Jokes aside

Sometimes our diversity is sad.  But I am not going to blame it on apartheid. When I saw the EFF MPs sworn in, dressed like maids and mineworkers, it pierced my heart. It was a weird feeling. I was with people who thought it is a fashion statement. It was a joke for some on twitter. I am quite sure there are some uttering racist remarks. To those who lived in the apartheid era like FW de Klerk, it must have been difficult to digest. 

Well it did not give me the complete sense of pride I wanted to have because of Julius Malema. For me, he is the wrong man with the right message. An important message. Nevertheless a point was made. The intentions are admirable and really hope they don't lose this identity to remind struggle heroes sitting on the oppsite side of the National Assembly why they are in Parliament. Their sudden middle class view of this country should vanish before they are exposed completely by the 25 MPs of the EFF. 

I am hopeful that the EFF is not using history to manipulate us, just like we are regularly manipulated by people who say they took us out of the unjust days of apartheid. 
Some of us were raised by mothers who were maids and fathers who were gardeners. We were raised by mothers who were not allowed to use the same toilets as their employers. Part of their job was to lose their dignity for as long as they are servants in the house of the Madam and Baas. Some of our mothers carried children fathered by the Baas while the Madam was away. 

It is sad to see the ANC Youth League that Nelson Mandela once led is now occupied by a different breed. Children of stalwarts who are empty cans on social media, detached from the people who actually propel the ANC to power. Far more educated than the people who put food on their table. Ironically those people don't even have enough to eat themselves. 

They are a blessing in disguise though, because this will only make the likes of Julius Malema even more radical amd say all the things that no one will dare say against what was once the congress of the people. The detachment of the ANC from the people, males space for EFF. 

I don't want to end this note without touching on the Democratic Alliance's stunt in a bid to block President Jacob Zuma's election. Their protest against the election was two-pronged. While it showed dissatisfaction with the Zuma administration, it also undermined the Chief Justice, the IEC and all of us who read and understood the Constitution. But my believe is that, history will give an acurate label to what the DA actually represents and stands for. I am not in a good position to say at this time. 

We are divided in our diversity and Mandela's mission was not accomplished. Sadly there is no one to continue. 

Playing Devil's Advocate: Oscar Pistorius Closing arguments

This would be my closing argument if I represented Oscar. You are all welcome to take the role of My Lady: 

Why are we really here? Nobody knows what really happened between Oscar and Reeva. Those are the only people that know what led to this tragic end. But why are we here? Because Oscar Pistorius broke down every time when graphic details about that fateful night emerged? He admitted to killing her. Is it inconceivable that someone would shoot their partner by mistake. in a crime-ridden country like ours? 

Why are here? Because Oscar shot through a sunroof of a car and involved in a gun going off at a restaurant? Because there were Whatsapp messages between two lovers? Some of the testimony come from people who loathe Oscar. Samantha Taylor. She has bias. Yes, the prosecution corroborated her story. Butnshe hates Oscar. 

But why are we here? The Watermelon Shooting range incident? He said all that in jest. That video only emerged when Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed. If Oscar was such a menace to society why didn't anybody report him to the police? So far there is no concrete evidence that would allow the judge to conclude beyond all reasonable doubt that Oscar Pistorius is a murderer. So why are we here? 

But while we are here, let's talk about the police. How they messed up the crime scene. Embarrassed us to the who,e world with allegations of some of the accused belongings being stolen. Investigator with a attempted murder charge or charges hanging over his head. No, we are okay with all this we are just baying for the blood of the man who admitted to shooting his girlfriend, mistaking her for an intruder. 

We sat there, edited and circulated pictures of Oscar's crying episodes.  To a point that we were led to believe that he was acting up and not really crying. I hated myself for being compassionate sometimes, because I was up against a huge wave of Oscar haters. But I honestly observed an apologetic, remorseful young man. Someone who's been locked up in their own world for too long. Missed out on being humane to others. Missed out on compassion and all the ingredients that make great people in our society because of his fame, money and pressure to keep succeeding. 

People who are unrelentingly vilified tend to end up cold and hard. I think it's hard for Oscar to do that. I don't think he can fake vulnerability like that just to get sympathy. 

I quickly remember a famous law series that was on TV a few years ago. The defence attorney in this series spoke about something called Schadenfreude. From the German words schaden and freude, damage and joy. It means to take spiteful, malicious delight in the misfortune of others. We also dismiss this as an ugly side of human nature. In early 2004 an American academic captured schadenfreude on a brain scan. It's apparently a physiological,medical,phenomenon. When we see others fall, it sometimes causes a chemical to be released in the dorsal striatum of the brain which actually cause us to feel pleasure. 

If you watch the news or read the papers. There you will see the undeniable delicious joy of the media and the public in the Oscar Pistorius plight. I have no doubt you want Oscar Pistorius to be punished. He is obnoxious, changed girlfriends just like that, unruly when he's drunk, he is cold and materialistic, unlikable... And it might bring you all pleasure to see him go to jail. 

Was it proven beyond reasonable doubt that he intended to kill Reeva Steenkamp.

Is the only possible route to a guilty verdict here Schadenfreude? 

Thank you my lady

Nkandla: We must just sit down

I don't want to be on the wrong side of history. I have to comment on the Nkandla scandal and the public protector's report. But we don't just comment for the sake of making a noise. But I felt that I needed to caution everyone expecting something to come out of Thuli Madonsela's damning report on the president's Nkandla homestead. Few week ago we heard from Madonsela, detailing how corrupt people run our public broadcaster. The report was dismssed and the rogue elements praised as martyrs.
So, don't give yourself ulcers and heartburn when this is just one of those moments we will look back and realise that President Jacob Zuma got away with it. Instead of defending the ANC by getting rid of him, they choose to keep him where he is. Perhaps it's ideal for their own future? The idea of not having blue lights and bodyguards probably torments ministers who continue to swim against a tide of outrage and disgust at the corruption and dishonesty.
Most of the condemnation of what is happening in our government, is loud in newspaper columns and blogs. Not in the streets. The noise on the streets is only from those hyenas trying to score ahead of the general elections in May. Everyone is looking out for themselves. The only brave people are in Bekkersdal. They stoned ANC officials because they are tired of the poverty proudly sponsored by the ANC and other political parties like the DA where they govern.
No one is on this for the people but themselves. So, until the people of this country, all of them, see the political parties, especially the ANC for what they are, we will never have a revolution. No change, no improvement.

Until then, we must just sit down!

Thanks for the RDP house, but give us our dignity back

President Jacob told reporters that he would not debate with Zille because she is not a President but a premiere. He advised Zille to get Premiers to debate with. 

President Zuma already knows the ANC will get comfortable win of the upcoming elections. He is very much aware that his party's sponsorship of poverty will deliver victory and a second term in the highest office. So, why open up yourself to criticism by debating with the opposition? 

The people exploited by the ANC will most probably not even watch the debate. The ANC's target market is those they manipulate with social grants, food parcels and a promise of a better life every five years. And of course those who benefit while corrupt leaders remain in power. Nelson Mandela convinced not only South Africans, but the whole world when he took on FW de Klerk before the 1994 elections. Even though the majority of the people were clear that apartheid was over, Mandela was not arrogant but still wanted to convince us he was the Moses leading us out of Egypt.

Now Moses is dead. We remain in the wilderness. No one to give us our dignity back. Zuma debating with Zille is an opportunity to try and give something no one has been able to do. Give us our dignity back. Restore faith in the ANC of Oliver Tambo and defend his right to lead this wonderful nation. We were given RDP houses. More people have electricity. There are no signs that prevent black people from using same pavements with whites. Even though,white people did not meet us halfway with Mandela's reconciliation, we moved from the dark days of apartheid. 

But we are now stuck in middle of the road. Our people cannot maintain what government has provided because they are disempowered. The same government that lead us out of the dark now can't keep the lights on. We are in another kind of darkness. Black people have no social or economic power. That makes the RDP house useless. We can't maintain them. So, Mr Zuma refuses to come on live television to defend the distance his party has covered and they way forward. How do we get to the promise land? People of Soshanguve, Madidi, Klipgat and Mabopane want their dignity back. They appreciate the RDP houses. But you cannot make them dependent on you just to secure votes. They want to hear Mr Zuma give them hope. Hope that he is working on a plan that mothers and fathers will have opportunities so they can have healthy families. People are desperate for a leader that speaks to them, not for them. What are you afraid of Mr Zuma? When HIV and Aids and remain socio-economic related problems, the you should know you need to speak up amd acknowledge our pain. 

Why won't you take this opportunity and give people their dignity back? This country's history does not allow Helen Zille to be the kind of person that would convincingly give us our dignity back. By virtue of her skin colour she has social power. She knows nothing about having one's dignity stripped. 

So why won't you be the defender of our dignity? Is it because she is a woman? What is it that makes you think we don't want to hear you trying to give us our dignity back? Are you so sure of victory that you are already planning for your inauguration? 

Race against time: Apartheid victims in a democracy

It’s shocking that violence of race is often direct. As someone correctly observed, we put plaster on a bullet wound in this country. We move on too quickly without dealing with how traumatized we are, and that’s why we will continue hurting each other.  In my first job as journalist, that’s back in 2004 – I came across the story of Nelson Chisale, a black farmworker who was beaten and the fed to a pride of lions by his white boss. I will not take away the fact that Simon Mathebula, a black man, was an accomplice.

In my opinion, Black on Black violence that still exists and the White on Black humiliation we see feed off each other. I think for as long as the one exist, the other one will survive. The way police of the new dispensation treat black people makes us all vulnerable to attack by racists. Police brutality reaffirms the notion that black life is cheap. That is why Kobus Muller and Charl Blom attacked Damane Gwebu for fun. Black man became easy target for drunk young white masters. And it seems to be a trend a the Free State University.

Black people have no social power like whites. We remain at the bottom of the food chain. No economic freedom. That frustrates us so much that we hurt each other. Our own bickering as black people is easily read as people with no respect for humanity and so how can anyone else want to preserve a life that is shown on TV dead like a dog? There are so many apartheid times for blacks in this democracy. Most of the time we inflict it upon ourselves.

We have to stop putting our salvation in politicians who sponsor poverty. We must never despair that the Mandelas, Bikos, Sisulus and Slovos are gone. We are the ones we've been waiting for. I hate cliches and quotes, but change starts from within. We must be the change that we want to see. Self-love is so hard to achieve when we are deliberately enslaved by social grants. It's a veiled insult from government. Its intentions are not to help us but to keep us exactly where we are. It makes us short-sighted and we will never realise our worth and value. 

The anger will ferment, brew and explode in our faces. Blood and gore! 

Where are our heroes

We make it so easy for people of other races to insults us and keep us below the food chain. We want economic emancipation, but the people in charge of the economy cannot take us seriously if we have people among us eating grass and testifying that it takes like Macaronni Pasta. Steve Biko would be so disappointed in the self-hate reigning among the black population. 

When police force of a black government gun down its people like flies. It is reminiscent of the dark days of apartheid when it was clear that a black life is cheap and could end any time. We hate ourselves so much we view our own people's call for drinking water as a nuisance. We oppress each other. 

Pastor Lesego Daniel is a great example that the self-hate is not among our politicians alone. He uses religion to degrade, insult and ridicule the black race. I tend to agree that a traumatised nation is very likely to continue inflicting pain on its own. 

We have no heroes. We have nothing tomcling on as a sign of hope. Tue good crop of black men that wanted dignity given back to black people are dead! Their ideals died with them. We want to be happy.  But where are our heroes. Simphiwe Dana highlights this in her song Ndim Nawe. We need heroes. We need Sheroes. We need a bit more than hope.

So it is time, I believe, we follow people of Mothotlung and Marikana. Let us mot be discouraged by the guns and the power they have. We gave it to them and so we should strip them off the power. Let us be our own heroes. 

The Perfect Sinner by Matuba Mahlatjie

Being the perfect sinner is enjoying and feeling the joy of imperfection. I want to be the perfect sinner. The one that would kiss your best friend and go all out for you not to find out. The sinner that would buy you flowers on his way back from my lover. 

The sinner that patronises guilt and enjoy the fruits of imperfection. I want to be the sinner that would know about your extra marital affair and not confront you. Your imperfection is the dagger that eliminates my own guilt. I am a religious sinner. 

The one that laughs in private when caught, but works hard to keep you. Keep you in my bed. Keep you in my imperfect world. While everyone longs to be like Jesus – I hide behind the alter and gobble up the Holy Communion wine. I shackle myself in the imperfect world. I am devoted to being that sinner. The perfect one. The one that makes mends for the imperfections.