God Must Be Blowing A Vuvuzela!

Yesterday was spectacularly awesome in the streets of South Africa.
Sandton was the centre of this extreme excitement. Close to 100 000 people congregated around the area to salute Bafana Bafana as the team rode in an open-top bus in the push suburb.
Around noon, most workers come out of their offices to the streets to stand together behind Bafana Bafana.
The Spontaneous celebration unleashed country-wide to boost the morale of the entire nation was beyond belief.
The Colours, the flags, the songs, the dances, the hooting, the jubilation, the vibe-right in the streets-was irresistible.
South Africans have really embraced the spirit of the world cup and I can't wait to see the opening ceremony and the first match on Friday.
We are told that from 1400 hrs to 1407 hrs something extraordinary will be showcased during the official opening ceremony.
BTW, I think I know who are going to take the cup home-the Germans. They will play against the Spanish in the final and Germany will win. That is my prediction!
As for Ghana... hmmmm, they will proceed to the next round and we will see what happens from there....

A Big Fat Bigoted Loser

A demented bigoted bore
Cold-hearted and frozen to the core
Perched on a wall in the neighborhood
With a penchant for war against negrohood
Still living in the bubble of apartheid's pampered airs
He dishes out generous loads of unimaginable slurs
Those favoured with continental pigment are his stoke
Having lost his bread and butter to a melanin-rich bloke

Contesting Realities

On this side of the political wasteland
The real unending terrain of utter depravity
Sustained purely by auspicious idealism
In a world of
Unfettered neighbourliness
Obscene warmth
Colour
Culture
Humanity
Great Friendships
Genuine selflessness
Gifts of beautiful smiles
And little else
But chronic anger
At
That side of the divide
The mundane world of the privileged
Inhabited by sub-souls devoid of ubuntu
Driven by rat race persuasions
The neo-apartheid world of heartless realism
With their
Cocooned spaces
Celebrated self-imprisonment
Emotional coldness and distances
Personalised boundaries and walls
Obscene consumerism
Incorrigible selfishness
Rotten personalities
Disdainful attitudes
Repulsive glares of wanton animosity
And mulish conformity


Having tasted the free lunch of the looted kind
They want more
And more
Now they have forgotten how to be human
How did these ordinary folks become such utter degenerates?
Letting themselves go so far
Becoming slaves in a world of no return
I dread a monumental collision of these contesting realities
Is there a way out?

When The Devil Takes Early Morning Traffic

Driving to work today was an absolute nightmare.
It was extremely awful.
First was this lunatic driving a silver Toyota 4x4 Hilux who failed to stop at the 4-way stop, in the process almost causing an accident and then he had the cheek to shout like a maniac at me for pointing out his fault.
Knowing the high degree of road rage incidents in which many souls have lost their lives in South Africa, I kept my cool.
A couple of hundreds of metres later, I was in a roundabout and this white Merc just cut in front of me. I had to apply emergency measures to avoid bumping into the side.
As if that was not enough, he then proceeded to drive at a snail’s pace only to stop abruptly on the single-lane road for no obvious reason. A couple of hoots from other disgruntled drivers later, he casually put his hazards on and angrily waved everybody on.
However because there was traffic from the opposite direction, nobody could proceed.
Folks begun to hoot aggressively.
The devil then jumped out of his car, emitting loads of expletives, daring for a fight.

He was housed in the body of a bouncer, a mean-looking beast high on toxic energy and obviously in search of a prey.

Like me, everybody kept quiet, choosing to stay away from the wrath of the bully.
So he swaggered back into his car. His posture telling a pretentious story of someone who wanted all to believe that he had single-handedly won world war III.
His sadistic satisfaction directed at our expense.
Thank God nobody got hurt.
But the worst torturer today was the driver of black city golf.
As if he was crying for attention, he had put the bone-shaking ghetto blasters on full blast playing Mandoza’s ‘Nkalakatha’ with all his windows opened at around 7 am. Lol.
The sadistic grin behind those sun glasses was his way of showing us the middle finger.
Today, it seems, the devil decided to take early morning traffic.

Soweto Arising

In the beginning
South western township
Created
Apartheid's footstool
Outcasts' kraal
Generations
Ostracized
Brutalized
Jettisoned
Maligned
Wasted
Unwanted
Lachrymal fields boiling
Stoical intercessions ascending
Anguish amplified
Redemptive eclipse magnified
God smiled
Time winked
Mandela waved
Soweto saved
Today alive
Colourful
Ambient
The Enamelled ebony
Refulgent
Sophisticated
Oozing eclectic charm
The Bejewelled bride
Strutting her stuff
Comfortable in her own skin

I Fought Back!

Whether unscrewed, unfused or confused
I cannot fathom
But there he stood
Right in the middle of the corner road
His face and motive unreadably hidden
At my hooting
He turned
Gave me the middle finger
And a sadistic grimace
And so I rolled
Down
The window
And flashed him
A soothing smile
The wonder-working kind
It must have worked
For when I returned an hour later
The theatre had long closed

They stole my Blogoversary!

Yesterday was the first anniversary of this blog.
My first post 'the portrait of Disappointment' was published on August 11, 2008.
Yesterday, I had planned to write a celebratory post- something sweet and positive.
Alas my plans came crashing down because of one very unpleasant event.
Yesterday afternoon, a few minutes past 1pm , I received a call from my wife that our home had been broken into. Yap! The thieving gang had visited again in our absence.
I had to leave the office driving like crazy to go and check on the what the gang had wrought!
Thank God they only managed to break two glass windows of the guest bedroom. They could not lay their cursed hands on anything in the house.
A lady staying in the neighbouring house saw the two-man team hard at work and shouted at them from across the wall and phoned the police. The police responded pretty fast. At least three police cars were there within five minutes of being contacted.
The security buzzer/alarm went off and the security company, ADT, was also on the property almost at the same time.
By the time I reached home the place was swarming with police officers and security guards.
The gang though had long bolted into thin air.
So that is how two sons of belial stole my first blogoversary.
I am pissed off like you won't believe.

Let Your Woman Blossom Right By Your Side

It comes as no surprise that the fearless women of South Africa were the ones who on August 9, 1956 took the bold initiative to march peacefully to Parliament to protest against the pass laws of the apartheid regime.
Under the apartheid regime, any action of similar nature by the men folk would have provoked a bloodbath by the police and security forces.
In commemoration of that historic step by the women folk, August 9 is Women’s Day in South Africa.
This year’s fell on a Sunday (yesterday), so today, Monday, is a national holiday. Having had the moment to reflect, today really feels like an opportunity to give honour to whom honour is due - the beautiful daughters of Africa.
So here goes a tribute to all women everywhere.

W.O.M.A.N
Beautiful
Colourful
Loving
Caring
Selfless
Ageless
Sacrificial
Special
Devoted
Spirited
Courageous
Mysterious . . .

Love and cherish a woman and she will sparkle as a gem, blossom as a flower, beam with affection so pure and enrich your world like no other creature on God’s earth.
Empower and stand by a woman today to unleash her potential and tomorrow you will be blown away by her entrepreneurial, explosive, passionate and raring fortitude.

Welcome to the marvellous world of the faceless warriors
by whose succour streams of nations continue to be fed, by whose enterprise the fires of countless families keep burning, by whose devotion sanity prevails in many a man’s heart, by whose sacrifice rolls of incredible achievements have been attained, by whose wisdom thousands of wars have been stopped, by whose love effortless smiles adorn the faces of countless generations.
All around me, I see wonderful women doing great exploits by themselves for themselves, their friends and families.
There are only a few moments in a man’s that are as satisfying as watching, from behind the scenes, the woman he loves thriving in the world of work, fulfilling her passion.

Let us, as husbands, lovers, fathers, brothers or sons, remember to honour our women with showers of unconditional love and while at it, encourage and support them to find their own ways, discover their unique strengths and pursue their own precious dreams.

Let us celebrate our women: our wives, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our beautiful treasures.

Happy woman’s Day to you all, our beautiful flowers!

Irresponsibility: The Bane Of The Land

I had always thought that the suburb where I stay was endurably safe for my family. Such a conclusion is probable still true, in spite of the fact that our house was burgled in broad daylight the same week we moved in. In addition to the raid on our property, our weekly community newspaper regularly comes out with reports of enormously hideous crimes in the area.
We are eternally grateful to God that we were not at home when those brutes decided to come for what did not belong to them; all the electronic gadgets in the house.

A few nights ago, around midnight, I was brutally awakened out of my precious sleep by what appeared to be loud bangs. Then it dawned on me. What I was hearing was in fact a rapid barrage of gunshots and a car-chase on a nearby street only a few metres from our house. On and on it went down the street in the quiet of the night until the fading sounds of the bullets could no longer be heard.

I could not go back to sleep anymore that night. But that was not the only bad thing that happened to me that night.
The proximity of that chilling episode got me greatly worried about the security of my family. Even though our house has been armed with a good security alarm system, we have primed ourselves to be extra careful twenty-four seven since then.
We cannot afford to take anything for granted anymore.
Many thoughts and scenarios have criss-crossed my mind over and over again ever since that drama took place.

Why is crime so pervasive in our part of the world? Why it is that crime in our society is not only prevalent, but also so gratuitous.
The criminals do not hesitate to rape, torture and kill their victims. It is only in our society where criminals spend hours in the homes of victims indulging in sadism, such as pouring boiling water on their victims, raping the women as they force the men to watch and repeatedly burning the bodies of their victims with hot irons while mocking them.
Our shopping malls, roads, homes, schools, hospitals and even churches have all been turned into war zones.
No where is save any more when the residence of the deputy president of the Republic can be brazenly burgled without people being overly shocked.

The question is how did it get so awfully bad?
How could the entire country, every corner of it, be held hostage by thugs and hardened criminals?
Where is the hiding place of this monster?
It is as if our communities have become massive crime labs and factories where criminal minds are being churned out in huge numbers.
It is evidently clear that something is terrible wrong with the society, with our value systems and with us as families and individuals.
As when an auto-immune disease starts to devastate the body, the elements waging this relentless war against the body are not external but from within the body itself.
Ours is a mutating infestation. A debilitating plaque. An apoptotic disorder of a systemic nature.
Here is what I think.
As much as we all would like to point fingers at others and apportion blame on some mysterious monster somewhere, we will be lying to ourselves if we allow the obvious truth about crime to escape us.
Crime in our society has everything to do with the culture of irresponsibility and impunity.
Until we as individuals, as families and as communities begin to embrace an attitude of responsibility, we will forever remain oblivious to our own role in nurturing this invasive culture of crime.
Let the charity of responsibility begin at your own home.
Cheers!

They Don't Make Them Like That Anymore

During my school years many moons ago, the wheels of boyish testosterone were driven primarily towards two overarching objects of affection: books and to a lesser extent beautiful girls. There was no joy greater than being the top in the class.
Boys, at least those in my circle , had a healthy ritual and an idealist composure when it came to showing love for a girl. My attraction to girls was first and foremost a romantic exploration driven by a boyish curiosity of the beautiful plumage of the maturing female body.
I, for one, was fascinated by the assemblage of fine parts and curves. Big time. But somehow my books always came first, probably because boys were schooled at home to have dreams and put a premium on education above all else.
No wonder, almost all my girl-friendships begun as study mates and blossomed into something a little bit more. We studied hard together and while at it did a bit of 'assets analyses'.
Boys and girls had big dreams. We were full of courage, strength and old-fashioned gutsiness.

Today's students are behaving like sex maniacs, romping all over the place like there is no tomorrow. Some as young as 12 years are going the full hog without any regard for books and their future. Students in high schools are sidestepping the essential years of sexual fascination and experimentation. Now they jump straight into the deeper end and many will end up sexually frustrated later on in life.
Cheap sex has triumphed over education in our schools and the fire of academic and intellectual pursuits has all but died. That may explain the recent phenomenon of 'sakawa' - a pursuit of cheap money, cheap sex and sadly cheap life.
Something, in the way children are raised these days, has gone awry and my thought is that the ambitions of the teenagers of the late eighties and nineties have been replaced with something much more instinctual, something libidinal, something cheap.
Somehow, they don't make them like that any more.
Are my own children going to play any different?
How I wish I knew the answer to that question!

A New Moment Of Great Promise For Africa

"This is a new moment of great promise.
To realize that promise, we must first recognize a fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: Development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock Africa's potential."
. . . President Barack Hussein Obama
(11 July 2009; Accra, Ghana)

I am a believer. Yes. I am really an odd B.E.L.I.E.V.E.R.

I am one of those who tirelessly believe in a promising future for Africa.

The future of Africa can indeed be as glorious as we, Africans, want it to be if we apply ourselves to work for it.

I am a believer in a new Africa. An exemplary Africa. An inspirational Africa.
There is really no reason why Africans can not rise up to the challenge of creating a better future for children and ourselves. This is Barack Obama's Africa.
Today's evangelistic speech delivered by president Barack Obama at Accra's International Conference Centre, in my view, is a poignant reminder to Africans everywhere to desist from the familiar excuses and blame games and embrace the old age principles that have worked in other places of the world.

May the inspiring words of Barack Hussein Obama rekindle hope in every African heart for a better tomorrow.

Yes we still can.

Whipping The Pumpkin Soup À La Carte

Eno Rose, my mother did a pretty decent job in training and coaching all her boys about the nuggets of the beautiful artistry of creating culinary delights.
Because of her, I do know a thing or two about good food Ghana-style.
Last Saturday I found myself reminiscing about the killer taste of nkatekwan with rice balls after participating in the big walk around Saxonwold Primary School.
The last time a ate that sumptuous combination was when I was in Ghana recently. The problem is nkatekwan a la South Africa is totally unlike what obtains in Ghana. Don't ask me why?
So instead, I decided to try something rather exotic: pumpkin soup.
I was in the mood for an adventure like you will never believe.
My wife, baffled by this unusual quest to turn the beautiful kitchen into something resembling a chemistry lab, decided to abandon ship leaving me alone unto my ridiculous cookery pursuit.
An hour or so later, unable to resist any longer the smell of the overwhelming magnificence emanating from the kitchen, she saunters into the kitchen, her face adorned with a curious smile depicting pleasant surprise. A moment to taste and indulge! The unplanned experiment turned the day into something more than expected: a beautiful date! Seeing how happy she was, I quickly realised how incredible an opportunity it was for both of us to explore and appreciate something new. To me, it was also an important lesson in the power of giving a helping hand at home.
As professionals, both of us spend our week days working hard. Evening meals, therefore, are mainly something quick and simple (mostly prepared by her) in order to prepare for the next day's work schedule.
So it was good to sit, eat, talk and enjoy each other's company unhurried at home, seduced by the goodness of the pumpkin soup.
And you know what?. I am so proud of myself!

2010 World Cup Just Around The Corner

The one year count-down to the 2010 FIFA World Cup has just begun.
Today, President Jacob Zuma in a symbolic move kicked a soccer ball in Cape Town's Green Point stadium to mark the start of the official count-down.
For those of you soccer-mad fans, who are planning to come for the fiesta, now is the time to start preparing for the ball of balls.
With all the stadia taking final shape for Africa's first world cup, the momentum of great excitement is gathering thick and fast.
Meanwhile the FIFA confederation cup begins on Sunday.
Almost all the 8 Teams taking part are in town. And it is expected to whet the appetite of millions all over the world towards the actual 2010 celebration of football.
I am getting my vuvuzela tomorrow!
I can't wait for 2010.

President Zuma First State Of The Nation Address

Today, 3 June, is the opening of the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa.
The president, Mr Jacob Zuma, is expected to give the state of the nation address in the National Assembly.
South Africans are waiting with baited breath for the president's first state of the nation address in which he is expected to announce a new program of action to address the socio-economic problems facing the nation.
The provision of social services, the fight against crime, health and education are expected to receive serious attention in the address of the new leader of South Africa.
The speech of president Zuma comes at a time when the economic prospects of South Africa have been weakened by the global economic crisis. Officially the economy is in recession. Jobs are being lost across all sectors. The fiscus has suffered as a result of reduced earnings from exports, taxes and trade. The new administration has to balance the needs of the masses against the reducing resources at its disposal.
Let us hope president Zuma will manage this tough balancing act for the benefit of a nation that is expecting so much from him.
I wish him luck.

From Herdboy To President

Tomorrow, Saturday, 9 May 2009, on the lawns of the Union Building in Pretoria, Mr JACOB GEDLEYIHLEKISA ZUMA, popularly called Msholozi, will be inaugurated as the 4th post-apartheid President of the Republic of South Africa.
Whatever your personal opinions are of him, there is one thing you cannot take away from Jacob Zuma. He is a formidable survivor. A fighter of unimaginable stamina. The story of the man is simply unbelievable. Phenomenal.
Here is a man who begun life as a herd boy( a Shepherd- for those of you without southern African experience) in his ancestral homestead in Nkandla in rural northern KwaZulu- Natal.
His schooling was disrupted very early as a result of the apartheid regime and eventually he decided to leave school altogether to join the struggle against the regime after standard three/grade five.
Once he joined the ANC, he never looked back but concentrated all his efforts on learning as much as he could from the leaders in the movement. What he lacked in formal education, he learnt through association, political activism and a sheer determination.
For example whilst former president Thabo Mbeki is considered an aloof and elitist intellectual with poor inter personal skills, Jacob Zuma on the other hand is a charismatic leader with great people skills. He has a formidable personal touch with people. No wonder he is called the peoples president. `
His endearing nature has served him well over the years. Jacob Zuma rose through the ranks of the ANC to become the head of intelligence of the Umkhonto We Sizwe ( the military arm of the ANC).
After 1994, he became a member of the National Council of provinces(NCOP), the second House of the South African Parliament, representing KwaZulu-Natal and also a minister in the KZN provincial government responsible for economic affairs and tourism. It was through his negotiating skills that the violence between the ANC and the IFP was brought to an end in KZN.
In 1997 at the 50th Conference of the ANC at Mafikeng he was elected as the deputy president of the ANC. And in 1999 he become the deputy president of South Africa.
Tomorrow he takes the final step towards the highest office in the land having already been elected as the President of South Africa by the Parliament on 6th may 2009.
May the Good Lord be with him to provide the leadership required by South Africa in the next five years.

Ghana: What Are The Scenarios?

South Africa's Dinokeng Scenarios make for an interesting study into the role of citizens and NGOs in shaping the future direction of a nation. How do we as citizens influence the decision making processes in our countries in such a way that our politicians and leaders are exposed to as many plausible scenarios as possible before they arrive at the point of making those decisions that ultimately affect all of us?. Should citizenship in democratic governance be centred on the right to vote in an election? Should we sit back and give a carte blanche to the elected into office to do as they please or must we take responsibility and come together in one way or the other to explore alternative agenda for the development of our nations?
The Dinokeng group serves to bring into the mainstream arena of politics and national discourse the plausible scenarios which need to be looked at but more often are conveniently ignored by those entrusted with national leadership.
According to the group, there are three plausible scenarios that confront South Africa at this period in her development. There are: the Walk Apart, Walk Behind and Walk Together scenarios.
* Walk Apart: the state plays a role that is either weak and neglects to reverse its failings. The Walk Apart option posits the idea that the country limps along much in the same manner as it has up to now, beset with worsening poverty and unemployment. Coupled with this are growing insecurity and an ailing public health system which is unable to meet the needs of the poor. Crime becomes endemic and corruption is the order of the day.
* Walk Behind: the state becomes increasingly interventionist, crowds out private initiative and leads to unpopular and destabilising economic reform measures.
In Walk Behind we all sit back and wait for the strong and capable state to do everything, but that is unlikely to happen, because the state lacks the resources and expertise to be that capable, and the result of the heavy interventionism could be unsustainable public borrowing and an increasingly authoritarian state. This is the likely scenario should the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the left-leaning trade Union (COSATU) be allowed to take over the policy mechanism in the Jacob Zuma administration.
* Walk Together: in the third scenario, the state plays its most useful role when held to account and forced to respond to demands made on it by a newly resurgent activist society. An activism not against the government, but one that works with the government to build a better tomorrow.

These scenarios were presented yesterday at Johannesburg's Constitution Hill. According to the group, the three scenarios were a starting point for discussion at different levels of South African society about the direction the country should follow in this period of transition.
As a broad church pulled together by citizenship, scholarship, leadership and a desire to ensure that South Africa moves along a sustainable trajectory, the dinokeng group is a bold and commendable attempt to broaden debate and bring into existence a responsive and accountable government under pressure from ordinary people.
Looking at the dynamism of the dinokeng team under the felicitations of the convener/chair Dr Mamphela Ramphele I had to ask myself what Ghana's scenarios are? It seems to me that the three scenarios painted are as applicable to Ghana as they are to every country on the continent.
Ghana clearly cannot remain a state-centred society where we always look up to the government as our source of development. Nor can we build a viable state in an environment of weak institutions. Nepotism, tribalism and corruption must be tackled aggressively through a broad partnership between citizens and the state. The extreme partisanship being practised in Ghana can only lead us to a dead end. We need to team together in order to move forward.
I wish the conclusions of the dinokeng team would be preached throughout the continent of Africa and its plans of action replicated throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Check this.

South Africa's Freedom Day

Today, 27 April 2009, is Freedom Day in South Africa.
It is a public holiday of similar stature to Independence Day in Ghana and elsewhere.
Freedom Day is the commemoration of the first democratic elections that took place in 1994. There are celebrations taking place all over the country.
To celebrate the day, we are inviting friends to come over for braai and fellowship.
Cheers and enjoy your day!

Nkandla: Jacob Zuma's Ancestral Home

Last year somewhere in April my wife, myself and two family friends went to Nkandla in northern KwaZulu-Natal for the funeral of a woman who died rather unexpectedly on a visit to her ancestral home. She was a good family friend and we were obliged to travel the five hours for the purpose of saying our final goodbyes to her . The two ladies that went with us also come from Zululand. One hails from the same village as the dead woman and the other from Durban. We were blessed to have them with us as they helped us to understand not only the cultural practices and traditions of the area but also the proceedings at the funeral itself as well as the burial. There is great similarities in the way the Ndaus in the Chipinge area of Zimbabwe and the Zulus, at least the ones in Nkandla, bury their dead.
As a first time visitor to that part of the Zulu Kingdom, I discovered the generality of African spirit and character, the similarities as well as the differences between the Ghanaian culture and the Zulu culture.
KwaZulu-Natal is a really beautiful part of South Africa and I will encourage everybody to visit there once in a lifetime should the opportunity presents itself. We really fell in love with the place and the inhabitants.
It was an occasion rich in memory and poignant experiences. The journey was in itself pleasantly eventful. From the treacherous twists and turns of the road through the Amajuba mountain range which for all intents and purposes was, for me, a rigorous examination in the art of advanced driving to the beautiful scenes of the little towns and villages on the way.
I have just discovered that Nkandla is also the ancestral home of the President-elect of South Africa, Mr Jacob Zuma.
With the tourism potential of the area as it is and the ascension of Msholozi to the presidency of South Africa, I am tempted to say that Nkandla in a few years time will never be the same as I saw it last year.
In a way it will be sad to see the essence of rural living in Nkandla give way to modernity but who can question the desires of the people of Nkandla for their share of the fruits of South Africa's prosperity. Long Live Nkandla! Long Live South Africa!

South Africa Votes II

The results of the national and provincial elections are rolling in fast and furious.
With a large chunk of of the results already in, the ANC is heading for a two-third majority in the national election. The party is also heading for victory in 8 of the 9 provinces.
The Western Cape is the only province expected to go to the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). Helen Zille, the leader of the DA is expected to become the Premier of that province.

Provisional Results
ANC ( 65% ) DA ( 16%) COPE ( 8%) IFP (2%)

Mr Jacob Zuma is expected to be elected as the next President of South Africa by the National Assembly early next month after the swearing in of the new members of parliament.
Everybody is now waiting anxiously to see the composition of the next ANC government.
Let us pray and hope that JACOB GEDLEYIHLEKISA ZUMA and his incoming administration will be able to take Mzansi to a much better future.

South Africa Votes I

This morning, despite the chilling weather, long queues of old and young South Africans waiting with steely determination to exercise their democratic right have already started moving towards the 19700 voting stations spread across all 9 provinces of the Republic.

Already e-tv is reporting of the discovery of ballot boxes stuffed with marked ballot papers in favour of the IFP in Ulundi in the Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) province as well as the shooting of an IEC presiding officer in Qwaqwa in the Free State Province.

By and large, KZN is the most likely place for a flare-up of election violence, if there should be any. About 23 000 security officers have been posted to various parts of the province to forestall violence.

In the main though, the elections are expected to be generally free and fair.

More update to follow soon.