I’m not sure what “transformation” is in the context of the new Mzansi, but I know one thing for sure; we are all here to practise self-preservation to the best of our ability!
What in the heck am I on about on this wet, cold, Thursday morning? Well think about it. Why did you go to school, willingly or otherwise? Why do you have a job? You obviously want to earn money so you can buy food, clothes, rent or buy a home, drive a car, entertain yourself etc. In other words you want to live.
Therefore making changes in your life is always for your own benefit, not someone else’s. Thus it always amazes me when people complain about the slow pace of transformation in the workplace. I had an interesting conversation with a friend a few days ago. He was telling me about the company he works for, a multinational whose head office is in the UK. He says the company is losing a lot of its black staff, especially at managerial level, because it refuses to transform. He says the company has been hiring a lot of young white staff who have no experience in their jobs. Some of them have been put in charge of these black managers and the managers have to constantly show them how the work is done. He says he and his black colleagues have had enough and are leading an “exodus” out of that evil white hole.
After our conversation I understood the position of the white company. Yes I feel sad for my friend’s feelings and frustrations, and I realise his story is but one of many others that corporate Mzansi faces every day (remember the boy from Investec a few months ago?). On the other hand white people, like every other people, are here for themselves. They are not interested in helping anyone else advance at their own expense. Who would do that anyway? Mandela? Mother Theresa? Not all of us are that big-hearted.
The run towards meaningful transformation will NOT be led by those who fear change. It will NOT be implemented by them that hold on greedily on to power. No. Transformation will be effected on the day we ALL realise that it is a necessary decision that will ultimately benefit everyone who lives and works in Mzansi. Without transformation we have millions of frustrated, angry black people who may one day act blindly in search of justice.
27 September 2007
14 September 2007
the REAL reed dance!
Reed dance
Every year in early September, Zulus and Swazis gather in their respective lands for a big festival called umkhosi womhlanga or reed dance. It’s a very important festival as it marks the start of spring, which is a new season for planting seeds and is generally seen as one symbolising a fresh new beginning.
Thousands descend upon kwaNongoma in the northern KwaZulu Natal province where the Zulu king’s main palace is located. In essence you could say Nongoma then is the capital of the Zulu nation. I’ve been to a couple of these festivals and it is truly a remarkable spectacle from an outsider’s point of view; the dancing, the singing, the chanting, the traditional garb, all the bright colours, smiling faces, lots of laughter, food and drink. And of course the long reeds themselves. Maidens of virgin status take part in the dance as they are deemed “pure and innocent” in thought. Virginity in the old days was cherished, in many global societies, not just Zulu culture. It symbolised clean youth, a simple way of life. It told society that you or your child was a “good” person, a person of excellent family morals whose humanly desires could never overcome her resolve to remain a virgin until marriage.
What began to happen is that because most of the land’s young girls were in attendance, the residing monarch would spot one while the festival went on and resume a courtship, or at least attempt to. Of course she could always refuse the king, but that was not at all encouraged as kings of the time were exceptionally quick to punish anyone who they thought went against the rule of the land, which was essentially the word of the king. This practice also saved the king time as he always knew the maidens were virgins and that they were available. Older maidens called amaqhikiza, who were spoken for, could not take part in the reed dance. The king could also take as many wives as he wanted.
An important point to make about the reed dance is that no young girl is forced to partake. Yes families do put pressure on them to because it means they can prove to the world their virginity, but they are not forced. In fact, from what I have gathered, many certainly desire to attend, just in case the king spots them while they dance and makes them his wife number so and so. Being royalty cannot be bought by any amount of money and for these girls the festival holds a good chance to becoming royalty. Actually, the king’s own daughters take part as well.
Lately though the mainstream media has been at the forefront of criticising the reed dance, saying it is a backward tradition, one that degrades women and makes a mockery of the “one-man one-woman” romance idea. I do believe our Westernisation and vast cultural ignorance has played a huge part in such criticism, that we severely lack understanding and tolerance for other people’s customs as a nation. One only has to think back to last year on the SPCA and Tony Yengeni’s little storm in a teacup regarding his slaughtering of a bull to thank his ancestors. Had this ritual taken place in a homeland or a township people would have come from far and wide to celebrate with him, instead of throwing stones without trying to appreciate his custom.
Every year in early September, Zulus and Swazis gather in their respective lands for a big festival called umkhosi womhlanga or reed dance. It’s a very important festival as it marks the start of spring, which is a new season for planting seeds and is generally seen as one symbolising a fresh new beginning.
Thousands descend upon kwaNongoma in the northern KwaZulu Natal province where the Zulu king’s main palace is located. In essence you could say Nongoma then is the capital of the Zulu nation. I’ve been to a couple of these festivals and it is truly a remarkable spectacle from an outsider’s point of view; the dancing, the singing, the chanting, the traditional garb, all the bright colours, smiling faces, lots of laughter, food and drink. And of course the long reeds themselves. Maidens of virgin status take part in the dance as they are deemed “pure and innocent” in thought. Virginity in the old days was cherished, in many global societies, not just Zulu culture. It symbolised clean youth, a simple way of life. It told society that you or your child was a “good” person, a person of excellent family morals whose humanly desires could never overcome her resolve to remain a virgin until marriage.
What began to happen is that because most of the land’s young girls were in attendance, the residing monarch would spot one while the festival went on and resume a courtship, or at least attempt to. Of course she could always refuse the king, but that was not at all encouraged as kings of the time were exceptionally quick to punish anyone who they thought went against the rule of the land, which was essentially the word of the king. This practice also saved the king time as he always knew the maidens were virgins and that they were available. Older maidens called amaqhikiza, who were spoken for, could not take part in the reed dance. The king could also take as many wives as he wanted.
An important point to make about the reed dance is that no young girl is forced to partake. Yes families do put pressure on them to because it means they can prove to the world their virginity, but they are not forced. In fact, from what I have gathered, many certainly desire to attend, just in case the king spots them while they dance and makes them his wife number so and so. Being royalty cannot be bought by any amount of money and for these girls the festival holds a good chance to becoming royalty. Actually, the king’s own daughters take part as well.
Lately though the mainstream media has been at the forefront of criticising the reed dance, saying it is a backward tradition, one that degrades women and makes a mockery of the “one-man one-woman” romance idea. I do believe our Westernisation and vast cultural ignorance has played a huge part in such criticism, that we severely lack understanding and tolerance for other people’s customs as a nation. One only has to think back to last year on the SPCA and Tony Yengeni’s little storm in a teacup regarding his slaughtering of a bull to thank his ancestors. Had this ritual taken place in a homeland or a township people would have come from far and wide to celebrate with him, instead of throwing stones without trying to appreciate his custom.
03 September 2007
the President's legacy
What a boring couple of weeks we’ve had in the Republic of Circus, also known as South Africa. I’m sure you were wondering where the commentary on these happenings is. Well, here it is:
My thought is that anyone who disobeys orders in a work environment, time and time again, deserves to be shafted. There is no way I could tolerate working with someone who does not listen to his / her colleagues, regardless of their position, goes off and does their own thing at will, and is seen not to be “one of us”. This is more so if that person has been given warnings over and over again. Therefore for the President to fire the former Deputy Health Minister in the manner that he did is totally normal and acceptable, even in corporate SA. We cannot sit in a boardroom meeting and decide on issues, then one of us goes off and says the opposite to the public. What kind of message would our organisation be sending out there? The only other thing though, is that although the executive cabinet is appointed by the President, my imagination says Deputies should answer to their Ministers, and not to the President directly? That you have to ask the President of the country, a very busy man who sleeps only 3 hours a day, to sign your form for an official overseas trip seems a bit trivial. We have over 40 Ministers and their Deputies. Do they all have to ask for permission each time they go to work? I don’t know how these things work, but it all sounds like primary-school to me.
So then why so much noise about the sacking? Two reasons really: first, the President has not had awesome press ever since the HIV/AIDS thing broke out a few years ago. The minister of health has also not had good press at all, and she would have, had she deviated from the policies set by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma when she was head of the country’s health system under Dr Nelson Mandela. Mandela himself in fact, should have done much more to curb the scourge of AIDS as he was in charge when the epidemic went from bad to worse. One of the reasons the old man did not do much during his tenure is that he was already looking out the door into pensionhood, meaning the incumbent Thabo Mbeki was already taking over the resigns even as the old man was still in executive power. Fact is, Mbeki has been President of SA for the past 10 years or so, with two more years to go. So fortunately the AIDS and ARV problem did not land with a beetroot salad from Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang (forgive me, I couldn’t resist). However, she did and still does have a little power to help the situation, rather than perpetuate it. That she and the President are not seen, I repeat, not seen, to be helping is the first reason people got mad at the sacking of Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge.
Secondly, the President’s firing of Mr Jacob Zuma from cabinet is still one of society’s most divisive and most topical issues, particularly as regards to the manner in which JZs files have been “handled” by the chief. Thus when this whole Madlala-Routledge saga happened, people got flashbacks of the Zuma affair and began to see the President in an even darker light than they had before. Funny that, because, even though Mandela was seen as the savior, he was never taken seriously as a working President, that is, one that is in office grafting like a worker bee, making sure things are getting done. Mbeki we saw as this worker bee, which is why when he officially took over the country applauded in unison, saying “now we’ll get to work, the honeymoon is over”.
Alas, the work did not happen fast enough in people’s eyes. Instead we got scandal after scandal, – high crime; corruption in government; email hoax sagas; the JZ affair; the slapping of Winnie Mandela at the stadium; Khutsong; HIV/AIDS; Bulelani Ngcuka and the Scorpions; the banning of political commentators from SABC; the Deputy President’s R700 000 flight to Dubai; the President’s third term utterances; our “quiet diplomacy” on Zimbabwe; the Selebi-Agliotti fume – and the list goes on.
Last Friday in the President’s weekly online essay http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2007/text/at34.txt, he praised the contribution made by the Minister of Health and others. No doubt the Minister has made a contribution. However, we must, as the ordinary public, ask, “has she done well in her job? Or at least, done enough?”
He goes on to say the media in particular, has been peddling lies. Serious accusations, given that the media, specifically the Sunday Times, broke the story of the Minister’s alleged kleptomaniac past and drinking binges. Now here’s another question to that effect; if these allegations are truly a lie, surely suing the paper would bring out the truth in a public court case? Is someone afraid of what may come out during such court proceedings?
Does the Minister of Health enjoy a few dops of the hot stuff? Probably. She may even do so with her boss since he is a brandy connoisseur himself. So what? A lot of people do. Does it negatively affect the way in which she does her job? Now THAT my friend, would be the crux of the story, nothing else.
Should it also be true that the Minister stole jewellery and other goods in Botswana and got a jail sentence there, why not just admit it? A number of ANC officials have been to jail before, it’s not a new event. Admit it, tell the country what happened, say you are sorry, say the Minister served her time and is now a reformed and rehabilitated member of normal society. Simple.
My thought is that anyone who disobeys orders in a work environment, time and time again, deserves to be shafted. There is no way I could tolerate working with someone who does not listen to his / her colleagues, regardless of their position, goes off and does their own thing at will, and is seen not to be “one of us”. This is more so if that person has been given warnings over and over again. Therefore for the President to fire the former Deputy Health Minister in the manner that he did is totally normal and acceptable, even in corporate SA. We cannot sit in a boardroom meeting and decide on issues, then one of us goes off and says the opposite to the public. What kind of message would our organisation be sending out there? The only other thing though, is that although the executive cabinet is appointed by the President, my imagination says Deputies should answer to their Ministers, and not to the President directly? That you have to ask the President of the country, a very busy man who sleeps only 3 hours a day, to sign your form for an official overseas trip seems a bit trivial. We have over 40 Ministers and their Deputies. Do they all have to ask for permission each time they go to work? I don’t know how these things work, but it all sounds like primary-school to me.
So then why so much noise about the sacking? Two reasons really: first, the President has not had awesome press ever since the HIV/AIDS thing broke out a few years ago. The minister of health has also not had good press at all, and she would have, had she deviated from the policies set by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma when she was head of the country’s health system under Dr Nelson Mandela. Mandela himself in fact, should have done much more to curb the scourge of AIDS as he was in charge when the epidemic went from bad to worse. One of the reasons the old man did not do much during his tenure is that he was already looking out the door into pensionhood, meaning the incumbent Thabo Mbeki was already taking over the resigns even as the old man was still in executive power. Fact is, Mbeki has been President of SA for the past 10 years or so, with two more years to go. So fortunately the AIDS and ARV problem did not land with a beetroot salad from Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang (forgive me, I couldn’t resist). However, she did and still does have a little power to help the situation, rather than perpetuate it. That she and the President are not seen, I repeat, not seen, to be helping is the first reason people got mad at the sacking of Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge.
Secondly, the President’s firing of Mr Jacob Zuma from cabinet is still one of society’s most divisive and most topical issues, particularly as regards to the manner in which JZs files have been “handled” by the chief. Thus when this whole Madlala-Routledge saga happened, people got flashbacks of the Zuma affair and began to see the President in an even darker light than they had before. Funny that, because, even though Mandela was seen as the savior, he was never taken seriously as a working President, that is, one that is in office grafting like a worker bee, making sure things are getting done. Mbeki we saw as this worker bee, which is why when he officially took over the country applauded in unison, saying “now we’ll get to work, the honeymoon is over”.
Alas, the work did not happen fast enough in people’s eyes. Instead we got scandal after scandal, – high crime; corruption in government; email hoax sagas; the JZ affair; the slapping of Winnie Mandela at the stadium; Khutsong; HIV/AIDS; Bulelani Ngcuka and the Scorpions; the banning of political commentators from SABC; the Deputy President’s R700 000 flight to Dubai; the President’s third term utterances; our “quiet diplomacy” on Zimbabwe; the Selebi-Agliotti fume – and the list goes on.
Last Friday in the President’s weekly online essay http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2007/text/at34.txt, he praised the contribution made by the Minister of Health and others. No doubt the Minister has made a contribution. However, we must, as the ordinary public, ask, “has she done well in her job? Or at least, done enough?”
He goes on to say the media in particular, has been peddling lies. Serious accusations, given that the media, specifically the Sunday Times, broke the story of the Minister’s alleged kleptomaniac past and drinking binges. Now here’s another question to that effect; if these allegations are truly a lie, surely suing the paper would bring out the truth in a public court case? Is someone afraid of what may come out during such court proceedings?
Does the Minister of Health enjoy a few dops of the hot stuff? Probably. She may even do so with her boss since he is a brandy connoisseur himself. So what? A lot of people do. Does it negatively affect the way in which she does her job? Now THAT my friend, would be the crux of the story, nothing else.
Should it also be true that the Minister stole jewellery and other goods in Botswana and got a jail sentence there, why not just admit it? A number of ANC officials have been to jail before, it’s not a new event. Admit it, tell the country what happened, say you are sorry, say the Minister served her time and is now a reformed and rehabilitated member of normal society. Simple.
It must be disconcerting to the President that he may well leave a legacy that is mostly devoid of praise for the good work he has done, that all his earnest efforts will be entirely drowned by the issues I tabled above. That he is a great orator, reader, intellectual and visionary has not translated satisfaction among the general population.
Is it too late to change this perception? I certainly think not.
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