, 1959 with a capacity of twenty four thousand and named after the Orlando East Township. Orlando East and West were established in 1931 after the African natives were ruthlessly kicked out of Johannesburg during the dizzying heights of gold wealth to make way for the many White settlers in the City of Johannesburg. Orlando carries the name of the Johannesburg Mayor Edwin Orlando Leake who ruled from 1925 to 1926. It appears the Johannesburg City Council imposed the name which stands to this day even though the Orlando people were dumped in some of the most unhealthy and unsanitary conditions without basic services.

The stadium was taken care of by the Mphahlele family who lived inside the stadium for the longest time. This writer together with the children of Mphahlele and many other township kids played on the stadium grounds. Mphahlele readily distributed items of use to the township kids and he has consistently embraced the Orlando kids as his own. This writer pays tribute to the great Mphahlele in his writings.

On May 3rd 2006 the Orlando Stadium was destroyed in order build a new stadium which was completed in November 2008 with a capacity of forty thousand.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

In the Belly of the Beast

2010-05-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

In the belly of the beast
Emancipating change ceased
Ingested, soon to be deceased
When hydrochloric flow
Exacts a cruel blow
The squeezing is aggressive
Despite accommodative
The wounded vegetative

Souls broken by the digestive
Embedded like vindictive
In the belly of the beast
Resistance is futile
Hereafter to exit the digestive
A shift of strategic direction
To emancipate the ingested
To avoid becoming digested

A conniving beast is mouthful
Unquestioning soul is hopeful
The first line of defence
To regain the distance
To reject the ingestion
To evade irresistible digestive
To empower the mind like instinctive

Contextual Commentary

The great waterfalls of Hog’s Back in the Canadian City of Ottawa broke upon the dark chocolate rocks in the backdrop of the brilliant sun. As the beautiful sun added more luminance, my camera rolled to capture the picturesque moments. Across the raging waterfalls, a tall bird stood motionless on black rock like a sentinel on shallow water. Armed with a powerful beak, the bird was oblivious to my presence while she lay in ambush for a gullible fish. An unwary fish swam by to inspect the ground when the swift bird struck like a lightening flash. After swallowing the fish whole, the bird resumed a motionless position as if nothing had happened while the fish kicked and undulated inside its stomach. The resistive gyrations of the fish were observable and thought provoking at a distance. Unable to help the fish as a result of the violent rapids which threatened to gobble me up, I stood in awe knowing that the digestive juices were already at work to subdue the fish.

Despite a good faith attempt to break free from inside the bird, as confirmed by hard kicks, the effort was futile in facilitating a swift exit from the belly. Even though the fish may have developed a warm and fuzzy feeling that it was doing everything right to win its freedom, it was all an illusion. Probably the fish realized at some point that hard kicking was not productive and switched to a peaceful strategy of negotiating a safe passage on compassionate grounds but the insatiable bird’s position was to ask for a moratorium on militant resistance by the fish so that the process could run its course unopposed. This seemed like a reasonable consideration except that it put the fish at a survival disadvantage because the fish was negotiating from a position of weakness. Extra time was advantageous to the bird while it sealed a permanent fate of the fish in the belly. The bird favoured more time because it was a matter of time before the digestive juices broke the back of the resisting fish. When the fish stopped making any movement it was apparent that the digestive juices had managed to asphyxiate the fish. It was impossible to escape from inside the bird without some external help. How can a fish or anyone win an emancipation struggle from the belly of the beast?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Raising Africa’s Bar at ABSA Event

2010-05-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

In the current scramble for Africa global investors saw the African continent as the new frontier making it imperative “to raise a fresh consciousness” both locally and globally and “affirm ourselves as a people” by critically setting “new standards on leadership”, said Ms. Lerato Mbele. In her keynote address at the ABSA "Leaders In Waiting" Talent Event gathering at the Westcliff Hotel yesterday, the CNBC Africa Television Presenter of the Business AM as well as the political economy show The Other Dimension told a gathering of banking executives that despite South Africa’s membership in the G20 countries, South Africa was not an uncontested leader of the African continent.

South Africa’s stature was founded upon constitutional democratic traditions and a neo-liberal economy model which was not affirmative of African pride. South Africa needed to examine her ethos in terms of what she stood for and who she was, with goals that went beyond the 2010 FIFA World Cup. South Africa’s self-complacent state of mind could not guarantee her place among the leading developing nations of the world, Ms. Mbele added.

Opening the Event

ABSA, together with Genius Reserve, organized an executive search event which was directed by the Genius Reserve Partner Ms. Lorato Phalatse. The Genius Reserve organizer of the evening event Ms. Wendy Weir was in attendance with a large contingent of staff and potential candidates. ABSA’s Chief Executive of Retail Banking Mr. Gavin Opperman opened the event to a standing ovation focusing attention on ABSA Talent Strategy & Value Proposition. He told the audience that as a leading South African bank, ABSA had built a solid brand which everyone wanted to be associated with and ABSA treasured its people and customers.

Harsh Statistical Facts

The keynote speaker gave some hard hitting statistics to hone her point home including the realities of violent crime and rape which meant that South Africa was perceived as being in a degenerative state. Even though the country’s economy was structurally functioning well, Ms. Mbele highlighted the fact that South Africa was neither globally competitive nor “operating at an optimal level” as indicated by a retrogressive educational system and critical skills shortage as well as a GDP output of 2.6% when it should be 6% given the country’s 25.2% unemployment rate. In fact the single biggest concern of investors she interviewed for her show was a deficit of critical skills. Many investors were left clueless as to why an economic engine of Africa was having trouble with her education system.

Afro-Pessimism and the Poverty Industry

Ms. Mbele referred to the need to overcome Afro-pessimism which caused Black people to be perceived as not having “the capacity to find solutions” a situation that effectively kept alive a $30 billion dollar NGO industry.

This writer has noted that this state of affairs is also referred to, by some observers, as a multi-billion dollar poverty industry. This poverty industry functions more like voodoo economics whereby it’s not transparently clear how it works as demonstrated by a Canadian case where the government aid agency like CIDA required each seventy cents of dollar aid money to be spent in Canada while the other thirty went to the recipient country. If a $100 million was announced as an aid package, only $30 million reached the recipient country and even a bigger portion of that was spent on administrative costs further reducing what eventually trickled down to the ground. This kind of an aid system perpetuates the poverty industry.

Romanticising Africa

Romanticized images of Africa, the keynote speaker declared, stripped Africans of their “core identity”. The “enchanting untapped & wild Africa” perpetuated the myths of “civilizing” Africa. Ms. Mbele observed that Africa had natural endowments but Africa was more than the sun, the sea and the Safari.

Africa’s New Frontier

Ms. Mbele challenged the Africans to rise on their feet and take charge of their destiny as entrepreneurs on the new frontier and not as beggars on the streets something that this writer has observed to be a tourist attraction whereby some streets are patrolled by begging teens, fathers, mothers and their babies in what is otherwise the land of opportunity.

While South Africa commanded the biggest GDP in Africa, it was Nigeria that commanded more cash foreign reserves than South Africa. If Nigeria got her act together, she could easily become the biggest economy on the African continent something that is given credence by her larger population base. South Africa could take a page from other countries like Zambia and Nigeria where people built own roads in order to access banks, retailers and more instead of waiting for the government to do so on their behalf.

Freedom, Education and Responsibility

Ms. Mbele emphasized that even though South Africa possessed a constitution that was cherished by many on the planet, it was important for people to show responsibility that came with those constitutional freedoms. She said that accountable, visionary and progressive leadership of the land needed to embrace education as the biggest social project driven by the President of the Republic. Moreover, Ms. Mbele remarked that given President Zuma’s childhood deprivation of education one would expect him to prize the education of the nation as an extremely important personal project.

The black tie affair event that included light live music and propitious networking with banking executives was concluded when ABSA’s Group Executive Human Resources Mr. Fergus Marupen took to the stage to thank and wish everyone well.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Harsh Lessons For Malema

2010-05-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

The ANC’s National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) slapped stiff sanctions upon the African National Congress Youth League President Julius Malema yesterday at Luthuli House in Johannesburg effectively clipping his wings as an unbridled political firebrand. The NDC ruling mandates Malema’s attendance at the ANC Political School for 20 days, unconditional apology to the ANC, President Zuma and the general public, a R10, 000 fine, a two-year compliance monitoring by the ANC National Office Bearers and the possibility of dismissal from the ANC should he re-offend on the same charge.

Malema is also expected to take a crash course on effective communication and anger management essentially helping him to cultivate restraint and respect in the manner in which he interacts and comes across. This is critical to the brand image of the ANC. Although initially facing four charges, the NDC dropped the other three in order to nail him on the third one which pertains to the April 11 incident at the ANC Youth League Limpopo Provincial Congress. The NDC was chaired by Derek Hanekom who is the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology and Malema was represented by the former Premier of Mpumalanga and Treasurer-General of the ANC Mathews Phosa. Phosa who commands domain expertise in the ANC constitution and is also a professional lawyer was superbly instrumental in salvaging Malema from the crushing jaws of the ANC disciplinary process.

Disciplinary Hearing More Punitive than Corrective

The ANC’s disciplinary process is traditionally more punitive than corrective and as such it’s the most traumatizing experience any human being can ever go through something akin to baptism by fire. For Malema who is an internal political activist as opposed to an exile, this was like going under the hood of the ANC machinery and getting one’s hands caught in the hungry teeth of the unstoppable gears. It’s a dizzying experience that hits you at the core! The ANC members from exile understand this sort of thing and do the best they can not to get caught in it.

Between the Rock and the Hard Place

On the one hand Malema faced off with Derek Hanekom who chaired the NDC and someone he had rubbed on the wrong side in the past and on the other hand he faced Gwede Mantashe another powerful figure whom Malema also rubbed off on the abrasive side. How much fairness can you get out of this? As if this was not bad enough, Malema had also made a disparaging comparison with respect to President Jacob Zuma when he said that the former President Thabo Mbeki (taboo within the ANC) had treated the ANCYL better than Zuma something he should never have said. If it was not for Phosa’s intervention, Malema would have fallen between the rough cracks. For this reason, Malema must forever be grateful to the skilled representation of Phosa for walking away with only a corrective sentence when others who have gone before him like Bantu Holomisa were unlucky enough to be whacked with a punitive sentence of expulsion from the ANC. Interestingly in the case of Holomisa he had been branded a liar for pointing out that Sol Kezner had contributed to the ANC’s 1994 election campaign something subsequently corroborated by President Nelson Mandela. Holomisa was nonetheless expelled from the ANC in an NDC ruling that was billed as a fair trial.

The Art of War

Another question that Malema might be asking himself is if effective communication and anger management were important how come he was never taught those when he was inducted into Masupatsela? It’s prudent to teach someone these skills before they get into trouble as opposed to teaching them after the fact. Right now Malema must eat humble pie. The great Chinese philosopher Sun-Tsu in his book The Art of War says that those who run away will live to fight another day. Malema must subject himself under the discipline of the ANC, cherish the harsh lessons learned and hope that he does not get into trouble again. Does this politically reduce Malema? Not in the long term, particularly if he graduates from those anger management courses.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Mashatile’s Ability To Recover From Setback

2010-05-11T03:14:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

The iron-clad victory of Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Mashatile during the weekend elective ANC Conference highlights his resilient skills, the uncalculated risk undertaking by his spirited challenger Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and the ramifications of the two centres of power now legendary in our modern history.

Network Power vis-à-vis Grassroots Power

Mashatile’s political win as an ANC Chairman of Gauteng is no mean feat considering that Mokonyane enjoyed support of political heavyweights from the top ANC leadership including President Jacob Zuma, Angie Motshekga and the ANC Youth League among others. However, that support was pegged on network power vis-à-vis a grassroots power enjoyed by Mashatile as confirmed by some conference delegates who referred to his tangible support on the ground. Despite the powerful ANC Youth League preference for Mokonyane it was the predominant COSAS members of the ANC Youth League who proved to be a game changer in favour of Mashatile.

Leveraging

Mokonyane’s apparent strategy of seeking to exploit Mashatile’s perceived vulnerabilities like releasing a report, shortly before the conference, of alleged irregularities in the Gauteng Government involving his ally Sibusiso Buthelezi as well as having served as a loyalist under the former President Thabo Mbeki, now a taboo subject within the ANC, didn’t work and if anything it backfired when the powerful COSATU warned Mokonyane she was digging her own political grave. This strategy could still serve as leverage after the fact in stemming the tide of a possible hard-line influence of Mashatile towards the Gauteng Premier. Could this also impact service delivery?

Resilient Like Umkhuzi Wa Mabutho

Mashatile’s resilient skills, political savvy and his ability to recover from setback (was sidelined by President Zuma for the Gauteng Premiership in favour of Mokonyane) bring to mind the brilliant Zulu military General Umkhuzi Wa Mabutho Ndlela Ka Sompisi. General Ndlela had served loyally under King Shaka and when King Dingane overthrew King Shaka in a bloody take-over, General Ndlela remained as a military General under the new leader. Some tried to exploit his loyalist ties with King Shaka as a sign that he wouldn’t serve with the same loyalty under the new King. Ndlela’s head could have gone to the chopping block but somehow the politically shrewd Ndlela reassured the purge hungry King Dingane beyond a shadow of doubt that he was capable of serving loyally under him. General Ndlela who enjoyed grassroots support of amabutho, demonstrated he was a professional soldier with deep loyalties to the Zulu Kingdom regardless of who led the nation and this was enough to earn his distinguished place under a new order.

Support from above as well as the need to unify the two centres of power may have led to a miscalculation that has now erased political support of the Premier in Gauteng’s ANC structures. This case shows that support on the ground carries a stronger currency than support from above.

Ramifications of Two Centres of Power

What are the ramifications of the two centres of power in the Gauteng Province? Gauteng contributes more than a third to the country’s GDP making it a province of strategic importance with respect to the economy. Political stability is a prerequisite for a vibrant economy of the land. The critical floorboard is the delivery of services to the historically disadvantaged communities. Given the economic wilderness of the apartheid past that continues to haunt South Africa and the ongoing service delivery protests, will the political poles of the Gauteng ANC Government and the Provincial ANC leadership meet in order to facilitate a continuous system of governance that delivers on political promises?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Reading Must Be Culturally Relevant

2010-05-09T23:57:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

I read with interest the article ‘It’s a fact: darkies just don’t read’ by Public Editor Thabo Leshilo in the Sowetan Newspaper of May 7, 2010 and available here (accessed May 7, 2010). It was a thought provoking piece that catapulted me into responding. The article was based on the popular expression “if you want to hide something from a Black person put it in a book”.

Thoughtful Observation

Thabo Mashilo made a thoughtful observation when he said this expression “didn’t appear to be borne out” of his reality growing up in Soweto. He is right because I am also a product of Soweto and we never had this kind of experience growing up where people were not interested in reading. If anything, we were surrounded by vociferous readers and intellectuals and there was no escaping that. Great people like Aubrey Mokoena, Kgoroyadira, Vusi Kaunda, Professor Khambule, Albertina Sisulu, among others across the political spectrum, instilled a sense of intellectual stimulation and reading.

Origin of the Adage

As an exiled globe trotter, I first heard this expression in North America. I did a bit of digging at the time and it turned out the expression came from the slave plantations where it was a criminal offence for a Black person to know how to read and write. In that context it became a conventional wisdom that the best way to hide information from a Black person was to put it in writing.

The great African American and former enslaved person Frederick Douglas tells us in his writings about the harsh punishment he had had to endure as a result of teaching himself as well as others how to read and write. The expression was probably popularised in modern times, as a form of intellectual provocation, by the owner of the African National Memorial Bookstore Lewis Michaux of Harlem who used to hang the sign in his bookstore.

This bookstore boasted a quarter million books by Black writers! It’s noteworthy that this is probably the largest bookstore that ever was by writers of African descent on the planet. The patrons of this bookstore included the great legends like Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkurumah, Malcolm X, Eartha Kitt and many others. Interestingly, the American authorities didn’t seem to like the side of a bookstore that mainly featured Black writers and provided an institutional memory of the Harlen Renaissance. The book store was eventually shut down by the Government authorities in 1974. The Jet edition of April 1974 ran a story of how the authorities were shutting down this bookstore after more than 40 years in existence.

Native Writing Scripts and History

African people are naturally curious and love to read, tell stories and recount legends of long ago. The paradoxical thing is that the British colonial authorities in South Africa have always said that the Africans didn’t know how to read and write when in fact the English never invented a writing system of their own. The Latin writing system they imposed upon us was given to them by the Romans who had conquered them. To their credit, the Africans invented more than 20 writing scripts some of which are part of the present day Unicode like the Var script of Liberia. Moreover, the Kingdom of Bamoun even boasted a printing press of their own long before colonial conquest and some of their manuscripts, written in an indigenous writing script, survive to this day.

The current lack of reading interest might be due to the fact that the Black child is expected to read material that has no cultural relevance to his or her life like Shakespeare, Macbeth, Edgar Allan Poe or some culturally foreign piece of writing. On the other hand our White folks enjoy reading and command the highest literacy rate partly because reading for them is a culturally relevant fun exercise. During our time growing up in Soweto there were Black publishers like Skotaville whereas today there are virtually no Black publishers to speak of in South Africa. It’s inevitable that the lack of infrastructural support for African reading as well as lack of institutional memory of literary giants of African descent can only add to the growing trend of literary lack of interest.

Reviving Reading Interest

How can we revive reading interest in our communities? We need to establish infrastructures like publishing houses that publish our writings and stories as well as bookstores that feature our literary works as opposed to publishing houses who only publish carefully selected and effectively censored manuscripts. If we are interested in our way of life, it will inject a sense of pride and respect which will radiate outward to others whom we interact with on a daily basis. This will go a long away towards stemming the tide of moral decay that we are currently witnessing. As a little boy growing up in Soweto I enjoyed literary works like Inkondlo Ka Zulu by Bambata Ka Mshini B.W. Vilakazi, Inkinsela Yase Mgungunglovu by Professor Sibusiso Nyembezi as well Chasing Gods Not Our Own by Professor Sbusiso Bhengu which I read in exile, among others. Even though I have read any book I could lay my hand on, nothing satisfies like a reading material that resonates with one’s cultural sentiments.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Survival Advantage

2010-04-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2010

To traverse while cultureless
To cross like an eagle plumeless
Hereafter in the terrain clueless
To be circumscribed by naivety
To be constrained by some disdain
To walk hitherto without a memory
A tragic blow to the beautiful Emory

In the absence to be dethroned
Disconnected from pre-existence
To defer to some variable circumstance
Unbounded by the problem space
Unable to see the subspace
The formidable overrules like ballistic
Unable to conjugate the syntactic

The struggle raging is not new
Perpetual encoding is before us
Encoded knowledge is instructive
The deciphering like addictive
To entice the subspace engaged
Unruly fangs hereafter assuaged
Survival advantage our directive

Contextual Commentary

The dynamic environment presents new-fangled challenges to the organism which must respond in novel ways in order to gain a survival advantage. From time to time Mother Nature exacts harsh punishment upon an organism which is not flawlessly drilled for the challenges lying ahead. The young African eagle, instructed by the great mother eagle, continuously spreads and beats its wings with occasional short flights in the simulated environment of the mother nest in brave anticipation of that eventual maiden flight. Interestingly, the mother nest is a source of cultural knowledge which provides a template of time tested solutions to the environment that experiences a constant state of perturbation. To respond correctly to the volatility of the punishing environment, the organism must preferably be capable of extremely fast paced learning. Sometimes this is not possible given a short space of time with respect to the required efficacy whereby a margin of error would trigger a sudden demise of the organism. In this special case the organism must alternately rely on pre-knowledge of its cultural heritage that is well suited to the gyrations of the environment. This kind of cultural knowledge shortens the learning curve and fills in the blanks without which the organism is guideless. The distilled knowledge of culture provides the critical survival tools that allow the organism to tackle everything that gets thrown its path. In this way, the effervescent young eagle is a rehearsed practitioner of novel and robust techniques in grateful tribute to the memory of its origins.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Zuma’s Charm Prevails at Copenhagen

2009-12-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The President of South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma reached legendary status when he helped broker a groundbreaking deal at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change at Copenhagen in Denmark yesterday. In a rarely seen momentum led by an African leader on a world stage President Zuma joined the US President Barack Obama and other leaders of powerful economies like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Premier Wen Jiabao of the People's Republic of China and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to salvage what was otherwise a conference doomed to fall short of an agreement after failing to reach a deal despite two weeks of intense plenary discussions and negotiations.

President Zuma does very well when he trusts his instincts and in this case he showed an instinctive grasp of the issues at stake if everybody had returned home without some deal at hand. In leveraging his natural domain expertise and political savvy as a skilful negotiator and stalemate-breaker, President Zuma bridged the divide that pushed the conference to the precarious brink of failure. These peace-making skills of President Zuma are legendary in the South African history of peace-making as confirmed by great legends like Nelson Mandela.

In the backdrop of the prestige of President Obama who really wanted to see a breakthrough in these climate change talks, President Zuma had previously electrified the conference with these thoughtful words "We have made progress in that we have been able to isolate the areas of agreement and disagreement. We need to move with speed to finalise the areas of disagreement, in order to conclude a legally binding agreement for the sake of future generations.”

Even though the current agreement is not legally binding as originally intended, it draws attention to the far sighted outlook of President Zuma in a strategic move that underlines his shrewd ability to seize an opportune moment that put an African country like South Africa on the world map.

This deal was not easily done as President Obama later observed "I also want to briefly mention the progress we made in Copenhagen yesterday. For the first time in history all of the major – the world’s major economies [USA, Brazil, India, China, South Africa] have come together to accept their responsibility to take action to confront the threat of climate change. After extremely difficult and complex negotiations this important breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come.” Square brackets are the author's.

The US Senator John Kerry hailed this agreement "It’s a powerful signal to see President Obama, Premier Wen, Prime Minister Singh, and President Zuma agree on a meeting of the minds. These are the four horsemen of a climate change solution. With this in hand, we can work to pass domestic legislation early next year to bring us across the finish line."

In announcing the deal on Saturday the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon referred to this agreement as "a real deal" that provided framework for a future legally binding treaty on climate change. The next Conference on Climate Change is scheduled for November 2010 in Mexico.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Unbought Liberation Icon Dr. Msimang Dies

2009-12-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

A liberation icon, a medical doctor, former Minister of Health and an impressive linguist who boasted an impeccable command of languages of the world like Russian, Swahili, Zulu, English and more died yesterday at 2:27PM South African time at the University of Witwatersrand Donald Gordon Medical Centre and Medi-Clinic ICU in Johannesburg. Dr. Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang died due to complications with a liver transplant she had received back in March 2007 according to published reports attributed to her son in law who requested family privacy Martin Kingston. The African National Congress has published a tribute to Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang on their website.

Indefatigable Warrior

Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang was an indefatigable fighter on behalf of her people. She consistently advanced the interests of the African natives even in the face of fearsome opposition. Faced with the HIV and AIDS crisis which clipped the wings of population growth in South Africa, Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang went against the Holy Grail when she challenged the pharmaceuticals and the pharmacists to reduce the cost of medicine in order to make medical care accessible to those who could least afford. The pharmaceutical establishment challenged her in court. The cases like New Clicks South Africa (Pty) Ltd versus Tshabalala-Msimang and Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa and Others versus Minister of Health and Another in 2005 were soundly defeated and the state was awarded the costs. Subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein overturned the previous judgements. The unfazed Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang fought back via the Constitutional Court which ruled in her favour and settled the matter once and for all.

Traditional Health Practitioners Act

Boasted by these hard won victories Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang introduced the Traditional Health Practitioners in 2007 which sought to provide a legal status of recognition to the traditional surgeons like Inyanga, Ngaka, Sangoma, and Lethuwela among others. This pro-African move raised the ire of the pro-Western medical establishment who regarded this move as a personal affront and launched strident attacks against Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang. She set her foot down and refused budge. Today a traditional health care worker like Sangoma enjoys a legal status like any other accredited health care worker thanks to the unbought Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang.

It’s estimated that South Africa is home to more than 200 000 Sangomas who serve millions of South Africans. South Africa commands more than 10% of world medicine plants and the know-how of the medicinal properties of these plants is controlled by 97% of the traditional surgeons.

Some of the strident critics of her new law included a highly regarded medical scientist Dr. Shadrak Mazaza of the South African Medical Association who expressed these remarks during the Traditional Health Practitioners Bill debate "My personal opinion is that adding an illiterate group of people issuing sick certificates from their shacks to the mix...well, I just can't see it happening".

It never fails how a person who has been schooled in an English institution, through no fault of their own, will almost always exhibit pejorative tendencies towards an authentic tradition like African medicine. It’s like an English establishment inculcates a sense of disdain in everything authentically African. As a corollary, the graduates of the English schools do not recognize the legitimate existence of indigenous knowledge systems. These separatist tendencies are a carry-over from colonial times when legislative instruments like the Natal Code of Native Law of 1891, the Black Administration Act of 1927, the Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Act of 1928, the Proclamation of 1932 and others were intended to criminalize, vilify and economically undermine African traditional surgeons whom the English perceived as an impressive threat to the English medical establishment. The pro-colonial and over zealous Christian churches were privy to these legislative tools designed to stymie African medicine and its practitioners.

Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang dashed those walls and worked without fail to fix the damage brought about by colonial conquest and the white establishment. Today Traditional Health Practitioners Act is the law of the land and makes it possible for a patient who consults a traditional surgeon to be issued with a medical certificate in the event of absence from work. Even the University of Witwatersrand announced plans to offer University degrees in the Sangoma profession at both Bachelors’s and Master’s of Science levels.

The AIDS Policy and Controversy

With solid victories under her belt Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang challenged the unquestionable religiosity of the pharmaceutical and medical establishment with respect to the detrimental effects of AZT as well as the issues surrounding the CD4 count which formed a basis for beginning an anti-AIDS therapy. Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang espoused a United Nations’ stage 4 AIDS-defining illness or a CD4 count of 200 cubic millimetres or less which meant that such a person qualified for an automatic public health care.

She told parliament about damage the AZT was doing to the immune system of an AIDS sufferer and her commitment to ensuring that the Government AIDS strategy had a long term outlook so that the South Africans were not left with lingering consequences that could have been avoided by a meticulous analysis of current scientific theory. In fact pregnant women had gotten killed during the AZT trials in South Africa and she didn`t want more of her people to be subjected to this highly toxic antiretroviral drug.

Her critics mistakenly charged she was denying a link between HIV and AIDS something that she never said as confirmed in an interview with Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in October 2006. Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang put the record straight in terms of those who chose to deliberately misunderstand her simple and clear message “We have never said that lemons or beetroot or garlic are therapeutically equivalent to ART. What we do say is that they contain micronutrients that The transmission of HIV, the rate at which people infected with the virus start to suffer from AIDS-related illness, and how well patients cope with the illness when it strikes . . . [are] affected by a number of variables, including nutrition, pre-existing health status, and lifestyle.”

Even though other scientists like the Nobel Prize winning biochemist Dr. Kary Mullis questioned the HIV and AIDS hypothesis, Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang only raised questions on the operational aspects of the theory with respect to the efficacy trials on account of toxic and death reports associated with the use of AZT. This is because the establishment scientists (the ones whose theory we all subscribe to) were not able to adequately explain the mechanisms underlying the CD4 cell loss which preceded the onset of AIDS even thought the HIV and AIDS discovery had been made since 1984. The lack of this crucial analytical understanding was casting doubt on the efficacy of treatment since the mechanisms of cause between HIV and AIDS could not be adequately accounted for.

The uncontested fact is that AZT was never designed as an AIDS drug but was rather created as a cancer chemotherapy treatment that never worked. This in itself is not new because even Prosaic of Eli Lilly was not originally conceived for depression but was instead designed for high blood pressure treatment which subsequently got retrofitted as an antidepressant and earned billions of dollars in annual revenues for the company. Interestingly, the parent of AZT Burroughs Wellcome & Company worked more on animal health at a certain point in their history before concentrating more exclusively on human health.

Many of the AZT trials were characterized by tragic results which impacted Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang's response in dealing with it. In their scientific paper Effects of Zidovudine in 365 Consecutive Patients with AIDS or AIDS-Related Complex French scientists expressed their bitter disappointment from lack of efficacy and the high toxic effects of AZT which they had tested among 365 patients at the Claude Bernard Hospital, Paris in France. The human trials had to be cancelled midstream. This observation and many others vindicated Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang's cautious approach towards the antiretroviral with the unfortunate result of getting eclipsed by the marketing machines of the profit motivated pharmaceuticals and the white establishment media.

Most Contested Issue

The most contested issue was Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang’s position on the HIV and AIDS which challenged the Darwinist establishment view that HIV led to AIDS as a result of the high turnover of the CD4 and CD8 cells which left the immune system defenceless in the absence of some drug therapy like the cost-prohibitive ARVs. In simple English this meant that the T cells, like CD4 and CD8, which help fight off the foreign bodies were being produced in high numbers and also getting killed off in high numbers in a high speed cyclical process that eventually led to the collapse of the immune system. Contrary to her detractors, Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang never questioned the scientific fact that HIV virus caused AIDS but rather she expressed the challenges on the laboratory front with respect to the CD4 cell loss. In the Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Conference of June 2004 Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang articulated this fact "We had many questions to be answered around how we would provide human resources, whether we had adequate laboratory support for CD4 count and viral low count."

Both CD4 and CD8 cells must cooperate in order to win the fight against infection and the main role of CD4 cells is molecular signalling which means that it works like an orchestra conductor. The immune system depends on the instructions of the CD4 to do the job. If the CD4 cells are not able to do their signalling job then the rest of the immune system is not able to respond and fight the invaders effectively. The scientific theory at the time (perhaps even today among some) was that the CD4 and the CD8 cells were being killed off by the HIV virus even as they multiplied to compensate.

New studies including the one headed by Dr. Katja C. Wolthers of the Department of Clinical Viro-Immunology of the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands disproved this establishment theory of the CD4 cells being killed off. Dr. Wolthers and colleagues showed in their scientific paper T Cell Telomere Length in HIV-1 Infection: No Evidence for Increased CD4 + T Cell Turnover using sophisticated cell labelling techniques, that the CD4 telomeres (terminal ends of the DNA structures) were stable like those of HIV-negative persons except for the CD8 whose telomeres were shortening.

In simple English the infection fighting T cells like CD4 were not being produced and killed off as previously thought. Rather it was the source of these cells that was slowing down in terms of producing the CD4 cells. In other words if there is a tap that produces CD4 cells then that tap for some reason was declining in producing the CD4 cells. This was a fundamental shift in scientific thinking. Needless to say it vindicated Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang`s inquiring mind around this issue. The interesting thing is that a number of scientists are quietly realigning their research in the light of this new evidence.

This paradigm shift from the current scientific establishment vindicated Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang with respect to the fact that if we didn`t understand how the CD4 cell loss came about then there was no guarantee that we were solving the problem correctly. This is absolutely vital because if you have a wrong idea about a problem then you are not going to solve it correctly.

The whole HIV and AIDS issue had become politicised instead of remaining strictly scientific. President Jacob Zuma addressed this politicisation after forming the new Government “Let there be no more shame, no more blame, no more discrimination and no more stigma. Let the politicisation and endless debates about HIV and AIDS stop. Let this be the start of an era of openness, of taking personal responsibility, and of working together in unity to prevent HIV infections and to deal with its impact."

Tribute to the Great Mshengu!

We want to take this opportunity to express our sympathies to the Msimang family. We love you and you will forever be cherished by us. We salute Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang! Mshengu! Donga lakaMavuso! Ngelengele! Hlubi elihle! We venerate the impressive achievements on behalf of her people whom she cared so much for. As well put by the ANC’s spokesman Mr. Jackson Mthembu we shall pick up the spear. The life and achievements of Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang will remain an inspiration to many coming after her. In her memory we shall walk in her footsteps to ensure that the Africans do not become parrots of others but rather develop their own views guided by originality, ingenuity and sincere commitment to solving the problems in the context of the material and cultural conditions that prevail in their own environment in keeping with the African proverb that says “An African writer does not choose the topic. The topic chooses him”.

Lala kahle qhawe lama qhawe! Mshengu!

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

SABC Appoints New CEO Solly Mokoetle

2009-12-16T21:53:00.001-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The South African Broadcasting Corporation has appointed the new CEO Mr. Solly Mokoetle effective January 1st 2010. Mr. Mokoetle replaces Mr. Dali Mpofu who reached a R11 million settlement with the SABC in August after he was suspended as a result of the Snuki Zikalala affair (former Head of News and Current Affairs). The Chairperson of the SABC Board Ms. Irene Charnley underscored the strategic importance of the appointment "The decision to appoint Mr Mokoetle was based on his experience and a proven track record during the time the SABC was profitable, making him the most suitable candidate"

From Exile

Mr. Mokoetle had previously joined the SABC in 1994 from exile in Canada having impressed the then Chairperson of the SABC Board Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburi with his impressive journalism credentials. Mr. Mokoetle graduated from Canada's Carleton University in Ottawa with Masters in Journalism. He boasts more than 25 years of experience in journalism including his brief stint with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Mokoetle's progressive changes of the SABC from a state broadcaster to a national broadcaster won the praise of many with the result that in 2001 he was promoted to a position of a Chief Operations Officer a contract position he fulfilled with stellar performance until 2006 when the contract ended.

Ideal Candidate

Mr. Mokoetle is a former Telkom Media Chief Content Officer a position that was announced by Telkom Media CEO Mr. Mandla Ngcobo who said at the time "We believe that Solly's vast experience in the broadcasting industry makes him the ideal candidate for the position".

Chinese Giant Senzhen

The owner of Telkom Media and South Africa's telecommunications giant Telkom had established Telkom Media in 2007 a fortuitous opportunity after Mr. Mokoetle's one year sabbatical. The stint with Telkom Media lasted until 2008 when Telkom decided to sell Telkom Media to a Chinese giant Shenzhen. It caused R7 billion to create Telkom Media which included other shareholders of which Telkom controlled 66%. The details of the transaction with Shenzhen were never revealed. It's not known how Telkom was able, if any, to overcome or satisfy South African authorities with respect to regulatory requirements in terms of a takeover involving a foreign corporation like Shenzhen.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Let's Have a 'Pan-African Commonwealth'

2009-12-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE

LET’S HAVE A ‘PAN-AFRICAN COMMONWEALTH’

A call for the establishment of a ‘Pan-African Commonwealth or League of Nations’ comprised of all of the countries of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean that have been impacted by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was one of the main outcomes of an historic Seminar on African, Caribbean and Latin American unity that was held in St Vincent on the 5th and 6th of December under the auspices of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

This novel proposal was advanced by a Barbadian delegation consisting of Bobby Clarke and David Comissiong of the Peoples Empowerment Party, Trevor Prescod of the Israel Lovell Foundation and John Howell of African Reparations Inc., and was inspired by the intellectual work of the legendary Nigerian Pan-Africanist scholar who goes by the single name of Chinweizu.

In outlining the concept of an association of African, Latin American and Caribbean states that could be variously conceptualized as a ‘Pan African Commonwealth’, a ‘South Atlantic League of Nations’ or a ‘Pan-African Bloc of Countries’, Mr David Comissiong explained that the vast majority of the nations of the three regions are bound together by historical, racial, cultural, geographical and political factors.
In making the case for this new multi-national association of states, Mr Comissiong sketched the common history of European orchestrated slavery, forced migration of large numbers of African people, colonialism and neo-colonialism that has impacted virtually all of the societies of Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, and referred to the common interest that the people and governments of the three regions possess in pursuing ‘Reparations’ for the damage inflicted on them and the establishment of a ‘New International Economic Order’.

This proposal was unanimously endorsed by the participants in the St Vincent Seminar, and the next steps in the process of making it a reality are to place it before the governing bodies of the ‘African Union’ (AU), the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the ‘Bolivarian Alternative For Latin America’ (ALBA).

However, the ‘Pan-African Commonwealth’ was not the only idea that garnered the approval of the several Vincentian, St Lucian, Venezuelan, Surinamese and Barbadian delegates at the Seminar!

Indeed, in a declaration signed by some 20 leaders and activists of the Caribbean, the Seminar acknowledged the massive flaws inherent in the neo-liberal international capitalist system, and insisted that there is an urgent need for the nations of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean to come together in solidarity and unity if they are to avoid the worst ravages of the diseased capitalist system.

The participants were very clear however that such efforts at unity have to go way beyond "the formal structures of government and state bureaucracies, into the realm of deep people-to-people contacts and relationships". And in this regard, they insisted that a much greater effort has to be made to implement comprehensive programmes of popular education and information dissemination that are designed to sharpen the intellect, critical consciousness and ideological orientation of our people.

The ‘Declaration’ also included a reiteration of "the longstanding clarion call of the progressive world community of nations and peoples for an immediate end to the criminal, illegal and immoral United States blockade against the Caribbean nation of Cuba". In addition, the participants unanimously confirmed their support of the recent declaration made by the ‘Union of South American Nations’ (UNASUR) for the South American region to be a zone of peace, and called on all of the nations of the world to respect the UNASUR declaration.

DAVID A COMISSIONG
President, Peoples Empowerment Party

Ukweshwama Energizes Zulu King

2009-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi (c) 2009

The great King of Zulu people Inkosi Zwelithini of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa got an infusion of new powers as a result of the sacred ceremony of Ukweshwama which was held on Saturday at Nongoma a home ground of celebrated Zulu ancestry.

The sacrosanct tradition, which transfers brand new powers to the ruling King, involved the sacrificing of a bull without the use of man-made instruments. The animal was overpowered and slaughtered by young Zulu men using bare hands. The ceremony was attended by an impressive array of luminaries including the President of South Africa the great Msholozi Jacob Zuma along with the highly popular Premier of KwaZulu Natal uKhabazela ka Mavovo Dr. Zweli Mkhize.

Thanks Giving Ceremony

Umkhosi Wokweshwama was practised during King Shaka and this is a continuation of a long standing tradition. It’s a Thanks Giving ceremony similar to the North American Thanks Giving held in Canada and USA in the months of October and November respectively. The Zulu people hold their Thanks Giving in December.

Boosted by Court Decision

Ukweshwama was given a tremendous boost by a court decision that robustly quashed a daring challenge which sought to dismantle the Zulu tradition on the premise that it was a cruel practise. King Zwelithini referred to this fact when he said that no nation had a right to dictate to another about its culture.

An urgent court challenge to stop this sacred tradition from going ahead was brought to Pietermaritzburg High Court by the English leadership of some group who call themselves Animal Rights Africa or ARA in South Africa. The ARA based their case on what was later established to be a cocktail of “hearsay” and “untruths” with respect to the Zulu tradition. Moreover, ARA was found to be misguided in their understanding of Zulu traditions something that is not surprising given the fact that South African English are colonial descendants whose understanding of Zulu traditions is largely based on the misinformation regularly fed to them from childhood by their parents and English schools.

This type of consistent misinformation does eventually become part of bio-programming. Nhlanhla Mtaka of the Royal House of King Zwelithini underscored this fact of ignorance by ARA when he told journalists "We have also noticed that they are very ignorant. They don’t know what this ceremony is all about and how it is conducted." Mtaka observed that ARA and those who supported it showed a combination of arrogance and ignorance.

Ukweshwama Like Holy Communion

In dismissing the case from his courtroom the Judge Nic van der Reyden expressed a viewpoint that ruling against the Zulu tradition was tantamount to ruling against the holy communion of the Roman Catholic Church.

The court room was packed with Zulu supporters dressed in their proud Zulu regalia. South Africa's ten million strong Zulus honour this tradition each year. A highly regarded Zulu scholar and cultural expert Professor Jabulani Maphalala assisted by another Professor Nxumalo exposed the materially baseless case which led the Judge to rule against the ARA. Maphalala is a former Professor of History at the University of Zululand of which the current President of South Africa Dr. Jacob Zuma is a Chancellor.

Publicity Stunt

In an incredible show of bravado the ARA named Isilo sa kwa Zulu Inkosi Enkulu Zwelithini, Dr. Zweli Mkhize and others in their court documents. This strange court challenge was later described by Nonhlanhla Mtaka and others as a publicity stunt designed to raise funds for the ARA. The ARA has denied the charge of publicity stunt.

Reconciliation and Tolerance

The KwaZulu Natal Premier Dr. Mkhize commented after the court decision that this was a victory for “the champions of reconciliation and cultural tolerance”.

Sour Grapes

The leadership of the ARA are an epitome of colonial descendants who have not come to terms with the new South Africa devoid of apartheid and led by an impressive yet humble Zulu leader the great Msholozi. ARA was described by Professor Maphalala as steeped in sour grapes against the Zulu people on account of a crushing victory suffered by the English imperial army at the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 in the hands of a brilliant Zulu General Umkhuzi wa Mabutho Ntshingwayo. General Ntshingwayo who enjoyed a high praise as a sharp-witted strategist by the great Zulu King Cetshwayo was assisted by other formidable military commanders and war practitioners on the ground like Prince Dabulamanzi, Prince Shingana, Prince Biyela to name but a few.

Genetic Resistance

The sentiment of afrophobic fear and desire to put down the African natives and their indigenous culture is legendary in our times. This kind of sentiment is a result of a process of bio-programming whereby the neurons become encoded with a sentiment that perceives an authentic African tradition as a survival threat by the English. In the poem A Genetic Trait we read these lines:

“A genetic resistance to change
It’s in the DNA to resist the change
The indifference to extreme suffering
A code of silence while colonizing” Moloi, Vusi A Genetic Trait, The African Mongoose, Canada.

From the Contextual Commentary of the poem we get the context:

"The membrane of a brain cell is equipped with a system of plasticity designed to encode and lock in place a unique fingerprint of a particular experience via synaptic connection. If the stimulus is significant by way of association with respect to the survival of the organism, a special fortifying protein via the RNA from the DNA structures is released from the body of the cell. This protein travels via the axon towards the synaptic cleft in order to increase the connective strength of the synaptic connection. Once the synapses are permanently bonded in this fashion, they are no longer inclined towards changing or reversing that particular synaptic configuration." Moloi, Vusi A Genetic Trait, The African Mongoose, Canada.

This demonstrates a theoretical impossibility of trying to convince an Afrophobic individual to accept others as equals because if it’s in their DNA to resist change then that effort is wasted. When the mind is consistently duped using misinformation about others it leads to a cascade of genetic events intended to permanently cast that individual in stone. The WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) antithesis towards everything African is in their DNA and there is really not much that can be done about it. It’s a genetic trait that cannot be shaken off; a sobering perspective all things considered. This is not to say that all the English are bio-programmed in this way by colonial and denialist teachings to divest the African natives of their way of life. However, it would be misguided to ignore the words of the English man Cecil Rhodes who once said:

“I contend that we [the English] are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable [the non-English] specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence…”, Moloi, Vusi, The White Establishment – Part IV, Canada. Bracketed italics are the author’s.

Similar words were also expressed in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Canada by the English Canadian member of Parliament Mr. John Charlaton as follows:

"It was necessary that England should assert her sovereignty; it was necessary that England should assert her power and rights in South Africa. England has purposes in South Africa. Providence has purposes in South Africa, and makes England its instrument. Providence has purposes in other lands and England is the instrument of Providence. It is evidently the intention of Providence that the English-speaking race shall exercise a great influence upon the affairs of this world." Moloi, Vusi, The White Establishment – Part IV, Canada.

Living by the Code

Many English South Africans live by this code of English supremacy despite the expression of goodwill by the African natives in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by the great legend Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It’s incredible that despite the TRC the English have largely moved in the most rightwing and reactionary direction on a collision course against the aspirations of the African natives. It’s like the English have interpreted reconciliation as a form of weakness to be exploited and there is nothing stopping them from doing so.

This anti-African sentiment has been consistently observed in the English media in South Africa as well as political parties like the Democratic Alliance under Ms. Helen Zille. When this writer travelled from London to Johannesburg a few years ago, it was amazing that a South African English passenger seated with the author could not name the OR Tambo International Airport and so was the English pilot of the plane. They preferred to call the airport by the old apartheid name.

Compassion Fatigue

In the meanwhile the African natives are increasingly developing a compassion fatigue towards the indifference of the English. This trend is observable as the African natives become more assertive in embracing their African traditions as demonstrated by this court case. They are unstoppable on the inexorable march towards the great struggle for African freedom and betterment.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The History of Makholokoe – Part II

2009-12-04T01:02:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

In the article The History of Makholokoe – Part I a historical overview of the Makholokoe people was provided. This article is a continuation of the history and analysis of the Makgolokwe people.

The History of Makholokoe – Part I

Preamble

The Makgolokwe people are the direct descendants of the Bakgatla through the great Morena Tabane who settled at the Lekwa valley in the 1500s. Morena Kgolokwe, a descendant of Morena Kgetsi broke away from the main Bakgatla to chart an independent path along with his people. The followers of Morena Kgolokwe came to be known as Makgolokwe meaning the people of Kgolokwe. The Makgolokwe established their main branch in the Lekwa region of the present day Standerton Mpumalanga where they built a defensive fortress Thaba Kholokoe. It was here that they built their Makgolokwe way of life which advanced their economy of cattle, farming, and hunting the succes of which allowed them to cultivate their indigenous knowledge systems and ancestral lands. They are among the first to be known as Basotho along with their cousins Bapedi and others as confirmed in a PhD dissertation Literature and Philosophy of African Languages by the great African scholar William Moruti Tsiu.

Genesis

The Bakgatla people have lived in the region bounded by Lekwa and Limpopo river systems for over a thousand years. They were part of many African peoples who began to drift Southward in search of greener pastures as a result of the great Sahara turning into a desert as a result of loss of rainfalls in 6000 BCE (about 8000 years ago). The present day Mpumalanga and Limpopo offered an excellent opportunity for these industrious communities to rebuild their lives and feed their livestock which kept them alive through milk and ceremonial meat. The Bakgatla boasted many impressive kings and queens one of whom was a famed King Mokgatla, the progenitor of the Bakgatla people. After a number of generations a great King Tabane was born in the 1500s.

Mokgatla King Tabane

The formidable King Tabane led his people to prosperity in spite of the harsh vicissitudes. Moreover he instilled a sense of independence and an industrious work ethic. The Bakgatla peacefully and cooperatively cooexisted with with other peoples like Bafokeng, Bahurutshe and Bakwena among others. The Bafokeng boasted some of the most impressive queens and princesses and one such Mofokeng maiden was a mesmeric Princess Mathulare who enthralled the imagination of a young Prince Tabane. Tabane and Mathulare were married in a traditional ceremony where the extended families of Bakgatla and Bafokeng exchanged gifts and vows and built new ethnic alliances. It was out of this marriage that five sons were born namely Diale, Kgwadi, Kgetsi, Matsibolo and Mosia. When Diale succeeded his father as a new King he broke away from the main Bakgatla to start a new branch at Fateng in the present day Sekhukhuniland. King Diale was married to Mmathobela and when she gave birth to a son, he was named Thobela. It was through this Diale lineage that the Bapedi people and their formidable Kingdom of Sekhukhune was born. They moved from Lekwa under the leadership of Thobela to an area near the Limpopo river at Mohlake in the mountains of Leolo. After succeeding his father Diale and taking charge of his people in the 1600s, King Thobela forged a great and proud nation of Bapedi. King Thobela became a great ruler who was venerated by both Bapedi and some Makgolokwe like this writer. To this day Bapedi continue to say “Thobela”.

King Kgetsi

One of the brothers of Diale, Kgetsi established himself at Lekwa. King Kgetsi became a direct line of descent for another great leader by the name of Kgolokwe. It was King Kgolokwe who made his indellible mark among his people that they became known as Makgolokwe meaning the people of Kgolokwe. The Makgolokwe thrived at Lekwa. Overtime the Makgolokwe developed a body of collective knowledge which served as an intellectual capital in helping them to navigate and cherish their way of life. This system of indigenous knowledge was largely based on oral tradition but was also encoded in artifacts and other artistic works like ditema, pottery, carvings, traditional attire and games of strategy like morabaraba and more. It was here that many Makgolokwe received the teachings of their foremothers and forefathers as well as martial arts like stick fighting, mountain strategies and other forms of self-defense training. The Makgolokwe were methodical cattle herders and farmers. They paid allegience to a totem of Kgoho which is documented in the dithoko and diboko tsa Makgolokwe in the following invocation:

Ke Lekgolokwe, Lekotswana
Lahlaba kgoho ka lemao
Laisa ho Morena Kgorong
Lare bona Morena kehlabile

A longer version of dithoko tsa Makgolokwe is from Nchakha Moloi as follows:

Lekgolokoe Kotsoana

By Nchakha Moloi ©2005

“Lekgolokwe lekotswana,
Le hlaba kgoho ka lemao ka sebonong
O ise ho mokgoloane kgorong
ore bona morena ke hlabile

Ke motho wa kgetsi se dutla majwe
ya hlahang bopeli hwa matso
Ya hlahang mokgatluwa tloopo”

Moloi, Nchakha (2005). Lekgolokoe Kotsoana. Geneology.Com, December 4, 2009, from http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/users/m/o/l/Nchakha-Moloi/index.html

William Moruti Tsiu in his PhD dissertation recorded Young QwaQwa Mokgolokwe lady by the name of Lebohang Mosikili reciting dithoko of Makgolokwe as follows:

Ke thelleleng

By Lebohang Mosikili © 2001

Ke thelleleng
Ke le Lekgolokwe, Lekotswana,
Lehlaba-kgoho-ka-lemao-ka-sebonong
O isa mokgorong ha Kgwadi,
O re: 'Bona, morena, kehlabile!'
Ke monate wa nku ofella mono! Tsiu, William Moruti, University of South Africa, 2008.

Thaba Kholokoe

Thaba Kholokoe inspired a variety of school systems including Lebollo and Motebong systems of education. In the scholarly paper The Design Theory of Letanta this writer discusses an indigenous system of education as practiced before the advent of colonial conquest. Militlary training at the time was considered an extremely important component of education as a form of defence against invaders. The Makgolokwe chose to build a defensive fortress to underscore their need for self-preservation.

The Legend of King Kgolokwe

The close relation of Makgolokwe and Bapedi in terms of language and historical alliances proved symbiotic in advancing the common good. Some Makgolokwe became absorbed among the Sekhukhuni people. Other relatives of Makgolokwe include Batlokwa with whom they share a common ancestry of Tabane as well as sharing space in the land of QwaQwa. The Makgolokwe are also related to Bafokeng (Bafokeng come from Bakwena) by marriage as previously mentioned through Queen Mathulare.

The legend of Kgolokwe was so far reaching that one of the Bapedi rulers of the indomitable Sekhukhune Royal House carried the name of Kgolokwe (also known as kgoloko). The Lekwa region is like a biblical garden of Eden because it is here that many of our people trace their origins before trekking out to other parts of South Africa like Zululand, Harrismith, QwaQwa, Lesotho and many other places. This region represents an instance of Ntsoanatsi that tells the story of genesis.

Peacemaking and Forging Alliances

Given their heterogenous historical experience and the veneration of common ancestry with other peoples like Bapedi, Batlokwa, Basia, among others, Makgolokwe developed superior skills in peacemaking and forging alliances. These skills served to create their survival maximizing experience.

Makgolokwe have also formed alliances with other non-Bakgatla peoples like the Zulu people of Zululand as demonstrated by Makgolokwe places like Nondweni of Inkosi Lephatsoana. Makgolokwe are also found in other places like Kwamdakane, Ndindindi and Kwamhloya in KwaZulu Natal.

The perpetual Zulu legend and founder of the ANC Mr. Pixlie ka Seme was instrumental in the acquisition of land in the present day Daggakraal under their leader Morena Lephatsoana. Even though they lost this land as per the draconian laws of forced removals under the evil system of racist and sexist apartheid, Makgolokwe gained a lot of sympathy from others like the Transvaal Rural Action Committee which this writer worked for under the Black Sash leader Mrs. Sheena Duncan of Johannesburg. It was gratifying when the living legend and President of South Africa Mr. Nelson Mandela restored the land under Lephatsoana II Trust where the Mokgolokwe Chief Edward Moloi was there to receive the title deed on behalf of his people on June 21st, 1997 at Amersfoort in the Mpumalanga Province. In the poem Ke Daggakraal the Makgolokwe are remembered for putting up a determined fight for the land:

“Ka hohle ditholwana tsa hao di adilwe,
BoMoloi ba ho lwela temo ya mobu,
BoSiema ba ho hasanya lentswe,
Basuwe ke ditholwana tse ntle.” Sesotho Puo Ya Lapeng(Pampiri Ya Bobedi)November 2008, Daggakraal, Mpumalanga.

The great Premier of Mpumalanga the Honourable Mathews Phosa was the engine that did the heavy lifting behind the success of this project. Interestingly and deservedly so, the people of Daggakraal have renamed their Municipality in honour of the great son of the African soil Pixie ka Seme of Inanda, KwaZulu Natal.

Gutsy Spirit and Serving Others

The Makgolokwe have bolstered their gutsy spirit and perfected their skills of solidarity over centuries. Instead of waging wars of aggression against others, the Makgolokwe were trained to embrace others as their own regardless of ethnic origin. The only time when Makgolokwe went to war was in defence of their ancestral lands when the peaceful avenues were blocked like the war of 1856 when the arrogant and bellicose Afrikaners assisted by both Germans and the English sought to crush Makgolokwe people and rob them of their land under the barrel of the gun in the Free State. Intriguingly, when the Makgolokwe, under a junior Chief Wetsi had no alternative but to fight back, they were joined by other non-Makgolokwe volunteers like the Zulu warriors of King Mpande, Bapedi of Sekhukhune and others in resisting the claws of colonial encroachment. Even though the Bakwena of Mopeli fought on the side of colonizers in this war for which they were rewarded by President Johannes Brand of the Orange Free State in 1867, the Makgolokwe did not bear a grudge but have consistently engaged them in a peaceful struggle for the emancipation of their land.

Chief Molefe Royal House in Nquthu

Some historical accounts point to the fact that one the of the traditional surgeons of the great Zulu King Cetshwayo (the son of King Mpande) was a Mokgolokwe. When this writer was in KwaZulu Natal at Nquthu in the Royal House of Batlokwa Chief Molefe it was instructive to observe the alliances of Makgolokwe and Batlokwa. The Molefe Tribal Authority shared a border with a Zulu Chief Hlatshwayo. This invaluable experience, as documented in the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, was an immense learning experience with respect to the alliances of our peoples in the harsh face of a racist and sexist apartheid that inculcated separatist tendencies designed to break the spirit of the African. This writer is forever grateful to the great legend Ntate Monnafela Mota of Lechabile in the land of QwaQwa for making it possible to experience this epiphany.

Conclusion

The Makgolokwe are a unique people in terms of having a common ancestry with others and being able to forge and leverage those alliances in their quest for permanent liberation. The Government of President Zuma has committed itself towards the restitution of the land of Makgolokwe. The Makgolokwe are a recognized traditional community in terms of the 1994 House of Traditional Leaders Act. As long as they are relentless in their great struggle for their land, it is foreseeable that they will regain what is their birthright. Are the new generation of Makgolokwe cognizant and interested in their history or will they get attracted to the Western ways that seek to strip them of their Africanness?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Survival Analytics

2009-10-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Survival analytics
Mental therapeutics
To understand what's going down
To reclaim lost grounds
To lay claim like never before
To make amends with the past
In the land of the ancestors

A meticulous attention
A decisive precondition
Instinctive grasp of infinitesimal
The directive to avert the abysmal
Conveying much respect to the stochastic
A graceful acceptance despite ballistic
Without some events that inspire
We proceed like unbroken sapphire
To agitate for change that refuses to yield
To concentrate efforts that vindicate
Agitating cleanses the soul
To purify towards a goal

Contextual Commentary

Previous memories of defeat in the deadly embrace were not enough to deter the new generation of the mongoose from engaging in the analysis of the slick movements of the fearsome cobra. Although many would find it too painful to absorb the stomach-turning accounts of defeat, the mongoose detached herself from the mortality of pain in order to begin a paradigm shift in the new struggle to defeat a previously powerful opponent.

The goal of the African mongoose was to stake her claim to the rare fruits of a hard won victory resembling the unconquerable queens of Nubia like Queen Candace who caused Alexander the Great to freeze and retreat when the Nubian armies stood up to him. A painstaking reflection revealed that it was possible to overrun the cobra in a gutsy move by delivering the first decisive blow like a thunderbolt.

Endless days of rehearsing had perfected her interpretive and combative skills and thus produced the indomitable African mongoose. Attention to detail ensured a short but decisive victory against a slithering foe capable of reinventing the art of war. A new dispensation had irrevocably arrived when the mongoose became a newly crowned ruler of the shifting ground despite the cobra having a reach advantage in a treacherous terrain. Photographic memory bolstered her survival advantage because by memorizing the repertoire of an awe-inspiring cobra, she had garnered enough depth and breadth to become the architect of her own destiny.
The Indomitable Mongoose, Vusi Moloi © 2009 Canada

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Last Rite – Film Review

2009-10-17T07:16:00.001-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Talking about it is not easy. Treatment of it for documentary purposes is even harder and yet the Canadian film maker Gina Valle succeeds where some have failed. Welcome to The Last Rite, a film documentary about dying, death and grieving. What makes this documentary special and worth your time to view it?

Her common folk approach as well as her ability to draw from her own personal experience of death with respect to her beloved father belie Gina Valle’s impressive scholarly background as a PhD expert in Multicultural Studies a good synthesis that enables her to comfortably navigate an uncharted path in a way that engenders a feeling of calmness and tranquility while her theatre audience is treated to what is otherwise a taboo subject. This is the kind of impression I came away with while attending the premier screening of The Last Rite at the Innis College Theatre Hall in Toronto, Canada last Tuesday. I count myself among the privileged to be invited to the screening.

Youtube Preview Video

The Last Rite - Youtube preview video by soultanis33

Hybrid of Dramatization and Factual Accounts

Using dramatization and real people’s interviews The Last Rite eases you into its subject matter while teaching important lessons about what is death, how to prepare for the inevitability of death and what positive lessons can be learned from it. At the end of the screening and while the credits were still scrolling The Last Rite was given a strong round of applause by its viewers. The director and her crew, who came to the fore, including Executive Producer Ingrid Berzin Leuzy, Director of Photography Nigel Akam, Editor Diane Akam and Nicholas Schnier and others enjoyed the admiration of an enthusiastic audience with another resounding round of applause. No doubt the documentary that took eighteen months in the making and a lot of unrelenting hardwork by the crew was well received.

Honourable Mention From Madeline Ziniak

The Vice-President of OMNI Television who received the highest civilian honour of Order of Canada in July of this year for her work in multicultural media Madeline Ziniak told the audience before the screening that The Last Rite had been funded 100% by the OMNI Television and it was a proud project for her organization as well as the emerging film maker. The highly regarded Madeline Ziniak enjoys excellent rapport with Canada’s multi-ethnic communities. An indefatigable champion of Canada’s diversity and multi-ethnic media, Madeline Ziniak along with the CEO of OMNI Television Leslie Sole once commended this writer for supporting OMNI Television’s quest for licensing with the CRTTC back in 2003. It’s gratifying to see that OMNI has blossomed greatly since those formative years and has strengthened multicultural content by enabling a great documentary project like The Last Rite to see the light of day.

What Makes This Film Attention-Grabbing?

A meticulous Gina Valle with attention to detail delicately weaves an interest-arousing tapestry of personal and other’s real accounts with sobering perspectives of a skillfully enlisted triumvirate of the Islamic Imam Badat, the Buddhist Venerable Hoa and the Hindu Swami Atin Bhattacharya who generously impart their rich insights to show that death does not have to be an exclusively melancholy experience that exacts punishment with its cold shroud of mystery and hurtful silence in our innermost. Gina Valle underscores the value of learning from the viewpoints of others in her website "The Last Rite illustrates how Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists ritualize death. In this documentary we spend time in mosques, Buddhist temples, and ashrams to gain knowledge into the meaning of death and life."

Death can be a means of coming to terms with the core lessons of living and become instrumental in helping us to prepare for its inevitability and the aftermath while providing a cleansing experience. We see this cleansing with the bathing of the dead by the members of the mosque and family members driven by the love of their own in stark contrast to what has become legendary in a modern metropolitan society where the death of a loved one is professionally handled by strangers who take the body away and allow only a restricted and limited access in what is a quantifiable policy by a corporate enterprise driven by profit margins.

Erudite Cast

Gina Valle adds to her erudite cast some of the brightest minds like Dr. Wong an expert on death and dying and University Professor of Psychology, Rev. Michael Marshall a Hospital Chaplain with a clinical pastoral background, Registered Nurse and Palliative Care Worker Lori Ives-Bain and Kala Limbani among many who make The Last Rite documentary an instructive and stimulating experience. This is a must see for all members of the family.

Rush To Find Closure

Modern society is in a rush that we find closure and get over it despite the harsh reality that grieving, the longest stage of bereavement, may last anywhere from many months up to two years and in some cases even longer according to scholars. Having to contend with suddenness of death in my youth, I found this overwhelming experience refusing to go away at first and at the time I lacked the intellectual maturity of reasoning but thankfully with the support of a traditional African village collective the grieving took its own time to crystallize which proved to me that the process of grieving could not be boxed into some clean cut and dry process. This film presents a persuasive case that everyone has his or her own way of dealing with death.

We learn from Gina Valle’s instructive personal experience when she observes “when my father died, there was such an expedient manner in which the death was managed, almost with an eagerness to move the death out of the public eye, and rid us of our sorrow in one sweep.” While pointing out that “death is a treasure” Gina Valle provides a gateway through her fresh lenses to the extremely vital viewpoints of palliative workers, spiritual leaders and health care workers who grapple with the issues of dying and grieving from time to time effectively broadening the vistas of our understanding around this intractable subject while at the same time harnessing and enriching the coping resources which otherwise would remain outside the public view.

OMNI Television Broadcast Times

The Last Rite is produced in the languages of English and Italian. The Italian language boasts the most beautiful and comforting voice of Bertoni Bruna. The 45 minutes long The Last Rite is scheduled to be broadcast on OMNI TV in the two languages of English and Italian as follows:

English

Sunday, October 18, 2009
9:00PM

Italian
Saturday, October 24, 2009
10:00PM

The Organizers of The Last Rite Premier

The following great individuals helped put to together a successful Premier of The Last Rite:

Michelle Alfano
Tom Boreskie
Frank Giorno
Kala Limbani
Jeannie Soultanis

To Learn more about The Last Rite visit Gina Valle website:
www.ginavalle.com on the web.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Why Obama Is a Prize Winning President

2009-10-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Congratulations are in order to President Barack Obama for winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. This surprise award recognizes and vindicates President Obama’s transformative role in bringing a fundamental change in global discourse with respect to detente and peaceful efforts towards world peace. President Obama is an extraordinary individual whose extraordinary achievements and approach towards world affairs require this kind of extraordinary recognition. This means the Nobel Prize Committee is in step with the new political climate in the light of the advent of the great President Obama.

Rewarded Too Early?

Some have expressed misgivings that this award is too premature since President Obama has only been in office for less than nine months. Those who hold this view walk the path of instant gratification where you get paid for what you have done and do as you please afterwards and they have never experienced the strategic advantage in picking a fruit before it’s ripe because that means it does not get eaten right away and will stay longer during the voyage and on reaching the final destination it will be fresher than the fruits that were picked when ripe. This principle of deferring self-gratification while the fruit is still green is an important concept that gives a survival advantage to those who practice it. It teaches us the maxims of self-discipline and self-restraint. For this reason the Nobel Peace Prize is well positioned to foster these values in the Obama Presidency.

This prize is intended to reward President Obama as a change agent as well as bolster his policies that favour diplomatic over military efforts in bringing about peace among the nations of the world. The Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Thorbjorn Jagland underscored the fact that President Obama had done more than anyone in the previous year to enhance peace on the planet. The advent of President Obama has already ushered a fundamental shift in world relations where United Nations and other world institutions have regained their central role in addressing the urgent problems of the world.

In the press release issued by the Nobel Prize Committee, President Obama was praised for his ability and achievement in creating a favourable mood of peace and diplomacy in the direction that agrees with the majority of the world citizens:

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.” The Nobel Peace Prize 2009

Unilateralism vs. Multilateralism

Unlike President George Bush who trashed the United Nations as “irrelevant” in his September 12, 2002 speech to the United Nations “Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?”, President Obama embraced the world body when addressing the same United Nations last month on September 23 “The time has come to realize that the old habits; the old arguments are irrelevant to the challenges faced by our people.”

We can see that the Former President George Bush view of the world is like night and day compared to President Obama. President Obama understands the urgent need for peace and his outside the box approach to world events is a tribute to the great Americans like Cordell Hull who received a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the founding of the United Nations which earned him the title The Father of the United Nations from President Franklin Roosevelt.

President Obama who became the President of the United States on January 20th of this year would have been nominated to the Nobel Prize Committee 10 just days after taking office to meet the deadline of February 1st. The manner in which Mr. Obama was able to navigate and transcend the political thrashings of the hotly contested presidential campaign and still manage to embrace his archrival Hilary Clinton was nothing short of amazing. Obama’s political grace even put a smile in great female politicians like Nancy Pelosi whom I respect greatly. All this was a Nobel Prize material.

As a Nobel Prize Laureate, President Obama joins the ranks of other great individuals like his fellow African sister Dr. Wangari Mathai who fully supports and rejoices with him in the same spirit expressed by other great Africans like Nelson Mandela, Mohammed ElBaradei, Desmond Tutu as well as his fellow Americans like former President Jimmy Carter, former Vice-President Al Gore and many others in the world who wish President Obama well in his audacious quest to bring about world peace via the regime of diplomacy with less emphasis on armed confrontation.

What About the Three Wars i.e. Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan?

These wars are not the creation of President Obama but rather the legacy of the unilateralist policies of the former President Bush. In this fashion, President Obama was dealt a bad hand but like any wise strategist he must work with the cards that he was dealt until such time that he can deal the cards. The main thrust of his efforts is geared towards ending these wars beginning with Iraq.

It’s the viewpoint of this writer that General Stanely McChrystal may not see his wish of 40000-50000 troop surge realized. The Soviets tried this troop surge strategy by pouring all their fighting resources in the hope of defeating the Mugahedeen and the consequence of that saw their own economy depleted in the process. President Obama is adept at learning from others’ mistakes and not repeating them. He seemingly has an instinctive grasp of how the jungle works which requires that he must be guided by a sense of foretaste and not a sense of bitter aftertaste.

The Americans are going to withdraw from parts of Afghanistan in order to concentrate and position themselves where they can reach a favourable political settlement with the unconquerable Taliban fighters. We have already seen this with the recent retreat of American soldiers from Nuristan a very important piece of strategic ground given the ability of the Talibans to crisscross with Pakistant at will. The withdrawal follows one of the deadliest attacks where the Americans where overrun by the insurgents resulting in a great loss of American life in the hands of the Talibans.

The withdrawal is officially referred to as a “repositioning” of forces and there is no shame in that. The Talibans are a natural gravity of Afghanistan and no one has ever won a war against gravity on the long term. Part of the reason is that the Talibans know the terrain like the back of their hands and unlike the forces of foreign occupation they are committed to their motherland which enables them to fight with unmatched determination while the foreign forces fight with unmatched technology. The Americans realize this immutable fact of antagonistic contradiction and for this reason they are headed for a political settlement at some point in the future.

Impact of the Nobel Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize has important implications for the Obama Presidency. It alters the dynamics of strategizing and goes a long way to bolster his quest for a diplomatic settlement in Afghanistan which will allow him to narrow the conflict to counter-terrorism. Some think such a redefined war is easier to win than fighting the Talibans. Given that Vice-President Joe Biden leans towards deescalating and avoiding a Vietnam-like bottomless quagmire in Afghanistan vis-à-vis the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who supports increased confrontation via a troop surge President Obama will only have to solve a trivial case of opposing viewpoints.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Judiciary Makes Canada’s Safety Questionable - Minister

2009-09-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

“Terror...the Final Frontier. These are the machinations of the mothership War on Terror. To explore strange new fiction; to seek out new conspiracy and new victimizations; to boldly go where no level headed thinking has gone before.” Rejigged for this article by this writer.

The Canadian Federal Government Minister of Public Safety Mr. Peter Van Loan has charged that the Canadian judiciary is impeding the Government’s ability to fight terrorism. According to published reports including those appearing in the National Post of September 27, Mr. van Load blamed the judges for not “deferring to the Government’s efforts to deport foreign suspects.” This follows a string of cases in which Government attempts to detain without trial or deport persons living in Canada were quashed by the Canadian courts. The Minister said this “raises questions about whether we can protect national security”.

The Liberal Party of Canada website had this to say “The Conservatives are going down a dangerous path by imposing their political will on our most cherished institutions,” said Liberal Justice and Democratic Reform Critic Dominic LeBlanc. “Freedom to question is one thing – but threatening independent bodies when we don’t agree crosses the line.”

Brazen Statements Shocking

This writer was shocked by these brazen statements which invoke memories of the apartheid Government which got frustrated by some progressive judges who set free a number of political detainees held without charge. First of all Canada is the great country to live in and as a result the national security must be upheld by all of us at all times no matter what. Every right thinking Canadian person in this country understands that and appreciates that. A few overzealous persons out there associate ethnicity with the degree of loyalty making some appear less loyal than others.

Minister Must Take a Page From Star Trek

Minister van Loan must take a page from the great Star Trek of Captain Pickard. In the episode The Drumhead a respected and highly placed Admiral Satie convenes a tribunal of inquiry into the dilithium chamber explosion incident as well as the landing of its schematics into the hands of the Romulans.

The Klingon Exchange Officer J’Dan became suspect number one after the Security Officer Worf of the USS Enterprise had found that a legitimate medication used by J’Dan for his medical condition had been instrumental in the sequencing of the secrets of the dilithium into amino acids which in turn got transmitted to an enemy race the Romulans. Converting information into chemistry is not a strange thing in itself since this is a process that happens naturally in human brain chemistry where an impulse is converted into chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters as a result of the synaptic connections which necessitate this conversion.

Member of Enemy Race

D’Jan admitted that he was a sympathizer of the Romulans an enemy race but denied involvement in the explosion of the dilithium. A medical technologist Simon Tarses was questioned and a Betazoid assistant of Admiral Satie used his psychic ability to sense that Tarses was hiding something. Admiral Satie imposed stiff restricted movements on the medical technologist but these were vetoed by Captain Pickard who didn’t think it wise to curtail his Starfleet officer exclusively based on intuition. A more invasive background check of Tarses revealed that he had erred in his job application by not disclosing the fact that he was partly Romullan.

Captain Pickard personally queried Tarses and satisfied himself that barring the omission of the fact that Tarses was partly Romullan he was still a fine officer who did not deserve to be put through the omnipresent torture of the proceedings of the witch-hunting tribunal.

Trial By Insinuation and Innuendo

In the end Captain Pickard mounted a strong protest to the Admiral Satie who was now even bringing the Captain of the USS Enterprise into disrepute by questioning his loyalty to the USS Enterprise. Captain Pickard remonstrated on behalf of his crewman Tarses against what he termed a trial “based on insinuation and innuendo”. He registered another strong protest on behalf of another crewman D’Jan “This man has a Romulan grandfather. For that, his career stands in ruins. Have we become so fearful? Have we become so cowardly that we must extinguish a man because he carries the blood of a current enemy?”

In one of the rare moments of passion Captain Pickard convincingly shows us that as humans we cannot engage in the unethical theatrics of destroying people’s lives on the basis of insinuation and innuendo.

Conclusion

The judges are the voices and eyes of reason. They solve problems through logic. They rule by fact and not innuendo. This is one branch of our democratic institutions that makes us who we are and uniquely Canadian. Has the Minister (perhaps inadvertently) overstepped his bounds by casting doubt on the judicious role of judges?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Africa Must Produce or Perish – Response

2009-09-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Preamble

The great African genius mind Philip Emeagwali wrote an interesting article published on the Africa Unbound Magazine Africa Must Produce or Perish. This is my response to that article.

An excellent article by an award winning African scientist Philip Emeagwali injects the much needed thought provocation in challenging the Africans to rethink their economic development strategies. First of all let me add my voice to a list of many in paying homage to brother Philip for his courageous article. It’s not easy to buck the trend and get people to think seriously about matters of their survival. In addition, brother Philip has been and continues to be an inspiring role model to the rest of us particularly the new generation. Thank you for being an ambassador of Africa through your achievements.

The commentator of Philip Emeagwali’s article added excellent fresh points, which increased the brightness of the light bulbs on this important top. Now that well deserved tributes have been expressed, we continue with the topic at hand. Brother Philip’s article raised at least for four points regarding developing Africa’s economy namely (1) reliance on exporting raw materials, (2) lack of intellectual capital (3) technological prominence and (4) “Made in Africa” solution.

Reliance on exporting raw materials

The juxtaposition of the question “When will Africa run out of natural resources?” with respect to “When will Africa be unable to export raw materials, either for lack of our own oil or because foreign markets have themselves dried up?” is instructive. This phenomenon has already happened among some countries i.e. Ghana (known before as the Gold Coast) and Mali were world's leaders in supplying more over two thirds of the world's gold at one time in history but not anymore. South Africa has captured that position.

What do we learn from this? Both Ghana and Mali never ran out of natural resources nor did the world’s demand decline as confirmed by South Africa’s current fulfillment. In fact Mali (poorest country) is the 3rd largest gold producer after Ghana and South Africa. What then are the reasons? Could it be that a change of post-independence dynamics and priorities resulted in these once African powerful empires losing their once dominant position in this area? Ghana moved on to become number one in exporting cocoa the position that has since been overtaken by Ivory Coast. Nonetheless, Ghana has recorded a series of impressive GDP growths overtime making her a shining example of Africa’s focused, creative and consistent development.

The fact that African countries export their resources to European countries in what is an exploitative relationship (not exclusive to Africa i.e. Iraq) where Africans get less for what their resources are worth is legendary in our modern history. Let’s make a hypothetical but real case about Ghana. Suppose it costs Ghana 2 cents to produce a cup of cocoa. She sells it for 5 cents where four cents go back to production and 1 cent builds the schools, hospitals and helps small farmers.

As a result of this Ghana produces the highest number of university graduates in Africa. Western countries now say, “We think 5 cents is rather steep for a cup of cocoa. We will give you foreign aid in exchange for giving us cocoa at 1 cent”. When Ghana protests this unfairness we hear that there has been coup in Ghana while Nkrumah was visiting abroad. The neighbors of Ghana watching this say “let’s not do what Nkrumah did lest it happens to us” which triggers a vicious cycle of underdevelopment. The organic intellectual capital of Ghana leaves the country. In the meanwhile Western countries shake their heads at a proverbial problem of African coups while they are part of the creation of this instability.

Exporting resources can be a profitable business that boosts the developments projects of a country a case in point being Canada, which has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the largest supplier of oil to the US. The result of that is the Canadian dollar that has become equal with the US dollar despite the market gyrations. Canada is not treated like a Third World country and she gets a fair price for her natural resources.

While foreign aid, as previously mentioned, is an instrument that has hampered and continues to hamper Africa’s development, it does not have to be. Israel receives foreign aid in the amount of five billion dollars each year and it’s a prosperous country despite the fact that the country does not contribute to the US economy in return. In other words foreign aid to Israel does not make business sense to the US as it does with an African country that supplies resources in return at a cheap price. I discuss this in my article Vice President Warns Israel Against Attacking Iran in my blog Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Even though the argument against relying on natural resources has merits, there are other forces at play, which may still frustrate Africa’s development efforts even when she has moved from her reliance on natural resources. What can Africa do to mitigate those intrusive forces that stymie her development efforts? This is one big question moving forward.

Reliance on Exporting Raw Materials

This is an interesting point. African countries have done poorly in attracting and retaining African intellectuals. The problem exists on three fronts (1) African government relying on European expertise and less on their own experts, (2) African governments not facilitating the return of the Africans living outside Africa and (3) the returning Africans often perceived as a threat to those living in Africa.

Relying on Western Expertise

There are lots of educated Africans inside Africa who get passed over for Western experts. Somehow some African governments believe that a European expert is better than an African expert. Some African countries advertise that they are experiencing an acute short supply of engineering talent and yet the locally trained African engineers roam the streets unemployed. Since European engineers are expensive this results in the shortage of engineering skill. Part of the problem is that some foreign aid stipulations force certain African countries to hire Western experts as part of the justification of foreign aid dollars to the taxpayers of the donor countries which results in the unemployment of locally produced African engineers. In Canada a Government development agency like CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) used to state the fact in their literature that seventy cents of every dollar was spent in Canada as part of the Government mandate. Part of this resulted in African countries having to employ Canadian experts to satisfy this requirement. Another paradoxical effect of foreign experts is that some of them (not all) do not share the sentiments and beliefs of African values as a result of being socialized to view Africans as less human than their Caucasian counterparts. This is like having an atheist build a place of worship on your behalf. What kind of quality do you think will be the finished product?

Facilitating Return of Africans Abroad

Not enough is being done to enable the return of African intellectuals from abroad. In the past, African governments have relied on UN and other European sponsored programs, which facilitated the return of Africans. In the absence of those programs we are back to square one. President Zuma of South Africa once made an interesting point that there were two kinds of Africans outside Africa i.e. those who had made it and those who had not but had skills. He said it was important to attract both and provide land for them to help develop Africa. It would help to know what is currently being done to facilitate the return of the Africans living abroad by African countries. Maybe some can shed a light on this important issue?

Outside Africans Wrongly Perceived

Some of our brothers and sisters living in Africa perceive Africans of the Diaspora as somehow a threat to them (wrongly or rightly). This problem persists to this day. As a result some Africans in the Diaspora feel unaccepted in their own countries. This may not be the case in every situation but there is at least a degree of threat perception associated with being an African in the Diaspora. Some Africans have returned to Africa only to go back to the Diaspora.

Technological Prominence

This issue is extremely important particularly we technology workers understand this better. One challenge is that some African countries rely on Western countries to determine their technology agenda particularly the foreign aid recipients. I once researched the idea of providing high speed Internet via satellite in Africa. I found that the companies doing this where Western countries based either in Europe or US. The cost of bandwidth was prohibitive and some were in fact providing very low download/upload speed ratios at exorbitant prices. It seemed their prices were based on the fact that African governments would be paying for the services hence their skyrocketing. The assumption of these Western satellite companies was that Africans didn’t know much about technology leading them to provide inferior services at very high cost.

The biggest challenge to Africa in this area is infrastructure. South Africa has partnered with Russia to launch their own satellite into space in order to make bandwidth available in the country. This is one positive step in attaining technological prominence since this gives an African country the ability to architect technological infrastructure without relying on others to do it for them.

Failure to architect Africa’s own infrastructure systems may in fact lead to another form of technological colonialism where African countries are subjected to inferior technology. For example African countries already rely on foreign technologies like Windows, which is an infrastructure system to store, manipulate and manage their mission critical data. Why can’t African countries sponsor a research in developing their own infrastructure technology like an operating system as well as an African computer? Moreover we have genius minds like Philip Emeagwali who is an architect of a super computer. Instead many African countries are looking for donated computers from abroad.

The premise of "intellectual capital" and "technological prominence" addresses the very core of Africa's problems. The problem fundamentally remains historical and it's the vestiges of economic and intellectual colonialism that consistently vary the parameters of this issue. Right now the number of Africans connected to the Internet is less than 5%. The main problem is lack of access to computer hardware. Another restraint is the cost of telecommunications. In many African countries, in order to for an African to call her neighbor the phone goes to some Western country who in turn routs the call to the neighbor. A number of people in Europe get paid each time two neighbors talk over the phone making telecommunication extremely expensive.

The big mover in the technological prominence must include, among others, attracting great technology talent currently living outside Africa such as Philip Emeagwali. What will it take for African countries to attract the sons and daughters of the African soil from the Diaspora?

“Made in Africa” solution

A Zimbabwean situation is instructive here. Zimbabwe achieved her independence in 1980. The Zimbabweans are among the most industrious and educated Africans I have ever known. At one time Zimbabwe exported food and other manufactured goods to the world marked “Made in Zimbabwe”. Today they are surviving on food parcels and South Africa is shouldering most of the economic burden of keeping Zimbabwe people alive. How did this happen? When both Mr. Robert Mugabe and Dr. Joshua Nkomo signed the Lancaster Agreement, it didn't have guarantees on the return of the land to the African natives and this fact was a harsh precondition as later described by the then President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda. As a result the people of Zimbabwe were given a landless revolution. Landless revolutions are not sustainable over the long term, as has been observed in the case of Zimbabwe twenty-nine years later. In my article Why The West Is Less Influential In Zimbabwe I analyze this issue.

The ability to achieve “Made in Africa” requires land in order to build and expand industrial capacity. It’s possible for Africa to attain this coveted status but first she must be able to subdue and prevail over those intrusive forces that have put her in a situation leaving her with a feeling of being robbed. The English system of racial capitalism treats non-English countries on a descending scale with Africa being at the bottom of the totem pole. Countries like India are successful partly because they are allowed to succeed.

When Mugabe agitated for change in order to empower his people, his administration was subjected to a variety of economic sanctions, which proved punitive to the industrial capacity of the country. We see here a classic case where, despite hard work and education, people going hungry in the streets. In my previously mentioned article Why Msholozi is the Greatest Leader of All Time I point out that Western societies regard education as an economic utility vis-à-vis the Africans who regard education as a form of prestige since it allows them to contribute to their societies.

Conclusion

The article of Philip Emeagwali has correctly challenged our thinking. The vestiges of colonial conquest continue to spook Africa’s developments by sometimes spitting harsh fire like a threatened dragon upon some like Zimbabwe. Courage is still a much-needed attribute and Africa needs to be in command of the agenda of developing, nurturing and empowering organic intellectual capacity and technological innovation moving forward. This means cutting loose the strings attached to development in order to turn a new page. Will the new generation heed the call or will status quo continue to keep Africa’s development agenda determined by the outside forces that have no Africa’s interests at heart?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Blog Comment Ground Rules

2009-09-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Your interest in the Zulumathabo on the Internet blog is appreciated. You have taken the time to respond to a blog article that piqued your interest and you may as well consider the following rules as a guide in writing a comment that has a higher likelihood of being published on the Zulumathabo on the Internet blog. Since reader’s comments are read only, the blog owner reserves the right to reject a comment that falls outside these ground rules. Please note these rules are subject to change without prior notice.

Rule #1 Read the Article

Make sure you have read and understood the article you are commenting on. It’s amazing how some just post comments having not even read the article they are commenting on.

Rule #2 No Profanities

Profane, vulgar, insulting, defamatory, harassing, hateful, threatening, intimidating, racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic or any offensive language, wording will never be tolerated.

Rule #3 Stay on Topic

Zulumathabo on the Internet is a professional blog with professionally written and well thought out substantive articles. Your comments must fall within that framework. Stay on topic and argue your point within the framework of the topic of the article.

Rule #4 No Junk

No spam, junk, chain letters or pyramid schemes, offensive or vulgar nicknames.

Rule #5 Debate or Disagree Respectfully

Vibrant debate of ideas is a breath of fresh air and your perspective is appreciated but this must happen within the confines of respect, decency, clean language, rationality and logic.

Thank you for considering these rules of the road and good luck in your blog comments.

Obama’s Transcendence of Race

2009-09-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

President Obama has demonstrated an impeccable skill in refusing to be earthbound by an emotionally charged divisive issue of race after coming under bitter-tinged attacks led by a heckling Republican Joe Wilson who brazenly shouted “you lie” to President Obama over his Health Care Reform an important plank of Mr. Obama’s political platform during last year’s US elections. Despite the strident attacks by the opposition President Obama stayed the course above the fray like an African fish that does not allow the sulphuric salt from the salty depths to over-penetrate its skin.

Incredible Finesse

President Barack Obama is a historic figure given his racial background as the first person of African descent to become the President of the United States. During the election campaign Mr. Obama showed an incredible finesse in navigating the treacherous waters of race and still managed to endear himself to the predominately White electorate. The North American society is hyper sensitive to the issue of racism and has developed a variety of defense mechanisms around the issue. For this reason a race issue was used heavily by the anti-Obama people as an effective tool of alienation in order to turn political opinion against him but the strategy failed.

This week the President invoked his seemingly endless finesse when confronted with the questions of race in the light of the comments made by the former President Jimmy Carter who suggested that a lot of anti-Obama sentiments were motivated by the fact that he was an African-American whom others viewed as unqualified to lead this great country.

Addressing major media organizations including CNN’s John King President Obama outlined his position in a sophisticated fashion “Are there people out there who don’t like me because of race? I am sure there are... That is not the overriding issue here. I think there are people who are anti-Government. I think there are… there has been a long standing debate in this country that is usually that much more fierce during times of transition where when presidents are trying to bring about big changes, I mean the things that were said about FDR(Franklin Delano Roosevelt), pretty similar to the things that were said about me, that he was a communist, he was a socialist, things that were said about Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the new deal programs.. They were pretty vicious as well.”

The same comments were echoed on ABC when President Obama said “Are there some people out there who don’t like me because of my race? I am sure there are. Are there some people who vote for me because of my race? There are probably some of those too.”

Intellectual Prowess

The intellectual prowess of President Obama is nothing short of amazing. The ability to finesse an extremely divisive issue of race enables him to exit the crushing jaws of political opposition like the great Canadian seagull that boasts an instantaneous vertical lift above the ground whenever it gets bounded by the forces of reaction.

President Obama’s Press Secretary Robert Gibbs underscored the fact that it was important to put emotions in check “despite the depths of our beliefs” while having important political debates without making anyone "feel uncomfortable". The question of debating contentious issues within the confines of civility of discourse requires a non-partisan approach and restraint of self-interest. The most fierce opposition to the Health Care Reform comes from the insurance industry 38% of which employs less than 20 persons per organization. The Health Care Reform could enable the government to work more directly with the insurance carriers who comprise 62% of the industry effectively reducing if not eliminating the middle man with a minimal impact on the overall job statistics.

The Paradoxical Fact of Socialism

The Republicans have done a good job in defending the business establishment and have traditionally regarded what they viewed as big government to be bad for the structure of the economy hence their vehement dismissal of the Health Care Reform as an exercise in socialism.

The paradoxical fact of interest is that socialism is a good thing for big business like $750 billion bailout to giant insurance companies like AIG (American International Group) and big banks like Citigroup something that has angered the taxpayers. You see how it works? When the government gives bailouts to big business (business socialism) it’s a good cause but when that bailout (citizen socialism) goes to a taxpayer it’s an evil socialism. This explains why socialism will always live side by side with capitalism because the capitalist business needs the socialist government bailouts to thrive. The same principle applies to the concept of subsidy vis-à-vis welfare i.e. when the government gives money to a business enterprise it’s a good subsidy whereas the same money that goes to a taxpayer is referred to as an evil welfare system.

How Is It Possible To Transcend Race?

Mr. Obama’s shrewd thinking understands that the issues at stake are not racial but rather economic. This writer has articulated this fact in other articles like Obama’s Ground Troops Tackle the Last Frontier to show that the premise of racism is to distract from substantive issues of economic control so that we all get emotionally embroiled in matters that have no bearing on the real transformation of people’s lives. The strategy has proven effective in alienating certain groups from the mainstay of the economy. This explains why President Obama was quick to distance himself from the idea of racism in order to stay focused on the real issues that have a bearing on the economic future of the people.

The astute President Obama also understands the powerful sorcery of race in fragmenting and alienating the core base of support. A case in point are the African descendants who have found cohesive solidarity to be an elusive thing for more than 400 years due largely in part to emotionally responding to the issues of race instead of focusing attention on the economic front which is what will change the equation of equality in the final analysis.

Conclusion

The advent of Mr. Obama’s Presidency has injected a new perspective on dealing with issues of race and his consistent refusal to be earthbound by his racial background has given him powerful wings to vertically lift himself off the ground. The new generation will do well to take a page from the great President Mr. Barack Obama and a living legend in his own right.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Brandon Huntley Is Not White

2009-09-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Brandon Huntley is not White after all. For all intents and purposes, Huntley is a Black guy who passed for white because of his impressive Caucasian looks. The convincing power of his Caucasian looks was such a flawless execution that the great Canadians, who still care about skin complexion, neglected to take a DNA test which would have convinced them otherwise.

Refugee Status Based on White Skin

Huntley is a “White” South African who was granted refugee status by the Canada Immigration Refugee Board tribunal on August 27th presided by the only member Mr. William Davis who ruled that Huntley had submitted “a convincing proof” of his persecution as a White person in the hands of the Black South Africans because he was White. Mr. Davis referred to the South African Government’s “inability or unwillingness to protect him." when he said “The evidence of the claimant and the witness and the documentary evidence which I accept as credible show a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness of the government and the security forces to protect White South Africans from persecution by African South Africans.” This represents a historic precedent where someone has ever been granted refugee status because of the colour of his skin. Huntley was represented by Russel Kaplan who had his own sister Lara Kaplan testify on behalf of Huntley.

New Evidence Contradicts Refugee Claimant

New evidence from a respected historian who happens to be Huntley’s distant relative, Patrick Tariq Mellet of South Africa writes in his Cape Slavery Heritage blog that he maternally shares a blood line of heritage through their grand parents whose genetic roots go back to Huntley’s great great grandparents William Huntley and Mary Anne Haddon whose children had married “black and white South Africans”.

Mellet confirms, using death and archival records of the City of Cape Town, that a Coloured woman Francina van der Kaap who had married one of the first Englishmen to settle in the Xalanga district of the Transkei in the mid 1800s William Haddon was Huntley’s great great grand mother. Mellet further corrobates “Brandon’s great great
Grandparents lived happily in Cala and faced no endangerment amongst Xhosa people in Cala, right through to William’s death at the ripe old age of 100 years in 1908.”

Mellet, who hails from District Six and Woodstock, tells us “This of course makes Brandon Huntley’s case all the more absurd.”

Website Blog Blocked!

Incredibly, the website blog of Mellet at this link became inaccessible but this writer was able to use his superior technological skills to retrieve the article on September 9, 2009 the day that happens to be 999, perhaps an alignment of the planets? Could this be the work of hackers acting under whose instructions?

Canada Reviews the Case

What is the Canadian Government going to do with this case considering that it was premised on a misguided notion of skin pigmentation that is now looking different under the new spotlight? It has since been reported that the Canada Immigration and Citizenship is reviewing the case. This means in one month the Federal Court will announce if it will go ahead to hear the case after which it could take several months before the case is heard by a panel of judges.

In the meanwhile Huntley is a refugee that enjoys the hospitable protection of the great Canadians while South Africa’s international image as the land of peace and reconciliation suffers the stringent consequences of misinformation.

Refugee Status Not a Race Thing

When this writer became a refugee from apartheid it was not based on race but rather on the apartheid system. When the Jews became refugees it was not based on the race of the Germans but the system of the NAZIS. Canada is the only exception in this rule which has tarnished South Africa’s image as a rainbow nation country. South Africans are understandably angry over this.

Passing for White

Passing for White is not a new thing under the sun. The former Cuban dictator and former Communist Fulgencio Batista had African genes coursing through his genes but the Americans supported him partly because they believed he was white because he convincingly looked white. The great Conceptual Artist Dr. Adrian Piper who had written a powerful analytical article Passing for White, Passing for Black and was herself a racially mixed African descendent became listed as Suspicious Traveler on the U.S. Security Administration’s Watch List and Wellesley College moved to suddenly terminate her full tenured professorship in 2008.

The actress Jeanne Crain was chosen by director Darryl F. Zanuck for a role in the movie Pinky to star the character of an African American woman who passed for White in the USA even though Crain herself was White bypassing talented and brilliant stars like Lena Horne. Another actress Elizabeth Taylor was chosen by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz to star in the movie Cleopatra portraying the life of the North African Pharaoh Cleopatra despite the fact that Cleopatra was racially mixed and even Shakespeare refers to her as a Gypsy woman in Anthony and Cleopatra.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Trinity of Emancipation

2009-09-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Preamble

The African jungle teaches us that the most important consideration is the unqualified compliance with the supreme law of self-preservation. This means that the organism must not be uprooted from its natural environment which facilitates the preservation of both survival and quality of life. The organism must enjoy the autonomy where it’s not subjugated under the claws of predators. The critical factors that remain core to the survival ability of the organism to emancipate itself from the claws of foreign occupation include a piece of ground, a set of ground rules and the ability to be an architect of its destiny.

A Piece of Ground

An organism needs a piece of ground it can call its own. When the lion chooses to settle on a particular territory he must trust his natural instincts and ceremoniously pee around the ground to mark the perimeter of his own piece of ground. Those that stray within his borders must sniff the ground and back off never to be seen as trespassers by the border patrols. A piece of ground lends territorial integrity and a sense of permanence to those who have built their sanctuary in the land of the ancestors.

A Set of Ground Rules

It’s not enough to be part of the natural environment. An equitable set of ground rules must exist to ensure the continuity and stability of existence and the ability to interact with others within the confines of mutual respect, autonomous existence and collective belonging. It’s the ground rules that constitute orderly coexistence when chaos threatens to impose itself. The wisdom of the collective and the ancestors is embodied in the ground rules. It is this body of sacred rules together with syntactic compliance that gives the collective and its members a survival advantage.

Architects of Their Own Destiny

The citizens of the African jungle must be able to belong to the collective and architect their own destiny as they see fit uninterrupted by foreign occupation or indirect foreign rule. They are the domain experts in the land of their ancestors and know what is needed to gain a survival advantage. Anyone who says otherwise is a treacherous impostor driven by self-interest and not the interests of the collective.

Learning From Others

When Mao Tse-Tung and his comrades won their revolutionary struggle in October of 1949, it gave them the ability to achieve the trinity of emancipation when they regained their piece of ground, wrote their own constitution and embarked on the path of economic emancipation as architects of their own destiny. They had shaken off the chains of foreign occupation and were unstoppable on the road to the new dispensation. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara achieved the same trinity of emancipation in January of 1958. They wrote their own constitution, carved their own land and chose their own leaders. The Russians achieved the same in 1917 via the Bolshevik Revolution where they wrote their own constitution, gained their own piece of ground and became architects of their destiny.

When Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 she failed to gain the trinity of emancipation since she didn’t write her own constitution. The constitution was written for her by others which effectively entrenched indirect foreign rule. Zimbabwe didn’t gain her piece of ground even though she chose her own leaders to represent her. For this reason, Zimbabwe only gained one third of the trinity of emancipation. Today she continues to be tossed back and forth and sometimes getting squashed by the vicious claws of indirect foreign occupation.

When South Africa gained her freedom in 1994 she wrote her constitution under the circumstances which extracted extreme concessions from her and imposed a heartless restraint with deep claws upon her piece of ground even though she was able to choose her own leaders. South Africa effectively achieved less than half of the trinity of emancipation hence the bitter struggle continues as I write these lines.

Discussion

The unconditional compliance with the trinity of emancipation as we have seen with other revolutions like China, Cuba and Russia engenders a sense of irrefutable fulfillment in the hearts and minds of the indigenous people of the land.

When Zimbabwe was negotiating Lancaster Agreement, she had plenty of time to learn from those who had gone before her like the great Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia who later decried that the exclusion of the land from the Lancaster Agreement was a harsh precondition as reported in the article Why The West Is Less Influential in Zimbabwe. Prior to ratifying the agreement Mr. Robert Mugabe questioned the logic of accepting such independence without a piece of ground but he signed off anyways. He has now learnt the hard way that if it is not there in the first place it will never be there going forward. He broke one important maxim of the African jungle and that is to trust one’s instincts at all times. He had felt a sense of hesitation but went against it anyways. This is the greatest thing he will ever regret and it will haunt him all the way to the grave.

South Africa had plenty of time to learn from the mistakes of others like Zimbabwe and be inspired by others like Mao-Tsetung. Amazingly she duplicated the exact mistake of “willing buyer, willing seller” from Zimbabwe which had already established a track record of unmitigated failure in the previous fourteen years. Now fifteen years since 1994, South Africa is still far away from the finish line with respect to achieving the trinity of emancipation. We hope that the great Msholozi will cover enough ground even though the forces reaction are better resourced to resist any bold moves with respect to a much needed change.

Conclusion

The University of the African Jungle and her curriculum of The Supreme Law of Self-Preservation teaches us to gain a survival advantage by following the trinity of emancipation. Others who have achieved the trinity of emancipation, despite a high price being paid like China, Russia and Cuba inspire us to go forward in the great struggle for freedom and advancement.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Dichotomous Existence

2009-08-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

To stick to the ground like glue
To embrace hereafter to subdue
To subdue the dichotomous
To vandalize the thalamus
Hereafter dichotomous existence

To disown like illegitimate gain
To scar the innocent membrane
Cellular bond weakening
From itself partitioning
Cracked by acoustic thunder
Forced hitherto asunder
Hereafter dichotomous existence

To contain using the forensic
To diminish using the agnostic
To dematerialize survival
To disjoint trust that belongs
Gentle restraint invisible adhesive
Embraced hereafter oppressive
Hurtful membrane of the thalamus
Hereafter forever dichotomous

Contextual Commentary

Discriminatory avoidance learning is the most stressful experience on the plasticity of the cellular membrane of the brain cells of the organism. It disrupts memory formation and pulls the equilibrium away from tranquility and rationality. The Canadian society of Ottawa subjects some members of her population to this form of extreme stressful experience. The gentle oppression, as practiced by the great society of Ottawa, has inculcated a permanent sense of dichotomy in the minds of the socioeconomically disenfranchised communities forcing them to forever struggle with a painful legacy of identity crisis. Like the disenfranchised children of the beautiful cuckoo, the members of these communities are forever reminded that they do not belong.
Vusi Moloi, The Indomitable Mongoose, Canada, 2009

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Heroine’s Welcome for Semenya

2009-08-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s golden girl and first lady of sport Ms. Caster Semenya was treated to a heroine’s welcome at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg yesterday after arriving from Berlin’s Olympic Games where she trounced the world’s best to win gold.

Political Heavyweights

Addressing an excited crowd that greeted her with vuvuzelas, drums, among others, Semenya was overcome with emotions of joy at such a massive welcoming event which included the President of South Africa, the great Mosholozi, Mr. Jacob Zuma and other political heavyweights like President of the African National Congress Youth League the intrepid Mr. Julius Malema and the mother of South African freedom and member of Parliament Ms. Winnie Madikizela Mandela.

When she took to the podium, Semenya fondly recalled her coach's advice "'You know girl, you can do it.' Before the final, he just told me, 'You can let them lead, then last 200, kill them'."

IAAF Blasted

President Zuma blasted the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) for violating the human rights of an 18 year old Semenya. In a prepared speech President Zuma charged “We wish to register our displeasure at the manner in which Ms. Semenya has been treated. Ms. Semenya has also reminded the world of the importance of the rights to human dignity and privacy.”

Ms. Madikizela-Mandela electrified the crowd in her signature style “We are here to tell the whole world how proud we are of our little girl. They can write what they like, we are proud of her.”

In the same way that Semenya treated her critics with disdain when they first questioned her womanhood after winning the race in Berlin, the powerful Ms. Madikizela-Mandela was equally disdainful of the IAAF when she said “To the world out there who conducted those pseudo-tests, they can stuff their insult. This is our little girl and nobody is going to perform any tests on her.”

The Spark of Controversy

Semenya’s impressive performance in the 800m track and field was overshadowed by questions raised over her gender which painfully deprived her of the opportunity to relish her golden victory and breached her confidentiality with the IAAF. The whole gender question was originally attributed to Australia but the President of Athletics South Africa Mr. Leornard Chuene has come out to say that it was a media company in South Africa (has since been identified) that sparked the controversy when it sent “a story” to IAAF in March and this led to the battery of tests of Semenya. Semenya was subjected to all kinds of physical checking like sniffing for illegal genitalia. However it was an Australian newspaper Age which championed the story of Semenya being a male and predicted she was likely to be disqualified from the women’s 800m race on Wednesday night. The question is where did the Australians get this idea from?

Where Are the White South Africans?

The intrepid Mr. Malema posed a thorny question that drew attention to the virtual absence of White South Africans (missing in action) when they should be part of the contingent that had gathered here in their thousands in a show of support for a traumatized Semenya. This viewpoint was given credence by Mr. Chuene’s remarks “Let me say something rude here; why can’t we stand behind Caster in the same way that the whole country rallied behind Oscar Pistorius when the IAAF said his blades were giving him an unfair advantage?”

Oscar Pistorius (White athlete) is another great South African hero who trounced the competition despite being a double amputee but was disqualified by the IAAF which changed the rules that later ruled his blades to be giving him a competitive advantage over other athletes the position that subsequently got rejected by the court judge. The whole of South Africa, Black and White, rallied behind Pistorious something that is visibly lacking in this case with respect to the White supporters (Semenya is a Black athlete) even though Semenya was victimized by the same sports body that victimized Pistorious.

Another Golden Boy Mbulaeni Mulaudzi

Despite being eclipsed by the limelight of Semenya, there is another golden boy and a legend in his own right Mbulaeni Mulaudzi from the Limpopo Province same as Semenya. It was on the last day of the Olympics when Mbulaeni, who was running in the outside lane, dictated the pace and changed the gears in his own time as he later put it. He began to accelerate in the last 200m and went out to clinch the gold. This is the second gold medal having won another gold in Budapest in 2004. The athletic dominance of Mulaudzi renders him an irrefutable King of the men's 800m and together with Semenya, they have made South Africa the Ruler of 800m.

Another athlete who made South Africa proud is Khotso Mokoena who clinched silver in the long jump. These athletes and many not mentioned in this article have put South Africa well on her quest for 12 medals in the London’s 2012 Olympic Games to be held on July 27th to August 2nd. Semenya along with her colleagues have vindicated South Africa’s athletic talent and made good on the promise of excellence.

Conclusion

The massive show of support for Semenya and her colleagues put the IAAF world to shame. The great Msholozi set a good example that the sons and daughters of the African soil who represent the land of the ancestors abroad must be protected under the powerful wings of the motherland South Africa. The political heavyweights like the intrepid Mr. Malema and the indefatigable Ms. Madikizela-Mandela demonstrated an impregnable force in the great struggle for South African freedom and advancement.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Who Controls South Africa’s Finances?

2009-08-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The African National Congress Youth League President the firebrand Mr. Julius Malema rocked the boat two weeks ago when he questioned why “minorities” controlled the “strategic positions” of Ministries of Finance, Economics, Trade and Industry, and Public Enterprise, among others, while the African majority were confined to the security related portfolios like Ministries of Police, Intelligence Justice and Home Affairs as if they were destined to be security guards or omantshingilani.

The minorities refer to the non-African natives like Indians, the colonial descendents and others. Mr. Malema underscored the fact that it was important to build confidence in the markets that the Africans were capable of handling strategic positions in the finance and economic sector otherwise this would undermine the belief of the Black youths that they could someday “work in the strategic economic positions”. The highly regarded African scholar and Minister of Higher Education Dr. Blade Nzimande fired back by dismissing Malema’s remarks as a form of “narrow African chauvinism”.

The response from the great Dr. Blade Nzimande was disappointing as it offered a religious/ideological answer vis-à-vis an analytical/substantive reasoning which Mr. Malema was looking for with regards to why the African natives were not occupying these strategic positions of economic transformation in the first place. The reaction was not different from an African child who typically got chastised for rightfully raising the issues that concerned his or her destiny. The ideological response of Dr. Nzimande provoked a sobering reaction from Sipho Ngcobo in his article South Africa is Full of Ideological Hypocrites published in Money Web website in which he said the following:

“Hello! This is about destiny. The Africans want to shape their own destiny for themselves and their children. They never want their children to go through what they went through irrespective of the ANC's ideological definition of race.
That is where Malema is coming from. He is not questioning the ‘minorities’’ credentials. He is simply saying: ‘What about Africans? How do we explain this to our children?’”

The Issue in Question

Mr. Julius Malema made an astute observation when he pointed out that when Mr. Trevor Manual became the Minister of Finance he was not liked by the markets. This is true because when the Finance Minister Mr. Chris Liebenberg was replaced by the new non-White Finance Minister Mr. Trevor Manual in August of 1996 the Rand suffered a sudden drop from the dizzying heights of R3.82 to the punishing lows of R4.58 with respect to the US dollar a sudden drop of 20% in one day!

Mr. Malema tells us that Trevor Manuel worked hard to endear himself to the markets. Indeed Trevor Manuel seemingly became the darling of the markets. Did he really? The Rand continued to drop afterwards in spite of being embraced by the markets. If markets ever accepted the increasingly popular Manuel as the right man in charge of the country’s finances the trading history of the Rand did not register that because the Rand had dropped by nearly twice what it was by the time Trevor Manuel stepped down to take a new position in the Presidency of the great Msholozi Mr. Jacob Zuma.

They may have accepted Trevor Manuel with press releases and nice comments but not in terms of the value of the Rand which is a reliable barometer of what the investors think of the country. In fact investors and analysts made some funny comments to the fact that the Rand was overvalued and needed to have its wings clipped whereas under a White Minister of Finance the Rand was correctly valued. Interesting, isn’t it?

Are the Africans Kept Out of Finance Departments?

Do the facts support Mr. Malema’s point of contention that the African natives are kept out of the strategic Ministries? Decide for yourself as we present the Ministries in charge of Finance, Trade, Public Enterprise and Economics which Mr. Malema was referring to:

• Minister of Economic Development: Ebrahim Patel (not an African native)
• Minister of Finance: Pravin Gordhan (not an African native)
• Minister of Public Enterprises: Barbara Hogan (not an African native)
• Minister of Trade and Industry: Rob Davies (not an African native)

I have also taken a sample of the South African Government strategic parastatals to see who is in charge of the finances and here are the results:

• Transnet Chief Financial Officer: Mr. A. Singh (not an African native)
• Sasol Chief Financial Officer: Ms. Christine Ramon - (not an African native)
• Spoornet Chief Financial Officer: Mr. Nick Thomson (not an African native) and the list goes on and on.

We have established that the finances and the disbursements thereof in facilitating the economic emancipation of the African natives are controlled by the non-African natives despite the fact that African natives comprise nearly 80% of the population. This economic exclusion makes it easy to reject an African mother who presents a project designed to lift her out of poverty because a non-African native who does not have or feel her painful experience of being economically disenfranchised in the land of the ancestors is more likely to say no because of being far removed from the personal pain and the indignity of the arresting chains of economic oppression. Essentially this is what Malema is trying to draw our attention to.

What Are the Demographic Ratios?

What are the ratios in terms of the South African population with respect to the new cabinet? The South African demographics according to the 2001 census figures are as follows:

The African natives 79%, colonial descendents 9.6%, racially mixed 8.9%, and Indian and others 2.5%. The African natives in the current cabinet comprise 73%, the Indians 6%, the colonial descendents 16% and the racially mixed 5%.

These numbers tell us that both the African natives and the racially mixed are under-represented with respect to their demographic ratios and that the Indians and colonial descendents are over-represented. This is another source of unease among the African natives who elected an overwhelming majority of their representatives to soar high like an African eagle intent on making bread and butter on their behalf. Instead they see their powerful African eagle’s wings getting clipped along the way even before she could get ahead in her mission. What effect will the clipping of the wings have on the flight speed and the flight path of the African eagle? Will the giant bird correctly achieve her mission? We have already seen the many great moves being made by the great Msholozi including the normalization of relations with Angola and the signing of trade agreements and hopefully the eagle will grow new wings.

Is Economic Transformation Important?

The answer depends on the premise of the apartheid system and what you believe to be the case. What was the modus operandi of apartheid? Was it its sole purpose to institute racism and discriminate against the African natives? The answer is no. The purpose of apartheid was never exclusively about racism and that has not changed even today. The premise of apartheid was about economic control designed to keep the African natives out of the mainstay of the economy and permanently deny them the bread and butter.

We know this because when the African worker in Bloemfontein finished working for die baas a vicious dog (trained to bite a Black person) was unleashed upon him to run as far as he could so that he didn’t even think twice about coming back to collect the money he had worked hard for. He arrived at his home empty handed with his tail between his legs. How was he able to explain to them why he didn’t have the bread he had promised to bring? Even if he tried to return another day to fetch the bread he would be met by the brutal apartheid police who were ready to throw him in jail or brutalize him even more. Only the White South Africans were supposed to enjoy the wealth of South Africa.

The institutionalization of racism was just a political infrastructure designed to make it easy to keep the Africans out of the finances and economics of the land. Racism was used as a painfully effective device of distraction and destruction. Unfortunately the African natives became fixated around the distraction of racism and developed a misguided view that the only reason apartheid existed was racism and if they abolished racism then everybody would live happily ever after.

Fifteen years after 1994 we have now learnt the hard way that apartheid was really about economics and racism was just a smokescreen. Mr. Malema has caught on to that concept of voodoo economics which is why he is intellectually challenging us to the debate of ideas around the issue of who controls the finances and economics of the land. This is not to say that the ANC leadership is oblivious to the fact. They have their strategy of dealing with the issue but the people on the ground are getting dazzled by the glaring light of discrepancy in terms of the control of the finances and economics.

The real apartheid is the economic apartheid which was never outlawed. It’s legal in South Africa today to keep an African native out of a finance department by spooking the African natives with such sorcery like “you are not qualified for the job” when in fact there are many African natives who are overqualified but are unemployed. Voodoo economics is used to keep an African native out of an economics department whereas this is where the bread and butter are. If they keep you out of the bread and butter then how are you going to explain to your children why you are not able to produce bread on the table?

Conclusion

Mr. Malema has drawn attention to the most fundamental issues of economic transformation and the need for the African natives to control their economic destiny. Right now that destiny is determined by others on their behalf and the constituency of Mr. Malema does not derive comfort out of that.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Indomitable Caster Semenya

2009-08-23T03:43:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s Caster Semenya, an 800m distance runner from a small African village of Limpopo Province, dominated women’s track and field with her lightening speed when she beat the world’s best to clinch a gold medal on day five of the Berlin Olympic Games of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

The powerful Kenyan queen of track and field and defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei was unable to match the explosive power and furious speed of Semenya given a jaw dropping distance in which the 18 year old Semenya broke new ground when she set a new record by an incredible 2.45 seconds. Semenya set the new time at 1:55:45 erasing historical records previously set.

The hard to believe athletic prowess and unique style of Semenya wowed the audience and was of such a flawless execution that it hit like a thunderbolt and by the time everything was said and done, Semenya was decked in her proud South African flag while her vanquished competitors were still gasping for air. Interestingly, she briefly showed off a graceful snake dance style flexing its fearsome muscles while looking into the audience in what was a soulful rendition to the African spirits of her beautiful motherland South Africa.

Banned From Addressing the Media

When her time came to bask in the limelight of her phenomenal victory and speak to the international media, she was whisked away and banned from speaking to the media by the IAAF officials who seemingly did not wish her well. This is when things began to take an ugly turn. The new African queen of track and field was now being treated like a suspect who somehow didn’t deserve to be accorded the rights and privileges of her hard won victory.

The English understandably wanted to see their English athlete Jennifer Meadows clinch the limelight but concocting stories that denied Semenya as a deserving female athlete was most cruel. Meadows, for her part, complained that no one in the world was capable of Semenya's athletic achievements and who is Meadows to tell us what African athletes are supposed to be capable of? This is the same line of thinking that has been shoved down our throat like Isaac Newton who tells us in Physics that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction even though he never tested every phenomenon to establish if that was the case.

Some English commentators went even further to suggest that Semenya was a man who had had a sex change to gain an unfair advantage. Since this writer is an African village boy and a goat herder, to have a sex change in an African village would be equivalent to going to the moon on a flying saucer powered by the lungs of a donkey. I don’t think anyone would go very far with that. The hurtful reports and comments leveled against the indomitable African queen were championed by the countries of England and Australia who represent the bastions of the White establishment.

The treatment of this young girl was harsh. Semenya is a young African girl who should have been rewarded and protected for exerting herself through hard work, self-discipline and exceeding the high standards she had set for herself in the tradition of her African village. Instead she has been exposed to a battery of mental cruelty and emotional trauma by the White establishment a harsh experience that she will forever remember as having exacted punishment for her work ethic. On the one hand the White establishment at the IAAF has upheld mediocrity and underperformance while on the other telling us of great rewards associated with hard work, sportsmanship and positive thinking. Even the feminists were not there to come to the defense of the African girl.

Gender Verification

In giving in to some strident demands that Semenya be subjected to gender verification testing, the IAAF has set a precedent in ordering Semenya to undergo this battery of cruel and humiliating gender verification tests even though her accusers could not advance any material evidence to back up their character assassinating claims. Moreover, IAAF is pressing ahead with these harsh tests despite a birth certificate which attests to her womanness. Another noteworthy fact is that the compulsory gender screenings by the IAAF were stopped in 1992 and Semenya is the first woman in more than fifteen years to be subjected to this scientifically unreliable procedure which is why it was stopped in the first place.

It was shocking that many English commentators believed that Semenya had no vagina and that she was hiding something between her legs which is why her shorts were different from others.

The English Yahoo Sport UK & Ireland Eurosport on August 21 published one of its reader's comments:

"...Caster Semenya is the fastest junior MAN in the world.-
Nobody should be surprised at the demanded gender test byt he IAAF - it so obviously is not a woman - a woman doesn't have an @#$% like that nor does she have a face like that or a lunch box joggling around in the shorts when she is running - UNMASK THAT TRANNY BLOKE NOW !!!"

The English publication itself had this to say about Semenya:
"20:40: Caster Semenya HAS DESTROYED THE FIELD - this South African is only 18 but has completely destroyed the opposition in a time of 1.55.46. The gender question will just get louder after a performance like this. BRONZE FOR JENNY MEADOWS OF BRITAIN - she came very late near the end to nick a medal ahead of Yuliya Krevsun of Ukraine and she very nearly got the silver ahead of Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei."

Notice how the beautiful queen Semenya is portrayed in a negative light of a destroyer and her gold medal is omitted while her loser English competitor Jennifer Meadows is recast in a positive light of an athlete who came from behind to clinch a medal even coming within a hair’s breadth of beating another African queen of track and field Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei. This voodoo style in which an enterprising attempt is designed to make us believe the unbelievable and accept the unacceptable is legendary in modern history where the English reign supreme. In fact the above description of Semenya echoes the stereotypical portrayal of an African descended woman in Hollywood movies where she is typically portrayed as angry, bitter, uncompromising, and acting like a man.

Gender Accusations Not New

Interestingly, the English media tell us that the IAAF is justified in subjecting Semenya to this prohibitively expensive gender verification process since other athletes like the Polish-American Stanisława Walasiewicz competed in women’s sports when she was a male. Well the fact is that the case of Stanisława Walasiewicz is special. The main casualties of the gender tests have been non-English athletes particularly those coming from socialist countries like Poland, USSR and Yugoslavia, among others.

Stanisława Walasiewicz is an exception because she embraced the English and their way of life to an extent that she changed her name to the English name of Stella Walsh. For her part she accused her competitor Helen Stephens (an English female athlete) as a man. Helen Stephens was a personal friend of a Black athlete and sports legend in his own right Jesse Owen. Some saw this relationship as an act of racial betrayal which led to Helen Stephens having to prove an obvious fact that she was a woman.

While the gender verification test carried out on Stephens established she was indeed a woman, the real truth came out when Stella Walsh was killed in an armed robbery crossfire where the autopsy revealed that Stella Walsh was in fact a male.

What is interesting in this case is that Stella Walsh was protected by the English establishment and she never had to undergo any gender verification test. Another famous case of protecting the English athletes from gender verification was that of Princess Anne of England who was exempted from undergoing a compulsory gender verification test for the Montreal Summer Olympic Games of 1976 while the non-English athletes were required to undergo the invasive procedure. Athletes like Santhi Soundarajan had their career destroyed by the pseudoscience of gender verification. Soundarajan went into deep depression where she attempted to take her life but bounced back with remarkable resilience. She is reported to be a successful coach who has established her own school where her athletes have won an impressive array of medals.

Intellectual Queen of Sports Science

Semenya is not only the ruling queen of track and field, this unconquerable young queen is also a brilliant mind of Sports Science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Semenya’s University of Pretoria and her professors and friends have been consistently supportive of her despite those who are working hard to vilify the new queen of track and field. Her parents, her village and roommates stand behind their legendary athlete who has rewritten the history books of track and field.

Conclusion

The new African champion and the indomitable African queen of track and field has unleashed her athletic prowess on the world stage and the White establishment does not know what to make of her. A stereotypical response characterized by colonial attitudes is both hurtful and regrettable in modern times. The time has arrived for the White establishment to smell the coffee and divest itself of colonial baggage towards the African queen Semenya and begin to treat her as an equal deserving of the rights and privileges of an irrefutable queen who has conquered the world with a strong support of her beautiful motherland South Africa.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Alzheimic Government

2009-08-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

When a beautiful and proud Canadian citizen Ms. Suaad Hagi Mohamud was refused entry into Canada by the Canadian authorities in Kenya it was yet another tragic example of how the Conservative Government of Mr. Steven Harper has singled out the people of African descent for denial of their Canadianess or entry into the beloved country of Canada.

Adversely Affected by Abrasive Policies

Needless to say Ms Mohamud’s life has been adversely affected by the abrasive policies of the Canadian gatekeepers even though her Somalian people are among the greatest contributing members of this great Canadian mosaic. Ms. Mohamud was eventually given her papers back and was scheduled to land in Toronto today. She is reported to be taking a legal recourse to sue the Canadian Government for over a million dollars.

Many Africans Denied Entry

Many Africans have been denied entry into Canada on a variety of flimsy grounds. The anti-African stance of Mr. Harper is regrettable considering how Canada has historically been a great friend of the African people.

Like a fire spitting dragon that spits harsh fire upon those it considers unworthy of entry, some Harper’s gatekeepers have consistently kept the Africans outside Canada including, among others, a great iconic figure of the South African freedom Ms. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who was denied entry to pick up her award in Toronto. The denial of Ms. Madikizela flies in the face of business acumen because South Africa is the top country in terms of Canadian export business according to Statistics Canada. In fact South Africa beats Canada in bilateral trade by two to one according to the speech delivered by the South African High Commissioner in Canada His Excellency Dr. Abe Nkomo at the 2009 Freedom Day Celebrations in Toronto and backed by the 2007 figures of Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada lists the following top ten countries in terms of the Africa Canada business as follows:

1. South Africa
2. Algeria
3. Egypt
4. Morocco
5. Sudan
6. Libya
7. Nigeria
8. Ghana
9. Tunisia
10. Angola

Interestingly, the Nigerian Government, among others, has taken a scaling back stance in response to Canada denying Africans entry into Canada citing diplomacy as a system based on reciprocity according to published reports attributed to the intrepid Ms. Ifeoma Jacinte Akabogu-Chinwuba, Acting High Commissioner of the Nigerian Embassy in Canada. Understandably the Nigerians couldn’t sit back in a state of inertia while one of their greatest minds was denied entry into Canada.

Dr. Michael Erhabor of the Tai Solarin University of Education in Nigeria was denied visa by the Canadian Government which prevented him from speaking at the 2008 Global Citizenship Education and Post-Secondary Institutions: Policies, Practices and Possibilities organized by the Canada's best University of Alberta. Considered one of Africa's great scholars, Dr. Erhabor was scheduled to deliver his paper Global Citizenship Education and University Administration: An Assessment of the Role of Centre for Human Rights and Gender Equality in Tai Solarin University of Education.

Poetic Tribute to Ms. Mohamud

The following poem The Alzheimic Government is dedicated to the beautiful Somalian heroine and a proud Canadian citizen Ms. Suaad Hagi Mohamud:

The Alzheimic Government

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

They had no knowledge of her
They did not know about her
They were unaware of her
To dismiss her like an imposter
To betray her via the arrestor
To be detained by the chains
For a crime that never was
Authenticity of the lips questioned
For a facelift that never was
To break her Canadian soul iconoclastic
To disown one of their own was Alzheimic

To impose the syntactic convoluted
To deny rightful entry was intended
Finally, her pain was chronicled
Which is why the outcry pinnacled
Hereafter to dismiss like imposter
Hitherto to instruct the arrestor
She was detained by the chains
That chafed her body with pains
They uncovered her like a forklift
In search of evidence of facelift
Now quarantined like infected
Halted by a charge concocted

Contextual Commentary

When a fire spitting dragon exhales harsh flames, it’s inevitable that the target will be singed. This was the case when a beautiful Canadian citizen Ms. Suaad Hagi Mohamud was subjected to the harsh blaze by the Canadian gatekeepers in Kenya. The Somalian heroine refused to succumb under the dragon’s rapid fire in accordance with a great Somalian tradition of indefatigable resistance, hitherto, inspired by their trailblazing foremothers and forefathers who have gone before them.

The Canadian fiery gatekeepers had intended to keep Ms. Mohamud out of Canada for the rest of her life. The Canadians in Kenya, who enjoy African hospitality, would rather become inhospitable to a beautiful daughter of the African soil in what was an antagonistic contradiction. Despite the rapid flames that threatened to scorch her from existence, Ms. Mohamud fought back like a gutsy heroine fighting a heavyweight fire spitting dragon. Her hard won victory is an inspiring model to the young girls coming after her that impossibility does not dictate surrender.
Vusi Moloi, The Indomitable Mongoose, Canada, 2009

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Sequence Does Not Invalidate Judge Ngcobo

2009-08-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s opposition parties have come out with guns blazing to force the hand of President Jacob Zuma to drop his appointment of the Constitutional Judge Sandile Ngcobo as Chief Justice to replace Chief Justice Pious Langa when he retires later this year. In a joint statement issued on Friday this week on behalf of the DA (Democratic Alliance), COPE (Congress of the People) and ID (Independent Democrats) the statement referred to the South African Constitution Section 174(3) of Chapter 8 as “a critical constitutional requirement” central to the phrase “...after consulting the Judicial Service Commission and the leaders of parties represented in the National Assembly".

The Segment in Question

I reproduce this section in its entirety here:

“The President as head of the national executive, after consulting the Judicial Service Commission and the leaders of parties represented in the National Assembly, appoints the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice and, after consulting the Judicial Service Commission, appoints the President and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal.” You can access the entire Constitution of South Africa as follows:

South African Constitution

Analysis of the Segment

This writer has reviewed and analyzed the section of the Constitution in question and has found that the opposition parties are fixated on the sequence of the process and not on the constitutional requirement with respect to the eligibility, qualification, appointment and consultation with the members of parliament. They are really pulling wool over our face in a daring attempt to make us believe the unbelievable and accept the unacceptable.

In terms of the requirements President Zuma’s appointment has met them all in accordance with the constitution. However, in terms of the sequence (assuming his fax didn’t reach its destination in a timely manner) he would have reversed the order along the lines of the proverbial cart before the horse situation. The fundamental question is whether the requirements are fulfilled and in this case President Zuma has met the constitutional requirements.

Reversed Sequence Not an Infraction

The idea of reversing a sequence has never been viewed as an infraction of the constitution. When President Barack Obama was sworn in as the country's first Black President on January 20th this year, he reversed the order of the oath as a result of a prior reversal of the sequence by Chief Justice John Roberts. They didn’t have to redo the entire process and this didn't invalidate President Obama’s inauguration as the new President of the United States. That’s because the reversal of the sequence was not viewed as an infraction of the constitutional requirement.

The Canadian Constitution states the following with respect to the appointment of judges “The Governor General shall appoint the Judges of the Superior, District, and County Courts in each Province, except those of the Courts of Probate in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.” The Governor General does this with the recommendation of the Privy Council of which the executive branch is a subcommittee.

In the article Supreme Court of Canada Appointment Process published on the MapleLeafWeb.Com website Jay Makarenko tells us “In practice, however, only the current federal Cabinet, which is a subcommittee of the Privy Council, actually advises the Governor General on Supreme Court appointments. This is usually accomplished through consultation between the Governor General and the sitting Prime Minister.” You can access the Canadian Constitution as follows:

Canadian Constitution

The Sequence of Pizza

To help you appreciate the concept of sequence, imagine going to order pizza at a pizza restaurant. You stand in line like anyone else and await your turn to be served. This is a sequence. Suppose you or anyone decides to jump the queue (not recommended) and go straight to order from the counter ahead of others before him or her. This would not constitute a legal infraction. Even though the "constitution" of the pizza store states that customers must wait in line, they will not throw you out or incarcerate you for breaking the sequence of pizza ordering. This is a concept of sequence at its simplest.

Constitutional Challenge on Sequence Laughable

If the opposition was to challenge the legality of the appointment based on sequence, the judge would have a good laugh. I don’t believe the opposition will go that far. They are hoping to achieve two things i.e. (1) to intimidate President Zuma by testing his temperament and (2) to score political points with the voters as they push for the 2014 General Elections where they hope to collectively unseat President Zuma. The opposition has calculated that if they could kill the appointment of Constitutional Judge Ngcobo, they would have scored an impressive victory.

Conclusion

The fixation of the opposition parties on the sequence is like splitting hairs. When the motherland is crying out for those who seek to contribute to the wellbeing of others, the opposition parties choose to create a fictitious crisis and shine a spotlight on it. The sons and daughters of the beautiful motherland South Africa you know what you want, pick up your tools of the trade and serve the motherland like never before. The greatest thing is to be alive for as long as you are still alive you can change a lot of things. It’s in serving others that the good seed will germinate, grow and bear fruit.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Obvious

2009-08-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The pieces were scrambled
The task was rearranging
The doable attracted attention
Prompted by the obvious
A hidden convolution was elusive
Like a slithering snake in the grass
To make him sweat for the unproductive
To slow him down with the syntactic
To regain virginity of impervious
After deflowering by the obvious

Swift recovery like ballistic
Is minimized by the syntactic
To fragment the roots after deflowering
A golden finish begins to fade like brass
Having lost anchoring on the ground
The daring attempts at recovery
Curtailed by syntactic artillery
To solve the puzzling is inviting
Despite the clouds gathering ashore

Contextual Commentary

When the parched ground of the great Kalahari unexpectedly gets wet, the most obvious reaction of the desert flower Mponeng is to want to come out of the underground by breaking through the wet patch. Until she decides the right course of action, the ambiguity of the new ground subdues her initially enthused spirits. As she struggles to disambiguate the puzzling situation, her life hangs in the balance of wanting to be or not to be on the surface. The gravitational pull of the obvious is sometimes too powerful to resist the temptation of exiting the safety of the underground. Nonetheless, she must consider the stringent consequences associated with believing the unbelievable and accepting the unacceptable. It is for this reason that she must trust her instincts and remain underground until she has complied with the painstaking process of disambiguation. By postponing self-gratification for future success, she becomes resilient and strengthens her readiness for the coming rain.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Moving Mountains

2009-08-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

I have observed a variety of people carry out an energized debate with good intentions of convincing or helping the other party to see the light of day. A debate of ideas is a democratic and intellectual exercise especially when carried out in an atmosphere of civility, mutual interest and mutual respect. Debates are even more interesting when participants command the breadth and depth of expertise in their subject of discussion within a confine of intellectual honesty. In order to succeed we must be bounded by two simple principles which define success i.e. the purpose of the debate and the measuring of the outcome.

The Purpose

Suppose our goal is to move the mountain. We consistently, methodically and meticulously apply the pressure needed to move the mountain. It’s hard to move the mountain but we do it anyways by exerting the right pressure knowing full well that success is not measured by the outside but rather by the inside. If we are genuine and honestly feel that we are exerting the right pressure according to the laws of physics and to the best of our ability, we are doing well. What happens when the mountain does not move? We shift gears to the second strategy which is measuring the outcome.

Measuring the Outcome

We resort to the strategy of measuring the outcome of our actions in order to verify our best intentions and confirm whether we are still within the confines of intellectual honesty. If we did move the mountain great but if we didn't too bad but we move on. Did we fail? Not really. We define failure to mean using our strength sparingly when we should be maximizing it in order to impact the object.

In this case we didn't have enough horsepower to move the mountain. Maybe this mountain needs a thousand horses and we only had a small fraction of a famished hoarse. We didn’t choose our horsepower or the hoarse; it was given to us. We must be content with that. If we possessed the superhuman strength of a thousand horses and used it maximally and the mountain was still not interested in moving, the mountain would invent other sophisticated ways of defeating our efforts such as rolling rocks upon us and thereafter convince us that it was an Act of God effectively ending the exercise. Either way it was a lost cause and we should have exited the situation upon a quick realization that the mountain had no intentions of being moved.

The Moral of the Story

Any self-respecting debater must have a specific and measurable goal. This will help to leverage one’s unique talents and maximize the efficacy of debating skills. If the person being debated is not interested in considering another view, it's tantamount to moving a mountain as demonstrated above which has no interest in being moved anyways. The debater must know when enough is enough and move on to better things. There are rocks or boulders out there that are interested in being moved. Your energy is better spent there than with a mountain that wastes your energy like a bottomless pit.

Discussion

When we feel energized and ready to engage in a debate of ideas, we should be grateful because we have the strength, the fortitude, the energy and the interest that feels like sunshine. The days are coming when this will not be the case because the sunshine will be gone. Moreover, energy is a scarce resource and will not always be there. The time will come when we shall be disinterested and less energized by what we previously found engaging.

It’s for this reason that we must follow the rules of the African jungle which says that pick the fruit that is closest to the ground so that you will have the energy for the one up the tree.

Resist the easy and popular temptation of following a marketing or advertising strategy which cares less about what we think or feel but is more interested in selling us what we don’t need i.e. salad dressing. Do you think you need salad dressing? I don’t think so. You need the salad but not the dressing. The dressing is a fabrication that dresses up the old salad so that you can accept the unacceptable and believe the unbelievable. That’s why in the African jungle there is no salad dressing because it’s not relevant to your survival requirements. Salad dressing is only relevant to the bottom line of the company’s balance sheets.

In a poem To Convince or Not To Convince the concept of convincing is explored as follows:

“Excessive salt on dried fish
Excessive fat on dried meat
Excessive sugar on dried cookies
To convince you of the fish
To convince you of the meat
To convince you of the cookies” Moloi, Vusi A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, Arizona, 2007.

The English word convince came from Latin and meant to conquer. Are you debating because your goal is to conquer? If so then this is the wrong motivation that detracts from the credibility of the discussion. Ideas are like water; they always find the best way to flow. Let the ideas flow by themselves and good ideas will plant a seed of good in the hearts of some.

The African languages like Zulu or Sesotho in South Africa don’t have a word like convince. Those languages are closer to the natural environment than an English language. In fact the word convince exists in order to make someone believe the unbelievable and accept the unacceptable. When you find yourself attempting to convince another person, you are engaging in a situation where you are going against the resistance like advertising. Advertising and marketing don’t exist in a natural environment like the African jungle because there is nothing to advertise or market. Imagine trying to sell advertising to the lion about some patch that has gazelles. The lion would be convinced that you are a gazelle in disguise and eat you at which point you become dead meat.

Conclusion

A goal oriented debater is efficient because is guided by purpose and measurable outcome. The goal of the debate together with the measuring of the outcome helps to save our energy for much better and more constructive debates. The mountain that refuses to be moved will never be moved and that is an immutable fact. Next time you debate, ask yourself: Is this mountain interested in being moved? If not, collect your poise and run as fast as you can before you lose your sunshine. There are better minds out there ready to be moved and that's where you should be concentrating your valuable effort.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Their Patience Is Not Endless

2009-08-04T05:50:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s City Press Newspaper has published a shocking revelation that South Africa’s opposition parties like DA (Democratic Alliance), COPE (Congress of the People) and others have held at least two secrete meetings in which concrete talks were focused on formulating an anti-ANC front designed to unseat the ANC during the 2014 Provincial and National Elections after gaining momentum in the 2011 Local Government Elections. In the article Zille and Shilowa Plot New Anti-ANC Front published on Sunday the City Press is in possession of the minutes of the meetings that took place in Cape Town on July 21 and another that took place on July 7 in an undisclosed location.

A vehement defender of the white establishment, the DA boasts a powerful financial backing and seeks to use COPE as a political instrument of Black mobilization in order to drive a wedge between the ANC and its core base.

An Arranged Polygamist Marriage

The calculation is to foster an arranged marriage in which DA is the polygamist husband and COPE is the chief wife while other smaller parties like UDM (United Democratic Movement) and others are junior wives who get married into such an arrangement for purposes of concocting a witchcraft mix that poses a deadly threat to the administration of President Jacob Zuma.

The charismatic and charming President Zuma was swept to power three months ago by his economically disenfranchised African natives who saw him as a true and loyal vanguard of their grass roots economic aspirations after those whom they had elected to serve their interests jumped ship to form COPE, the new nemesis of the ANC.

To Inflict Backstabbing Wounds

Instead of focusing on working with the Government of the day to expedite delivery of basic services to the historically disadvantaged majority in the spirit of Ubuntu and the rainbow nation, the DA and COPE see the suffering of the people as an opportunistic window to inflict backstabbing wounds on the ruling party in what appears to be a calculated risk.

News24 interviews Helen Zille from News24Video of Youtube

Can this work? Can the financial muscles of a White based DA and a politically disaffected COPE (led by ANC defectors) command the credibility that will sway the African majority in their favour? Both parties collectively enjoy nearly a quarter of the vote estimated at four million votes.

Frost Over The World - Mosiuoa Lekota - Nov 21 - Part 1 - from AlJazeeraEnglish of Youtube

Grassroots Economics

First, let’s understand the situation of the African natives on the ground. When freedom arrived in 1994 which ended brutal apartheid many believed that the time had come to live a better life. For the most part, that time came and went without producing any material change on their lives while their former oppressors continued to enjoy legally protected privileges.

Fifteen years is a very long time to wait for something that never comes. Even rain eventually comes down while the rain clouds of economic emancipation remain an empty threat. Currently more than 50 000 White farmers enjoy an exclusive stranglehold on more than three quarters of the food producing land while many African mothers and their children scratch the dusty ground for food. The extreme suffering from the deplorable grassroots economic conditions, has only served to catapult the economically disenfranchised African majority into action as demonstrated by a variety of political actions on the ground in recent times.

Arrested Development of 1994

The ANC has been consistently working to improve the lives of the people on the ground but has gotten stymied by voodoo economics of contractual agreements that were guaranteed in 1994 and stipulated, among others, that the bureaucrats of the apartheid administration must be retained. In a case where they needed to be removed, they had to be given prohibitively expensive gold parachutes to cushion the blow of forced landing.

The Administration of Mr. Mandela walked that path but backed off after a harsh realization that the billions of dollars in payouts were bankrupting the young democratic country. The regrettable alternative was to let the status quo be and hope that things would change by themselves. As it turned out under the highly skilled and Western trained economist President Thabo Mbeki who ruled between 1999 and 2008 the South African economic milieu had no intrinsic desire to change by itself unless there was someone willing to drive a fundamental change. As a corollary the many promises of 1994 became an arrested development.

Interestingly, the African natives and their leaders psychologically find themselves in a state of arrested development or self-effacing state of inertia where they are too tentative to take what is rightfully theirs. Somehow (through colonial indoctrination using religion and rule of law) they are not aware that if they marched and took what is theirs, the new generation of former colonial powers would understand and morally support those initiatives because the African sons and daughters would be taking what is rightfully theirs. This sentiment has been expressed to this writer by many young Caucasians. It's the old folks who still want to maintain the status quo.

The New Era of Charismatic Msholozi

Now enter the new era of the charismatic Msholozi who pushed aside the less than bold Mbeki and threw his Umshini Wami gauntlet into the fray by vowing to bring about the much needed change which led to his sweeping victory in the last elections.

Some elements of South Africa’s white establishment are uncomfortable about the strong mandate received by President Jacob Zuma and would like to get his wings clipped. To achieve this the white based DA, under the leadership of the strident and confrontational Helen Zille, has embarked on the path of forging an alliance or possibly one political party as previously illustrated with a polygamist marriage in order to work for the demise of the administration of Jacob Zuma.

Their strategy seeks to create many speed bumps on Zuma’s rapid transit of economic change in order to slow down the already slow pace of economic change. By rolling and throwing hurdles at the existing aggravation of grassroots economic conditions (i.e. frustrating delivery services through under spending), the DA’s death wish is to create faults in the core base of the ANC.

Is this possible? Theoretically yes but practically no and here is why.

The Teachings of the African Jungle

The answer lies in the African jungle where the need to survive is the supreme law of self-preservation. An African fly commonly known as drosophila has often times been faced with a situation of attempting to carve out a home in a plant using its rich and diverse nutrients.

Some evil plant that seeks to repel and discourage the drosophila from enjoying the fruits of the African motherland releases toxins to dislodge and even kill the bold insect that ventures far enough to the tasty reserves. The modus operandi of the toxic plant is to keep the tasty and nourishing nutrients away from those who need them the most.

The African fly has seen and counted the casualties of this great struggle including injured and dead bodies of those who have tried and failed to access the food reserves of the plant. What does this African fly do?

One of the things that happens in the African jungle is that if an organism feels threatened by some threat it must modify its behaviour to avoid the source of that threat. In this case the African fly can walk away in order to eke out some inferior lifestyle elsewhere. Well not quite. The African fly does not accept that. The African fly views this antagonistic situation as a special case where avoidance is not an option but rather an opportunity to mobilize its body mechanisms to either eliminate or render the threat useless by developing resistance to it.

He fights back by continuously attacking the plant and developing immunity against its toxins in the process. He gobbles up the toxins and internally converts them into antibodies that help him to defy and prevail over the toxins. If he dies, those who come after him are even stronger and in better shape to take on the toxic plant from a fresh angle. If they persist long enough by sustaining their struggle, the African fly eventually becomes like a god who now enjoys privileged access to the food of the gods otherwise known as ambrosia. Not only has the African drosophila solved the impossibility by upholding the supreme law of self-preservation but has gone on to conquer the whole world.

Why African Fly Follows this Strategy?

The African drosophila felt that it was cornered by lack of access to food reserves of the plant and that behavioural avoidance through brainwashing was not an option but had to face the toxic plant with a view to resisting its killer toxins. As a consequence, the fly has developed natural defense mechanisms that effectively render it immune from the toxicity of the killer plants. In fact, as the plant increases its toxic effects, the African fly gets even better at defending its territory making it a home to raise its babies and the future generation.

The moral of the story is that inventing ways of economic exclusion by making the political environment toxic for those who seek to gain their rightful access to the economy (currently reserved for the white establishment) is not sustainable over the long term. Moreover, the patience of the people is not endless as they agitate and seek ways and means of gaining forcible access to what is otherwise their inalienable right to enjoy the natural wealth of their native land given to them by their foremothers and forefathers.

Conclusion

The DA and COPE have raised the stakes and stoked new fires by opening a new front in the great struggle between those who seek to halt the wheels of economic emancipation vis-à-vis those who have nothing to lose but their crushing chains that perpetuate their extreme suffering. The African fly has demonstrated that determination, consistency, adaptation and boldness can overcome the impossible and make it possible to build a better future for the new generation.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

My Destruction

2009-07-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

from A Goodbye To My Little Troubles

The manufacturer
of this little thing
wanted to save it
from being burnt out
he engraved six volts
that no one should make
a mistake about it

In the same way providence
Preserve my existence
in some various ways
Don’t increase my disadvantage
like a very high voltage
For this little lamp
that lights my way
will be snuffed out
Nothing will be left
but my destruction

Contextual Commentary

Facing unrelenting adversity on his own inevitably engendered a feeling of being headed in the direction of a destructive path. The author reasoned and appealed to the Creator to remember the capacity of the creation. The author, who had known adversity since very early in life, had still not mastered the mental skills characteristic of other humans like Tibetan monks or the great Sangomas of South Africa. Each adversity made him feel as if he was a beginner and, thus, vulnerable to destruction.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The African Goddess

2009-07-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Excerpt from the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles by Vusi Moloi.

In the dark days
of my unhappy youth
I heard of your truth
Oh African Goddess, Mantsopa.
You forewarned the advent
of the invaders of the indigenous land

When I wandered blindfolded
to your historic cave near Ladybrand
your admirers spoke well of you
as a purveyor of ancient African wisdom
Nonetheless, my disdain,
blindfolded me from seeing
your physical and spiritual beauty
inside the cave
Your heart dripped with blood.

Oh African Goddess, Mantsopa
Today I sob in North America
cut off from South Africa
greatly saddened by what
the blindfold had done to me.
Mantsopa, Motherland Goddess,
My disdain was a brain drain,
and my adage that of mundane
So that I knew little
of my African heritage.
Maybe I fit Dr. Bhengu’s book:
Chasing Gods Not Our Own

Today across the Atlantic
I have shed the blindfold
like Shaka Zulu wiping izembe
or the great black mamba
shedding its fearsome skin
My wounded and parched soul
has vehement desire for you
grant me another chance
that I may have the experience
of that ancient African wisdom

Contextual Commentary

The great King of Zululand, Shaka, regularly performed a cleansing ceremony referred as “ukusula izembe” whenever he returned from a battle. The purpose of the ceremony was to remove or cleanse the blood stains from the spear. A female was believed to possess the cleansing powers.

Dr. Sibusiso Bhengu was named to the cabinet of President Nelson Mandela in 1994. Dr. Bhengu’s book, Chasing Gods Not Our Own, was based on his academic work on the process of acculturation.

The author gratefully attributes his appreciation of the great spiritual work of Mantsopa to the women of QwaQwa. These beautiful and kind-hearted women shared their cultural knowledge of indigenous spirituality with the author. The highly revered Mantsopa Makhetha (1793-1905) was a spiritual prophetess and also advisor to the great King Moshoeshoe of the Basotho people.

The scholarly friend of the author Dr. Tladi Lerotholi of the University of Lesotho pointed out, while meeting with the author at the University of St. Paul in Ottawa, Canada that Mantsopa had a contrarian view of the proverbial narrow path vis-à-vis the broad path in that she consistently asserted that it was the broad path that led to the heavens in order to accommodate more people and not the narrow path as professed by the European missionaries.

It’s the author’s view that the missionary declaration of a narrow path seems to mirror the capitalist societies where the missionaries originate in that the path to the heavens is equivalent to a scarce resource afforded only by the selected few. The author is also grateful to other sons and daughters of the African soil who continue to pay homage to the great Mantsopa like Ntate Thabo Makotoko, the highly respected social scientist and former Ambassador of Lesotho to Canada Dr. Gwendolyn Malahleha, former Minister of the Lesotho Embassy in Canada Ntate Sofonia and his family, the late Princess Maseiso of the Lesotho Royal Family and descendant of King Moshoeshoe and numerous others.

Mantsopa was later exiled by King Moshoeshoe to Mooderpoort where the author visited her sacred cave. The sacred shrines of Mantsopa enjoy active pilgrimage from various parts of South Africa and Lesotho and her sites are a candidate for the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Well Deserved Order of Merit for Mr. Chrétien

2009-07-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Canada’s most popular and former Prime Minister Mr. Jean Chrétien has been honoured with a rare Order of Merit by the Queen of England. The royal prestige, described as a British and Commonwealth Order, inducts the deserving Mr. Chrétien into an exclusive royal organization which is restricted to 24 members and a few foreign individuals who can be inducted by the monarchy as honorary members. This places Mr. Chrétien alongside a very small number of foreign luminaries who belong to the Order of Merit like South Africa’s elder statesman and Nobel laureate Mr. Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, US President General Dwight Eisenhower, and Dr. Albert Schweitzer among others. Mr. Chrétien is the third Canadian to be honoured in this fashion after Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Nobel laureate Prime Minister Lester Person. This writer has made pilgrimages to the Mackenzie King estate as well as the cemetery of Lester Pearson both in the Quebec Province.

Special Mark of Honour

In a statement issued by the Press Secretary to the Queen in Buckingham and published in the official website of the British Monarchy, it was noted that the Order of Merit was founded in 1902 by King Edward the VII “as a special mark of honour conferred by Sovereign on individuals of exceptional distinction in the arts, learning, sciences and other areas such as public service.” This was an important milestone for King Edward VII in the early part of his monarchy.

Queen Elizabeth II and Jean Chretien - from BritishRoyalFilms of Youtube

The royal statement further noted that appointments to the Order were “in the Sovereign’s personal gift” and that ministerial advice was not required to make the appointment meaning it was not necessary to ask the permission of the Canadian Prime Minister Mr. Steven Harper prior to honouring Mr. Chrétien.

Honour Vindicates Mr. Chrétien

This Order of Merit will go a long way to vindicate Canada’s most popular Prime Minister in recent history who consistently campaigned very hard and courageously on behalf of the African people culminating in the invitation of African leaders like former South African President Mr. Thabo Mbeki in the G8 Conference held in Kananaskis in the province of Alberta in 2002 as mentioned in the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles. The Order of Merit medal is described as “an eight-pointed cross of red and blue enamel surmounted by the imperial crown; in the centre, upon blue enamel and surrounded by a laurel wreath, are the words in gold lettering 'For Merit'.”

Mr. Chrétien’s Liberal Party utterly destroyed the Progressive Conservatives of Canada’s Irish Prime Minister Mr. Brian Mulroney in 1993 enabling Mr. Chrétien to rule Canada for 10 years until he was succeeded by his Finance Minister and former Prime Minister Mr. Paul Martin in 2003. Mr. Chrétien was made a companion of the Order of Canada in 2009. Among his impressive achievements was the Charter of Rights which he made into law in 1982 as part of the Canadian Constitution together with Canada's legend Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II. Mr. Chretien was the Minister of Justice at the time.

Peacemaking Skills of King Edward VII

The Order of Merit is a highly respected royal honour and its founder King Edward VII was known for his peacemaking skills in promoting international friendships on the globe. He played a pivotal role in promoting peace between the French and the British especially since the relations between the two nations had broken down as a result of the Anglo-Boer War that raged in the period of 1899 to 1902 in South Africa. Interestingly King Edward VII only became King at an old age of 60 and ruled for 9 years until his death in 1910. King Edward VII was the son of Queen Victoria whose troops suffered a crushing defeat in 1879 in the Battle of Isandlwana in the present day Province of KwaZulu Natal where the fiery Zulu King Cetshwayo, after refusing to kowtow to Queen Victoria, destroyed several battalions of British soldiers. That battle marked the only known timeline in history where the Imperialist forces of England lost to an army of the indigenous people of the land. The son and only child of the French Emperor Bonaparte III, Prince Imperial Napoleon Bonaparte perished in this Anglo-Zulu War after he was struck down by a salvo of Zulu spears before being disemboweled. Disembowelment was meant to prevent the revengeful spirits of the French Imperial Prince from coming after the Zulu fighters.

Queen Victoria got into big trouble afterwards partly because it was believed that her beautiful daughter Princess Beatrice had an affair with Prince Imperial Bonaparte and Queen Victoria had hoped he would marry her. Instead Louis pursued an affair with another irresistible beauty of Spain Princess Isabella II which was not to the liking of Queen Victoria. Some accused her of sending Louis to his death in Zululand since she worked hard hard to get him to join that war placing him under the special care of Baron Chelmsford a British General at the time in South Africa. The death of Louis was a tragic blow to the hopeful continuity of the Bonaparte dynasty which started with Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799 and the French were understandably angered by it. He had already been declared Napoleon VI prior to his death. His father was the last Emperor before the third Republic.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Untimely Death of Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T01:25:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The sudden death of the immortal icon of pop music Michael Jackson has hit us hard. The long distance phone call I received regarding the tragic news rocked my emotions. I am shocked beyond belief and unable to regain my composure as I still find this hard to believe.

Greatest Artist

Mr. Jackson was the greatest artist who gave all he had to contribute to the betterment of his audience through his musical renditions. His educated feet were instrumental in treating his fans to the highest form of entertainment unmatched by anyone. He defined the concept of finesse on the dance floor to an extent that it is impossible to emulate. He was like a god of athletic prowess.

Thriller - Dance Video - from thedreeeeeewski of Youtube

He was greatly influenced by those who have gone before him like the Nicholas Brothers (Fayard and Harold) and he is the only artist to successfully emulate the hard to beat moves of the masters of flash dancing.

No Easy Acceptance

It is hard to accept and appreciate the pain of Michael Jackson who never really enjoyed easy acceptance among those who only sought to exploit him financially but vilify him afterwards. In a way, he suffered a similar fate to that of the great legend Josephine Baker who was never really fully accepted by her homeland. Josephine Baker is the richest Black woman that ever lived who later died in a self-imposed exile in France.

The proud son of the Jacksons may your soul rest in peace. You have done what you needed to accomplish on this planet and your endless list of achievements obscures many lifetimes. We neither understood nor provided the necessary support for the pain you were put through for reasons we will never understand but you remained true to your calling like a world citizen.

Like a Good Soldier

Companies like MTV owe their existence to your immeasurable success but they continued to exploit you like a commodity which they still do today to many other artists. As Sammy Davis once said that he would die with his tap shoes on, you are a good soldier who has fallen in the line of duty contributing to the betterment of others teaching us to pick up where you left off to continue to serve others. Hopefully, under these circumstances, some hearts will repent however in hindsight.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet