Can there be any justification for Violence?

Should violence have a ‘good side’?

I have been reading a lot about the recent Xenophobia attacks in SA and as usual I gravitate to the blogosphere to get the general take on the whole sad story. There is a broad condemnation, which is obviously good, BUT there also seems to be to be a growth in the amount of bizarre comments made by some black people that ‘black on black’ violence is ‘unacceptable’ as we are ‘all Africans’. A question to those people....does that mean that black on white/indian/coloured/asian violence would be acceptable in SA or anywhere? It appears the mentality of a few commenting on posts is that ‘whites deserve it’ or simply that no other colour or creed is as relevant in SA other than black people? Is this just because you happen to have a browner skin than mine? I am also African, South Africa is my home. I was born here and my family have been here for many generations.

I just don’t get it. Why do people even make comments like that? Violence is violence; it is unnecessary and will not aid us in building a united ‘Rainbow Nation’. A nation, that was supposed to be built on the fundamental pillars of tolerance and forgiving?

What has become evident in South Africa and in Africa as a whole is how much African on African violence seems to be linked to a lack of self worth. Sure we can blame this on colonialism, as years of oppression and abuse by ‘whites’ will definitely create that problem, but when will that stop…? When will it be appropriate to stop using that as an excuse. We need to stop looking into the rear view mirror. Why is ‘black on black’ oppression [which has been happening in many African countries for decades] not as bad? Is it because its seen as 'more' African because the leader happens to be black? When will the future become more important than the past in Africa? I am not being sarcastic when I ask this question, I am seriously concerned. I still maintain that whlist we all busy fighting amongst ourselves, we have another form of 'colonisalism' or control seeping into Africa. Greedy, African oppressors selling our mineral enriched continent off to the West and China under our noses so eventually we will never really own this land, only 'rent it'. If we dont stop it, corruption and greed will kill our country and our continent. They are the enemy.

A few of the people making comments on blogs used the ‘self worth/ oppressive whites’ argument as a reason for the latest Xenophobia violence. Lack of service delivery by our government to the poorest of the poor over the past decade is not cited in many comments I have read.

I am painfully aware that there will be those that will see me as a ‘foreigner' in my own country, [because of my skin colour] and that is sad. I also realise that there will always be people, both black and white, that will not move on. In the end though nothing will change if these views persist, as we will end up with the circle of hate that apartheid brought flying back at us again and we will forever be prisoners of our own mentality. Stop the violence.
Free South Africa. Free Africa.

SA Criminal's National Anthem..Cry Conspiracy

Have any of you noticed the new trend of crying conspiracy by criminals...This is a worrying trend because it indicates there is a thought process [that seems to be working in some cases] that thinks the law can be manipulated by creating doubt and confusion. If the public had faith in the legal system would this kind of thing happen? Read this story not because the criminals involved have cried conspiracy [like the Knysna DJ that raped and murdered 2 young girls and DNA proved he was the person who committed the crime...but its a conspiracy you see..right!] but because if they were caught they probably would cry conspiracy!

A friend of mine recently went to write her learners at the Auckland Park License Dept. She failed by 1 point so she duly went to the licensing officer and said …'Ahh come on it was just one point’... to which the guy said if you wanted to get that extra point you should have mentioned that before the test.

My friend 'interrogated' a little more on this ‘option’ only to find that the public servants there are… surprise…. surprise, completing the test for you before hand and bringing your paper back saying you forgot to complete your name etc…. Sorry to sound cynical but it is unrealistic to expect the public to have any faith in the government or their departments when there are constant reports of corruption and non delivery, so blatant.

You apparently have to pay the bribe up front to avoid all the anti corruption steps that have been put in place after the test. And the price of the sin… R350.00 per bribe and that is at a discount. Considering that your learners costs you around R110 odd rand [if you do it legally] I would say these guys are making a killing. ‘Great’ business that is slowly choking our country but hey who cares right?! I do, but I am one person with a blog..big deal.

What is scary is that in one sitting my friend saw 3 people 'that forgot to complete information' in other words…bribing rotten stinking corrupt bastards, which in my book makes them just as bad - it happens because it can. Sorry I am so mad I could spit.

What is happening to our country [so tired of that question] that this can happen so blatantly out in the open.. There is no fear of the law anymore as we are slowly becoming a lawless society. We need to fight against this…the problem is when some of our ‘leadership’ have a question mark hanging over their heads the message is clear…its a free for all….'see what you can get because nothing will happen to me approach'. The worst thing that can happen is maybe in 10 years time going to trial and then the case being dismissed because someone 'mislaid the file' or the public simply forgot about it.

I am sure these people have no fear of being caught [no matter how much evidence] the new national anthem for the criminals of this country is ‘its all a conspiracy or a public vendetta’ that ‘has no merit’ and is untrue 'provoked by the press' - of course. So hey create enough mud in the pond to ensure clarity is lost.

The implications of this….we have an entire generation that have illegally got onto the road but have the documents to say they are legal….its no wonder we cant control the death toll on our roads. Let me know what you think about this because I am furious. Cry...our beloved country...

Glass half full/empty...SA

I have been reading all the inspirational things that have been going around from the likes of iburst etc regarding our beautiful country. I agree with most of them but I noticed that I seem to cling to the words ‘we have been here before’. In reality though, I don’t think we have. At the risk of being labeled a pessimist [more like a realist] I think we have finally crossed over into another place as a country, a place not many of us know or understand. We have gone off track and need some drastic help to come back to a new version of normality.

Lets review our country ‘killers’ at the moment:

-Lack of credible Leadership
-Violent Crime
-Corruption / Greed
-Poverty
-Non-Delivery by Government
-HIV
-High Illiteracy & Low level of Education
-Infrastructure decay
-Uncontrolled entry of Foreigners

Now I would feel optimistic about being able to sort these out if we had some sort of future plan, a strong leader and a credible and effective government channel and legal system. Our people also need to start understanding that for every negative action there is a negative consequence [that is why laws are created].

It is sad for me to sit in discussions when youngsters are discussing the possibility of leaving the country because they don’t see a future. At this point how many people have actually left is pure speculation and no-one in government seems to think this is a big problem. So many families being split out of fear.

All this at a time when we need all hands on deck…I am beginning to feel like I have no voice and the constant state of lawless [a growing number of incidents now involving police] is wearing me down. Too many terrible stories…. its becoming difficult to remain confidently focused on how beautiful our country is....the lack of balance at the moment is awful.

So here’s the thing…I will continue to post my views on these topics as they are close to my heart and if my words contribute even 0.001% to the pressure required for change then its worth it.
We need to stand together sure...but first.....we need to be led.

The Lion King lesson

We were fortunate enough to see the Lion King [at Monte Casino] this week. WOW! I was totally blown away. I have never really seen anything like that and I have seen a few theatre productions. It would be great if every South African was fortunate enough to see it.

We took our daughter (who is under 10) and she was very well behaved. She sat as quite as a mouse, captivated. Sadly the experience had a kak lesson and confirmed my assumptions about how truly bad some parents are.

Let me first say that, I believe, in this uncaring, dangerous world there are 2 very important things you now need to teach your children [along with everything else] caring for others and giving. This counteracts the external messages of ‘its all about me’ and ‘take, take, take’ that are surreptitiously lurking in every corner, especially in advertising and the celebrity 'role models' that kids grow up with today.

During the show, there were children that were talking loud, jumping on their seats, and in some cases standing and knocking the seats in front of them. At R375 per ticket that is a little more than annoying! Take a guess what all three sets of parents were doing…. Nothing. Not even once did I see one of the parents turn their head to reprimand their children. They have become so good at ignoring and ‘switching off’ that they do it with ease in these situations, this whilst the rest of us are left to be irritated by their children. Manners seem to be the last thing they are taught.
I ended up actually telling a little girl behind me to keep quite, which I didn’t particularly enjoy, but she was virtually shouting at her grandmother whilst her mother sat idly by enjoying the show.

What is happening in this world?… what are people breeding? It is pretty scary to watch and I must say this kind of thing does bother me, especially since I am teaching my daughter to be caring and giving. I just hope this ‘lot’ don’t end up hurting her! I hope I am not the one that has got this all wrong and in fact I should be teaching my child to 'protect herself from the world'!
In reality, there is simply no way I would be able to teach [even if subconsciously] my daughter this kind of 'new age' behaviour…..I think someone should start a 'children with manners club' to remind parents of what they were taught as children…..! I am sure there are kids out there that are caring, giving and have manners, but by the looks of things, they almost extinct!

Mr Price...not so nice

Mr Price has always been one of those shining SA brands for me…. You know the ones that you are extremely loyal 2! That is until my recent experience.
I recently had to purchase office furniture and someone suggested I try Mr Price Home, the ‘Super Store’ on corner of Hendrik Potgieter & Nic Diedrichs Boulevard Wilgeheuwel On The West Rand. Very far for a Sandton chick [had to take my passport] but they apparently had loads of stock! Something Sandton was clearly fresh out of…..

To cut a very long story [not so] short :
1. I spent over R20 000 on office equipment. A LOT of money for a small company (money I don’t just have lying around). Even with that large spend, I still had to actually ask them for a discount and I was made to wait for ages for managers approval [felt a little like they were doing me a massive favour].
2. Whilst I was waiting, two of their staff asked me for jobs?? Slightly unprofessional.
3. I requested delivery and was told it would cost me R150….. ON a R24000 bill you would think delivery would be free?? That also felt like a tall order, especially when I threw a curve ball and asked for it to be delivered on the day that suited me not the store! Eish!
4. I paid in full [had a few issues with the credit card payment courtesy of my other ‘favourite’ Standard Bank]. That was finally sorted.
5. I got a call the next day from a staff member ON MY CELL for a job. So much for privacy!
6. 4 days later I called to check that my delivery was on track and I was told they would not be delivering on ‘my’ day as they have stock take? I asked to speak to the abrasive manager and she informed me of that same fact. To which my response was that does not suit me and why I was not told that when I chose the day. The manager promised to come back to me…. A whole day later but I beat them 2 it.
7. The delivery arrived, once again I was made to feel like they were doing me a favour by telling me that I was the only one that was getting a delivery on that day!
8. The delivery was wrong [partly my fault for not checking up on a bunch of people that clearly did not know their head from there backside]. I had checked the ‘shopping’ list but it was so long and I was so irritated I rushed stupidly. I was missing my 5 office chairs.
9. I called about the chairs, luckily they still had them [I was very irritated now]. I chose to go into the store to collect them just to be safe. I got there, they were not ready [surprise surprise!]. Lots of people standing around holding up counters and a few more doing a stock take.
10. I once again asked for a measly 5 % discount on the chairs as it was part of the original order. I had already been inconvenienced by driving back to get something that should have been delivered if they had of listened and included everything in the beginning! The cashier simply laughed and ignored me. Ringing up the chairs without a thought. I told him I was not joking. He then looked and some other guy, spoke in Sotho and the guy ran off. [My thought at this time was how sadly disempowered these people were]. 15 min later the guy comes back and has no news. The floor manager [not the real ‘big’ manager] just says no discount, to quote him “we only give discount for orders over R15 000” [something that was NEVER offered to me on my first purchase!]. At this point I am so mad I just paid the R3500 to get out of the Store.
11. Whilst this is going on the floor manager speaks to at least 3 customers making their stock take day the customer’s problem. I am fascinated at how low the Mr Price Home customers are on the food chain.

So what has happened? The staff and customers seem to be a means to an end and although the store concept is great, that particular store seems to be totally mismanaged. Maybe this BIG CORPORATE Mr Price no longer cares for its people or its customers [shareholder value now hey guys]? Well good luck on that one without customers you ain’t got no value. There is such potential for Mr P to support small business in the country BUT I will not be referring anyone to them. I realized it just takes one experience [ok a very expensive one for me] to change the fragile face of brand perceptions. I dont think Mr Price will be placing a [red] cap in hand anytime soon for their customers....

So sad and damn frustrating.

[Update:17 Sept- I subsequently found out I should have been offered the option of assembly which infuriated me even more -but briefly, after a call to the Head Office, I managed to get this whole mess sorted. Today Mr Price sent people to assemble the furniture. I am thankful, but saddened that such a fuss had to happen before any real service was given]

The unhealthy state of our nation...

I can’t help but comment on the unhealthy situation in our Health Dept. I have until now, attempted to be balanced when it comes to my view of Manto but surely NOW she should just be graceful and step down? The list of faux pas seems to have become too long and the reality is that health is one of the key challenges we face in this country. Is this lady physically [or mentally] fit for the challenge? We need passion, energy, commitment, logic and action in the health department.
The moment the nutrition vs anti-retros came up 2 years ago, the president should have realized that there was a problem. The deptartment is clearly in crisis when it comes to meeting expectations/objectives. Does gov. not have performance criteria?

There is now enough scientific proof to favour anti-retrovirals [nutrition is of course very NB in the fight, but not alone!]. I was pretty shocked to see that there actually is a site called Sack Manto. Does this not indicate the desperation people are feeling? This is now no longer funny. What makes me a little irratated is that Manto is a public servant that clearly no longer has mass credibility [unless I have missed something?]. She should step down until an investigation proves otherwise [can perceptions be changed here though?]. I personally feel like my taxes are paying for a 'bad employee' to sit on the payroll. It seems that no matter what facts are presented no action is taken? Why? Does anyone know another side that is not being reported?

You just have to read a few of her comments to see there is some truth to what is being reported by the media. Why does the president stand behind her? It seems he has developed a pattern of stubbornness [or dictatorship?] that is odd to say the least (Mug-abe is another one standing under Mbeki’s umbrella). I just wish I could understand his logic here? If the president would communicate, we may understand this story for his side? BUT then again, who are we… the simple minions that dare have a say when it comes to the future of this country… why listen to us…?

Media fois gras is coming...

About 2 months ago I went to a ‘Reshaping Media’ conference where there was a discussion about how people’s cell phones are the next BIG advertising platform for agencies/companies. I queried the legality of sending ‘spam’ [otherwise known as unsolicited crap] to people’s phones, noting this was a step 2 far, as a phone is really personal. The ‘expert’ replied - as long as there is an ‘unsubscribe option’ it is not illegal. NOW today I got a multimedia MMS (‘song and dance’) spam message from a company called Mahindra Finanicial Services. This message ‘presentation’ told me about a product I WOULD NEVER buy, showing ugly cars and urged me to visit a dealership. I was given an option to ‘unsubscribe’ at a 50c fee!!!!!

So welcome to the future then…. FORCED MEDIA [media foie gras- yuk]. We will have to pay for rejecting messages that were illegally sent to our phones…. Huh?
I certainly never gave this company the right to send me such a large file and the very, very LAST THING I would ever do is ‘visit a dealership’. A REAL branding faux pax.

I get the same feeling that I think I would get if someone robbed my house. Violated and very angry. So how did they get my number? The cell phone companies would clearly benefit from passing on my details (just add up all the 50c unsubscribe responses they are going to get!). But who knows! Our details are being traded freely for large sums of cash without our permission daily - cant see how that is legal. CHARMING.

The most ironic part of all [and the biggest slap in the face] is one line in the MMS …. “Mahindra subscribes to strict anti-spamming policies. In you do not want to receive any further MMS messages from us, please SMS the words ‘OPTOUT 1658’ to 31234. SMS charged at R0.50.” I rest my case.

What a WOP!

You know when there is a day that you hear something and it bothers you…something that just plays on your mind ? Well that happened to me today. I love Radio 702 and this morning whilst caught in the traffic [bear in mind it was pouring with rain], someone called in to say there was a guy [white] in a double cab [2 rows of seats like a normal car – for those that are not ‘bakkie literate’] that had 3 guys sitting IN THE RAIN in the back [open section] of his bakkie huddled around a small blanket!? In the freezing cold and wet and there was no-one but the driver in the car! HUH??

The caller mentioned that driver was ‘from a construction company’ and that the guys in the back of the car were in fact black. He went on to say that he simply could not understand the mentality of someone that would do such a thing. Well bud that makes 2 of us! Racism is clearly alive and well in the minds of some. I was totally horrified, what a total WOP! Some people need to move on in this country [or move out]. Terrible really, I can’t actually stop thinking about it. Sorry for posting such a sad story but this kind of behaviour needs to stop.. geeee wizz....