About the xenophobic attacks in De Doorns, in the Western Cape: A view from the ground.

I think that the decision of the Vice-Chancellor of the Univ of the Free State to withdraw the charges against those Reitz boys should be reviewed. It really looks to me like this man did this to appease the people that run and fund the university and to prove that that he is loyal despite being black. He talks about forgiveness and reconciliation and how the boys should not be blamed because they are victims of a system and institutional culture that condoned this type of thing for so long. What about all those people that were involved in racially-motivated crimes and killings during apartheid? Things were much worse back then, BUT we all recognised that the only way to move towards reconciliation and healing was if the perpetrators publicly told the truth about what they had done and showed remorse and asked THE VICTIMS for forgiveness. In this case, there has been no public statement or apologies by these young men to the workers and to us about what they did. Instead, their VC has taken the fall and apologised and asked forgiveness on their behalf, as if they dont have some sense to distinguish between right and wrong, no matter how twisted they have been taught to be. If the VC really wanted to make this about healing and forgiveness, he should have allowed the proceedings against these boys to continue to make sure that all sides had their say in this. The boys themselves should have been required to do something (or things) to show that they were sorry. The university’s paying for compensation to the victims and turning the residence into a centre for reconciliation really should be secondary to the boys initiative to take responsibility and do something to redress. This whole thing goes to show how the dignity and worth of black people does not mean much in South Africa, because we all know that such a decision would not have been made if these victims had been white! In Shona we have a saying: “zvinotsengerwa mwana, iye omedza” (literally, you can chew for the child, but the child must swallow for him/herself) which means that adults can only help children to a certain point, but they must ultimately take responsibility. Vice Chancellor Jansen, shame on you! You have chewed and swallowed on behalf of these kids? What kind of example are you setting for the youth? By doing what you have done, you are only breeding more racial hatred and tension.

By Pamhidzai Bamu

RICA is the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act. The customer registration section of the RICA, as set out by the South African Government requires everyone who has an active cellphone number or purchases a new Prepaid Starter Pack, to register their SIM cards from 1 July 2009.

Now there is nothing wrong with this act as its aim is to help law enforcement agencies to track criminals using cellphones for illegal activities, thereby contributing to make South Africa safer for everyone. What I wonder is, why is this only being implemented now? Something of this nature should have been done when the cellular network operators were setting up in South Africa.

What I find to be even more interesting about RICA is how it will apply to foreigners in South Africa. Take for example a visitor coming from Germany for the World Cup in 2010. He needs a SIM card so he can stay in touch whilst he is in South Africa. Now RICA requires one to produce some form of identification. Now the visitor from Germany will have his or her passport which is fine. Now the second requirement for RICA is to produce proof of residence. Now where does a visitor to South Africa get proof of residence from? They are only visiting. So does this mean that they can not purchase a SIM card in South Africa?

So I went to task yesterday to test this out. I wanted to purchase a new SIM card. So I told them that I am a foreigner visiting South Africa so I do not have proof of residence. The sales person was now confused. They did not know how to handle this situation. He insisted I produce proof of residence which I do not have. He then went to the back to ask his superior and he came back and said it is not possible to make the purchase. So I left and went to another shop and guess what, same response. Then a third shop… Same response.

So to sum it up, I was not able to purchase a SIM card as a foreigner from a shop which is emphasising on RICA. I knew if I really wanted a SIM card I could just go to the vendors on the street and they would sell me one. So I tried that and I easily got a SIM card and did not have to produce any form of ID or proof of residence.

Now besides foreigners, how are they going to get every South African with a SIM card to register for RICA? RICA started on 1 July 2009 and I wonder how many people who already have SIM cards have willingly gone to register for RICA. I guess not many. If the said something like, “If you do not register for RICA by 31 December 2009, we will cut off your line.” I am sure that would get people running to register with RICA.

So the Presidency finally got its hotline setup today. For those who do not know what is happening, Jacob Zuma promised us during his campaign that he will setup a hotline whereby we could call in and air our grievances. Officers at the Union Buildings call centre will handle calls and respond to public inquiries, and citizens will be able to lodge their queries by dialling the toll-free number, 17737.

It has been reported that in the first 3 hours of operation, they received 6000 calls. Now I have not yet called in to see how this is all going to work but I can imagine the kind of calls they are going to be receiving. I seriously doubt that a lot of people will be phoning in to praise the government as the bulk of the callers will be complaining about service delivery, schooling, housing, electricty etc. I would hate to be one of the people answering the calls!

What I am interested to find out is what happens when someone makes a call. Do you get given a reference number for you to then follow up your query with? With the large number of complaints that are going to be received, are the government going to be able to handle all the requests and attend to them? I think people also need to be told when to use this hotline. If I do not have electricity, should I call this hotline? I don’t think so, I should contact Eskom. But if I have never had electricity in my house for years then I must call this hotline. So I guess it is a matter of being reasonable enough to know when to use this number and I hope us as South Africans are able to differentiate when to call 17737.

It will be interesting to see how well this hotline works and we must see evidence in one form or the other of it working. What are your thoughts about 17737?

President Jacob Zuma, in his first 100 days, has turned out to be not what one would expect. The media, his former critics, the opposition and political analysts were carrying on about Zuma being anti-constitution, anti-judiciary, anti-independent media and devoid of leadership qualities. Despite the tough economic times, has he proved everybody wrong?

Like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, Zapiro’s cartoon of the 20th August 2009 published in the Mail & Guardian shows Zuma leading the ‘rats’ (Media, Opposition, Former critics, Analysts and Others) using the showerhead as his flute.

Visit Zuma’s First 100 days in Office - 14 Zapiro cartoons tell the story

According to Julius Malema, the African National Congress Youth League leader, ‘The International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) decision to test Semenya is racist and sexist’. One cannot blame anyone to be annoyed at what has gone on. But it is not racism or sexism, it is downright disgraceful behaviour from the IAAF and jealousy from those that were beaten especially the Italian and Russian competitors who are quoted of saying “For me she is not a woman,” Furthermore it is offensive, hurtful and humiliating to a young superb athlete of this calibre, who has outrun her rivals in a world champoinship by over two seconds, when normally the difference between the first three is 100th of a second. The IAAF has certainly let this athlete down.

For more Zapiro cartoons visit www.zapiro.com

Almost everything about the issue is fuzzy: Where does one draw the biological line between male and female, exactly what standard is used by the track authorities in deeming a female ineligible to compete as a woman, precisely what tests answer such questions. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has asked for reports that will take weeks to review - from a gynecologist, an endocrinologist, a psychologist, a specialist in internal medicine and a gender expert.

Back in December 2007, when Zuma swept through like a wave and won the bitter electoral battle for ANC supremacy at Polekwani, this was considered at that time by political commentators and academics alike as the “Zuma Tzunami”.

In April 2009 at a meeting at UCT, Julius Malema was quoted as saying “Jacob Zuma is unstoppable. Zuma is a biological tsunami.”

In the run up to the South African Presidential elections, Zuma made promises to everybody from foreign investors to millions of poor blacks living in shanty towns in his quest for votes & popularity.

South Africa is now in the grip of its first recession for 20 years and the people in the townships are complaining that after 15 years of ANC rule they still don’t have basic housing, electricity or water.

The “Zuma Tzunami” wave may still come back to drown him. Zapiro’s cartoon of the 23rd July 2009 in The Times illustrates this graphically.

For more Zapiro cartoons visit http://www.zapiro.com

This week saw the official hand over of responsibilities for fighting political corruption in South Africa from the “old” Scorpions to the “new” Hawks. Will the Hawks succeed where the Scorpions failed? What is the difference between the two organisations?

“The Scorpions” was an elite anti-corruption squad falling under the prosecuting authority, not the police - set up by Thabo Mbeki when he came to power in 1999 to tackle organized crime, corruption and complex commercial cases. However it soon got the reputation of being a tool that Mbeki could use against his political opponents in an environment of conspiracy theories. Namely the Scorpions played an important role in the National Prosecuting Authorty’ s case against Jacob Zuma and when the pendulum swung at the Polokwane in December 2006, it was only a matter of time that the Scorpions would be disbanded by the new powers to be.

Initially called Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (DPCI) nicked named DIPSI in Zapiro’s cartoon of the 24th May 2009 in the Sunday Times

It has now been renamed “The Hawks” reporting to the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa who has appointed the relatively unknown former deputy provincial police commissioner in the Western Cape and former Robben Islander, Anwar Dramat as head of the unit of 800 former Scorpions investigators, police officers from the crime intelligence unit as well as officers from the South African Revenue Services’ fraud department. At the launch the Minister of Police is reported to having said “We’re not only launching a new directorate but we’re also witnessing the first flight of the Hawks. As the birds, the Hawks will have an eye for detail and be able to see from afar. We expect them to zoom in on illegal networks” resulting in Zapiro’s cartoon of the 9th July 2009 in The Times

So will the Hawks be watchdog or lapdog?

For more Zapiro cartoons, visit http://www.zapiro.com

We know who we are. Our ancestries are part of a delicate tapestry; interwoven, we find a touch of European flair, the spice and mystery of the East and the magic and beckoning of Africa. No matter where we, or our forbearers, have come from, we all have the privilege of calling ourselves ‘South African’.

We are so fortunate in that, we are exposed to so much diversity; nobody has to teach us tolerance and acceptance. We are steeped in environments where, over time, this thing that has to be learnt by others, is inherent in us.

A melting pot? No, not really. I prefer to think of us as a large, sweet-smelling garden – all of us are flowers: colourful, different, some living in the shade, others providing it … a multitude, a variety … That’s what South Africa is …

However, in some other countries, homogeneity is the order of the day. Korea is one such country. Everyone, aside from looking similar (which is probably one of the reasons they call themselves the ‘family society’), shares a similar cultural background, similar food preparation techniques, as well as taste. Most teenage girls have their hair cut in the same ‘mushroom-bob’ style and don the same sneakers (some may argue that this trend of conformity is rife amongst all teenage girls everywhere, but, I think, this phenomenon is especially disturbing amongst girls who look so identical, they could be mistaken for clones).

Koreans are so homogeneous that when people who look different visit their country (whether they are darker, taller, fuller-figured, or simply speak a different language), they are awestruck. They point, their jaws drop to the floor, they stare and stage-whisper ‘Buyeyo?’ (What is that?). As an African living and travelling there, I was often treated as though I was dirty, inferior, primitive or not as ‘evolved’ as they were. There was even an incident in which young children imitated monkeys as I passed by; that was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.

As South Africans, we know it is impossible to garner exactly who a person is (stereotypes aside) by looking at their skin colour or examining their hair textures. All prejudice is rooted in ignorance; people don’t know any better, they make assumptions and are scared of losing their culture. But do these flaccid excuses hold water in 2009, almost a decade into the 21st Century?

Apathy. This is a word associated with a ‘don’t-care’ outlook, an attitude of simply not caring about what is happening around one, disinterest, disengagement (or an apparent ‘checking out’) from society and a refusal to try and change what has gone wrong; sometimes, it’s the ignoring of a problem, burying one’s head in the sand, so to speak.

Picture a world in which every person you knew, regardless of their race, culture, religion, sexual orientation and gender fitted this description. Now, picture a world in which this trend was passed from one generation to the next. Seems bleak, doesn’t it? Tragically, this is exactly what is happening right now, at this very moment …

I am struck particularly by the apathy of young people; however, what’s worse is the apathy invading all generations. It seems that apathetic parents give rise to apathetic children. Today’s youngsters lack focus, motivation, determination and drive. A broad generalisation? Take a look at the calibre of today’s public school education graduates; aside from a handful who excel (despite being subjected to a painfully inept education system and syllabus), the vast majority pass by the skin of their teeth (or not at all).

Today, in general, young people have done the unthinkable; they are taking the freedoms our predecessors fought for and, ultimately, died for, for granted. It becomes glaringly obvious when one looks at most South African schools, from the appalling conditions of the classrooms (defaced desks, broken windows, stripped linoleum, and so forth) to the blatant disrespect for teachers.

I am the elder part of this same generation, yet even I am confounded by this dire and terrible shift. Teenagers of colour who lived during the 1950s and 1960s would have given anything to be afforded the opportunities scoffed at by today’s youth.

We live in exciting times; with enough diligence, the sky’s the limit as to what can be achieved. To echo the words of President Barack Obama, ‘where there’s breath, there’s hope’ – it is up to us as the younger generation to find it within ourselves.

When the age of democracy in South Africa began almost fifteen years ago, people were sceptical … They were scornful, cynical … They scoffed, but here we are, very much still standing. We’ve attained such great heights; this apathy is but a stumbling block to us flying even higher. Can it be defeated? Can we prove our critics wrong, yet again? The power lies with those, who are not even aware that they have it …