Cover up coming

First we have a new kid on the scene, mouthing off about how he has the interest of the country at heart. He gets his desired appointment, then the proverbial shit hits the fan. The media finds out he lives well beyond his means, with no plausible explanation offered. The spin doctors then say it is nonsense. But after some digging, some not-too-clean-activities and funds are uncovered. Then the same supporters say everything is above board and done procedurally. They fight back and ask why must this politician always be the subject of scrutiny; it must be a racist plot. Later we will probably find that there was plenty of truth in the allegations of corruption, but, of course, we will have to blame it on apartheid and what it did to people. This repertoire of music sung everytime evil deeds are performed that says, white people are to blame and that they too ate in the time of apartheid is so repertitive and nausiating. We can't change the past but we can build a brighter future...one of the moral compass that Tata Mandela has left as a legacy. I'm not condoning what the apartheid regime has done to us black people, but, I'm condemning it for the culture of thinking characterised by "everybody is doing it" it has created to us as Black people. For sure Julius Malema's income should be investigated, if only because he doesn't seem to have an educated backround, which is clearly audible when he opens his big, arrogant mouth. If his income is legal, how he spends it is no concern of anyone's but he then should help some of the people he wants us to think he "respects". His idiotic shouting and screaming should not be publicised because we hear plenty of rubbish from his boss.

Malema, the car is loaded hlena...o batla ho ja o le mong mara?

Tender-loving Julius Malema, champion of the poor building a R16 million fortress, while accepting gifts such as a R1,2 million Range Rover. In this context, the announcement by the Deputy International Relations Minister Marius Fransman that the government is considering donating R1 million to help Somali famine victims is bizarre. What kind of help is that? The same Fransman was not shy to ask the rest of us to cough up. "We are calling on South Africans to rally together to support the people of Somalia. Let's do it for the children, mothers and the elders who are dying of hunger~ the audacity!!! It has been reported that last week the Gift of the Givers, a non-govermental organisation, had already provided aid worth R5 million directly to famine victims, dwarfing our government's contribution, which hasn't yet delivered even a cent to date - mind you!. R1 million is probably less than the cost of President Jacob Zuma's forays trying to shore up Lybian dictator Muahammar Gaddafi, who has corrupted African leaders with billions in petrodollars. This is a pathetic gesture by the South African Government that when there is a genuine, heart-wrenching, humanitarian need, they call for help to the poor from whom their tax money, they eat mercilleslly. The vaunted mantra of African solutions for African problems is silenced when hundreds of thousands of emaciated women and children walk for weeks, months, in sought of food and shelter. And our beloved Juju- en-route with a car over-loaded with R16 million mansion, R250,0000 watch, 25000 salary package and his astounding ability to settle a 78,000 bill in cash. When the media ask him where he gets the money from...listen to this; "Its none of your business". Whats stupidly amazing is that he has an amazing backing by the very idiots he (Malema) eats their tax money. I always say stupidity is a sin! If you can't see Malema for the venom that he is...O kenwe ke mademona...You need prayer!!!




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Here's hoping Thuli doesn't go the same way as the scorpions

Just when you think we are lost, a glimmer of hope and sanity appears bright in the dark firmament that is the ANC today. The name of this bright star is Thuli Madonsela, the Public Protector. This woman sounds sane, intelligent, rational, and caring. Why is it that whenever we get competent crime and corruption busters, they are hounded out by ANC members, officials and ministers? Several good ones have fallen by the wayside over the years, including the Scopions, and now Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and Willie Hofmeyr are under attack for daring to expose people in high places of corruption. I just hope she does not get disbanded as did that crime-bustering force - the Scopions








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Happy birthday Madiba

Today marks the 93rd birthday of the greatest son of our soil, Nelson Mandela. Mandela’s name and legacy are synonymous with integrity, non-racialism, and selflessness. Today, across South Africa, citizens have been asked, in honour of Madiba, to sacrifice 67 minutes of their time in service to others. It is a fitting tribute to a man that gave much of his life to the betterment of South Africa. But the most significant honour we can pay this great man on his birthday is to work towards his vision of a better life for all South Africans, to build on his dream, and to vigilantly and consistently protect the Constitution which he called a ‘sacred covenant’. We wish you a happy birthday Madiba. For the moral compass you have been to us all, Siyabonga Tata, Re a o leboha Ntate

Bogus doctors ap in arms with illegal abortions

Lying naked and exposed on soiled mattresses in rooms with no windows, they whimper quietly as bogus doctors sit there - sphinx-like and mysterious before using stolen hospital drugs to induce illegal and dangerous abortions. Hours later, they are sent to nearby public toilets to deliver and dispose of their bloody foetuses - shocking!! A thriving underground abortion racket with foreign "healers" from Uganda, Malawi and Ghana who charge R1 500 for every abortion. Police say, as many as 10 illegal abortions performed in dingy, candle-lit rooms, naked girls are found helpless and bleeding to death. Some girls would know and I'm sure they fear my vitriolic pen because this very pen spews the venom and harsh realities that the youth of today face.




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Mon blames Eskom as Kids perish in fire

The electricity people had been saying they would come and that became an everyday anthem sung to my ears to side-line me.” This is according to Ficksburg mother Mmamatshidiso Mofolo, who feels that if only there had been electricity at her home she would not be mourning the death of a child and a grandchild. Mofolo’s son Dillo Mofolo, 15, and grandson Katleho Khemane, 5, burnt to death in her home in Meqheleng township just outside Ficksburg in the early hours of yesterday (Monday) morning while she was in Lesotho attending a funeral. Ficksburg police spokesman Captain Phumelelo Dhlamini said, “It is alleged that the children fell asleep with the candle still burning in their bedroom.” He said that by 3am, the bedroom where the children were sleeping was already covered by blazing flames of fire and the rest of the eight roomed house was also beginning to catch fire. “The neighbors assisted by using their buckets to fetch water and hosepipes to extinguish the fire.” Mofolo’s 12-year-old granddaughter, Sibongile Mofolo, sustained serious burn injuries and was taken to to Ficksburg Photholoha hospital for medical treatment. Her two other children, daughter Dikeledi Mofolo, 15, and son Sentebale, 8, managed to escape without injury. “If only I hadn’t gone my grandchildren would still be alive. The pain I felt upon finding out and that I’ll continue to endure for the rest of my life is not being there when my children were helpless,” said Mofolo. The grieving mother said she has been without electricity for three years while battling to get Eskom to sort out the electricity problem at her home. “Out of frustration I went Eskom’s offices in Thaba Nchu and a senior official Mr Matseka sang the same tune: We shall come and look into the problem,” she said. She said Matseka further showed what seemed like a concern by jotting down her house number and urged her to leave the documents that proved that she’d made the necessary payments. Mofolo left and nothing happened and when she tried to follow up later Matseka couldn’t be found. She was given the call centre number but never managed to through to solve the problem as the line just rang. “I also went to Meqheleng councillors to explain my dilemma and the councillors told me that they would call Eskom to find out what the problem was but, they also failed to make them attend to my conundrum.” Mofolo and her son Gabriel, father of little Katleho, both feel that the lack of electricity is mostly to blame for the death of the children. Gabriel said, “I blame eskom, because had it not been for their incompetence, none of this would have happened.” Talking about the youngsters, Me Mofolo said, “What I’ll remember most about them is their talks with me and how they’d tell me that they are going to buy good things for me when they start working. Two of my children died, one is in hospital and God only helped two to survive,” she said.

The Glass half full

Perched on a cloud of dreams

I peer over depths of a faceless world
I see twisted tales of misfortune bred in its wounds,
Innocence borne has wilted,
The sacred evils have raped our vision
I gaze upon the Utopian children
who graciously spat hatred forth,
drowning our sorrows with promised humility
We bathed in darkness to cleanse the fear
Never lost, never found...Forever dead.



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A disgrace to journalism

We owe gratitude not only for the fact of freedom; not only for helping to define the content of that freedom - but also for laying the foundation of South Africa's best tradition of journalists. Some of our modern journalists cannot claim or even pretend to be worthy heirs to their toil and worthy claimants to their mantle. Sadly we have to contend with a curse of our modern day journalists who only focus on the final product; however unscrupulous in achieving it. Journalism has become a race for “the exclusive” and moral principles which are the core mantra have become insulting, irrelevant and downright vitriolic. An example of this abusive pen is the Public Protector’s fiasco. She has been painted as a corrupt fraudster relating to R1.8 million believed to have been paid to her company while she was working full-time for the South African Law Reform Commission. At a recent briefing, Madonsela said the report was baseless, malicious and designed to scupper her investigation of the R1.1 billion deal to lease a Durban building owned by businessman Roux Shabangu. Funny how these reports surfaced on the same day that they (ANC) thought she (Madonsela) was going to release a report on the SAPS building lease probe, However, the Star newspaper has a different agenda. But then again, who am I to talk – My lip could constitute my death...

Media Appeals Tribunal to hid looting corrupt officials

When we crossed the Red Sea, I thought we had arrived in the land of milk and honey. How wrong I was! I mean, in 1994, we democratically elected the ANC to lead us into the promised land and not to take us back to the dark ages. The ruling party has finally made public a discussion document on its proposed media appeals tribunal. The document, which has been prepared for approval by the ANC National General Council in Durban this September, made a number of familiar party accusations against the media. Signs are there for all to see that it has since resolved to introduce the media appeals tribunal as an alternative to the existing self-regulatory mechanisms. These include the claim that print media operates like a 'protection racket' and that ownership of commercial publications is still concentrated in the hands of whites. The ANC- led Government's desire to interfere with media freedom is nothing but an efford to hide the rampant looting of the state by corrupt officials and highly placed individuals. It has to be remembered that the Polokwane Brigade went to the ANC conference in 2007 to deal with three particular enemies, i.e. Thabo Mbeki, the now defunct Scopions and the media which fearlessly exposed goverment shenanigans. They managed to unseat Mbeki and slay the scorpions. 3 years later, they circle the 3rd victim, the media, in an efford to make them toothless conveyors of censored information. To tell the truth, ANC has a history of disregarding public opinion. It is public knowledge that many people are against the ANC media tribunal 'shit'! It is through the media that the masses know that service delivery comes to them in a tickle because the 'fat cats are feeding'. Sadly the poor masses are left to scramble for limited resources and when they protest they are shot at with tear gas or rubber bullets. In my view, if we fail to fight for the sacrosanct right to mirror society and speak truth to po power, we are going the Zimbabwean route by hook or by crook

The dire straits of Nationalisation of mines

The recent affirmation of the ANC Youth League’s policy that farmland, mines and banks should be nationalised has created much anxiety among South Africans. To date, a solid counterargument has not been put forward to start a debate on the issue of nationalisation. Certain basic principles underlying the functioning of an economy and wealth creation in a country are absent from the ANCYL’s reasoning on nationalisation. First, any political leader should know that the basis for a thriving community and economy is the right to private ownership. Private ownership is essentially the right to own land without fear of it being taken by the state. Private ownership makes the creation of debt markets and the establishment of banks and other financial institutions possible, thereby fuelling entrepreneurship ‒ that is, the ability of the common man to start a business and to create jobs. Private ownership is therefore a requirement for poverty alleviation. The mines and agricultural activities form the backbone of the South African economy. They have an impact on every aspect of our lives. A disruption of these activities would not only result in the owners of farms and mines being disenfranchised, but also cause a food supply crisis which, in turn, would affect the demand and supply of goods and services, high inflation rates and a run on the banks. Nationalisation destroys the income generating capabilities of a society. This destroys the tax base. Without a tax base there would be less money available for government to spend on its core functions and development programs.







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Are we worthy successors?

Soon there will be no Sisulus, Mandelas and Tutus among us. Icons - uncompromising, calm, accomodating while unbending on principle. I weep with pride in remembering the challenges and the apartheid whipps Mama Sisulu bore on her shoulders with gusto and openmindedness. She reminded South Africans that it is acceptable and admirable for Africans to aim high, that us (Africans) can bench-mark ourselves against the very best in the world. The adversity of Apartheid blessed us with men and women whose moral courage and commitment to values is unparalleled. Can we claim to be worthy successors of Sisulus, Mandelas and Tutus? Will we be up for the challenge? Will we keep quiet when the Protection of Information Bill is being pushed through parliament despite its undemocratic, secretive nature? Will we, 10 years from now, say proudly that our country is for the one that these elders fought for?




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Toilet troubles now flushed away

In the run-up to the elections, everyone was furiously debating the toilet issue. Now, barely a week later, the toilet problem has disappeard - flushed away so to speak. One wonders if the entire furore around the open toilets has been nothing more than a stunt to take the minds of the voters away from the cause of this country's chronic constipation - bad governance. Having a flush toilet means nothing if you don't have a roof over your head, you are jobless and you don't have prospects. Some people still seem to have trouble distinguishing between a toilet roll and a voter's roll




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The demise if democracy

Thankfully the election with all its political facile bluster and political hyperbole, is over. The logic is simple. To win elections you must attract the most votes. Most people in SA are black and poor. Those are the votes you need if you are serious about political power. Since 1994, the ANC has held those votes by promising a better life and successfully persuading the masses that it alone delivered them from apartheid which is true. Emboldened by apparent success in increasing its share of the black vote from 1 to 5 percent, the DA is intent on ratcheting up its effords in 2014 and beyond. Affordability is another issue. Thanks mainly to the ANC, a culture has developed whereby, in order to attract votes, promises are made to poor and illiterate populace about how their lives will be improved. I don't think this country can afford to provide housing, water, electricity, healthcare, education etc, on the scale on which it is expected, nor do I suggest that it is only white taxpayers, shunted off into the backround, who are being asked to pay for all this. But SA's crisis of expectations is building inexorably to a climax. Who has the courage to tone it down?




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Live your life like its golden

On this dusty, rocky road called life, we inevitably run intn people who hurt us. The hurt that they inflict is so painful that we feel as though life has no purpose anymore and we in turn, simply give them the power to force us to stop living because, we eagerly invest our trust, hopes, dreams and most importantly our hearts into them. They in turn tear us apart and walk away, leaving us broken. Forget about them and harbour no longer the pain that they have caused you because there's a reason why they weren't meant to make it to your future in the first place. They were only meant to help you shed the naive, insecure you in order to reveal the stronger, happier person that you have always been deep inside. Instead of resenting the pain, use it as a stepping stone to build yourself into a far wiser and stronger person than what you were before. Your purpose on this earth is far from over and you being alive at this present moment is a sheer testament to that. That is why the greatest of all pursuits should start today. Not the pursuit of happiness (sorry Will Smith), but rather the pursuit of life's purpose for you.




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Parties never end but people do...

Don't tell me what to do. Who are you, to question my authority? I'm capable. I know what i want and how to get it. Just let me be mama. Living in the green world. Living the life of a party. Dancing to the rhythm of the night. Foes by my side. Party till dawn. I got my crew for tonight. My fix for the night. We'll be flying sky high with no limits... My ministers for the whole weekend. What more can a girl want? Drinks, drinks, more drinks. Who's paying...minister of cash? Hold up, i need to crash another party. Who do i call? Minister of transport. Need a fix...who do i call? Minister of suppliers. So don't u tell me what to do mama. You raised me by yourself. Now u have to do the same, for the one who's not yours. The one i'm leaving behind. How could i have let this happen? Please tel me, ma. How do i clean up my mess? My foes gone, no more parties. Only a vision of what it's like. Underneath the still grounds. That i used to walk on. Leaving the one who raised me, taught me respect and honour. But i who thought was superior to her rules, did what i did, to fit in. I'm sorry to have let you down mama. Please look after my little one...




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A fashionable term

Sunday in and Sunday out on SABC 1, we watch the so-called elections debate with disbelief as the clowns shout at each other without substance. The phrase their brains have been forced strenuously to absorb is “Job creation”. How? Our clowns don’t know. Most of our politicians are veritable clowns. Anyone who finds this harsh must watch the so-called elections debate on SABC 1 on Sunday. Watching these real debates, a capacitated mind couldn’t help marvelling at the substance of politicians elsewhere. They tackle such technical economic questions as taxation, inflation management, fiscal prudence, or how best to package interventions to rescue collapsing financial institutions. Imagine President Jacob Zuma having to answer questions on any of these subjects. Smile, or say “We must continue to debate these issues”? Indeed, job creation is a fashionable term today. The so-called New Growth Path even speculates that mining will create 200 000 jobs by 2030. How can this be achieved when Eskom struggles to power the current size of our economy? Those who know a little bit about mining would be aware that it is an energy-intensive industry. In agriculture smallholder schemes are projected to create 145 000 by 2020. How could this be real when most of our rural municipalities can’t provide water? Talk about the hollowness of our politicians!



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The triumph of evil over good

The value system of the South African society has sunk so low that it can only be explained through the theory of; relativity of bareness. Some would say I write with great command of detail on this very recherche` topic, on the flip side, others would say i'm subjective - targeting the ruling party and its over supply of bigots. If you are still not convinced that evil has triumphed over good in SA, think of your youth leader who has no University qualification but is welcomed warmly by students on many of our campuses. Could there be a better explanation why university students ululate and clap hands when listening to a young belligerent person who had the opportunity but knows no University door? Even more shocking, a University vice chancellor declares that the uneducated youth leader fathoms issues better than University Professors. Such sinking deeper into mediocrity is how evil has triumphed in our own society.




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A fish always rots from the head

Corruption in SA has become almost too vast to comprehend, with figures in the billions causing people to lose focus on what is happening. Members of the parliament were reportedly visibly shocked at this week's presentation by Special Investigation Unit head Willie Hofmeyr, who outlined staggering corruption in the police, the SABC, government departments and municipalities. In the past financial year the SIU has acted on 16 new proclamations, the most in its history. This means 16 government departments and municipalities are being investigated for corruption running into billions of rands. Thousands of people with access to taxpayers' money are using it for crooked self-enrichment. Among the worst culprits is the police department. Hofmeyr told MP's that National Commissioner Bheki Cele's alleged indiscretions over the massive contracts for police office leases in Pretoria and Durban are only a small part of a much broader investigation into police procurement corruption. The pattern is repeated at the SABC, the Department of Public Works, and even the Department of Arts and Culture. Independent newspapers report that every municipality in the North West is under investigation. How did SA get into this situation? A FISH ALWAYS ROTS FROM THE HEAD! That applies in several government departments and perhaps at the very top. Former Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik are minor roleplayers. We may never know whether our President is guilty of the corruption charges he escaped, buthis exoneration feeds into the cancer devouring SA's moral fibre



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The naked truth

The cursory survey of South Africa’s public discourse would leave a serious observer extremely worried.

The people who arouse the interest of newspaper readers, radio listeners and television viewers are not those who have profound ideas, but those who are theatrical. It is true that the bestselling newspaper in South Africa is one with a reputation for carrying bizarre stories.
If it is not about a villager who has raped a goat, the story has to revolve around a new, stupid rich man who has fallen victim to the sexual predations of Khanyi Mbau. Or it must be about yet another unbelievable theatrics by Julius Malema, or the barbarism of Kenny Kunene’s wealth.
Even our professors never tire; they rush to the nearest gas station to buy newspapers with big front-page pictures of public clowns. Thence discussions ensue about what Julius said, what Kunene did, or what an idiot occupying a government office has recently announced. Is it any wonder why South Africans lack standpoint? I did a suvey about the upcoming elections and you won't believe how many people lack information about the current status quo in the country - SHOCKING!!!



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