Mzansi Afrika

Nelson Mandela Square

Some photo's of Nelson Mandela Square. This is a kind of huge open courtyard surrounded by restaurants and forms part of Sandton City shopping mall. This is one of South Africa's most upmarket shopping and dining destinations. The area is situated in the exclusive northern suburbs of Johannesburg, and is surrounded by luxury hotels.

Giant statue of Nelson Mandela in the square. It's a great hit with tourists who can often be seen posing for pictures with the statue.

The white building at the back is the Michaelangelo Towers. This is an exclusive apartment building, the penthouse suites at the top were sold for R45 million.

Children playing in the water fountains while their parents eat at the surrounding restaurants.

Christmas

Was Jesus Christ born on 25 December 0000? Of course he wasn't. My grandmother, who was born in the early part of the past century, couldn't even tell you the year of her birth. She says she was born at the time of Halley's Comet. "A little before or a little afterwards, grandma?" She has no idea. How could somebody affirm that Jesus Christ was born on a specific day, in a specific month? History also tells us that we don't know when Jesus was born.

The date of 25 December as Jesus's birthday can be traced back to the 4th century. At the outset it was but an expression of Romano-European festivities that celebrated harvesting and the end of the winter solstice. That would have been a few days after 21 December. Scandinavians celebrated Yule from 21 December, the day of the winter solstice, to the end of January. The solstice of course heralded the return of sunshine and the end of the bitterly cold darkness: a reason to have a ball. So the men of the village, or of the fjord, brought large logs home and set them on fire, and the party was on for as long as the fire was on. Sometimes it lasted 12 days, we're told.

The name "Christmas" is a portmanteau word made up of Christ and mass... the mass of Christ. It is associated with so many symbols that it would be close to impossible to explore them all here. There's Santa, the Christmas tree, mistletoe, Christmas cards, the term "Xmas", and others. Did you know that:

In 16th-century Germany fir trees were decorated, both indoors and out, with apples, roses, gilded candies, and colored paper. In the Middle Ages, a popular religous play depicted the story of Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden. A fir tree hung with apples was used to symbolize the Garden of Eden -- the Paradise Tree. The play ended with the prophecy of a saviour coming, and so was often performed during the Advent season. It is held that Protestant reformer Martin Luther first adorned trees with light. While coming home one December evening, the beauty of the stars shining through the branches of a fir inspired him to recreate the effect by placing candles on the branches of a small fir tree inside his home. The Christmas Tree was brought to England by King George I from his native Germany. The famous Illustrated News etching in 1848, featuring the Royal Family standing gathered around a Christmas tree in Windsor Castle, popularized the tree throughout Victorian England. Brought to America by the Pennsylvania Germans, the Christmas tree became by the late 19th century. [ Source]

We in Lesotho and other African countries nicked the whole thing from our colonisers. I'll never forget the image in Maseru when I was young, of a Father Christmas sweating profusely beneath his Santa Claus suit and beard. The problem is of course the fact that in Lesotho summer is from October to January, and summer temperatures are often in the thirties. Poor guy.

And the gifts? The practice dates back to Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Kalends. The first giver then must have given a very simple gift, like a pebble, or hyena-skin sandals, or something of the sort. But the present became more and more sophisticated until the request by today's kids of Play Station material that is hardlt affordable for the average mortal. The early church considered this gift-giving un-holy, but people compared it with gift-giving by the Three Wise Men, and the church had to accept it.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a prosperous 2006.

Bono, Gates and Gates

Bono, Gates and Gates were selected people of the year by Time Magazine this time around. And why not? Bono has fought valiantly to have the debts of poor countries cancelled, with some success. Bill and Melinda have donated millions, nay, billions, to the poor. Is the argument that Bono is just a clue-less rock star valid? Is the argument that the Gates are giving away their dosh because they don't know what to do with it valid? No, they're not. Bono is a rock star but he's also someone who created the fashion line

Edun, co-created with designer Rogan. Edun's earthy but chic duds, which are created from organic materials, are made in family-run factories in South America and Africa with fair-labor practices [Source].

Perhaps the only thing I didn't quite catch in this whole story is why Ali Hewson, a.k.a. Mrs Bono, didn't get the recognition, too. After all, she works as hard against poverty, albeit without hogging the spotlight.

And Bill, what about Bill? First off, let me say that the man's software is bad. For the richest guy in the world, it's really inacceptable. But that's neither here nor there. Bill Gates is a philanthropist and he helps people with one of the few things he has at his disposal to help people with: money. We don't really care if he's giving it away because he doesn't know what to do with it, do we? Besides, if he's giving it away to charity, he does know what to do with it, doesn't he? And Melinda? Let's leave Mrs Gates out of it, because the other lady didn't get the same recognition, although she's worked hard, too.

Paul Theroux, the great travel writer, says that Bono is "endlessly shouting for people to hand over money [which doesn't] solve the wider problem of poverty [Source]." What has Mr. Theroux done to alleviate poverty? He's also said that

There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can't think of one at the moment.

I can, and it has to be the slamming of one of the few people who are using their stature to do their share. Of course Bono isn't going to eradicate poverty in developing countries. But he's helping reduce it. That's good enough.

By the way, the name of Bono and Ali's clothes line, Edun, is "nude" backwards. The jeans all have a poem on the pocket, and the material used is organic, while the labour used is local, and from the countries involved themeslves. What more would you want?

Eish!!!

I was listening to one of our local music stations today, and it struck me (not for the first time) how many competition promos and ads we have that make use of fake American accents. A lot of young South African TV presenters and celebrities, mainly black people, also talk with these phoney American accents to be cool.

I can understand adopting American culture to a point, like when you get local hip hop groups and slam poets that take an American cultural paradigm and then make it their own by bringing in aspects of their own local languages, culture, ideas and musical forms - and out of this whole mish mash comes something new and fresh.

But this whole adopting of the American accent thing, especially when you've never set foot in America - I just don't get it. What's wrong with our own ethnic African accents? Why do you have to be a pseudo-American to be cool? Frankly, I find it annoying.

While on the subject of language, another thing that irritates me is the number of white people who phone in to radio talk shows, or write letters to the editor, and send in letters to radio and TV stations to complain about how black news readers and reporters "butcher" the pronunciation of the English language. So what if we don't all speak the Queen's English - why can't we be more tolerant of the fact that we live in a multi-cultural society and we all pronounce certain words differently? It's not like the white news readers are any better at pronouncing black words and names.

Welcome to South Africa-We hope you enjoy your stay

Well, if this doesn't take the cake, I don't know what does? Can you imagine arriving at customs at a major international airport in the early hours of the morning. You happen to notice, to your absolute disbelief and surprise, that there are no immigration officials to clear your passport. You wait patiently in line for someone to appear but no-one does. It's 5.00am and you're tired and bleary eyed, so 45 minutes later, you figure screw it, and together with about a hundred of your fellow passengers, you simply waltz through customs, no questions asked, no entry stamp on your passport.

Sound a little impossible? Not at all. This is precisely what happened to a group of Nigerian passengers arriving at Johanneburg International Airport from Lagos last Thursday.

My two choice quotes of the day.

"I've travelled a lot around the world at odd hours, but this was the first time in my life that I experienced an unmanned immigration point at an international airport."
Nigerian passenger

"I am not saying it's correct. It's bad for the integrity and security of this country. We're still trying to find out what exactly happened."
South African Department of Home Affairs spokesman

Capital Punishment

It is true that it sounds more benign when called thus: capital punishment. But it is 'killing'. Let's call it not capital punishment, not the death penalty, but killing. Stanley Tookie Williams died today after being injected with a lethal concoction. Let us not say that, either. Let us say, Stanley Tookie Williams was killed today. Tookie had allegedly taken the lives of four of his countrymen. That sounds too soft, too; he had allegedly killed four people with a shotgun at point blank. So he deserved to die. Or did he?

Who killed these people? If we kill Tookie for killing, who kills us for killing Tookie? Who kills the person or people who killed 30,000 civilians in Iraq, plus about 2,150 American soldiers, plus non-civilian Iraqis? Tookie had no right to do what he did. What right have we to "do to him what he did to others?"

The pain of family and friends must necessarily come into play. Tookie's victims had family. The pain must be tremendous, even after such a long time (The crime occurred 26 years ago). Twenty-five years ago someone pressed the trigger of a machine gun and blew my sleeping, three-year-old nephew to bits, brain and guts and all. A few years before, the same person or someone else had snuffed out my brother's life. We don't know how or where. We were never given the body. I'm in no way trying to compare pains, but rather to make my statement more understandable. It is the statement that "if those who kill your loved ones are killed for it, the former do not return." If you quote that, credit it to me, Rethabile Masilo. What's more, I feel that the perpetrators of those crimes against my family are now in deep shit, both as human beings, full-stop; and as human beings before God. If my family and friends had gotten them killed, and then gloated and pranced, wouldn't we be the ones in deep shit today? Besides

I know from talking to many others who have shared that chamber with me before that when months or even years have gone by, there will be no real closure or peace after what we saw Tuesday morning. Williams will not be alive for the supporters who wanted to save him, and the people he was convicted of killing will still leave huge empty spaces in the hearts of their loved ones. [Source]

Killing is wrong, no matter who does it and for whatever reason. Let's start from there, before we even think of working our way out toward whether Tookie should have been pardoned, or whether the killer of 30,000+ people should go scot free, or whether the system is or is not flawed, killing innocent people, or whether the system is or is not racially biased, killing more minorities than other Americans, or whether religion gives us the right to play God and kill, or whether killing criminals lowers the crime rate... Let us start from the beginning and gently remind ourselves that killing is wrong. Now, what? But let us start there.

Relevant reading: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Jewish community in Uganda

This is very interesting - I had no idea that Uganda is home to a small ethnic Jewish community. They live in the  eastern Ugandan town of Mbale and are known as the Abayudaya, which is the Luganda word for Jews.The community was founded by a warrior called Kakungulu, who was used by the British to help conquer Uganda.

Kakungulu eventually fell out with the colonialists, settled down in Mbale and converted to Judaism in 1919, without ever having met a Jew. By the time he died, about ten years later he had around 2,000 followers.Through the years the community dwindled, but over recent years has experienced a revival, having grown from around 500 members in 2001 to more than 750 members today. The community has built Jewish schools which are currently also attended by Muslim and Christian scholars.

Fuel shortages in SA

One of the top stories in SA over the past two days has been the fuel shortage - planes being delayed at Cape Town International Airport due to lack of fuel, and petrol stations mainly in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town also running dry. I must admit, I haven't really been following the stories, but what has somehow impinged on my consciousness is that it all seems to have something to do with the fact that as from the 1st of January 2006, the country is switching over to unleaded fuel. Previously one had a choice, but now it's only unleaded petrol.

It all sounds rather confusing to a motoring ignoramus like myself, with all sorts of terms like octane grades, lead replacement petrol and catalytic converters being bandied around. I count myself blessed that my car already uses unleaded so personally it's one thing less in life to have to worry about.

However, if like me, this type of thing confuses you and you need to know what's going on, the ever trusted Sapa has an article explaining the ins and outs in a way that even I can understand.

"Q: What's happening?
A: From January 1, leaded petrol will be phased out. Three unleaded octane grades of petrol — 91, 93 and 95 — will be allowed nationally, and two grades of lead replacement petrol — 93 inland and 95 at the coast — will be available for use in older vehicles. At the same time the existing grade of diesel will be replaced by grades with a much lower sulphur content.

Q: You say January 1: my local filling station already has different labels on the pumps.
A: January 1 is the official changeover date, but some BP service stations have already done it.

Q: What's wrong with leaded petrol?
A: The lead that goes into petrol gets spewed out of exhaust pipes into the environment. It's a poison: it can cause neurological damage, which particularly in children leads to reduced IQ and behavioural problems.

Q: What does "phasing out" mean?
A: There will still be some lead even in lead replacement petrol — albeit in ever-decreasing quantities — until all traces of the heavy metal have been flushed from the distribution chain. This could take up to six months...."

The rest of the article follows.

Black clubs and things

More often than not, it bothers me when I find Black people having Black things, like black clubs, or black blog-rings, and so on. What really gets to me is the fact that it would bother me to find White people having White things, like white clubs, or white blog-rings, and so on. I'd rather see California blog-rings, or Moldavian clubs, and so on.

Mind you, it can very easily be argued that Black folks can and should do so. Any minority, for that matter. Otherwise how else can they turn around and beat the odds? How can they "help themselves" in the face of what they and their ancestors are enduring and have endured? Even in the face of that valid argument, it still bothers me that the label is colour rather than a region, or a common activity.

Besides, in my experience, especially in the United States, White clubs and many other White groups have been anything but positive. You can have your Black Student Association, for example, most of whose meetings and get-togethers will be about Kwaanza and a holiday for Martin Luther King. Your average White Student Association, on the other hand, would most probably spend its meetings and get-togethers telling racist jokes and chanting Nazi songs.

Which brings us back to the flipside of the argument about minorities needing perhaps to have clubs in order to better fend for themselves. And the flipside is of course that White folks in America have little to fend themselves against, so that when they do have a club its principal activity will certainly not be to fight for the recognition of St Patrick's Day or for the right to celebrate Columbus Day or something of the sort.

South Africa is the only country on the African continent where Black and White folks mix in a manner that can be compared to that of the United States, albeit with reverse population percentages. How does this kind of situation play out in South Africa? Do universities have colour clubs and unions? How was the situation before the first free election in 1994? How do White South Africans feel about Black groups?

Urbanisation and more evictions in Nigeria

As we know, Africa has many problems. One issue not written about all that much is urbanisation on the continent. According to UN Habitat, urbanisation is one of the biggest challenges facing African countries. Currently two-thirds of Africa's urban population live in informal settlements without adequate sanitation, water, transport or health services. At current levels of urbanisation and with distinct variations across regions, an average of 70% of the urban population in subSaharan Africa has traded a rural lifestyle for life in the city.

More than half of Africa's estimated 750-million people will be living in cities within the next 20 years. The combined population of African cities will double in the next 14 to 18 years. At least 200-million additional people are expected to move to Africa's cities. An estimated 187 million Africans are accommodated in slums, just 19 percent have access to running water, and only 7.5 percent are connected to a sewerage system.

Not only is housing and service provision a problem, but the major African cities are also battling with inner city decay and generally trying to improve the state of city buildings. Concerning city betterment programmes, an unfortunate trend has started to emerge in many African countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Municipalities decide to upgrade an area, and then evict thousands of people, often on short notice, without bothering to provide alternative housing.

Lagos in Nigeria, is the latest city to come under criticism from Amnesty International for carrying out such policies. Sapa has the story.

"Police broke down the gate of a huge housing complex to oust thousands of civil servants and their families last Friday in the latest mass eviction by a government struggling to gain control of its chaotic and crowded cities. Police officials were not available for comment on the evictions, but Umma Muhammed, a spokeswoman for tenants of 1 004 Residences, said the move followed a decision by the government to sell off several of its properties in a privatisation scheme. Authorities have not provided the estimated 8 000 residents with other accommodation."