Mzansi Afrika

Pink and Mary J. Blige

There we were -- after celebrating an afternoon birthday party, after the meal, the cake, the champagne and the rest -- watching music videos on the telly. The singer, Pink, came along and left, with that reprise of Eurythmics's Sweet Dreams (are Made of This). Mary J. Blige came next, and one of the comments uttered was, elle n'est même pas belle. She isn't even pretty. "Holy Jaysus!" I thought. "Pink is pretty?"

Granted, the comment was made by a pre-teen, but what is this pre-teen a victim of? A victim of the telly, and the image it spreads of what beauty is? Past images and snippets of conversation rushed through my mind. Sistuhs wearin' straight hair. An acquaintance telling me the reason Ethiopians are a beautiful lot is because their traits stray but little from European traits. Meaning: Blacki Africans are ugly. The television, its commercials, society, are ripping us off by telling us white people are more beautiful than other peoples.

My 6-year old daughter, a beautiful "zebra-kid", wants pony-tails and an even lighter skin. Stop the bloody world and let me off, or keep it going and let me wage my fight. I spent a good quarter of an hour this morning on the way to school telling her how proud I was of my blackness, and her mum of her whiteness. And that she (my daughter) should be proud of her light-brown skin and of her double heritage.

Guy Fawkes- township style

For many years the fifth of November, Guy Fawkes Day, has been celebrated in Soweto. Guy Fawkes Day, township style, is a completely different type of celebration compared to traditional European customs. For one thing, you won't see any fireworks going off, and although most people know that Guy Fawkes has something to do with blowing up the Houses of Parliament in London, Sowetans use the day to parade around the streets, and hang out on intersections dressed up in humorous and colourful costumes. Youngsters dress up as old people, some appear as clowns, anything goes. This year some of the older generation of Sowetans were asking questions of the youth, they want to know why people make a big deal of Guy Fawkes which has no real cultural meaning for them, while they don't seem at all interested in participating in heritage days?

But, attracting even more interest on Guy Fawkes Day this year, was the fact that so many of the younger men came dressed up as as women, wearing drag outfits and makeup, and using overly exaggerated feminine gestures. People were asking themselves if gay men, who aren't easily accepted in the township were using the day as an excuse to come out of the closet.

In traditional African communities it is believed that males are males, they never cry, they fight their own battles, they are providers and it is an insult to GOD, the ancestors and our society at large to wear dresses and act in a feminine way. Guy Fawkes Day saw males parading in groups, masquerading as females, these groups were mainly found on traffic intersections and inroads to township dwellings like Mapetla which is in the very south of Soweto, and also in Mofolo and Orlando East. Orlando East is slowly becoming the gay capital of Soweto. Although there aren't gay bars and pubs, gay people throw big parties where the gay community congregates. Gays are also more easily accepted in Mofolo. In other areas like Zola which has a history of violent struggle from back in the apartheid days, gay people are insulted if they walk around in groups, and if a gay person walks alone he or she will probably get beaten up.

While some of the younger generation is becoming more accepting of homosexuality, the older generation is generally not. Another question people are asking is if gay men should be classified as women or not? As far as gender is concerned, we still have a long way to go. In a traditional African context there is no women empowerment and equal rights. This has been an ongoing red hot debate in African social circles where there is a search for common ground between the culturally academic and the traditional semi-literate in trying to find a way forward for African growth and development while still preserving African heritage.