A journey of a few pictures and even more words

I am privileged, blessed and humbled by my wife, stha, as I have come to refer to her, especially in print. She insisted that we do something that we have both mentioned often enough to each other without doing anything about it. This piece is in gratitude to stha and the forces that conspired to put her in my life and I in hers. We drove to Graaf-Reinet with the kids. We drove to Graaf-Reinet to find Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.

Graaf-Reinet is a typical small South African town. We should in the future write about the people of Graaf-Reinet but now I wish to write about only one person who once, many years ago lived in Graaf-Reinet and is now buried there. This is my family's experience of Graaf-Reinet and of Robert Sobukwe, posthumously.

This small town is a town of museums. In the short time that we were there we counted no less than 5 museums, that is buildings labeled as such, where you may go in and browse around and learn a thing or two. In my view, whatever it is worth, the whole town is a museum.

This is the museum in which Robert Sobukwe now resides. The museum is in the main road of Graaf-Reinet diagonally across the road from the post office. It is well preserved and my thanks go to the lady on duty who made us welcome. Unlike the other lady at the spur, but about that you will hear in good time. I would like to thank her on behalf of my children and all Africans, and those who put together the Sobukwe exhibition in the museum. Considering the man it potrays, it is not much, however it is there and my children got to see it and to ask questions, questions I was only too happy to answer. Once inside the museum, one is lost in the little pieces of the life of this gentle giant of a man. I got goose bumps looking at the set of toiletries, shaving stuff and all that he used. Go figure. I was fascinated to discover that a university in Nigeria had bestowed an honorary doctorate on Sobukwe. The modest room with a table and chairs in the middle of the one half of it has pictures of Sobukwe, his friend and family. The majority of these pictures speak of him as a leader of the people and a fighter against the oppression of the African people. Then there are the newspaper reports, articles written by then great journalists such as Mothobi Moutloatse. Sobukwe died in 1987, some 10 years after Steven Bantu Biko.

This is the Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe Wing as the arching inscription boldly proclaims as the Prof (as he was also knows) looks on almost as if amused by all of this. My gratitude to the lady in charge who allowed me to take this particular picture as the museum does not allow taking of pictures without prior arrangement. There items in the Sobukwe collection range from ties, academic gown and hoods, letters, photographs and newspaper reports. The collection left me thinking that more should be done. Here in this town, the legacy of Sobukwe is dying and will like the man himself, be buried in this modest room with its arched entrance. We left the museum happy and sad and a little hungry. The next stop we hoped would be the home of the Sobukwes of those many years ago. The house Sobukwe and his siblings would have grown up prior to leaving to go to the missionary schools.

This part of the trip is nothing but sad. Firstly, the nice lady at the museum had no clue where this house would be and could not give us directions there. Why this part of Sobukwe's life is not incorporated into the museum by reference and definitive directions and a map, simply beats me. Anyway, we did what any self-respecting Africans would do, we headed to the township armed with the belief that we will ask the locals and surely they will give us directions. We found the way to the township without any problems. As we entered the township we met some young lads who after exchanging the usual pleasantries, told us where to go. We were to drive up the road and just before a church we would turn left into Sobukwe street, the house is green, we won't miss it. Excitement reigned in the car as we set off to go see the house where greatness started. We saw the church for sure and that is all that assured us of the young men's directions. The streets leading off the main road into the township are nothing more than passages and we could not believe that we would be allowed to drive down one of these passages. A remark was made as to how the town planner may have spent some time in Alexander township, that bustling metropolis in the north of Johannesburg.

To avoid getting lost and more confused, we stopped a lady (not by design and having nothing to do with the disappointment by the young lads) who not only told us where to go but physically pointed out the street we were meant to go down. This was all well and fine until she said that the house we were looking for is white. Anyway, we proceeded down the narrow street with stha driving, worry written all over her face. We saw a house that we thought looked like the house we saw in the pictures at the museum with the front door, a stable door, open. Armed with my camera with stha by my side we walked over to the house. An elderly lady answered the door and on enquiry, told us that the house in front of which we had parked the car, on the other side of the street and some open veld, is the house of the Sobukwes. It looked nothing like the house we had seen in the pictures and honestly, it did not feel like the right house.

To say that this is a disappointing experience is an understatement. Here is a piece of South African history that we have done nothing to preserve. We were pointed to no less than 3 houses as being (at least one of them) the house that Sobukwe once lived in. If you were to find yourself in Tlokwe (formely known as Potchefstroom) you will with ease a house in which Totius lived. If you were lost and you were to ask any Afrikaner worth his khakis, you will be pointed in the right direction. How does a township forget one of its greatest? For me this is not the end of the story, I am hoping throught the municipality of Graaf-Reinet, to find the right house and maybe put up the pictures on this space, lest we forget completely. Incidentally, and as a complete but related aside, if you look carefully at the picture of the museum's Sobukwe Wing, you will spot a notice board to the right of the doorway. One of the notices on it depicts another of Graaf-Reinet's finest sons, Mr Rupert himself, he of the Rembrandt group fame. I bet his earlier home is a museum and is probably sign posted, if not, the lady at the museum would give spot on directions to the house, which I suspect would be white.

Sobukwe lived in another house, this is after he was released from prison. This house in the township near Kimberley. This house too, is not a museum from the research I have managed to do. If my journey to Graaf-Reinet is anything to go by, that modest room in the museum is all that is left of Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe.

Power or Lives, Gentlemen?

“Listen here you unruly lot, I am your democratically elected president and will remain so for the foreseeable future so, why don’t we all give it our best effort and try to get used to it”. If I were a speech writer and wrote for one president Kibaki I would be very tempted to write that as an opening line of his state of the nation address. Sadly I am not a speech writer and even sadder, the subject of this blog is not as flippant. I find it very difficult to write this piece because quite frankly I do not know how to properly refer to Mr Kibaki without being seen as either being disrespectful or as being a supporter of an illegitimate government.
The opposition movement in Kenya has it on what seems to be good authority that Mr Kibaki defrauded his way into the presidency. Mr Kibaki on the other hand points out to the election results and says “who’s your daddy now?!” In the meantime the greater cleaver of nations, ethnicity, is happily swinging his scythe felling lives and limbs with wild abandon.
In the crudest possible terms this is where Kenya finds itself. I remember reading one of the earliest reports on the situation in Kenya in the Sunday Times (the South African model of objectivity and fair comment, by any means necessary, etc) and being amazed by the angle taken by the paper on the story. The paper ran two reports on interviews conducted respectively with a member of the Luwo and a member of the Kikuyu tribes. The reports are that the two tribes are at each others throats for all sorts of reasons chief of which is the distribution of resources in Kenya. The report went on to indicate the tribal origins of the current leadership of both the government and the opposition. I remember thinking how ominously close to Rwanda, Kwazulu South Africa in the eighties, some parts of Nigeria, Sudan and so on and so forth, all of this really is – at least based on the news reports.
The latest on the Kenyan debacle is the arrival of one Kofi Annan the previous secretary general and public face of the United Nations (that well-meaning but worryingly ineffective organisation). It is the very Kofi on whose international watch Rwandans were butchered by other Rwandans. This is his strongest point and greatest qualification for the job for he knows more than most what happens when situations such as the one prevalent in Kenya are left to fester and get out of control – people die in their thousands and bloated bodies float along the rivers while other rot along the highways.
What are the negotiations between the representatives of the Kibaki government and those of the opposition supposed to be about? They cannot, I think, be about how Kibaki cheated his way into power; neither can they be about the lawless conduct of the opposition during their protest marches which, some would say, amount to nothing than being bad losers. The official results are that the opposition lost and Kibaki won. I am not sure what to make of this because in my reading on the Kenyan crisis (which has by no means been any detailed) I have not come across any statement (unequivocal or otherwise) from the electoral commission (independent or otherwise).
Should it not be the electoral commission or whatever authority that was charged with running the elections, that is centre-stage during these trying times for Kenya? Were there any observer missions present in Kenya during the elections and what do they have to say? Ultimately, Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga are about proving who’s wrong and who’s right. In the absence of an independent, objective and trusted body to pronounce on the elections, we are left with the “mine is bigger than yours” type of screaming matches between the government and the opposition. In the meantime Kenyans are killing other Kenyans. Some carry out their murderous act in the name of keeping the peace, law and order, etc. Some do it in the name of ethnic cleansing which, incidentally they do not have the courage of their own convictions to admit to it. In these times, people are no longer just Kenyans, they are Luwos and Kikuyus and all other groupings. The content of the Sunday Times report referred to earlier pretty much sums up the nonsense that people are prepared to butcher others in the name of. It reminds me of a statement I read somewhere which, went something like this: “the reluctance to accept that the other is the same is the other is as dangerously stupid as the reluctance to accept that the same is the other”. I have taken great liberties with this quote for which I apologise profusely, hopefully someone will be kind enough to correct it and better still, remind me of the source (for the record, I am not claiming those wise words as mine). The multiplicity of the problems that confront not only Kenya but the rest of the continent and the world are often conveniently placed at the door of a conveniently designated group; the result is often what happened in Rwanda and other genocide examples around the world.
For as long as power is the goal for our leaders, both in government and in the opposition, the people will continue to die. Should the opposition movement in Kenya continue to go on protest in the face of brutal repression by the state security forces? This is not a question of whether the Kenyan people should give up their right to protest and to assemble freely. What leadership is it that unleashes such terror on its own people? Odinga calls Kibaki a thief and all sorts of other names. Kibaki maintains he is the president in the face of protest, which he dismisses as a tribal aligned minority that wishes to distabilise Kenya. All manner of arguments can be made, yet in the meantime the people of Kenya lose their lives and homes and loved ones and time.
So, Mr Kibaki, Mr Odinga what will the negotiations be about (if they ever take place in earnest)? Will they be about power or will they be about saving the lives of the people of Kenya, whichever group or tribe or political affiliation they may belong to?
As we wait for the answer and if you care to listen closely, you will hear the eerie thud, thud, thud of Kenyan heads, lives and limbs. Such is the price of power.

And then there's bra Fred

Touch my blood bra Fred.

Fred Khumalo writes for the same paper as Mr Donaldson but bra Fred does a whole lot more than write. The reader will notice a far more tolerant tone in this piece compared to that about Mr Donaldson for the simple reason that unlike the latter african, bra Fred has an uncle who carries an okapi and is reportedly not scared to use it. I must however ask bra Fred to go a little easy on those who think and act differently to the way he thinks and acts.

Bra Fred, in his weekly column in the Sunday Times, a week or so ago, expressed his undisguised contempt for women who choose to have a double-barrelled surname. I could not believe that was coming from bra Fred as I did not believe his other previous piece on Somisi Mhlongo, one flamboyant choreographer (occupational hazard I would have thought bra Fred would have accepted). Otherwise, bra Fred like his fellow african Mr Donaldson write beautifully.

About double-barrelled surnames - is it not the case that as with everyone of us there is a question of who a woman with a double-barrelled surname is and there is a further question of what she chooses to be called? A case in point is bra Fred himself. He is on record saying that although he has another name, Vusi, which he chooses not to use for fear (among other reasons) of being mistaken for the other Vusi Khumalo whose current address is Block C, Diepkloof prison. Apparently there are a few of such Vusis.

Now if bra Fred can choose what he wants to be called which, incidentally does not make him any less Mtungwa, then should the present deputy president of South Africa and the previous deputy minister of health not choose what they want to be called? And this bra Fred is regardless of who they are in the greater scheme of clan affiliations. Not to disrespect your reasoning bra Fred and with the hope that you will be discreet with the content of this note where your uncle is concerned; you would accept I believe that one does not become of this or another clan just because one claims so or calls oneself by a name that suggests such an affiliation. If tomorrow bra Fred, you chose to be called just Fred you would still remain Mtungwa wouldn't you? Similarly she who is born Mtungwa and then marries a Nhlapo, become a Sgegede and so do her children from that union, regardless of what she chooses to call herself. I suspect, but am open to your correction bra Fred that you were named Vusi and then baptised Frederick, but who you are is Mtungwa.

Another thing bra Fred, I am not sure what feminism is and whether men are excluded from membership. I am sure of our history however that prescribed that a woman who enters into marriage shall take the surname of her husband as a matter of course. I am also sure of our present that guarantees our right to call ourselves whatever we choose regardless of our gender. And then there are your readers and your responses to them. You see bra Fred sometimes Madiba means lakes and does not mean that one who is called such will necessarily find it easy to pronounce Xhosa surnames (sic). And since when does being married mean the end of independence and loss of identity.

Other than these few matters of disagreement bra Fred, I have no beef with you and I trust you will be kind to let uncle Enerst know.

Dear Mr Donaldson

Andrew Donaldson writes a weekly column in the Sunday Times (a major South African weekend paper) under the title "Eish". I am amazed by how appropriate a title it is having read a few of Mr Donaldson's pieces. They are never an easy read, but then again that is just me. "Eish" is a South African expression, a black South African expression to be precise. It has seen become assimilated into the South African tapestry of human beings thanks to a certain advertisement whose details I will not bore you with. By the way, of all things South African, that advert is a fantastic example. Back to Mr Donaldson.

Responding to upset readers of one of his columns that stated that Jacob Zuma (he of the ANC presidency fame -described by Mr Donaldson as a homophobic kanga snapping polygamists) has married a fat woman, Mr Donaldson apologises or does he? Reference to the bride in the manner that Mr Donaldson did apparently upset some of the readers of Mr Donaldson's column and he (apparently not believing the reaction of his readers) in response wrote another column parts of which reads like an apology. This is not about the sincerety or otherwise of Mr Donaldson's apology, that is a matter best left to Mr Donaldson. This is about what Mr Donaldson expresses as bothersome to him (I am not sure whether it is bothersome generally or only in respect of the responses he got for his unflattering description of Msholozi's (aka Jacob Zuma)bride). Mr Donaldson is bothered by the fact that we (I presume South Africans but it could also be Mr Donaldson and the readers who routinely get upset with the views expressed in his column) do not seem to be connecting - how there is a gulf between us. I was privileged to live for some years (on and off) among white people. During that time I was often surprised by the different and sometimes strange ways they do things, like how they knocked on a door! How once invited in, they just stood there and did not sit down! I continued to be surprised by how at public places like the airport a white person would approach and "politely" say "excuse me could you please watch my bag for a moment?". How about "hello, could you please . . ."

So Mr Donaldson do not be surprised that I get upset with you for BANGING on my door instead of knocking and for towering over me in my own space instead of taking your load off and exchanging greetings. Don't expect me to connect with you if you stop your car next to me and asked to be excused and ask for directions to Lusikisiki - greet me Mr Donaldson and you will soon realise that you won't even ask to be pardoned thereafter.

What then Mr Donaldson is the value of an apology that is lost among descriptions of the bride being married in little else than a bra, not holding back at the buffett? Connecting, Mr Donaldson suggests, to me at least "a convergence of sorts with movement from both sides of the gulf. For you a little movement in your description of others (some gangsters come from the north and some golf estate children defacate into the putting cups - typifying is treacherous in our country). I believe you can be as witty and as intellectually provocative without being disrespectful.

From us guys a movement a little away from playing the man towards playing the ball. Similarly us guys can disagree with your view strongly without finding you necessarily disagreeable and calling you racist.

When things baffle you Mr Donaldson it's ok, you are only a white South African and there is a lot you are yet to learn about this country and its strange people with their strange wedding dress codes; with that learning Mr Donaldson, connecting becomes inevitable. Being condescending about what you don't understand is just not right Mr Donaldson and a self-justification masquerading as an apology (on the basis that us guys don't get it) is a little insulting. "Eish" Mr Donaldson is an exclamation that has a plethora of uses and meanings, one I hope you will remember is "I beg your pardon, I seem to have completely mucked things up, I promise not to do it again". Maybe then Mr Donaldson, we shall connect. It is a problem with being right Mr Donaldson, it sometimes leads to us forgetting about common decency, about reaching out so that we may connect.

The Gun Debate

Martin Hood and Adele Kirsten had a brief debate on SABC television on this emotive issue. Mr Hood is a lawyer and adviser to the SA Gun-owners Association and Adele Kirsten is the author of a book "A nation without Guns" and previously led Gunfree SA.

As a result of both the time allocated to this debate (8am on a Saturday) some 3 minutes or so and the manner in which it was structure (no structure to speak of) it is difficullt to say what the key points of the debates are. Mr Hood is clearly emotional about the subject and dismissed the points made by Adele in print and during the show as lies and untruths. Well, that is the show, one which I hope will be broadcast again, better!

Everytime I have listened to or participated in the gun debate I have notice a few issues that come up all the time and have notice how some of these issue bedevil rather than aid the debate. Firstly, the pro-gun side of the debate tend to refer to guns as fire-arms and not guns, I am yet to figure this one our. It reminds me of some war movie I watched in which some lowly soldier was reminded to refer to his rifle as a weapon and never a gun.

Secondly, the debate never separates the crime issues from the violence issues about guns. Thirdly, gun ownership is always purposive and never frivolous - it is about self defence and other important purposes.

My interest lies in the second issue. It is true, I believe, that we have high levels of crime in our country; whether ours has the highest crime levels is another debate. Crime has to be dealt with but it is the approach to crime-fighting where South Africans differ. If the SA media is to be believed, the majority of South Africans seem to be of the view that the governments should take care of crime. I subscribe to communities taking back their streets and neighbourhoods. This is no suggestion for vigilante action, in fact this is a call for appreciation of non-violence. which brings me to the point I wish to share: guns and violence.

Both sides of this debate I hope will agree that guns/fire-arms are by their very nature and design violent. Ours is a society with a history and dare I say a preference for violence as a means of not only conflict resolution but for regulation and control. For years we sent our young men to go to war with other young men and for that purpose have armed our young men. Even in the believe that we are entitled to self-defence, we argue for the right to be violent towards another in the preservation of self. Whether this is right or wrong is not the point of this note, it is the fact of it all that matters, I believe. We need the regulatory environment that appreciates the propensity of our society for violence and how quickly that propensity become reality with the aid of guns. I am fascinated to no end by the chant of supporters of gun ownership: "it is not guns that are violent, it is people". So in response to that "truth" do we go out and put as many guns in as many hands as possible? Or, do we stay true to our thoughts and believes and only put guns in the hands we can trust? How can this be achieved by legislation without it being seen as draconian by those who just love fire-arms and move from the premise that all other people love guns as much? The price of freely accessible guns continues to be paid by societies around the world; being a young democracy means we can do a little better for our nation I believe, without unduly trampling the rights to self-defence and recreation. We should also try to encourage our people to be less violent and maybe be more gentle. There is another chant that comes to mind "violence begets violence".

Apart from the sporting people, should we not try a gun free society and see for sure whether we will be over-run by marauding gangs of criminals? Let us leave guns in the hands of the professionals and the law enforcers for a while. Maybe that way we could save a few families from the tragedy of a violent father, mother, friend, boyfriend or neighbour. And maybe we could take this accross to the way we drive and behave on our roads. Guns are not violent maybe, but they certainly are a means to violence. They are violent when used according to instructions and as intended, in my book they are violent. A reduction of guns in our society should reduce violence and may also positively affect the negative crime situation, I think.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Jacob Zuma!

For all intents and South African political purposes the only-a-matter-of-time-unless-convicted-of-corruption-charges State President. Of course there are those who are throwing their socio-political hands up in a "there goes the neighbourhood" kind of way at the thought of JZ, as he is affectionately known, becoming the head-native-in-charge. I must confess for a long time I was not too certain if I could emotionally survive being JZ's subject until of course I had cause to contemplate the alternative.

The alternative was the return of Thabo Mbeki to the office of the president of the ANC. There is nothing untoward about this, considering that there had been a rather long stay in that position by one Oliver Reginald Tambo. Given the recent history of the ANC as a political organisation as opposed to a liberation movement however, one Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela had set a different tune to the music to which musical chairs were to be played. He (lovable Nelson) stepped down from both head of state and head of party positions. Granted, he had recently gotten married to one gorgeous and regal mamaGraca, so playing CEO of SAInc may not have been as attractive a proposition as it otherwise may have been. It became accepted, I suppose that the head native in charge should also be the leader of the party and his people.

In the meanwhile it looks like the napoleon-like incumbent, he of "a dream deferred/fit to govern/I'm an African" fame, was quickly falling out of favour among the people; and here ladies and gentlemen is the clincher - falling out of favour with the people that is.

This falling out of favour with the people thing has been characterised and documented as amaXhosa versus amaZulu members of the ANC, the ascendency of the communists and the left-wing, etc.

I will not hold it against you if you by now have stopped reading this blog at this point. What with it going all over the place and not sticking to any discernable plot.

Truth be told such is the nature of the events that culminated in the ascendence of JZ to the presidency of the heavyweight political contender in SA; they are every, almost like a disorderly series of explosions.

That being said ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present to you Mr Jacob Zuma. I do this in celebration of our (South African) constitutional democracy. Remember the clincher above, the one about the people and falling and favour? That is my motivation for celebration and presentation to you of JZ a native of my motherland. I celebrate the fact that not even a sitting president is bigger than the will of the people.

A lot has in the meantime been written and said about the people. How the people are being used and are non the wiser for even considering JZ (he who had carnal knowledge of a woman half his age while being married to 3 other women at the same time) for the leadership of the ANC and by implication the leadership of this here beautiful country. How can such a man clearly lacking in basic sense of morality not to mention fidelity. Let us not forget that the exchange of bodily fluids with the woman half his age led to JZ being charged with rape. Of course he was found guilty and found to being at risk of being HIV positive. Apparently the young woman is HIV positive. And then there was a trial of Shabir Shaik a friend and one time financial advisor to JZ. He has been found guilty of among other things, corruption. He (Mr Shaik) is said to have showered large sums of money on JZ in return for all manner of favours including government contracts - by the way all this is rather hazy. Hazy it shall remain until JZ stands trial some time in August.

He will stand trial for all manner of charges chief among which is corruption. Until then he remains in pole position in the race for the highest office in our country. Confidence abound that JZ will beat the rap and shall be free and fit to govern. Wouldn't that be interesting? Who would one Shaik be said to have corrupted? These are of course all weighty legal matters and questions, too weighty for yours truly. What I do know however is that for as long as state power is not absolute and the people are free to choose who they wish (whoever she may be) I shall continue to celebrate.

So ladies and gentlemen allow me to present to you the teenage democracy otherwise known as South Africa and with it Mr Jacob Zuma! Take it from yours truly, sometimes democracy does jump and take a bite on yo ass -sometimes it hurts for real but most times it just scares the common sense out of you - momentarily that is.