Mzansi Afrika

Hello

I'm happy to be part of Mzansi Afrika, and duly thank Bronwyn for having me. This is going to be an interesting collaboration, and I hope the three present Mzansi bloggers will continue to deliver what this blog has always been about, and more. Whether it is the more the merrier or two heads are better than one, we will try to do as well or better.

Blogging is a good way to put issues on the table and get them looked at, discussed, turned this way and that and encouraged or discouraged. Blogging is not a way to deride or to put down, or to toot one's own horn.

I look forward to sharing opinions with you all.

New author on Mzansi Africa

Rethabile of Sotho and Soul South will be joining Mzansi Africa. I am delighted to have him on board. Welcome Rethabile, I look forward to your contribution.

DA takes important steps to build African democracy

Tony Leon, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's official opposition party, and DA National Chairperson Joe Seremane have been in Mozambique for the past two days, to build ties with Renamo, the official opposition party of that country. The two opposition parties have agreed to sign a record of understanding in the new year. Sapa reports that in an attempt to to develop co-operation between opposition parties in the Southern African region, the DA also earlier today, met with a smaller Mozamibican political party, Mozambique's Party for Peace Democracy and Development (PPDD).

So far, the DA has already met with political parties from Namibia and Botswana and intends meeting opposition parties in Zambia and Tanzania in 2006.

"Addressing the Netherlands Institute of Multiparty Democracy in
Maputo on Monday, Leon advised Mozambique to avoid ruling party
dominance which loomed in neighbouring states. He said a ruling party could use its power and patronage to cut down and co-opt the opposition until it was no longer an effective political force. "That is why I believe it is necessary for us to build and improve co-operation among opposition parties-not just within our individual countries, where co-ordinated opposition is more effective opposition, but also across borders, by bringing together opposition parties from throughout the region and Africa as a whole," Leon said".

I think that Leon is taking an important and possibly even a historical step towards building democracy on the continent by trying to build bridges and improve co-operation between opposition parties. What better way to put pressure on strong man governments then by building up powerful opposition movements. This may only be a beginning, but I feel that it is a truly positive development. By working together, opposition parties can learn from one another and gain strength in unity, and by supporting one another. Politically, it's also a good move for Leon who stands to gain credibility from the black population back home by building ties with other African leaders. 

Down memory lane

I came accross a really great website today, although I guess you have to be of a certain age to really appreciate it. But, if you grew up watching SABC TV during the late 70's and through the eighties, The Punamouse has a collection mp3 files of opening themes for just about all the main TV series that appeared during these years. Knight Rider, the A-Team, Dallas and older stuff like The Brady Bunch, Rupert the Bear, Bonanza and Trompie. There are also the opening themes from the old TV news bulletins.

For even older readers (although I'm not sure that I have any any), you can find the opening themes to old Springbok Radio hits like Jet Jungle and Squad Cars. And even you aren't of that generation, they're still worth a listen to get a taste of the old school broadcasting styles - they're pretty damn hilarous as well.

Get your votes in now

In my recent post about the Ekurhuleni Metro wanting to change the name of the airport from Johannesburg International Airport to OR Tambo International Airport, I received comments from readers who weren't at all happy about the possibility of the name change.

Well, now's your chance to make your voices heard. The government has advertised a call for comments on the name change, which is being officially championed, as respresentative of the SA Geographical Names Council (SAGNC), by none other than our Minister of Transport, Jeff Radebe.

The SAGNC Act requires government to test the acceptability of the name change through consultation with the general public and stakeholders. Members of the public are invited to submit their comments on the proposed name change. The address to send your comments to is:

The Director-General
Department of Transport
Private Bag X193
Pretoria
0001

The deadline is the 9th of December, 11.00am. I noticed the  Call for Comments for the first time in the Classified Advertising section of today's edition of The Sowetan newspaper, that means you have 17 days to get your letters in.

I actually support the name change, but in the spirit of democracy, it's funny how whenever government calls for comments on major issues like name changes, and cross border municipalities, they do it in the more obscure way of advertising in the classified sections of newspapers. One might think, that if they truly wanted public participation, they would send out media releases in good time, so that the call for participation could be relayed via actual newspaper articles, as well as by radio and TV news. I happen to have it on good authority that government does not send out press releases on such matters, they take out advertisements. This might be the official, or even Constitutional route, but it's not the route for meaningful public and democratic participation

Save the trees

"I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all"
Ogden Nash
Happy Days (1933) 'Song of the Open Road'

As citizens of Johannesburg, one of the things we like to take pride in, is that our city is said to be the largest urban forest in the world. Sadly, this may no longer be true. There have been stories in the media lately about advertising companies cutting down trees without permission to make space for their billboards. In September this year, an advertising company cut down 68 trees along Hans Strydom Drive in Randburg. Luckily, City Parks have planted new trees in their place.

According to an article in the latest Sunday Times, it's not only the advertising companies who are to blame - residents and developers are decimating our urban forest. People have been illegally chopping down trees on their pavements, and any Joburger can you tell about the characterless pseudo-Tuscan townhouse developments popping up all over the show, lending our urban landscape an appearance of boring conformity - but I digress, that's  a rant all of its own.

To get back to the point, according to Joburg City Parks, residents are chopping down more trees than developers and advertising companies. No residents have been brought to book so far because it's difficult to gather enough evidence to prosecute. Food & Trees for Africa have dismissed the allegation that residents are most to blame, they say that "developers, architects and urban planners are at serious fault because they just go and bulldoze everything before they start a development."

I don't see why developers can't at least try and save some of the existing trees, the pathetic Italian elms they are so fond of planting in new developments just don't have the same majesty as the old existing trees, and they don't stand out on the landcape as much. I don't care who's to blame. Either way it's horrible and a great loss to our city. We don't have the mountain, and we don't have the sea, but at least we've got our magnificent trees.

Sandton Skyline

Awesome pic of the Jozi skyline
(via in my nes)

Apartheid era mass graves found in Namibia

A fifth mass grave has been found in northern Namibia. Some of the graves were found near a site that was used by South Africa's apartheid era army during its occupation of the country. It is thought that the graves date back to 1989, when a nine-day war was fought between SWAPO (South West African People's Organisation) soldiers and South African backed security agents.

The graves were found near Eenhana 850km north-east of Windhoek. This was a military base for the South African army's 54 Battalion. Over 300 people are said to have died as a result of the fighting. According to Peter Tseehama, the Namibian Minister Safety and Security, "some of the bones were children's, possibly siblings of former freedom fighters. He said other items found were guns, bullets and parts of what might have been explosives." The bodies appeared to have been burnt before being thrown into the graves.

Apartheid era generals Magnus Malan and Constant Viljoen have denied any knowledge of the graves. A former soldier, however, spoke about his experiences at Eenhana.

"An ex-SADF soldier claims he watched Swapo fighters being blindfolded and executed at mass graves at Eenhana and in northern Namibia. John, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was called up in 1980 as a 17-year-old conscript. "They would blindfold them and line them up on the side of a pit that had been dug. They would then shoot them," he said. John claims he witnessed nine executions. "Some of the guys buried were cuffed or tied up. Others had wounds to the back of their heads."

Another former South African soldier, only identified as Badenhorst had this to say,

"They were Swapo soldiers killed by Koevoet, South African units and gunships." Army procedure was that the bodies were brought in a trailer pulled by an armoured troop carrier. "Sometimes the trailer would be left overnight - we couldn't go out at night as it was an operational area."Sometimes ears on the bodies would be missing the next morning - taken by troops as souvenirs."  Genitals were also taken, apparently to be used as pen holders. "Some of the dead were little more than children, they were only about 13 or 14 years old," said Badenhorst. The graves were hand dug, bodies were stacked between layers of wood, then diesel and aviation fuel was poured on the corpses and set alight. "We were supposed to stay there until the corpses were just ash, but we never did because that took a long time."

What happens on day 17?

According to the Medical Research Council, in South Africa, a woman is shot dead by her current or former partner every six hours, and such cases rose by 78 percent between 1990 and 1999.

As we approach the end of November, it's that time of the year for the "16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children" campaign. Don't get me wrong, I think that anything that draws attention to the problem is a good thing, but there is a cynical part of me that questions the value of this campaign which largely consists of 16 days of ongoing media coverage of the issue. We see politicians on our TV screens greeting the inhabitants of woman's shelters in the townships, and making speeches about how we need to stop the violence. Last year the SABC spent R1 million to put a big red ribbon around the Radio Park office block for the duration of the 16 days, and the relevant MEC dished  out"No Violence" sloganed T-shirts to employees while doing the rounds of interviews. One shudders to think of how that money could have been better spent.

It's one thing to have 16 days, but what we really need is an ongoing media campaign like Lovelife - except unlike Lovelife, one that's really meaningful and gets its point accross strongly. We also need education in our schools, proper trained councelors in schools, more community outreach programmes and women's shelters.

What we don't need is big red ribbons and free T-shirts

Zuma rape allegations

I haven't written about Zuma yet, so here goes my little bit of speculation. I reckon it was a set up, I'm sure a million rand could easily buy a rape charge as horrible as that may sound. The timing is just too co-incidental for me? Why would Zuma suddenly turn into a rapist at this point of his life and career, especially when he has so much to lose. And why have we never heard as much as a peep about sexual misconduct concerning him before? These things have a way of leaking out - consider the Peter Marais story.

What this development points to is the incredible amount of political intrigue and subterfuge going on in the ranks of the ANC and the Alliance. It shows that when it comes to leadership the ANC has failed in one critical arena to make the transition from liberation movement to political party. They are still operating according to the secretive, underground spy methods of dirty tricks and deception that  served them when they were an exiled movement in constant danger of infiltration by the enemy. It's almost like an abused child who has learned to withdraw in order to survive, but is not able to live as a functional adult and develop intimate relationships. Behaviour that may have served the ANC well in the past is now threatening to tear it apart. All the high intrigue going on now has to be taking away from time spent on governing the country.

The Sowetan and the Business Day in recent editorials have called for both Zuma and Mbeki to step down over their failure to lead, and I'm beginning to think that if the situation continues to go downhill, this wouldn't be such a bad idea.