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Zuma’s Charm Prevails at Copenhagen

2009-12-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The President of South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma reached legendary status when he helped broker a groundbreaking deal at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change at Copenhagen in Denmark yesterday. In a rarely seen momentum led by an African leader on a world stage President Zuma joined the US President Barack Obama and other leaders of powerful economies like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Premier Wen Jiabao of the People's Republic of China and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to salvage what was otherwise a conference doomed to fall short of an agreement after failing to reach a deal despite two weeks of intense plenary discussions and negotiations.

President Zuma does very well when he trusts his instincts and in this case he showed an instinctive grasp of the issues at stake if everybody had returned home without some deal at hand. In leveraging his natural domain expertise and political savvy as a skilful negotiator and stalemate-breaker, President Zuma bridged the divide that pushed the conference to the precarious brink of failure. These peace-making skills of President Zuma are legendary in the South African history of peace-making as confirmed by great legends like Nelson Mandela.

In the backdrop of the prestige of President Obama who really wanted to see a breakthrough in these climate change talks, President Zuma had previously electrified the conference with these thoughtful words "We have made progress in that we have been able to isolate the areas of agreement and disagreement. We need to move with speed to finalise the areas of disagreement, in order to conclude a legally binding agreement for the sake of future generations.”

Even though the current agreement is not legally binding as originally intended, it draws attention to the far sighted outlook of President Zuma in a strategic move that underlines his shrewd ability to seize an opportune moment that put an African country like South Africa on the world map.

This deal was not easily done as President Obama later observed "I also want to briefly mention the progress we made in Copenhagen yesterday. For the first time in history all of the major – the world’s major economies [USA, Brazil, India, China, South Africa] have come together to accept their responsibility to take action to confront the threat of climate change. After extremely difficult and complex negotiations this important breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come.” Square brackets are the author's.

The US Senator John Kerry hailed this agreement "It’s a powerful signal to see President Obama, Premier Wen, Prime Minister Singh, and President Zuma agree on a meeting of the minds. These are the four horsemen of a climate change solution. With this in hand, we can work to pass domestic legislation early next year to bring us across the finish line."

In announcing the deal on Saturday the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon referred to this agreement as "a real deal" that provided framework for a future legally binding treaty on climate change. The next Conference on Climate Change is scheduled for November 2010 in Mexico.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Unbought Liberation Icon Dr. Msimang Dies

2009-12-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

A liberation icon, a medical doctor, former Minister of Health and an impressive linguist who boasted an impeccable command of languages of the world like Russian, Swahili, Zulu, English and more died yesterday at 2:27PM South African time at the University of Witwatersrand Donald Gordon Medical Centre and Medi-Clinic ICU in Johannesburg. Dr. Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang died due to complications with a liver transplant she had received back in March 2007 according to published reports attributed to her son in law who requested family privacy Martin Kingston. The African National Congress has published a tribute to Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang on their website.

Indefatigable Warrior

Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang was an indefatigable fighter on behalf of her people. She consistently advanced the interests of the African natives even in the face of fearsome opposition. Faced with the HIV and AIDS crisis which clipped the wings of population growth in South Africa, Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang went against the Holy Grail when she challenged the pharmaceuticals and the pharmacists to reduce the cost of medicine in order to make medical care accessible to those who could least afford. The pharmaceutical establishment challenged her in court. The cases like New Clicks South Africa (Pty) Ltd versus Tshabalala-Msimang and Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa and Others versus Minister of Health and Another in 2005 were soundly defeated and the state was awarded the costs. Subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein overturned the previous judgements. The unfazed Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang fought back via the Constitutional Court which ruled in her favour and settled the matter once and for all.

Traditional Health Practitioners Act

Boasted by these hard won victories Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang introduced the Traditional Health Practitioners in 2007 which sought to provide a legal status of recognition to the traditional surgeons like Inyanga, Ngaka, Sangoma, and Lethuwela among others. This pro-African move raised the ire of the pro-Western medical establishment who regarded this move as a personal affront and launched strident attacks against Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang. She set her foot down and refused budge. Today a traditional health care worker like Sangoma enjoys a legal status like any other accredited health care worker thanks to the unbought Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang.

It’s estimated that South Africa is home to more than 200 000 Sangomas who serve millions of South Africans. South Africa commands more than 10% of world medicine plants and the know-how of the medicinal properties of these plants is controlled by 97% of the traditional surgeons.

Some of the strident critics of her new law included a highly regarded medical scientist Dr. Shadrak Mazaza of the South African Medical Association who expressed these remarks during the Traditional Health Practitioners Bill debate "My personal opinion is that adding an illiterate group of people issuing sick certificates from their shacks to the mix...well, I just can't see it happening".

It never fails how a person who has been schooled in an English institution, through no fault of their own, will almost always exhibit pejorative tendencies towards an authentic tradition like African medicine. It’s like an English establishment inculcates a sense of disdain in everything authentically African. As a corollary, the graduates of the English schools do not recognize the legitimate existence of indigenous knowledge systems. These separatist tendencies are a carry-over from colonial times when legislative instruments like the Natal Code of Native Law of 1891, the Black Administration Act of 1927, the Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Act of 1928, the Proclamation of 1932 and others were intended to criminalize, vilify and economically undermine African traditional surgeons whom the English perceived as an impressive threat to the English medical establishment. The pro-colonial and over zealous Christian churches were privy to these legislative tools designed to stymie African medicine and its practitioners.

Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang dashed those walls and worked without fail to fix the damage brought about by colonial conquest and the white establishment. Today Traditional Health Practitioners Act is the law of the land and makes it possible for a patient who consults a traditional surgeon to be issued with a medical certificate in the event of absence from work. Even the University of Witwatersrand announced plans to offer University degrees in the Sangoma profession at both Bachelors’s and Master’s of Science levels.

The AIDS Policy and Controversy

With solid victories under her belt Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang challenged the unquestionable religiosity of the pharmaceutical and medical establishment with respect to the detrimental effects of AZT as well as the issues surrounding the CD4 count which formed a basis for beginning an anti-AIDS therapy. Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang espoused a United Nations’ stage 4 AIDS-defining illness or a CD4 count of 200 cubic millimetres or less which meant that such a person qualified for an automatic public health care.

She told parliament about damage the AZT was doing to the immune system of an AIDS sufferer and her commitment to ensuring that the Government AIDS strategy had a long term outlook so that the South Africans were not left with lingering consequences that could have been avoided by a meticulous analysis of current scientific theory. In fact pregnant women had gotten killed during the AZT trials in South Africa and she didn`t want more of her people to be subjected to this highly toxic antiretroviral drug.

Her critics mistakenly charged she was denying a link between HIV and AIDS something that she never said as confirmed in an interview with Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in October 2006. Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang put the record straight in terms of those who chose to deliberately misunderstand her simple and clear message “We have never said that lemons or beetroot or garlic are therapeutically equivalent to ART. What we do say is that they contain micronutrients that The transmission of HIV, the rate at which people infected with the virus start to suffer from AIDS-related illness, and how well patients cope with the illness when it strikes . . . [are] affected by a number of variables, including nutrition, pre-existing health status, and lifestyle.”

Even though other scientists like the Nobel Prize winning biochemist Dr. Kary Mullis questioned the HIV and AIDS hypothesis, Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang only raised questions on the operational aspects of the theory with respect to the efficacy trials on account of toxic and death reports associated with the use of AZT. This is because the establishment scientists (the ones whose theory we all subscribe to) were not able to adequately explain the mechanisms underlying the CD4 cell loss which preceded the onset of AIDS even thought the HIV and AIDS discovery had been made since 1984. The lack of this crucial analytical understanding was casting doubt on the efficacy of treatment since the mechanisms of cause between HIV and AIDS could not be adequately accounted for.

The uncontested fact is that AZT was never designed as an AIDS drug but was rather created as a cancer chemotherapy treatment that never worked. This in itself is not new because even Prosaic of Eli Lilly was not originally conceived for depression but was instead designed for high blood pressure treatment which subsequently got retrofitted as an antidepressant and earned billions of dollars in annual revenues for the company. Interestingly, the parent of AZT Burroughs Wellcome & Company worked more on animal health at a certain point in their history before concentrating more exclusively on human health.

Many of the AZT trials were characterized by tragic results which impacted Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang's response in dealing with it. In their scientific paper Effects of Zidovudine in 365 Consecutive Patients with AIDS or AIDS-Related Complex French scientists expressed their bitter disappointment from lack of efficacy and the high toxic effects of AZT which they had tested among 365 patients at the Claude Bernard Hospital, Paris in France. The human trials had to be cancelled midstream. This observation and many others vindicated Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang's cautious approach towards the antiretroviral with the unfortunate result of getting eclipsed by the marketing machines of the profit motivated pharmaceuticals and the white establishment media.

Most Contested Issue

The most contested issue was Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang’s position on the HIV and AIDS which challenged the Darwinist establishment view that HIV led to AIDS as a result of the high turnover of the CD4 and CD8 cells which left the immune system defenceless in the absence of some drug therapy like the cost-prohibitive ARVs. In simple English this meant that the T cells, like CD4 and CD8, which help fight off the foreign bodies were being produced in high numbers and also getting killed off in high numbers in a high speed cyclical process that eventually led to the collapse of the immune system. Contrary to her detractors, Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang never questioned the scientific fact that HIV virus caused AIDS but rather she expressed the challenges on the laboratory front with respect to the CD4 cell loss. In the Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Conference of June 2004 Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang articulated this fact "We had many questions to be answered around how we would provide human resources, whether we had adequate laboratory support for CD4 count and viral low count."

Both CD4 and CD8 cells must cooperate in order to win the fight against infection and the main role of CD4 cells is molecular signalling which means that it works like an orchestra conductor. The immune system depends on the instructions of the CD4 to do the job. If the CD4 cells are not able to do their signalling job then the rest of the immune system is not able to respond and fight the invaders effectively. The scientific theory at the time (perhaps even today among some) was that the CD4 and the CD8 cells were being killed off by the HIV virus even as they multiplied to compensate.

New studies including the one headed by Dr. Katja C. Wolthers of the Department of Clinical Viro-Immunology of the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands disproved this establishment theory of the CD4 cells being killed off. Dr. Wolthers and colleagues showed in their scientific paper T Cell Telomere Length in HIV-1 Infection: No Evidence for Increased CD4 + T Cell Turnover using sophisticated cell labelling techniques, that the CD4 telomeres (terminal ends of the DNA structures) were stable like those of HIV-negative persons except for the CD8 whose telomeres were shortening.

In simple English the infection fighting T cells like CD4 were not being produced and killed off as previously thought. Rather it was the source of these cells that was slowing down in terms of producing the CD4 cells. In other words if there is a tap that produces CD4 cells then that tap for some reason was declining in producing the CD4 cells. This was a fundamental shift in scientific thinking. Needless to say it vindicated Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang`s inquiring mind around this issue. The interesting thing is that a number of scientists are quietly realigning their research in the light of this new evidence.

This paradigm shift from the current scientific establishment vindicated Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang with respect to the fact that if we didn`t understand how the CD4 cell loss came about then there was no guarantee that we were solving the problem correctly. This is absolutely vital because if you have a wrong idea about a problem then you are not going to solve it correctly.

The whole HIV and AIDS issue had become politicised instead of remaining strictly scientific. President Jacob Zuma addressed this politicisation after forming the new Government “Let there be no more shame, no more blame, no more discrimination and no more stigma. Let the politicisation and endless debates about HIV and AIDS stop. Let this be the start of an era of openness, of taking personal responsibility, and of working together in unity to prevent HIV infections and to deal with its impact."

Tribute to the Great Mshengu!

We want to take this opportunity to express our sympathies to the Msimang family. We love you and you will forever be cherished by us. We salute Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang! Mshengu! Donga lakaMavuso! Ngelengele! Hlubi elihle! We venerate the impressive achievements on behalf of her people whom she cared so much for. As well put by the ANC’s spokesman Mr. Jackson Mthembu we shall pick up the spear. The life and achievements of Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang will remain an inspiration to many coming after her. In her memory we shall walk in her footsteps to ensure that the Africans do not become parrots of others but rather develop their own views guided by originality, ingenuity and sincere commitment to solving the problems in the context of the material and cultural conditions that prevail in their own environment in keeping with the African proverb that says “An African writer does not choose the topic. The topic chooses him”.

Lala kahle qhawe lama qhawe! Mshengu!

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

SABC Appoints New CEO Solly Mokoetle

2009-12-16T21:53:00.001-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The South African Broadcasting Corporation has appointed the new CEO Mr. Solly Mokoetle effective January 1st 2010. Mr. Mokoetle replaces Mr. Dali Mpofu who reached a R11 million settlement with the SABC in August after he was suspended as a result of the Snuki Zikalala affair (former Head of News and Current Affairs). The Chairperson of the SABC Board Ms. Irene Charnley underscored the strategic importance of the appointment "The decision to appoint Mr Mokoetle was based on his experience and a proven track record during the time the SABC was profitable, making him the most suitable candidate"

From Exile

Mr. Mokoetle had previously joined the SABC in 1994 from exile in Canada having impressed the then Chairperson of the SABC Board Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburi with his impressive journalism credentials. Mr. Mokoetle graduated from Canada's Carleton University in Ottawa with Masters in Journalism. He boasts more than 25 years of experience in journalism including his brief stint with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Mokoetle's progressive changes of the SABC from a state broadcaster to a national broadcaster won the praise of many with the result that in 2001 he was promoted to a position of a Chief Operations Officer a contract position he fulfilled with stellar performance until 2006 when the contract ended.

Ideal Candidate

Mr. Mokoetle is a former Telkom Media Chief Content Officer a position that was announced by Telkom Media CEO Mr. Mandla Ngcobo who said at the time "We believe that Solly's vast experience in the broadcasting industry makes him the ideal candidate for the position".

Chinese Giant Senzhen

The owner of Telkom Media and South Africa's telecommunications giant Telkom had established Telkom Media in 2007 a fortuitous opportunity after Mr. Mokoetle's one year sabbatical. The stint with Telkom Media lasted until 2008 when Telkom decided to sell Telkom Media to a Chinese giant Shenzhen. It caused R7 billion to create Telkom Media which included other shareholders of which Telkom controlled 66%. The details of the transaction with Shenzhen were never revealed. It's not known how Telkom was able, if any, to overcome or satisfy South African authorities with respect to regulatory requirements in terms of a takeover involving a foreign corporation like Shenzhen.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Let's Have a 'Pan-African Commonwealth'

2009-12-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE

LET’S HAVE A ‘PAN-AFRICAN COMMONWEALTH’

A call for the establishment of a ‘Pan-African Commonwealth or League of Nations’ comprised of all of the countries of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean that have been impacted by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was one of the main outcomes of an historic Seminar on African, Caribbean and Latin American unity that was held in St Vincent on the 5th and 6th of December under the auspices of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

This novel proposal was advanced by a Barbadian delegation consisting of Bobby Clarke and David Comissiong of the Peoples Empowerment Party, Trevor Prescod of the Israel Lovell Foundation and John Howell of African Reparations Inc., and was inspired by the intellectual work of the legendary Nigerian Pan-Africanist scholar who goes by the single name of Chinweizu.

In outlining the concept of an association of African, Latin American and Caribbean states that could be variously conceptualized as a ‘Pan African Commonwealth’, a ‘South Atlantic League of Nations’ or a ‘Pan-African Bloc of Countries’, Mr David Comissiong explained that the vast majority of the nations of the three regions are bound together by historical, racial, cultural, geographical and political factors.
In making the case for this new multi-national association of states, Mr Comissiong sketched the common history of European orchestrated slavery, forced migration of large numbers of African people, colonialism and neo-colonialism that has impacted virtually all of the societies of Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, and referred to the common interest that the people and governments of the three regions possess in pursuing ‘Reparations’ for the damage inflicted on them and the establishment of a ‘New International Economic Order’.

This proposal was unanimously endorsed by the participants in the St Vincent Seminar, and the next steps in the process of making it a reality are to place it before the governing bodies of the ‘African Union’ (AU), the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the ‘Bolivarian Alternative For Latin America’ (ALBA).

However, the ‘Pan-African Commonwealth’ was not the only idea that garnered the approval of the several Vincentian, St Lucian, Venezuelan, Surinamese and Barbadian delegates at the Seminar!

Indeed, in a declaration signed by some 20 leaders and activists of the Caribbean, the Seminar acknowledged the massive flaws inherent in the neo-liberal international capitalist system, and insisted that there is an urgent need for the nations of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean to come together in solidarity and unity if they are to avoid the worst ravages of the diseased capitalist system.

The participants were very clear however that such efforts at unity have to go way beyond "the formal structures of government and state bureaucracies, into the realm of deep people-to-people contacts and relationships". And in this regard, they insisted that a much greater effort has to be made to implement comprehensive programmes of popular education and information dissemination that are designed to sharpen the intellect, critical consciousness and ideological orientation of our people.

The ‘Declaration’ also included a reiteration of "the longstanding clarion call of the progressive world community of nations and peoples for an immediate end to the criminal, illegal and immoral United States blockade against the Caribbean nation of Cuba". In addition, the participants unanimously confirmed their support of the recent declaration made by the ‘Union of South American Nations’ (UNASUR) for the South American region to be a zone of peace, and called on all of the nations of the world to respect the UNASUR declaration.

DAVID A COMISSIONG
President, Peoples Empowerment Party

Ukweshwama Energizes Zulu King

2009-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi (c) 2009

The great King of Zulu people Inkosi Zwelithini of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa got an infusion of new powers as a result of the sacred ceremony of Ukweshwama which was held on Saturday at Nongoma a home ground of celebrated Zulu ancestry.

The sacrosanct tradition, which transfers brand new powers to the ruling King, involved the sacrificing of a bull without the use of man-made instruments. The animal was overpowered and slaughtered by young Zulu men using bare hands. The ceremony was attended by an impressive array of luminaries including the President of South Africa the great Msholozi Jacob Zuma along with the highly popular Premier of KwaZulu Natal uKhabazela ka Mavovo Dr. Zweli Mkhize.

Thanks Giving Ceremony

Umkhosi Wokweshwama was practised during King Shaka and this is a continuation of a long standing tradition. It’s a Thanks Giving ceremony similar to the North American Thanks Giving held in Canada and USA in the months of October and November respectively. The Zulu people hold their Thanks Giving in December.

Boosted by Court Decision

Ukweshwama was given a tremendous boost by a court decision that robustly quashed a daring challenge which sought to dismantle the Zulu tradition on the premise that it was a cruel practise. King Zwelithini referred to this fact when he said that no nation had a right to dictate to another about its culture.

An urgent court challenge to stop this sacred tradition from going ahead was brought to Pietermaritzburg High Court by the English leadership of some group who call themselves Animal Rights Africa or ARA in South Africa. The ARA based their case on what was later established to be a cocktail of “hearsay” and “untruths” with respect to the Zulu tradition. Moreover, ARA was found to be misguided in their understanding of Zulu traditions something that is not surprising given the fact that South African English are colonial descendants whose understanding of Zulu traditions is largely based on the misinformation regularly fed to them from childhood by their parents and English schools.

This type of consistent misinformation does eventually become part of bio-programming. Nhlanhla Mtaka of the Royal House of King Zwelithini underscored this fact of ignorance by ARA when he told journalists "We have also noticed that they are very ignorant. They don’t know what this ceremony is all about and how it is conducted." Mtaka observed that ARA and those who supported it showed a combination of arrogance and ignorance.

Ukweshwama Like Holy Communion

In dismissing the case from his courtroom the Judge Nic van der Reyden expressed a viewpoint that ruling against the Zulu tradition was tantamount to ruling against the holy communion of the Roman Catholic Church.

The court room was packed with Zulu supporters dressed in their proud Zulu regalia. South Africa's ten million strong Zulus honour this tradition each year. A highly regarded Zulu scholar and cultural expert Professor Jabulani Maphalala assisted by another Professor Nxumalo exposed the materially baseless case which led the Judge to rule against the ARA. Maphalala is a former Professor of History at the University of Zululand of which the current President of South Africa Dr. Jacob Zuma is a Chancellor.

Publicity Stunt

In an incredible show of bravado the ARA named Isilo sa kwa Zulu Inkosi Enkulu Zwelithini, Dr. Zweli Mkhize and others in their court documents. This strange court challenge was later described by Nonhlanhla Mtaka and others as a publicity stunt designed to raise funds for the ARA. The ARA has denied the charge of publicity stunt.

Reconciliation and Tolerance

The KwaZulu Natal Premier Dr. Mkhize commented after the court decision that this was a victory for “the champions of reconciliation and cultural tolerance”.

Sour Grapes

The leadership of the ARA are an epitome of colonial descendants who have not come to terms with the new South Africa devoid of apartheid and led by an impressive yet humble Zulu leader the great Msholozi. ARA was described by Professor Maphalala as steeped in sour grapes against the Zulu people on account of a crushing victory suffered by the English imperial army at the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 in the hands of a brilliant Zulu General Umkhuzi wa Mabutho Ntshingwayo. General Ntshingwayo who enjoyed a high praise as a sharp-witted strategist by the great Zulu King Cetshwayo was assisted by other formidable military commanders and war practitioners on the ground like Prince Dabulamanzi, Prince Shingana, Prince Biyela to name but a few.

Genetic Resistance

The sentiment of afrophobic fear and desire to put down the African natives and their indigenous culture is legendary in our times. This kind of sentiment is a result of a process of bio-programming whereby the neurons become encoded with a sentiment that perceives an authentic African tradition as a survival threat by the English. In the poem A Genetic Trait we read these lines:

“A genetic resistance to change
It’s in the DNA to resist the change
The indifference to extreme suffering
A code of silence while colonizing” Moloi, Vusi A Genetic Trait, The African Mongoose, Canada.

From the Contextual Commentary of the poem we get the context:

"The membrane of a brain cell is equipped with a system of plasticity designed to encode and lock in place a unique fingerprint of a particular experience via synaptic connection. If the stimulus is significant by way of association with respect to the survival of the organism, a special fortifying protein via the RNA from the DNA structures is released from the body of the cell. This protein travels via the axon towards the synaptic cleft in order to increase the connective strength of the synaptic connection. Once the synapses are permanently bonded in this fashion, they are no longer inclined towards changing or reversing that particular synaptic configuration." Moloi, Vusi A Genetic Trait, The African Mongoose, Canada.

This demonstrates a theoretical impossibility of trying to convince an Afrophobic individual to accept others as equals because if it’s in their DNA to resist change then that effort is wasted. When the mind is consistently duped using misinformation about others it leads to a cascade of genetic events intended to permanently cast that individual in stone. The WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) antithesis towards everything African is in their DNA and there is really not much that can be done about it. It’s a genetic trait that cannot be shaken off; a sobering perspective all things considered. This is not to say that all the English are bio-programmed in this way by colonial and denialist teachings to divest the African natives of their way of life. However, it would be misguided to ignore the words of the English man Cecil Rhodes who once said:

“I contend that we [the English] are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable [the non-English] specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence…”, Moloi, Vusi, The White Establishment – Part IV, Canada. Bracketed italics are the author’s.

Similar words were also expressed in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Canada by the English Canadian member of Parliament Mr. John Charlaton as follows:

"It was necessary that England should assert her sovereignty; it was necessary that England should assert her power and rights in South Africa. England has purposes in South Africa. Providence has purposes in South Africa, and makes England its instrument. Providence has purposes in other lands and England is the instrument of Providence. It is evidently the intention of Providence that the English-speaking race shall exercise a great influence upon the affairs of this world." Moloi, Vusi, The White Establishment – Part IV, Canada.

Living by the Code

Many English South Africans live by this code of English supremacy despite the expression of goodwill by the African natives in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by the great legend Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It’s incredible that despite the TRC the English have largely moved in the most rightwing and reactionary direction on a collision course against the aspirations of the African natives. It’s like the English have interpreted reconciliation as a form of weakness to be exploited and there is nothing stopping them from doing so.

This anti-African sentiment has been consistently observed in the English media in South Africa as well as political parties like the Democratic Alliance under Ms. Helen Zille. When this writer travelled from London to Johannesburg a few years ago, it was amazing that a South African English passenger seated with the author could not name the OR Tambo International Airport and so was the English pilot of the plane. They preferred to call the airport by the old apartheid name.

Compassion Fatigue

In the meanwhile the African natives are increasingly developing a compassion fatigue towards the indifference of the English. This trend is observable as the African natives become more assertive in embracing their African traditions as demonstrated by this court case. They are unstoppable on the inexorable march towards the great struggle for African freedom and betterment.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The History of Makholokoe – Part II

2009-12-04T01:02:00.000-08:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

In the article The History of Makholokoe – Part I a historical overview of the Makholokoe people was provided. This article is a continuation of the history and analysis of the Makgolokwe people.

The History of Makholokoe – Part I

Preamble

The Makgolokwe people are the direct descendants of the Bakgatla through the great Morena Tabane who settled at the Lekwa valley in the 1500s. Morena Kgolokwe, a descendant of Morena Kgetsi broke away from the main Bakgatla to chart an independent path along with his people. The followers of Morena Kgolokwe came to be known as Makgolokwe meaning the people of Kgolokwe. The Makgolokwe established their main branch in the Lekwa region of the present day Standerton Mpumalanga where they built a defensive fortress Thaba Kholokoe. It was here that they built their Makgolokwe way of life which advanced their economy of cattle, farming, and hunting the succes of which allowed them to cultivate their indigenous knowledge systems and ancestral lands. They are among the first to be known as Basotho along with their cousins Bapedi and others as confirmed in a PhD dissertation Literature and Philosophy of African Languages by the great African scholar William Moruti Tsiu.

Genesis

The Bakgatla people have lived in the region bounded by Lekwa and Limpopo river systems for over a thousand years. They were part of many African peoples who began to drift Southward in search of greener pastures as a result of the great Sahara turning into a desert as a result of loss of rainfalls in 6000 BCE (about 8000 years ago). The present day Mpumalanga and Limpopo offered an excellent opportunity for these industrious communities to rebuild their lives and feed their livestock which kept them alive through milk and ceremonial meat. The Bakgatla boasted many impressive kings and queens one of whom was a famed King Mokgatla, the progenitor of the Bakgatla people. After a number of generations a great King Tabane was born in the 1500s.

Mokgatla King Tabane

The formidable King Tabane led his people to prosperity in spite of the harsh vicissitudes. Moreover he instilled a sense of independence and an industrious work ethic. The Bakgatla peacefully and cooperatively cooexisted with with other peoples like Bafokeng, Bahurutshe and Bakwena among others. The Bafokeng boasted some of the most impressive queens and princesses and one such Mofokeng maiden was a mesmeric Princess Mathulare who enthralled the imagination of a young Prince Tabane. Tabane and Mathulare were married in a traditional ceremony where the extended families of Bakgatla and Bafokeng exchanged gifts and vows and built new ethnic alliances. It was out of this marriage that five sons were born namely Diale, Kgwadi, Kgetsi, Matsibolo and Mosia. When Diale succeeded his father as a new King he broke away from the main Bakgatla to start a new branch at Fateng in the present day Sekhukhuniland. King Diale was married to Mmathobela and when she gave birth to a son, he was named Thobela. It was through this Diale lineage that the Bapedi people and their formidable Kingdom of Sekhukhune was born. They moved from Lekwa under the leadership of Thobela to an area near the Limpopo river at Mohlake in the mountains of Leolo. After succeeding his father Diale and taking charge of his people in the 1600s, King Thobela forged a great and proud nation of Bapedi. King Thobela became a great ruler who was venerated by both Bapedi and some Makgolokwe like this writer. To this day Bapedi continue to say “Thobela”.

King Kgetsi

One of the brothers of Diale, Kgetsi established himself at Lekwa. King Kgetsi became a direct line of descent for another great leader by the name of Kgolokwe. It was King Kgolokwe who made his indellible mark among his people that they became known as Makgolokwe meaning the people of Kgolokwe. The Makgolokwe thrived at Lekwa. Overtime the Makgolokwe developed a body of collective knowledge which served as an intellectual capital in helping them to navigate and cherish their way of life. This system of indigenous knowledge was largely based on oral tradition but was also encoded in artifacts and other artistic works like ditema, pottery, carvings, traditional attire and games of strategy like morabaraba and more. It was here that many Makgolokwe received the teachings of their foremothers and forefathers as well as martial arts like stick fighting, mountain strategies and other forms of self-defense training. The Makgolokwe were methodical cattle herders and farmers. They paid allegience to a totem of Kgoho which is documented in the dithoko and diboko tsa Makgolokwe in the following invocation:

Ke Lekgolokwe, Lekotswana
Lahlaba kgoho ka lemao
Laisa ho Morena Kgorong
Lare bona Morena kehlabile

A longer version of dithoko tsa Makgolokwe is from Nchakha Moloi as follows:

Lekgolokoe Kotsoana

By Nchakha Moloi ©2005

“Lekgolokwe lekotswana,
Le hlaba kgoho ka lemao ka sebonong
O ise ho mokgoloane kgorong
ore bona morena ke hlabile

Ke motho wa kgetsi se dutla majwe
ya hlahang bopeli hwa matso
Ya hlahang mokgatluwa tloopo”

Moloi, Nchakha (2005). Lekgolokoe Kotsoana. Geneology.Com, December 4, 2009, from http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/users/m/o/l/Nchakha-Moloi/index.html

William Moruti Tsiu in his PhD dissertation recorded Young QwaQwa Mokgolokwe lady by the name of Lebohang Mosikili reciting dithoko of Makgolokwe as follows:

Ke thelleleng

By Lebohang Mosikili © 2001

Ke thelleleng
Ke le Lekgolokwe, Lekotswana,
Lehlaba-kgoho-ka-lemao-ka-sebonong
O isa mokgorong ha Kgwadi,
O re: 'Bona, morena, kehlabile!'
Ke monate wa nku ofella mono! Tsiu, William Moruti, University of South Africa, 2008.

Thaba Kholokoe

Thaba Kholokoe inspired a variety of school systems including Lebollo and Motebong systems of education. In the scholarly paper The Design Theory of Letanta this writer discusses an indigenous system of education as practiced before the advent of colonial conquest. Militlary training at the time was considered an extremely important component of education as a form of defence against invaders. The Makgolokwe chose to build a defensive fortress to underscore their need for self-preservation.

The Legend of King Kgolokwe

The close relation of Makgolokwe and Bapedi in terms of language and historical alliances proved symbiotic in advancing the common good. Some Makgolokwe became absorbed among the Sekhukhuni people. Other relatives of Makgolokwe include Batlokwa with whom they share a common ancestry of Tabane as well as sharing space in the land of QwaQwa. The Makgolokwe are also related to Bafokeng (Bafokeng come from Bakwena) by marriage as previously mentioned through Queen Mathulare.

The legend of Kgolokwe was so far reaching that one of the Bapedi rulers of the indomitable Sekhukhune Royal House carried the name of Kgolokwe (also known as kgoloko). The Lekwa region is like a biblical garden of Eden because it is here that many of our people trace their origins before trekking out to other parts of South Africa like Zululand, Harrismith, QwaQwa, Lesotho and many other places. This region represents an instance of Ntsoanatsi that tells the story of genesis.

Peacemaking and Forging Alliances

Given their heterogenous historical experience and the veneration of common ancestry with other peoples like Bapedi, Batlokwa, Basia, among others, Makgolokwe developed superior skills in peacemaking and forging alliances. These skills served to create their survival maximizing experience.

Makgolokwe have also formed alliances with other non-Bakgatla peoples like the Zulu people of Zululand as demonstrated by Makgolokwe places like Nondweni of Inkosi Lephatsoana. Makgolokwe are also found in other places like Kwamdakane, Ndindindi and Kwamhloya in KwaZulu Natal.

The perpetual Zulu legend and founder of the ANC Mr. Pixlie ka Seme was instrumental in the acquisition of land in the present day Daggakraal under their leader Morena Lephatsoana. Even though they lost this land as per the draconian laws of forced removals under the evil system of racist and sexist apartheid, Makgolokwe gained a lot of sympathy from others like the Transvaal Rural Action Committee which this writer worked for under the Black Sash leader Mrs. Sheena Duncan of Johannesburg. It was gratifying when the living legend and President of South Africa Mr. Nelson Mandela restored the land under Lephatsoana II Trust where the Mokgolokwe Chief Edward Moloi was there to receive the title deed on behalf of his people on June 21st, 1997 at Amersfoort in the Mpumalanga Province. In the poem Ke Daggakraal the Makgolokwe are remembered for putting up a determined fight for the land:

“Ka hohle ditholwana tsa hao di adilwe,
BoMoloi ba ho lwela temo ya mobu,
BoSiema ba ho hasanya lentswe,
Basuwe ke ditholwana tse ntle.” Sesotho Puo Ya Lapeng(Pampiri Ya Bobedi)November 2008, Daggakraal, Mpumalanga.

The great Premier of Mpumalanga the Honourable Mathews Phosa was the engine that did the heavy lifting behind the success of this project. Interestingly and deservedly so, the people of Daggakraal have renamed their Municipality in honour of the great son of the African soil Pixie ka Seme of Inanda, KwaZulu Natal.

Gutsy Spirit and Serving Others

The Makgolokwe have bolstered their gutsy spirit and perfected their skills of solidarity over centuries. Instead of waging wars of aggression against others, the Makgolokwe were trained to embrace others as their own regardless of ethnic origin. The only time when Makgolokwe went to war was in defence of their ancestral lands when the peaceful avenues were blocked like the war of 1856 when the arrogant and bellicose Afrikaners assisted by both Germans and the English sought to crush Makgolokwe people and rob them of their land under the barrel of the gun in the Free State. Intriguingly, when the Makgolokwe, under a junior Chief Wetsi had no alternative but to fight back, they were joined by other non-Makgolokwe volunteers like the Zulu warriors of King Mpande, Bapedi of Sekhukhune and others in resisting the claws of colonial encroachment. Even though the Bakwena of Mopeli fought on the side of colonizers in this war for which they were rewarded by President Johannes Brand of the Orange Free State in 1867, the Makgolokwe did not bear a grudge but have consistently engaged them in a peaceful struggle for the emancipation of their land.

Chief Molefe Royal House in Nquthu

Some historical accounts point to the fact that one the of the traditional surgeons of the great Zulu King Cetshwayo (the son of King Mpande) was a Mokgolokwe. When this writer was in KwaZulu Natal at Nquthu in the Royal House of Batlokwa Chief Molefe it was instructive to observe the alliances of Makgolokwe and Batlokwa. The Molefe Tribal Authority shared a border with a Zulu Chief Hlatshwayo. This invaluable experience, as documented in the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, was an immense learning experience with respect to the alliances of our peoples in the harsh face of a racist and sexist apartheid that inculcated separatist tendencies designed to break the spirit of the African. This writer is forever grateful to the great legend Ntate Monnafela Mota of Lechabile in the land of QwaQwa for making it possible to experience this epiphany.

Conclusion

The Makgolokwe are a unique people in terms of having a common ancestry with others and being able to forge and leverage those alliances in their quest for permanent liberation. The Government of President Zuma has committed itself towards the restitution of the land of Makgolokwe. The Makgolokwe are a recognized traditional community in terms of the 1994 House of Traditional Leaders Act. As long as they are relentless in their great struggle for their land, it is foreseeable that they will regain what is their birthright. Are the new generation of Makgolokwe cognizant and interested in their history or will they get attracted to the Western ways that seek to strip them of their Africanness?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Survival Analytics

2009-10-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Survival analytics
Mental therapeutics
To understand what's going down
To reclaim lost grounds
To lay claim like never before
To make amends with the past
In the land of the ancestors

A meticulous attention
A decisive precondition
Instinctive grasp of infinitesimal
The directive to avert the abysmal
Conveying much respect to the stochastic
A graceful acceptance despite ballistic
Without some events that inspire
We proceed like unbroken sapphire
To agitate for change that refuses to yield
To concentrate efforts that vindicate
Agitating cleanses the soul
To purify towards a goal

Contextual Commentary

Previous memories of defeat in the deadly embrace were not enough to deter the new generation of the mongoose from engaging in the analysis of the slick movements of the fearsome cobra. Although many would find it too painful to absorb the stomach-turning accounts of defeat, the mongoose detached herself from the mortality of pain in order to begin a paradigm shift in the new struggle to defeat a previously powerful opponent.

The goal of the African mongoose was to stake her claim to the rare fruits of a hard won victory resembling the unconquerable queens of Nubia like Queen Candace who caused Alexander the Great to freeze and retreat when the Nubian armies stood up to him. A painstaking reflection revealed that it was possible to overrun the cobra in a gutsy move by delivering the first decisive blow like a thunderbolt.

Endless days of rehearsing had perfected her interpretive and combative skills and thus produced the indomitable African mongoose. Attention to detail ensured a short but decisive victory against a slithering foe capable of reinventing the art of war. A new dispensation had irrevocably arrived when the mongoose became a newly crowned ruler of the shifting ground despite the cobra having a reach advantage in a treacherous terrain. Photographic memory bolstered her survival advantage because by memorizing the repertoire of an awe-inspiring cobra, she had garnered enough depth and breadth to become the architect of her own destiny.
The Indomitable Mongoose, Vusi Moloi © 2009 Canada

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Last Rite – Film Review

2009-10-17T07:16:00.001-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Talking about it is not easy. Treatment of it for documentary purposes is even harder and yet the Canadian film maker Gina Valle succeeds where some have failed. Welcome to The Last Rite, a film documentary about dying, death and grieving. What makes this documentary special and worth your time to view it?

Her common folk approach as well as her ability to draw from her own personal experience of death with respect to her beloved father belie Gina Valle’s impressive scholarly background as a PhD expert in Multicultural Studies a good synthesis that enables her to comfortably navigate an uncharted path in a way that engenders a feeling of calmness and tranquility while her theatre audience is treated to what is otherwise a taboo subject. This is the kind of impression I came away with while attending the premier screening of The Last Rite at the Innis College Theatre Hall in Toronto, Canada last Tuesday. I count myself among the privileged to be invited to the screening.

Youtube Preview Video

The Last Rite - Youtube preview video by soultanis33

Hybrid of Dramatization and Factual Accounts

Using dramatization and real people’s interviews The Last Rite eases you into its subject matter while teaching important lessons about what is death, how to prepare for the inevitability of death and what positive lessons can be learned from it. At the end of the screening and while the credits were still scrolling The Last Rite was given a strong round of applause by its viewers. The director and her crew, who came to the fore, including Executive Producer Ingrid Berzin Leuzy, Director of Photography Nigel Akam, Editor Diane Akam and Nicholas Schnier and others enjoyed the admiration of an enthusiastic audience with another resounding round of applause. No doubt the documentary that took eighteen months in the making and a lot of unrelenting hardwork by the crew was well received.

Honourable Mention From Madeline Ziniak

The Vice-President of OMNI Television who received the highest civilian honour of Order of Canada in July of this year for her work in multicultural media Madeline Ziniak told the audience before the screening that The Last Rite had been funded 100% by the OMNI Television and it was a proud project for her organization as well as the emerging film maker. The highly regarded Madeline Ziniak enjoys excellent rapport with Canada’s multi-ethnic communities. An indefatigable champion of Canada’s diversity and multi-ethnic media, Madeline Ziniak along with the CEO of OMNI Television Leslie Sole once commended this writer for supporting OMNI Television’s quest for licensing with the CRTTC back in 2003. It’s gratifying to see that OMNI has blossomed greatly since those formative years and has strengthened multicultural content by enabling a great documentary project like The Last Rite to see the light of day.

What Makes This Film Attention-Grabbing?

A meticulous Gina Valle with attention to detail delicately weaves an interest-arousing tapestry of personal and other’s real accounts with sobering perspectives of a skillfully enlisted triumvirate of the Islamic Imam Badat, the Buddhist Venerable Hoa and the Hindu Swami Atin Bhattacharya who generously impart their rich insights to show that death does not have to be an exclusively melancholy experience that exacts punishment with its cold shroud of mystery and hurtful silence in our innermost. Gina Valle underscores the value of learning from the viewpoints of others in her website "The Last Rite illustrates how Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists ritualize death. In this documentary we spend time in mosques, Buddhist temples, and ashrams to gain knowledge into the meaning of death and life."

Death can be a means of coming to terms with the core lessons of living and become instrumental in helping us to prepare for its inevitability and the aftermath while providing a cleansing experience. We see this cleansing with the bathing of the dead by the members of the mosque and family members driven by the love of their own in stark contrast to what has become legendary in a modern metropolitan society where the death of a loved one is professionally handled by strangers who take the body away and allow only a restricted and limited access in what is a quantifiable policy by a corporate enterprise driven by profit margins.

Erudite Cast

Gina Valle adds to her erudite cast some of the brightest minds like Dr. Wong an expert on death and dying and University Professor of Psychology, Rev. Michael Marshall a Hospital Chaplain with a clinical pastoral background, Registered Nurse and Palliative Care Worker Lori Ives-Bain and Kala Limbani among many who make The Last Rite documentary an instructive and stimulating experience. This is a must see for all members of the family.

Rush To Find Closure

Modern society is in a rush that we find closure and get over it despite the harsh reality that grieving, the longest stage of bereavement, may last anywhere from many months up to two years and in some cases even longer according to scholars. Having to contend with suddenness of death in my youth, I found this overwhelming experience refusing to go away at first and at the time I lacked the intellectual maturity of reasoning but thankfully with the support of a traditional African village collective the grieving took its own time to crystallize which proved to me that the process of grieving could not be boxed into some clean cut and dry process. This film presents a persuasive case that everyone has his or her own way of dealing with death.

We learn from Gina Valle’s instructive personal experience when she observes “when my father died, there was such an expedient manner in which the death was managed, almost with an eagerness to move the death out of the public eye, and rid us of our sorrow in one sweep.” While pointing out that “death is a treasure” Gina Valle provides a gateway through her fresh lenses to the extremely vital viewpoints of palliative workers, spiritual leaders and health care workers who grapple with the issues of dying and grieving from time to time effectively broadening the vistas of our understanding around this intractable subject while at the same time harnessing and enriching the coping resources which otherwise would remain outside the public view.

OMNI Television Broadcast Times

The Last Rite is produced in the languages of English and Italian. The Italian language boasts the most beautiful and comforting voice of Bertoni Bruna. The 45 minutes long The Last Rite is scheduled to be broadcast on OMNI TV in the two languages of English and Italian as follows:

English

Sunday, October 18, 2009
9:00PM

Italian
Saturday, October 24, 2009
10:00PM

The Organizers of The Last Rite Premier

The following great individuals helped put to together a successful Premier of The Last Rite:

Michelle Alfano
Tom Boreskie
Frank Giorno
Kala Limbani
Jeannie Soultanis

To Learn more about The Last Rite visit Gina Valle website:
www.ginavalle.com on the web.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Why Obama Is a Prize Winning President

2009-10-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Congratulations are in order to President Barack Obama for winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. This surprise award recognizes and vindicates President Obama’s transformative role in bringing a fundamental change in global discourse with respect to detente and peaceful efforts towards world peace. President Obama is an extraordinary individual whose extraordinary achievements and approach towards world affairs require this kind of extraordinary recognition. This means the Nobel Prize Committee is in step with the new political climate in the light of the advent of the great President Obama.

Rewarded Too Early?

Some have expressed misgivings that this award is too premature since President Obama has only been in office for less than nine months. Those who hold this view walk the path of instant gratification where you get paid for what you have done and do as you please afterwards and they have never experienced the strategic advantage in picking a fruit before it’s ripe because that means it does not get eaten right away and will stay longer during the voyage and on reaching the final destination it will be fresher than the fruits that were picked when ripe. This principle of deferring self-gratification while the fruit is still green is an important concept that gives a survival advantage to those who practice it. It teaches us the maxims of self-discipline and self-restraint. For this reason the Nobel Peace Prize is well positioned to foster these values in the Obama Presidency.

This prize is intended to reward President Obama as a change agent as well as bolster his policies that favour diplomatic over military efforts in bringing about peace among the nations of the world. The Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Thorbjorn Jagland underscored the fact that President Obama had done more than anyone in the previous year to enhance peace on the planet. The advent of President Obama has already ushered a fundamental shift in world relations where United Nations and other world institutions have regained their central role in addressing the urgent problems of the world.

In the press release issued by the Nobel Prize Committee, President Obama was praised for his ability and achievement in creating a favourable mood of peace and diplomacy in the direction that agrees with the majority of the world citizens:

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.” The Nobel Peace Prize 2009

Unilateralism vs. Multilateralism

Unlike President George Bush who trashed the United Nations as “irrelevant” in his September 12, 2002 speech to the United Nations “Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?”, President Obama embraced the world body when addressing the same United Nations last month on September 23 “The time has come to realize that the old habits; the old arguments are irrelevant to the challenges faced by our people.”

We can see that the Former President George Bush view of the world is like night and day compared to President Obama. President Obama understands the urgent need for peace and his outside the box approach to world events is a tribute to the great Americans like Cordell Hull who received a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the founding of the United Nations which earned him the title The Father of the United Nations from President Franklin Roosevelt.

President Obama who became the President of the United States on January 20th of this year would have been nominated to the Nobel Prize Committee 10 just days after taking office to meet the deadline of February 1st. The manner in which Mr. Obama was able to navigate and transcend the political thrashings of the hotly contested presidential campaign and still manage to embrace his archrival Hilary Clinton was nothing short of amazing. Obama’s political grace even put a smile in great female politicians like Nancy Pelosi whom I respect greatly. All this was a Nobel Prize material.

As a Nobel Prize Laureate, President Obama joins the ranks of other great individuals like his fellow African sister Dr. Wangari Mathai who fully supports and rejoices with him in the same spirit expressed by other great Africans like Nelson Mandela, Mohammed ElBaradei, Desmond Tutu as well as his fellow Americans like former President Jimmy Carter, former Vice-President Al Gore and many others in the world who wish President Obama well in his audacious quest to bring about world peace via the regime of diplomacy with less emphasis on armed confrontation.

What About the Three Wars i.e. Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan?

These wars are not the creation of President Obama but rather the legacy of the unilateralist policies of the former President Bush. In this fashion, President Obama was dealt a bad hand but like any wise strategist he must work with the cards that he was dealt until such time that he can deal the cards. The main thrust of his efforts is geared towards ending these wars beginning with Iraq.

It’s the viewpoint of this writer that General Stanely McChrystal may not see his wish of 40000-50000 troop surge realized. The Soviets tried this troop surge strategy by pouring all their fighting resources in the hope of defeating the Mugahedeen and the consequence of that saw their own economy depleted in the process. President Obama is adept at learning from others’ mistakes and not repeating them. He seemingly has an instinctive grasp of how the jungle works which requires that he must be guided by a sense of foretaste and not a sense of bitter aftertaste.

The Americans are going to withdraw from parts of Afghanistan in order to concentrate and position themselves where they can reach a favourable political settlement with the unconquerable Taliban fighters. We have already seen this with the recent retreat of American soldiers from Nuristan a very important piece of strategic ground given the ability of the Talibans to crisscross with Pakistant at will. The withdrawal follows one of the deadliest attacks where the Americans where overrun by the insurgents resulting in a great loss of American life in the hands of the Talibans.

The withdrawal is officially referred to as a “repositioning” of forces and there is no shame in that. The Talibans are a natural gravity of Afghanistan and no one has ever won a war against gravity on the long term. Part of the reason is that the Talibans know the terrain like the back of their hands and unlike the forces of foreign occupation they are committed to their motherland which enables them to fight with unmatched determination while the foreign forces fight with unmatched technology. The Americans realize this immutable fact of antagonistic contradiction and for this reason they are headed for a political settlement at some point in the future.

Impact of the Nobel Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize has important implications for the Obama Presidency. It alters the dynamics of strategizing and goes a long way to bolster his quest for a diplomatic settlement in Afghanistan which will allow him to narrow the conflict to counter-terrorism. Some think such a redefined war is easier to win than fighting the Talibans. Given that Vice-President Joe Biden leans towards deescalating and avoiding a Vietnam-like bottomless quagmire in Afghanistan vis-à-vis the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who supports increased confrontation via a troop surge President Obama will only have to solve a trivial case of opposing viewpoints.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Judiciary Makes Canada’s Safety Questionable - Minister

2009-09-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

“Terror...the Final Frontier. These are the machinations of the mothership War on Terror. To explore strange new fiction; to seek out new conspiracy and new victimizations; to boldly go where no level headed thinking has gone before.” Rejigged for this article by this writer.

The Canadian Federal Government Minister of Public Safety Mr. Peter Van Loan has charged that the Canadian judiciary is impeding the Government’s ability to fight terrorism. According to published reports including those appearing in the National Post of September 27, Mr. van Load blamed the judges for not “deferring to the Government’s efforts to deport foreign suspects.” This follows a string of cases in which Government attempts to detain without trial or deport persons living in Canada were quashed by the Canadian courts. The Minister said this “raises questions about whether we can protect national security”.

The Liberal Party of Canada website had this to say “The Conservatives are going down a dangerous path by imposing their political will on our most cherished institutions,” said Liberal Justice and Democratic Reform Critic Dominic LeBlanc. “Freedom to question is one thing – but threatening independent bodies when we don’t agree crosses the line.”

Brazen Statements Shocking

This writer was shocked by these brazen statements which invoke memories of the apartheid Government which got frustrated by some progressive judges who set free a number of political detainees held without charge. First of all Canada is the great country to live in and as a result the national security must be upheld by all of us at all times no matter what. Every right thinking Canadian person in this country understands that and appreciates that. A few overzealous persons out there associate ethnicity with the degree of loyalty making some appear less loyal than others.

Minister Must Take a Page From Star Trek

Minister van Loan must take a page from the great Star Trek of Captain Pickard. In the episode The Drumhead a respected and highly placed Admiral Satie convenes a tribunal of inquiry into the dilithium chamber explosion incident as well as the landing of its schematics into the hands of the Romulans.

The Klingon Exchange Officer J’Dan became suspect number one after the Security Officer Worf of the USS Enterprise had found that a legitimate medication used by J’Dan for his medical condition had been instrumental in the sequencing of the secrets of the dilithium into amino acids which in turn got transmitted to an enemy race the Romulans. Converting information into chemistry is not a strange thing in itself since this is a process that happens naturally in human brain chemistry where an impulse is converted into chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters as a result of the synaptic connections which necessitate this conversion.

Member of Enemy Race

D’Jan admitted that he was a sympathizer of the Romulans an enemy race but denied involvement in the explosion of the dilithium. A medical technologist Simon Tarses was questioned and a Betazoid assistant of Admiral Satie used his psychic ability to sense that Tarses was hiding something. Admiral Satie imposed stiff restricted movements on the medical technologist but these were vetoed by Captain Pickard who didn’t think it wise to curtail his Starfleet officer exclusively based on intuition. A more invasive background check of Tarses revealed that he had erred in his job application by not disclosing the fact that he was partly Romullan.

Captain Pickard personally queried Tarses and satisfied himself that barring the omission of the fact that Tarses was partly Romullan he was still a fine officer who did not deserve to be put through the omnipresent torture of the proceedings of the witch-hunting tribunal.

Trial By Insinuation and Innuendo

In the end Captain Pickard mounted a strong protest to the Admiral Satie who was now even bringing the Captain of the USS Enterprise into disrepute by questioning his loyalty to the USS Enterprise. Captain Pickard remonstrated on behalf of his crewman Tarses against what he termed a trial “based on insinuation and innuendo”. He registered another strong protest on behalf of another crewman D’Jan “This man has a Romulan grandfather. For that, his career stands in ruins. Have we become so fearful? Have we become so cowardly that we must extinguish a man because he carries the blood of a current enemy?”

In one of the rare moments of passion Captain Pickard convincingly shows us that as humans we cannot engage in the unethical theatrics of destroying people’s lives on the basis of insinuation and innuendo.

Conclusion

The judges are the voices and eyes of reason. They solve problems through logic. They rule by fact and not innuendo. This is one branch of our democratic institutions that makes us who we are and uniquely Canadian. Has the Minister (perhaps inadvertently) overstepped his bounds by casting doubt on the judicious role of judges?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Africa Must Produce or Perish – Response

2009-09-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Preamble

The great African genius mind Philip Emeagwali wrote an interesting article published on the Africa Unbound Magazine Africa Must Produce or Perish. This is my response to that article.

An excellent article by an award winning African scientist Philip Emeagwali injects the much needed thought provocation in challenging the Africans to rethink their economic development strategies. First of all let me add my voice to a list of many in paying homage to brother Philip for his courageous article. It’s not easy to buck the trend and get people to think seriously about matters of their survival. In addition, brother Philip has been and continues to be an inspiring role model to the rest of us particularly the new generation. Thank you for being an ambassador of Africa through your achievements.

The commentator of Philip Emeagwali’s article added excellent fresh points, which increased the brightness of the light bulbs on this important top. Now that well deserved tributes have been expressed, we continue with the topic at hand. Brother Philip’s article raised at least for four points regarding developing Africa’s economy namely (1) reliance on exporting raw materials, (2) lack of intellectual capital (3) technological prominence and (4) “Made in Africa” solution.

Reliance on exporting raw materials

The juxtaposition of the question “When will Africa run out of natural resources?” with respect to “When will Africa be unable to export raw materials, either for lack of our own oil or because foreign markets have themselves dried up?” is instructive. This phenomenon has already happened among some countries i.e. Ghana (known before as the Gold Coast) and Mali were world's leaders in supplying more over two thirds of the world's gold at one time in history but not anymore. South Africa has captured that position.

What do we learn from this? Both Ghana and Mali never ran out of natural resources nor did the world’s demand decline as confirmed by South Africa’s current fulfillment. In fact Mali (poorest country) is the 3rd largest gold producer after Ghana and South Africa. What then are the reasons? Could it be that a change of post-independence dynamics and priorities resulted in these once African powerful empires losing their once dominant position in this area? Ghana moved on to become number one in exporting cocoa the position that has since been overtaken by Ivory Coast. Nonetheless, Ghana has recorded a series of impressive GDP growths overtime making her a shining example of Africa’s focused, creative and consistent development.

The fact that African countries export their resources to European countries in what is an exploitative relationship (not exclusive to Africa i.e. Iraq) where Africans get less for what their resources are worth is legendary in our modern history. Let’s make a hypothetical but real case about Ghana. Suppose it costs Ghana 2 cents to produce a cup of cocoa. She sells it for 5 cents where four cents go back to production and 1 cent builds the schools, hospitals and helps small farmers.

As a result of this Ghana produces the highest number of university graduates in Africa. Western countries now say, “We think 5 cents is rather steep for a cup of cocoa. We will give you foreign aid in exchange for giving us cocoa at 1 cent”. When Ghana protests this unfairness we hear that there has been coup in Ghana while Nkrumah was visiting abroad. The neighbors of Ghana watching this say “let’s not do what Nkrumah did lest it happens to us” which triggers a vicious cycle of underdevelopment. The organic intellectual capital of Ghana leaves the country. In the meanwhile Western countries shake their heads at a proverbial problem of African coups while they are part of the creation of this instability.

Exporting resources can be a profitable business that boosts the developments projects of a country a case in point being Canada, which has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the largest supplier of oil to the US. The result of that is the Canadian dollar that has become equal with the US dollar despite the market gyrations. Canada is not treated like a Third World country and she gets a fair price for her natural resources.

While foreign aid, as previously mentioned, is an instrument that has hampered and continues to hamper Africa’s development, it does not have to be. Israel receives foreign aid in the amount of five billion dollars each year and it’s a prosperous country despite the fact that the country does not contribute to the US economy in return. In other words foreign aid to Israel does not make business sense to the US as it does with an African country that supplies resources in return at a cheap price. I discuss this in my article Vice President Warns Israel Against Attacking Iran in my blog Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Even though the argument against relying on natural resources has merits, there are other forces at play, which may still frustrate Africa’s development efforts even when she has moved from her reliance on natural resources. What can Africa do to mitigate those intrusive forces that stymie her development efforts? This is one big question moving forward.

Reliance on Exporting Raw Materials

This is an interesting point. African countries have done poorly in attracting and retaining African intellectuals. The problem exists on three fronts (1) African government relying on European expertise and less on their own experts, (2) African governments not facilitating the return of the Africans living outside Africa and (3) the returning Africans often perceived as a threat to those living in Africa.

Relying on Western Expertise

There are lots of educated Africans inside Africa who get passed over for Western experts. Somehow some African governments believe that a European expert is better than an African expert. Some African countries advertise that they are experiencing an acute short supply of engineering talent and yet the locally trained African engineers roam the streets unemployed. Since European engineers are expensive this results in the shortage of engineering skill. Part of the problem is that some foreign aid stipulations force certain African countries to hire Western experts as part of the justification of foreign aid dollars to the taxpayers of the donor countries which results in the unemployment of locally produced African engineers. In Canada a Government development agency like CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) used to state the fact in their literature that seventy cents of every dollar was spent in Canada as part of the Government mandate. Part of this resulted in African countries having to employ Canadian experts to satisfy this requirement. Another paradoxical effect of foreign experts is that some of them (not all) do not share the sentiments and beliefs of African values as a result of being socialized to view Africans as less human than their Caucasian counterparts. This is like having an atheist build a place of worship on your behalf. What kind of quality do you think will be the finished product?

Facilitating Return of Africans Abroad

Not enough is being done to enable the return of African intellectuals from abroad. In the past, African governments have relied on UN and other European sponsored programs, which facilitated the return of Africans. In the absence of those programs we are back to square one. President Zuma of South Africa once made an interesting point that there were two kinds of Africans outside Africa i.e. those who had made it and those who had not but had skills. He said it was important to attract both and provide land for them to help develop Africa. It would help to know what is currently being done to facilitate the return of the Africans living abroad by African countries. Maybe some can shed a light on this important issue?

Outside Africans Wrongly Perceived

Some of our brothers and sisters living in Africa perceive Africans of the Diaspora as somehow a threat to them (wrongly or rightly). This problem persists to this day. As a result some Africans in the Diaspora feel unaccepted in their own countries. This may not be the case in every situation but there is at least a degree of threat perception associated with being an African in the Diaspora. Some Africans have returned to Africa only to go back to the Diaspora.

Technological Prominence

This issue is extremely important particularly we technology workers understand this better. One challenge is that some African countries rely on Western countries to determine their technology agenda particularly the foreign aid recipients. I once researched the idea of providing high speed Internet via satellite in Africa. I found that the companies doing this where Western countries based either in Europe or US. The cost of bandwidth was prohibitive and some were in fact providing very low download/upload speed ratios at exorbitant prices. It seemed their prices were based on the fact that African governments would be paying for the services hence their skyrocketing. The assumption of these Western satellite companies was that Africans didn’t know much about technology leading them to provide inferior services at very high cost.

The biggest challenge to Africa in this area is infrastructure. South Africa has partnered with Russia to launch their own satellite into space in order to make bandwidth available in the country. This is one positive step in attaining technological prominence since this gives an African country the ability to architect technological infrastructure without relying on others to do it for them.

Failure to architect Africa’s own infrastructure systems may in fact lead to another form of technological colonialism where African countries are subjected to inferior technology. For example African countries already rely on foreign technologies like Windows, which is an infrastructure system to store, manipulate and manage their mission critical data. Why can’t African countries sponsor a research in developing their own infrastructure technology like an operating system as well as an African computer? Moreover we have genius minds like Philip Emeagwali who is an architect of a super computer. Instead many African countries are looking for donated computers from abroad.

The premise of "intellectual capital" and "technological prominence" addresses the very core of Africa's problems. The problem fundamentally remains historical and it's the vestiges of economic and intellectual colonialism that consistently vary the parameters of this issue. Right now the number of Africans connected to the Internet is less than 5%. The main problem is lack of access to computer hardware. Another restraint is the cost of telecommunications. In many African countries, in order to for an African to call her neighbor the phone goes to some Western country who in turn routs the call to the neighbor. A number of people in Europe get paid each time two neighbors talk over the phone making telecommunication extremely expensive.

The big mover in the technological prominence must include, among others, attracting great technology talent currently living outside Africa such as Philip Emeagwali. What will it take for African countries to attract the sons and daughters of the African soil from the Diaspora?

“Made in Africa” solution

A Zimbabwean situation is instructive here. Zimbabwe achieved her independence in 1980. The Zimbabweans are among the most industrious and educated Africans I have ever known. At one time Zimbabwe exported food and other manufactured goods to the world marked “Made in Zimbabwe”. Today they are surviving on food parcels and South Africa is shouldering most of the economic burden of keeping Zimbabwe people alive. How did this happen? When both Mr. Robert Mugabe and Dr. Joshua Nkomo signed the Lancaster Agreement, it didn't have guarantees on the return of the land to the African natives and this fact was a harsh precondition as later described by the then President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda. As a result the people of Zimbabwe were given a landless revolution. Landless revolutions are not sustainable over the long term, as has been observed in the case of Zimbabwe twenty-nine years later. In my article Why The West Is Less Influential In Zimbabwe I analyze this issue.

The ability to achieve “Made in Africa” requires land in order to build and expand industrial capacity. It’s possible for Africa to attain this coveted status but first she must be able to subdue and prevail over those intrusive forces that have put her in a situation leaving her with a feeling of being robbed. The English system of racial capitalism treats non-English countries on a descending scale with Africa being at the bottom of the totem pole. Countries like India are successful partly because they are allowed to succeed.

When Mugabe agitated for change in order to empower his people, his administration was subjected to a variety of economic sanctions, which proved punitive to the industrial capacity of the country. We see here a classic case where, despite hard work and education, people going hungry in the streets. In my previously mentioned article Why Msholozi is the Greatest Leader of All Time I point out that Western societies regard education as an economic utility vis-à-vis the Africans who regard education as a form of prestige since it allows them to contribute to their societies.

Conclusion

The article of Philip Emeagwali has correctly challenged our thinking. The vestiges of colonial conquest continue to spook Africa’s developments by sometimes spitting harsh fire like a threatened dragon upon some like Zimbabwe. Courage is still a much-needed attribute and Africa needs to be in command of the agenda of developing, nurturing and empowering organic intellectual capacity and technological innovation moving forward. This means cutting loose the strings attached to development in order to turn a new page. Will the new generation heed the call or will status quo continue to keep Africa’s development agenda determined by the outside forces that have no Africa’s interests at heart?

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Blog Comment Ground Rules

2009-09-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Your interest in the Zulumathabo on the Internet blog is appreciated. You have taken the time to respond to a blog article that piqued your interest and you may as well consider the following rules as a guide in writing a comment that has a higher likelihood of being published on the Zulumathabo on the Internet blog. Since reader’s comments are read only, the blog owner reserves the right to reject a comment that falls outside these ground rules. Please note these rules are subject to change without prior notice.

Rule #1 Read the Article

Make sure you have read and understood the article you are commenting on. It’s amazing how some just post comments having not even read the article they are commenting on.

Rule #2 No Profanities

Profane, vulgar, insulting, defamatory, harassing, hateful, threatening, intimidating, racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic or any offensive language, wording will never be tolerated.

Rule #3 Stay on Topic

Zulumathabo on the Internet is a professional blog with professionally written and well thought out substantive articles. Your comments must fall within that framework. Stay on topic and argue your point within the framework of the topic of the article.

Rule #4 No Junk

No spam, junk, chain letters or pyramid schemes, offensive or vulgar nicknames.

Rule #5 Debate or Disagree Respectfully

Vibrant debate of ideas is a breath of fresh air and your perspective is appreciated but this must happen within the confines of respect, decency, clean language, rationality and logic.

Thank you for considering these rules of the road and good luck in your blog comments.

Obama’s Transcendence of Race

2009-09-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

President Obama has demonstrated an impeccable skill in refusing to be earthbound by an emotionally charged divisive issue of race after coming under bitter-tinged attacks led by a heckling Republican Joe Wilson who brazenly shouted “you lie” to President Obama over his Health Care Reform an important plank of Mr. Obama’s political platform during last year’s US elections. Despite the strident attacks by the opposition President Obama stayed the course above the fray like an African fish that does not allow the sulphuric salt from the salty depths to over-penetrate its skin.

Incredible Finesse

President Barack Obama is a historic figure given his racial background as the first person of African descent to become the President of the United States. During the election campaign Mr. Obama showed an incredible finesse in navigating the treacherous waters of race and still managed to endear himself to the predominately White electorate. The North American society is hyper sensitive to the issue of racism and has developed a variety of defense mechanisms around the issue. For this reason a race issue was used heavily by the anti-Obama people as an effective tool of alienation in order to turn political opinion against him but the strategy failed.

This week the President invoked his seemingly endless finesse when confronted with the questions of race in the light of the comments made by the former President Jimmy Carter who suggested that a lot of anti-Obama sentiments were motivated by the fact that he was an African-American whom others viewed as unqualified to lead this great country.

Addressing major media organizations including CNN’s John King President Obama outlined his position in a sophisticated fashion “Are there people out there who don’t like me because of race? I am sure there are... That is not the overriding issue here. I think there are people who are anti-Government. I think there are… there has been a long standing debate in this country that is usually that much more fierce during times of transition where when presidents are trying to bring about big changes, I mean the things that were said about FDR(Franklin Delano Roosevelt), pretty similar to the things that were said about me, that he was a communist, he was a socialist, things that were said about Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the new deal programs.. They were pretty vicious as well.”

The same comments were echoed on ABC when President Obama said “Are there some people out there who don’t like me because of my race? I am sure there are. Are there some people who vote for me because of my race? There are probably some of those too.”

Intellectual Prowess

The intellectual prowess of President Obama is nothing short of amazing. The ability to finesse an extremely divisive issue of race enables him to exit the crushing jaws of political opposition like the great Canadian seagull that boasts an instantaneous vertical lift above the ground whenever it gets bounded by the forces of reaction.

President Obama’s Press Secretary Robert Gibbs underscored the fact that it was important to put emotions in check “despite the depths of our beliefs” while having important political debates without making anyone "feel uncomfortable". The question of debating contentious issues within the confines of civility of discourse requires a non-partisan approach and restraint of self-interest. The most fierce opposition to the Health Care Reform comes from the insurance industry 38% of which employs less than 20 persons per organization. The Health Care Reform could enable the government to work more directly with the insurance carriers who comprise 62% of the industry effectively reducing if not eliminating the middle man with a minimal impact on the overall job statistics.

The Paradoxical Fact of Socialism

The Republicans have done a good job in defending the business establishment and have traditionally regarded what they viewed as big government to be bad for the structure of the economy hence their vehement dismissal of the Health Care Reform as an exercise in socialism.

The paradoxical fact of interest is that socialism is a good thing for big business like $750 billion bailout to giant insurance companies like AIG (American International Group) and big banks like Citigroup something that has angered the taxpayers. You see how it works? When the government gives bailouts to big business (business socialism) it’s a good cause but when that bailout (citizen socialism) goes to a taxpayer it’s an evil socialism. This explains why socialism will always live side by side with capitalism because the capitalist business needs the socialist government bailouts to thrive. The same principle applies to the concept of subsidy vis-à-vis welfare i.e. when the government gives money to a business enterprise it’s a good subsidy whereas the same money that goes to a taxpayer is referred to as an evil welfare system.

How Is It Possible To Transcend Race?

Mr. Obama’s shrewd thinking understands that the issues at stake are not racial but rather economic. This writer has articulated this fact in other articles like Obama’s Ground Troops Tackle the Last Frontier to show that the premise of racism is to distract from substantive issues of economic control so that we all get emotionally embroiled in matters that have no bearing on the real transformation of people’s lives. The strategy has proven effective in alienating certain groups from the mainstay of the economy. This explains why President Obama was quick to distance himself from the idea of racism in order to stay focused on the real issues that have a bearing on the economic future of the people.

The astute President Obama also understands the powerful sorcery of race in fragmenting and alienating the core base of support. A case in point are the African descendants who have found cohesive solidarity to be an elusive thing for more than 400 years due largely in part to emotionally responding to the issues of race instead of focusing attention on the economic front which is what will change the equation of equality in the final analysis.

Conclusion

The advent of Mr. Obama’s Presidency has injected a new perspective on dealing with issues of race and his consistent refusal to be earthbound by his racial background has given him powerful wings to vertically lift himself off the ground. The new generation will do well to take a page from the great President Mr. Barack Obama and a living legend in his own right.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Brandon Huntley Is Not White

2009-09-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Brandon Huntley is not White after all. For all intents and purposes, Huntley is a Black guy who passed for white because of his impressive Caucasian looks. The convincing power of his Caucasian looks was such a flawless execution that the great Canadians, who still care about skin complexion, neglected to take a DNA test which would have convinced them otherwise.

Refugee Status Based on White Skin

Huntley is a “White” South African who was granted refugee status by the Canada Immigration Refugee Board tribunal on August 27th presided by the only member Mr. William Davis who ruled that Huntley had submitted “a convincing proof” of his persecution as a White person in the hands of the Black South Africans because he was White. Mr. Davis referred to the South African Government’s “inability or unwillingness to protect him." when he said “The evidence of the claimant and the witness and the documentary evidence which I accept as credible show a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness of the government and the security forces to protect White South Africans from persecution by African South Africans.” This represents a historic precedent where someone has ever been granted refugee status because of the colour of his skin. Huntley was represented by Russel Kaplan who had his own sister Lara Kaplan testify on behalf of Huntley.

New Evidence Contradicts Refugee Claimant

New evidence from a respected historian who happens to be Huntley’s distant relative, Patrick Tariq Mellet of South Africa writes in his Cape Slavery Heritage blog that he maternally shares a blood line of heritage through their grand parents whose genetic roots go back to Huntley’s great great grandparents William Huntley and Mary Anne Haddon whose children had married “black and white South Africans”.

Mellet confirms, using death and archival records of the City of Cape Town, that a Coloured woman Francina van der Kaap who had married one of the first Englishmen to settle in the Xalanga district of the Transkei in the mid 1800s William Haddon was Huntley’s great great grand mother. Mellet further corrobates “Brandon’s great great
Grandparents lived happily in Cala and faced no endangerment amongst Xhosa people in Cala, right through to William’s death at the ripe old age of 100 years in 1908.”

Mellet, who hails from District Six and Woodstock, tells us “This of course makes Brandon Huntley’s case all the more absurd.”

Website Blog Blocked!

Incredibly, the website blog of Mellet at this link became inaccessible but this writer was able to use his superior technological skills to retrieve the article on September 9, 2009 the day that happens to be 999, perhaps an alignment of the planets? Could this be the work of hackers acting under whose instructions?

Canada Reviews the Case

What is the Canadian Government going to do with this case considering that it was premised on a misguided notion of skin pigmentation that is now looking different under the new spotlight? It has since been reported that the Canada Immigration and Citizenship is reviewing the case. This means in one month the Federal Court will announce if it will go ahead to hear the case after which it could take several months before the case is heard by a panel of judges.

In the meanwhile Huntley is a refugee that enjoys the hospitable protection of the great Canadians while South Africa’s international image as the land of peace and reconciliation suffers the stringent consequences of misinformation.

Refugee Status Not a Race Thing

When this writer became a refugee from apartheid it was not based on race but rather on the apartheid system. When the Jews became refugees it was not based on the race of the Germans but the system of the NAZIS. Canada is the only exception in this rule which has tarnished South Africa’s image as a rainbow nation country. South Africans are understandably angry over this.

Passing for White

Passing for White is not a new thing under the sun. The former Cuban dictator and former Communist Fulgencio Batista had African genes coursing through his genes but the Americans supported him partly because they believed he was white because he convincingly looked white. The great Conceptual Artist Dr. Adrian Piper who had written a powerful analytical article Passing for White, Passing for Black and was herself a racially mixed African descendent became listed as Suspicious Traveler on the U.S. Security Administration’s Watch List and Wellesley College moved to suddenly terminate her full tenured professorship in 2008.

The actress Jeanne Crain was chosen by director Darryl F. Zanuck for a role in the movie Pinky to star the character of an African American woman who passed for White in the USA even though Crain herself was White bypassing talented and brilliant stars like Lena Horne. Another actress Elizabeth Taylor was chosen by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz to star in the movie Cleopatra portraying the life of the North African Pharaoh Cleopatra despite the fact that Cleopatra was racially mixed and even Shakespeare refers to her as a Gypsy woman in Anthony and Cleopatra.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Trinity of Emancipation

2009-09-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Preamble

The African jungle teaches us that the most important consideration is the unqualified compliance with the supreme law of self-preservation. This means that the organism must not be uprooted from its natural environment which facilitates the preservation of both survival and quality of life. The organism must enjoy the autonomy where it’s not subjugated under the claws of predators. The critical factors that remain core to the survival ability of the organism to emancipate itself from the claws of foreign occupation include a piece of ground, a set of ground rules and the ability to be an architect of its destiny.

A Piece of Ground

An organism needs a piece of ground it can call its own. When the lion chooses to settle on a particular territory he must trust his natural instincts and ceremoniously pee around the ground to mark the perimeter of his own piece of ground. Those that stray within his borders must sniff the ground and back off never to be seen as trespassers by the border patrols. A piece of ground lends territorial integrity and a sense of permanence to those who have built their sanctuary in the land of the ancestors.

A Set of Ground Rules

It’s not enough to be part of the natural environment. An equitable set of ground rules must exist to ensure the continuity and stability of existence and the ability to interact with others within the confines of mutual respect, autonomous existence and collective belonging. It’s the ground rules that constitute orderly coexistence when chaos threatens to impose itself. The wisdom of the collective and the ancestors is embodied in the ground rules. It is this body of sacred rules together with syntactic compliance that gives the collective and its members a survival advantage.

Architects of Their Own Destiny

The citizens of the African jungle must be able to belong to the collective and architect their own destiny as they see fit uninterrupted by foreign occupation or indirect foreign rule. They are the domain experts in the land of their ancestors and know what is needed to gain a survival advantage. Anyone who says otherwise is a treacherous impostor driven by self-interest and not the interests of the collective.

Learning From Others

When Mao Tse-Tung and his comrades won their revolutionary struggle in October of 1949, it gave them the ability to achieve the trinity of emancipation when they regained their piece of ground, wrote their own constitution and embarked on the path of economic emancipation as architects of their own destiny. They had shaken off the chains of foreign occupation and were unstoppable on the road to the new dispensation. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara achieved the same trinity of emancipation in January of 1958. They wrote their own constitution, carved their own land and chose their own leaders. The Russians achieved the same in 1917 via the Bolshevik Revolution where they wrote their own constitution, gained their own piece of ground and became architects of their destiny.

When Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 she failed to gain the trinity of emancipation since she didn’t write her own constitution. The constitution was written for her by others which effectively entrenched indirect foreign rule. Zimbabwe didn’t gain her piece of ground even though she chose her own leaders to represent her. For this reason, Zimbabwe only gained one third of the trinity of emancipation. Today she continues to be tossed back and forth and sometimes getting squashed by the vicious claws of indirect foreign occupation.

When South Africa gained her freedom in 1994 she wrote her constitution under the circumstances which extracted extreme concessions from her and imposed a heartless restraint with deep claws upon her piece of ground even though she was able to choose her own leaders. South Africa effectively achieved less than half of the trinity of emancipation hence the bitter struggle continues as I write these lines.

Discussion

The unconditional compliance with the trinity of emancipation as we have seen with other revolutions like China, Cuba and Russia engenders a sense of irrefutable fulfillment in the hearts and minds of the indigenous people of the land.

When Zimbabwe was negotiating Lancaster Agreement, she had plenty of time to learn from those who had gone before her like the great Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia who later decried that the exclusion of the land from the Lancaster Agreement was a harsh precondition as reported in the article Why The West Is Less Influential in Zimbabwe. Prior to ratifying the agreement Mr. Robert Mugabe questioned the logic of accepting such independence without a piece of ground but he signed off anyways. He has now learnt the hard way that if it is not there in the first place it will never be there going forward. He broke one important maxim of the African jungle and that is to trust one’s instincts at all times. He had felt a sense of hesitation but went against it anyways. This is the greatest thing he will ever regret and it will haunt him all the way to the grave.

South Africa had plenty of time to learn from the mistakes of others like Zimbabwe and be inspired by others like Mao-Tsetung. Amazingly she duplicated the exact mistake of “willing buyer, willing seller” from Zimbabwe which had already established a track record of unmitigated failure in the previous fourteen years. Now fifteen years since 1994, South Africa is still far away from the finish line with respect to achieving the trinity of emancipation. We hope that the great Msholozi will cover enough ground even though the forces reaction are better resourced to resist any bold moves with respect to a much needed change.

Conclusion

The University of the African Jungle and her curriculum of The Supreme Law of Self-Preservation teaches us to gain a survival advantage by following the trinity of emancipation. Others who have achieved the trinity of emancipation, despite a high price being paid like China, Russia and Cuba inspire us to go forward in the great struggle for freedom and advancement.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Dichotomous Existence

2009-08-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

To stick to the ground like glue
To embrace hereafter to subdue
To subdue the dichotomous
To vandalize the thalamus
Hereafter dichotomous existence

To disown like illegitimate gain
To scar the innocent membrane
Cellular bond weakening
From itself partitioning
Cracked by acoustic thunder
Forced hitherto asunder
Hereafter dichotomous existence

To contain using the forensic
To diminish using the agnostic
To dematerialize survival
To disjoint trust that belongs
Gentle restraint invisible adhesive
Embraced hereafter oppressive
Hurtful membrane of the thalamus
Hereafter forever dichotomous

Contextual Commentary

Discriminatory avoidance learning is the most stressful experience on the plasticity of the cellular membrane of the brain cells of the organism. It disrupts memory formation and pulls the equilibrium away from tranquility and rationality. The Canadian society of Ottawa subjects some members of her population to this form of extreme stressful experience. The gentle oppression, as practiced by the great society of Ottawa, has inculcated a permanent sense of dichotomy in the minds of the socioeconomically disenfranchised communities forcing them to forever struggle with a painful legacy of identity crisis. Like the disenfranchised children of the beautiful cuckoo, the members of these communities are forever reminded that they do not belong.
Vusi Moloi, The Indomitable Mongoose, Canada, 2009

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Heroine’s Welcome for Semenya

2009-08-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s golden girl and first lady of sport Ms. Caster Semenya was treated to a heroine’s welcome at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg yesterday after arriving from Berlin’s Olympic Games where she trounced the world’s best to win gold.

Political Heavyweights

Addressing an excited crowd that greeted her with vuvuzelas, drums, among others, Semenya was overcome with emotions of joy at such a massive welcoming event which included the President of South Africa, the great Mosholozi, Mr. Jacob Zuma and other political heavyweights like President of the African National Congress Youth League the intrepid Mr. Julius Malema and the mother of South African freedom and member of Parliament Ms. Winnie Madikizela Mandela.

When she took to the podium, Semenya fondly recalled her coach's advice "'You know girl, you can do it.' Before the final, he just told me, 'You can let them lead, then last 200, kill them'."

IAAF Blasted

President Zuma blasted the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) for violating the human rights of an 18 year old Semenya. In a prepared speech President Zuma charged “We wish to register our displeasure at the manner in which Ms. Semenya has been treated. Ms. Semenya has also reminded the world of the importance of the rights to human dignity and privacy.”

Ms. Madikizela-Mandela electrified the crowd in her signature style “We are here to tell the whole world how proud we are of our little girl. They can write what they like, we are proud of her.”

In the same way that Semenya treated her critics with disdain when they first questioned her womanhood after winning the race in Berlin, the powerful Ms. Madikizela-Mandela was equally disdainful of the IAAF when she said “To the world out there who conducted those pseudo-tests, they can stuff their insult. This is our little girl and nobody is going to perform any tests on her.”

The Spark of Controversy

Semenya’s impressive performance in the 800m track and field was overshadowed by questions raised over her gender which painfully deprived her of the opportunity to relish her golden victory and breached her confidentiality with the IAAF. The whole gender question was originally attributed to Australia but the President of Athletics South Africa Mr. Leornard Chuene has come out to say that it was a media company in South Africa (has since been identified) that sparked the controversy when it sent “a story” to IAAF in March and this led to the battery of tests of Semenya. Semenya was subjected to all kinds of physical checking like sniffing for illegal genitalia. However it was an Australian newspaper Age which championed the story of Semenya being a male and predicted she was likely to be disqualified from the women’s 800m race on Wednesday night. The question is where did the Australians get this idea from?

Where Are the White South Africans?

The intrepid Mr. Malema posed a thorny question that drew attention to the virtual absence of White South Africans (missing in action) when they should be part of the contingent that had gathered here in their thousands in a show of support for a traumatized Semenya. This viewpoint was given credence by Mr. Chuene’s remarks “Let me say something rude here; why can’t we stand behind Caster in the same way that the whole country rallied behind Oscar Pistorius when the IAAF said his blades were giving him an unfair advantage?”

Oscar Pistorius (White athlete) is another great South African hero who trounced the competition despite being a double amputee but was disqualified by the IAAF which changed the rules that later ruled his blades to be giving him a competitive advantage over other athletes the position that subsequently got rejected by the court judge. The whole of South Africa, Black and White, rallied behind Pistorious something that is visibly lacking in this case with respect to the White supporters (Semenya is a Black athlete) even though Semenya was victimized by the same sports body that victimized Pistorious.

Another Golden Boy Mbulaeni Mulaudzi

Despite being eclipsed by the limelight of Semenya, there is another golden boy and a legend in his own right Mbulaeni Mulaudzi from the Limpopo Province same as Semenya. It was on the last day of the Olympics when Mbulaeni, who was running in the outside lane, dictated the pace and changed the gears in his own time as he later put it. He began to accelerate in the last 200m and went out to clinch the gold. This is the second gold medal having won another gold in Budapest in 2004. The athletic dominance of Mulaudzi renders him an irrefutable King of the men's 800m and together with Semenya, they have made South Africa the Ruler of 800m.

Another athlete who made South Africa proud is Khotso Mokoena who clinched silver in the long jump. These athletes and many not mentioned in this article have put South Africa well on her quest for 12 medals in the London’s 2012 Olympic Games to be held on July 27th to August 2nd. Semenya along with her colleagues have vindicated South Africa’s athletic talent and made good on the promise of excellence.

Conclusion

The massive show of support for Semenya and her colleagues put the IAAF world to shame. The great Msholozi set a good example that the sons and daughters of the African soil who represent the land of the ancestors abroad must be protected under the powerful wings of the motherland South Africa. The political heavyweights like the intrepid Mr. Malema and the indefatigable Ms. Madikizela-Mandela demonstrated an impregnable force in the great struggle for South African freedom and advancement.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Who Controls South Africa’s Finances?

2009-08-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The African National Congress Youth League President the firebrand Mr. Julius Malema rocked the boat two weeks ago when he questioned why “minorities” controlled the “strategic positions” of Ministries of Finance, Economics, Trade and Industry, and Public Enterprise, among others, while the African majority were confined to the security related portfolios like Ministries of Police, Intelligence Justice and Home Affairs as if they were destined to be security guards or omantshingilani.

The minorities refer to the non-African natives like Indians, the colonial descendents and others. Mr. Malema underscored the fact that it was important to build confidence in the markets that the Africans were capable of handling strategic positions in the finance and economic sector otherwise this would undermine the belief of the Black youths that they could someday “work in the strategic economic positions”. The highly regarded African scholar and Minister of Higher Education Dr. Blade Nzimande fired back by dismissing Malema’s remarks as a form of “narrow African chauvinism”.

The response from the great Dr. Blade Nzimande was disappointing as it offered a religious/ideological answer vis-à-vis an analytical/substantive reasoning which Mr. Malema was looking for with regards to why the African natives were not occupying these strategic positions of economic transformation in the first place. The reaction was not different from an African child who typically got chastised for rightfully raising the issues that concerned his or her destiny. The ideological response of Dr. Nzimande provoked a sobering reaction from Sipho Ngcobo in his article South Africa is Full of Ideological Hypocrites published in Money Web website in which he said the following:

“Hello! This is about destiny. The Africans want to shape their own destiny for themselves and their children. They never want their children to go through what they went through irrespective of the ANC's ideological definition of race.
That is where Malema is coming from. He is not questioning the ‘minorities’’ credentials. He is simply saying: ‘What about Africans? How do we explain this to our children?’”

The Issue in Question

Mr. Julius Malema made an astute observation when he pointed out that when Mr. Trevor Manual became the Minister of Finance he was not liked by the markets. This is true because when the Finance Minister Mr. Chris Liebenberg was replaced by the new non-White Finance Minister Mr. Trevor Manual in August of 1996 the Rand suffered a sudden drop from the dizzying heights of R3.82 to the punishing lows of R4.58 with respect to the US dollar a sudden drop of 20% in one day!

Mr. Malema tells us that Trevor Manuel worked hard to endear himself to the markets. Indeed Trevor Manuel seemingly became the darling of the markets. Did he really? The Rand continued to drop afterwards in spite of being embraced by the markets. If markets ever accepted the increasingly popular Manuel as the right man in charge of the country’s finances the trading history of the Rand did not register that because the Rand had dropped by nearly twice what it was by the time Trevor Manuel stepped down to take a new position in the Presidency of the great Msholozi Mr. Jacob Zuma.

They may have accepted Trevor Manuel with press releases and nice comments but not in terms of the value of the Rand which is a reliable barometer of what the investors think of the country. In fact investors and analysts made some funny comments to the fact that the Rand was overvalued and needed to have its wings clipped whereas under a White Minister of Finance the Rand was correctly valued. Interesting, isn’t it?

Are the Africans Kept Out of Finance Departments?

Do the facts support Mr. Malema’s point of contention that the African natives are kept out of the strategic Ministries? Decide for yourself as we present the Ministries in charge of Finance, Trade, Public Enterprise and Economics which Mr. Malema was referring to:

• Minister of Economic Development: Ebrahim Patel (not an African native)
• Minister of Finance: Pravin Gordhan (not an African native)
• Minister of Public Enterprises: Barbara Hogan (not an African native)
• Minister of Trade and Industry: Rob Davies (not an African native)

I have also taken a sample of the South African Government strategic parastatals to see who is in charge of the finances and here are the results:

• Transnet Chief Financial Officer: Mr. A. Singh (not an African native)
• Sasol Chief Financial Officer: Ms. Christine Ramon - (not an African native)
• Spoornet Chief Financial Officer: Mr. Nick Thomson (not an African native) and the list goes on and on.

We have established that the finances and the disbursements thereof in facilitating the economic emancipation of the African natives are controlled by the non-African natives despite the fact that African natives comprise nearly 80% of the population. This economic exclusion makes it easy to reject an African mother who presents a project designed to lift her out of poverty because a non-African native who does not have or feel her painful experience of being economically disenfranchised in the land of the ancestors is more likely to say no because of being far removed from the personal pain and the indignity of the arresting chains of economic oppression. Essentially this is what Malema is trying to draw our attention to.

What Are the Demographic Ratios?

What are the ratios in terms of the South African population with respect to the new cabinet? The South African demographics according to the 2001 census figures are as follows:

The African natives 79%, colonial descendents 9.6%, racially mixed 8.9%, and Indian and others 2.5%. The African natives in the current cabinet comprise 73%, the Indians 6%, the colonial descendents 16% and the racially mixed 5%.

These numbers tell us that both the African natives and the racially mixed are under-represented with respect to their demographic ratios and that the Indians and colonial descendents are over-represented. This is another source of unease among the African natives who elected an overwhelming majority of their representatives to soar high like an African eagle intent on making bread and butter on their behalf. Instead they see their powerful African eagle’s wings getting clipped along the way even before she could get ahead in her mission. What effect will the clipping of the wings have on the flight speed and the flight path of the African eagle? Will the giant bird correctly achieve her mission? We have already seen the many great moves being made by the great Msholozi including the normalization of relations with Angola and the signing of trade agreements and hopefully the eagle will grow new wings.

Is Economic Transformation Important?

The answer depends on the premise of the apartheid system and what you believe to be the case. What was the modus operandi of apartheid? Was it its sole purpose to institute racism and discriminate against the African natives? The answer is no. The purpose of apartheid was never exclusively about racism and that has not changed even today. The premise of apartheid was about economic control designed to keep the African natives out of the mainstay of the economy and permanently deny them the bread and butter.

We know this because when the African worker in Bloemfontein finished working for die baas a vicious dog (trained to bite a Black person) was unleashed upon him to run as far as he could so that he didn’t even think twice about coming back to collect the money he had worked hard for. He arrived at his home empty handed with his tail between his legs. How was he able to explain to them why he didn’t have the bread he had promised to bring? Even if he tried to return another day to fetch the bread he would be met by the brutal apartheid police who were ready to throw him in jail or brutalize him even more. Only the White South Africans were supposed to enjoy the wealth of South Africa.

The institutionalization of racism was just a political infrastructure designed to make it easy to keep the Africans out of the finances and economics of the land. Racism was used as a painfully effective device of distraction and destruction. Unfortunately the African natives became fixated around the distraction of racism and developed a misguided view that the only reason apartheid existed was racism and if they abolished racism then everybody would live happily ever after.

Fifteen years after 1994 we have now learnt the hard way that apartheid was really about economics and racism was just a smokescreen. Mr. Malema has caught on to that concept of voodoo economics which is why he is intellectually challenging us to the debate of ideas around the issue of who controls the finances and economics of the land. This is not to say that the ANC leadership is oblivious to the fact. They have their strategy of dealing with the issue but the people on the ground are getting dazzled by the glaring light of discrepancy in terms of the control of the finances and economics.

The real apartheid is the economic apartheid which was never outlawed. It’s legal in South Africa today to keep an African native out of a finance department by spooking the African natives with such sorcery like “you are not qualified for the job” when in fact there are many African natives who are overqualified but are unemployed. Voodoo economics is used to keep an African native out of an economics department whereas this is where the bread and butter are. If they keep you out of the bread and butter then how are you going to explain to your children why you are not able to produce bread on the table?

Conclusion

Mr. Malema has drawn attention to the most fundamental issues of economic transformation and the need for the African natives to control their economic destiny. Right now that destiny is determined by others on their behalf and the constituency of Mr. Malema does not derive comfort out of that.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Indomitable Caster Semenya

2009-08-23T03:43:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s Caster Semenya, an 800m distance runner from a small African village of Limpopo Province, dominated women’s track and field with her lightening speed when she beat the world’s best to clinch a gold medal on day five of the Berlin Olympic Games of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

The powerful Kenyan queen of track and field and defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei was unable to match the explosive power and furious speed of Semenya given a jaw dropping distance in which the 18 year old Semenya broke new ground when she set a new record by an incredible 2.45 seconds. Semenya set the new time at 1:55:45 erasing historical records previously set.

The hard to believe athletic prowess and unique style of Semenya wowed the audience and was of such a flawless execution that it hit like a thunderbolt and by the time everything was said and done, Semenya was decked in her proud South African flag while her vanquished competitors were still gasping for air. Interestingly, she briefly showed off a graceful snake dance style flexing its fearsome muscles while looking into the audience in what was a soulful rendition to the African spirits of her beautiful motherland South Africa.

Banned From Addressing the Media

When her time came to bask in the limelight of her phenomenal victory and speak to the international media, she was whisked away and banned from speaking to the media by the IAAF officials who seemingly did not wish her well. This is when things began to take an ugly turn. The new African queen of track and field was now being treated like a suspect who somehow didn’t deserve to be accorded the rights and privileges of her hard won victory.

The English understandably wanted to see their English athlete Jennifer Meadows clinch the limelight but concocting stories that denied Semenya as a deserving female athlete was most cruel. Meadows, for her part, complained that no one in the world was capable of Semenya's athletic achievements and who is Meadows to tell us what African athletes are supposed to be capable of? This is the same line of thinking that has been shoved down our throat like Isaac Newton who tells us in Physics that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction even though he never tested every phenomenon to establish if that was the case.

Some English commentators went even further to suggest that Semenya was a man who had had a sex change to gain an unfair advantage. Since this writer is an African village boy and a goat herder, to have a sex change in an African village would be equivalent to going to the moon on a flying saucer powered by the lungs of a donkey. I don’t think anyone would go very far with that. The hurtful reports and comments leveled against the indomitable African queen were championed by the countries of England and Australia who represent the bastions of the White establishment.

The treatment of this young girl was harsh. Semenya is a young African girl who should have been rewarded and protected for exerting herself through hard work, self-discipline and exceeding the high standards she had set for herself in the tradition of her African village. Instead she has been exposed to a battery of mental cruelty and emotional trauma by the White establishment a harsh experience that she will forever remember as having exacted punishment for her work ethic. On the one hand the White establishment at the IAAF has upheld mediocrity and underperformance while on the other telling us of great rewards associated with hard work, sportsmanship and positive thinking. Even the feminists were not there to come to the defense of the African girl.

Gender Verification

In giving in to some strident demands that Semenya be subjected to gender verification testing, the IAAF has set a precedent in ordering Semenya to undergo this battery of cruel and humiliating gender verification tests even though her accusers could not advance any material evidence to back up their character assassinating claims. Moreover, IAAF is pressing ahead with these harsh tests despite a birth certificate which attests to her womanness. Another noteworthy fact is that the compulsory gender screenings by the IAAF were stopped in 1992 and Semenya is the first woman in more than fifteen years to be subjected to this scientifically unreliable procedure which is why it was stopped in the first place.

It was shocking that many English commentators believed that Semenya had no vagina and that she was hiding something between her legs which is why her shorts were different from others.

The English Yahoo Sport UK & Ireland Eurosport on August 21 published one of its reader's comments:

"...Caster Semenya is the fastest junior MAN in the world.-
Nobody should be surprised at the demanded gender test byt he IAAF - it so obviously is not a woman - a woman doesn't have an @#$% like that nor does she have a face like that or a lunch box joggling around in the shorts when she is running - UNMASK THAT TRANNY BLOKE NOW !!!"

The English publication itself had this to say about Semenya:
"20:40: Caster Semenya HAS DESTROYED THE FIELD - this South African is only 18 but has completely destroyed the opposition in a time of 1.55.46. The gender question will just get louder after a performance like this. BRONZE FOR JENNY MEADOWS OF BRITAIN - she came very late near the end to nick a medal ahead of Yuliya Krevsun of Ukraine and she very nearly got the silver ahead of Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei."

Notice how the beautiful queen Semenya is portrayed in a negative light of a destroyer and her gold medal is omitted while her loser English competitor Jennifer Meadows is recast in a positive light of an athlete who came from behind to clinch a medal even coming within a hair’s breadth of beating another African queen of track and field Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei. This voodoo style in which an enterprising attempt is designed to make us believe the unbelievable and accept the unacceptable is legendary in modern history where the English reign supreme. In fact the above description of Semenya echoes the stereotypical portrayal of an African descended woman in Hollywood movies where she is typically portrayed as angry, bitter, uncompromising, and acting like a man.

Gender Accusations Not New

Interestingly, the English media tell us that the IAAF is justified in subjecting Semenya to this prohibitively expensive gender verification process since other athletes like the Polish-American Stanisława Walasiewicz competed in women’s sports when she was a male. Well the fact is that the case of Stanisława Walasiewicz is special. The main casualties of the gender tests have been non-English athletes particularly those coming from socialist countries like Poland, USSR and Yugoslavia, among others.

Stanisława Walasiewicz is an exception because she embraced the English and their way of life to an extent that she changed her name to the English name of Stella Walsh. For her part she accused her competitor Helen Stephens (an English female athlete) as a man. Helen Stephens was a personal friend of a Black athlete and sports legend in his own right Jesse Owen. Some saw this relationship as an act of racial betrayal which led to Helen Stephens having to prove an obvious fact that she was a woman.

While the gender verification test carried out on Stephens established she was indeed a woman, the real truth came out when Stella Walsh was killed in an armed robbery crossfire where the autopsy revealed that Stella Walsh was in fact a male.

What is interesting in this case is that Stella Walsh was protected by the English establishment and she never had to undergo any gender verification test. Another famous case of protecting the English athletes from gender verification was that of Princess Anne of England who was exempted from undergoing a compulsory gender verification test for the Montreal Summer Olympic Games of 1976 while the non-English athletes were required to undergo the invasive procedure. Athletes like Santhi Soundarajan had their career destroyed by the pseudoscience of gender verification. Soundarajan went into deep depression where she attempted to take her life but bounced back with remarkable resilience. She is reported to be a successful coach who has established her own school where her athletes have won an impressive array of medals.

Intellectual Queen of Sports Science

Semenya is not only the ruling queen of track and field, this unconquerable young queen is also a brilliant mind of Sports Science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Semenya’s University of Pretoria and her professors and friends have been consistently supportive of her despite those who are working hard to vilify the new queen of track and field. Her parents, her village and roommates stand behind their legendary athlete who has rewritten the history books of track and field.

Conclusion

The new African champion and the indomitable African queen of track and field has unleashed her athletic prowess on the world stage and the White establishment does not know what to make of her. A stereotypical response characterized by colonial attitudes is both hurtful and regrettable in modern times. The time has arrived for the White establishment to smell the coffee and divest itself of colonial baggage towards the African queen Semenya and begin to treat her as an equal deserving of the rights and privileges of an irrefutable queen who has conquered the world with a strong support of her beautiful motherland South Africa.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Alzheimic Government

2009-08-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

When a beautiful and proud Canadian citizen Ms. Suaad Hagi Mohamud was refused entry into Canada by the Canadian authorities in Kenya it was yet another tragic example of how the Conservative Government of Mr. Steven Harper has singled out the people of African descent for denial of their Canadianess or entry into the beloved country of Canada.

Adversely Affected by Abrasive Policies

Needless to say Ms Mohamud’s life has been adversely affected by the abrasive policies of the Canadian gatekeepers even though her Somalian people are among the greatest contributing members of this great Canadian mosaic. Ms. Mohamud was eventually given her papers back and was scheduled to land in Toronto today. She is reported to be taking a legal recourse to sue the Canadian Government for over a million dollars.

Many Africans Denied Entry

Many Africans have been denied entry into Canada on a variety of flimsy grounds. The anti-African stance of Mr. Harper is regrettable considering how Canada has historically been a great friend of the African people.

Like a fire spitting dragon that spits harsh fire upon those it considers unworthy of entry, some Harper’s gatekeepers have consistently kept the Africans outside Canada including, among others, a great iconic figure of the South African freedom Ms. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who was denied entry to pick up her award in Toronto. The denial of Ms. Madikizela flies in the face of business acumen because South Africa is the top country in terms of Canadian export business according to Statistics Canada. In fact South Africa beats Canada in bilateral trade by two to one according to the speech delivered by the South African High Commissioner in Canada His Excellency Dr. Abe Nkomo at the 2009 Freedom Day Celebrations in Toronto and backed by the 2007 figures of Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada lists the following top ten countries in terms of the Africa Canada business as follows:

1. South Africa
2. Algeria
3. Egypt
4. Morocco
5. Sudan
6. Libya
7. Nigeria
8. Ghana
9. Tunisia
10. Angola

Interestingly, the Nigerian Government, among others, has taken a scaling back stance in response to Canada denying Africans entry into Canada citing diplomacy as a system based on reciprocity according to published reports attributed to the intrepid Ms. Ifeoma Jacinte Akabogu-Chinwuba, Acting High Commissioner of the Nigerian Embassy in Canada. Understandably the Nigerians couldn’t sit back in a state of inertia while one of their greatest minds was denied entry into Canada.

Dr. Michael Erhabor of the Tai Solarin University of Education in Nigeria was denied visa by the Canadian Government which prevented him from speaking at the 2008 Global Citizenship Education and Post-Secondary Institutions: Policies, Practices and Possibilities organized by the Canada's best University of Alberta. Considered one of Africa's great scholars, Dr. Erhabor was scheduled to deliver his paper Global Citizenship Education and University Administration: An Assessment of the Role of Centre for Human Rights and Gender Equality in Tai Solarin University of Education.

Poetic Tribute to Ms. Mohamud

The following poem The Alzheimic Government is dedicated to the beautiful Somalian heroine and a proud Canadian citizen Ms. Suaad Hagi Mohamud:

The Alzheimic Government

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

They had no knowledge of her
They did not know about her
They were unaware of her
To dismiss her like an imposter
To betray her via the arrestor
To be detained by the chains
For a crime that never was
Authenticity of the lips questioned
For a facelift that never was
To break her Canadian soul iconoclastic
To disown one of their own was Alzheimic

To impose the syntactic convoluted
To deny rightful entry was intended
Finally, her pain was chronicled
Which is why the outcry pinnacled
Hereafter to dismiss like imposter
Hitherto to instruct the arrestor
She was detained by the chains
That chafed her body with pains
They uncovered her like a forklift
In search of evidence of facelift
Now quarantined like infected
Halted by a charge concocted

Contextual Commentary

When a fire spitting dragon exhales harsh flames, it’s inevitable that the target will be singed. This was the case when a beautiful Canadian citizen Ms. Suaad Hagi Mohamud was subjected to the harsh blaze by the Canadian gatekeepers in Kenya. The Somalian heroine refused to succumb under the dragon’s rapid fire in accordance with a great Somalian tradition of indefatigable resistance, hitherto, inspired by their trailblazing foremothers and forefathers who have gone before them.

The Canadian fiery gatekeepers had intended to keep Ms. Mohamud out of Canada for the rest of her life. The Canadians in Kenya, who enjoy African hospitality, would rather become inhospitable to a beautiful daughter of the African soil in what was an antagonistic contradiction. Despite the rapid flames that threatened to scorch her from existence, Ms. Mohamud fought back like a gutsy heroine fighting a heavyweight fire spitting dragon. Her hard won victory is an inspiring model to the young girls coming after her that impossibility does not dictate surrender.
Vusi Moloi, The Indomitable Mongoose, Canada, 2009

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Sequence Does Not Invalidate Judge Ngcobo

2009-08-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s opposition parties have come out with guns blazing to force the hand of President Jacob Zuma to drop his appointment of the Constitutional Judge Sandile Ngcobo as Chief Justice to replace Chief Justice Pious Langa when he retires later this year. In a joint statement issued on Friday this week on behalf of the DA (Democratic Alliance), COPE (Congress of the People) and ID (Independent Democrats) the statement referred to the South African Constitution Section 174(3) of Chapter 8 as “a critical constitutional requirement” central to the phrase “...after consulting the Judicial Service Commission and the leaders of parties represented in the National Assembly".

The Segment in Question

I reproduce this section in its entirety here:

“The President as head of the national executive, after consulting the Judicial Service Commission and the leaders of parties represented in the National Assembly, appoints the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice and, after consulting the Judicial Service Commission, appoints the President and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal.” You can access the entire Constitution of South Africa as follows:

South African Constitution

Analysis of the Segment

This writer has reviewed and analyzed the section of the Constitution in question and has found that the opposition parties are fixated on the sequence of the process and not on the constitutional requirement with respect to the eligibility, qualification, appointment and consultation with the members of parliament. They are really pulling wool over our face in a daring attempt to make us believe the unbelievable and accept the unacceptable.

In terms of the requirements President Zuma’s appointment has met them all in accordance with the constitution. However, in terms of the sequence (assuming his fax didn’t reach its destination in a timely manner) he would have reversed the order along the lines of the proverbial cart before the horse situation. The fundamental question is whether the requirements are fulfilled and in this case President Zuma has met the constitutional requirements.

Reversed Sequence Not an Infraction

The idea of reversing a sequence has never been viewed as an infraction of the constitution. When President Barack Obama was sworn in as the country's first Black President on January 20th this year, he reversed the order of the oath as a result of a prior reversal of the sequence by Chief Justice John Roberts. They didn’t have to redo the entire process and this didn't invalidate President Obama’s inauguration as the new President of the United States. That’s because the reversal of the sequence was not viewed as an infraction of the constitutional requirement.

The Canadian Constitution states the following with respect to the appointment of judges “The Governor General shall appoint the Judges of the Superior, District, and County Courts in each Province, except those of the Courts of Probate in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.” The Governor General does this with the recommendation of the Privy Council of which the executive branch is a subcommittee.

In the article Supreme Court of Canada Appointment Process published on the MapleLeafWeb.Com website Jay Makarenko tells us “In practice, however, only the current federal Cabinet, which is a subcommittee of the Privy Council, actually advises the Governor General on Supreme Court appointments. This is usually accomplished through consultation between the Governor General and the sitting Prime Minister.” You can access the Canadian Constitution as follows:

Canadian Constitution

The Sequence of Pizza

To help you appreciate the concept of sequence, imagine going to order pizza at a pizza restaurant. You stand in line like anyone else and await your turn to be served. This is a sequence. Suppose you or anyone decides to jump the queue (not recommended) and go straight to order from the counter ahead of others before him or her. This would not constitute a legal infraction. Even though the "constitution" of the pizza store states that customers must wait in line, they will not throw you out or incarcerate you for breaking the sequence of pizza ordering. This is a concept of sequence at its simplest.

Constitutional Challenge on Sequence Laughable

If the opposition was to challenge the legality of the appointment based on sequence, the judge would have a good laugh. I don’t believe the opposition will go that far. They are hoping to achieve two things i.e. (1) to intimidate President Zuma by testing his temperament and (2) to score political points with the voters as they push for the 2014 General Elections where they hope to collectively unseat President Zuma. The opposition has calculated that if they could kill the appointment of Constitutional Judge Ngcobo, they would have scored an impressive victory.

Conclusion

The fixation of the opposition parties on the sequence is like splitting hairs. When the motherland is crying out for those who seek to contribute to the wellbeing of others, the opposition parties choose to create a fictitious crisis and shine a spotlight on it. The sons and daughters of the beautiful motherland South Africa you know what you want, pick up your tools of the trade and serve the motherland like never before. The greatest thing is to be alive for as long as you are still alive you can change a lot of things. It’s in serving others that the good seed will germinate, grow and bear fruit.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

The Obvious

2009-08-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The pieces were scrambled
The task was rearranging
The doable attracted attention
Prompted by the obvious
A hidden convolution was elusive
Like a slithering snake in the grass
To make him sweat for the unproductive
To slow him down with the syntactic
To regain virginity of impervious
After deflowering by the obvious

Swift recovery like ballistic
Is minimized by the syntactic
To fragment the roots after deflowering
A golden finish begins to fade like brass
Having lost anchoring on the ground
The daring attempts at recovery
Curtailed by syntactic artillery
To solve the puzzling is inviting
Despite the clouds gathering ashore

Contextual Commentary

When the parched ground of the great Kalahari unexpectedly gets wet, the most obvious reaction of the desert flower Mponeng is to want to come out of the underground by breaking through the wet patch. Until she decides the right course of action, the ambiguity of the new ground subdues her initially enthused spirits. As she struggles to disambiguate the puzzling situation, her life hangs in the balance of wanting to be or not to be on the surface. The gravitational pull of the obvious is sometimes too powerful to resist the temptation of exiting the safety of the underground. Nonetheless, she must consider the stringent consequences associated with believing the unbelievable and accepting the unacceptable. It is for this reason that she must trust her instincts and remain underground until she has complied with the painstaking process of disambiguation. By postponing self-gratification for future success, she becomes resilient and strengthens her readiness for the coming rain.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Moving Mountains

2009-08-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

I have observed a variety of people carry out an energized debate with good intentions of convincing or helping the other party to see the light of day. A debate of ideas is a democratic and intellectual exercise especially when carried out in an atmosphere of civility, mutual interest and mutual respect. Debates are even more interesting when participants command the breadth and depth of expertise in their subject of discussion within a confine of intellectual honesty. In order to succeed we must be bounded by two simple principles which define success i.e. the purpose of the debate and the measuring of the outcome.

The Purpose

Suppose our goal is to move the mountain. We consistently, methodically and meticulously apply the pressure needed to move the mountain. It’s hard to move the mountain but we do it anyways by exerting the right pressure knowing full well that success is not measured by the outside but rather by the inside. If we are genuine and honestly feel that we are exerting the right pressure according to the laws of physics and to the best of our ability, we are doing well. What happens when the mountain does not move? We shift gears to the second strategy which is measuring the outcome.

Measuring the Outcome

We resort to the strategy of measuring the outcome of our actions in order to verify our best intentions and confirm whether we are still within the confines of intellectual honesty. If we did move the mountain great but if we didn't too bad but we move on. Did we fail? Not really. We define failure to mean using our strength sparingly when we should be maximizing it in order to impact the object.

In this case we didn't have enough horsepower to move the mountain. Maybe this mountain needs a thousand horses and we only had a small fraction of a famished hoarse. We didn’t choose our horsepower or the hoarse; it was given to us. We must be content with that. If we possessed the superhuman strength of a thousand horses and used it maximally and the mountain was still not interested in moving, the mountain would invent other sophisticated ways of defeating our efforts such as rolling rocks upon us and thereafter convince us that it was an Act of God effectively ending the exercise. Either way it was a lost cause and we should have exited the situation upon a quick realization that the mountain had no intentions of being moved.

The Moral of the Story

Any self-respecting debater must have a specific and measurable goal. This will help to leverage one’s unique talents and maximize the efficacy of debating skills. If the person being debated is not interested in considering another view, it's tantamount to moving a mountain as demonstrated above which has no interest in being moved anyways. The debater must know when enough is enough and move on to better things. There are rocks or boulders out there that are interested in being moved. Your energy is better spent there than with a mountain that wastes your energy like a bottomless pit.

Discussion

When we feel energized and ready to engage in a debate of ideas, we should be grateful because we have the strength, the fortitude, the energy and the interest that feels like sunshine. The days are coming when this will not be the case because the sunshine will be gone. Moreover, energy is a scarce resource and will not always be there. The time will come when we shall be disinterested and less energized by what we previously found engaging.

It’s for this reason that we must follow the rules of the African jungle which says that pick the fruit that is closest to the ground so that you will have the energy for the one up the tree.

Resist the easy and popular temptation of following a marketing or advertising strategy which cares less about what we think or feel but is more interested in selling us what we don’t need i.e. salad dressing. Do you think you need salad dressing? I don’t think so. You need the salad but not the dressing. The dressing is a fabrication that dresses up the old salad so that you can accept the unacceptable and believe the unbelievable. That’s why in the African jungle there is no salad dressing because it’s not relevant to your survival requirements. Salad dressing is only relevant to the bottom line of the company’s balance sheets.

In a poem To Convince or Not To Convince the concept of convincing is explored as follows:

“Excessive salt on dried fish
Excessive fat on dried meat
Excessive sugar on dried cookies
To convince you of the fish
To convince you of the meat
To convince you of the cookies” Moloi, Vusi A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, Arizona, 2007.

The English word convince came from Latin and meant to conquer. Are you debating because your goal is to conquer? If so then this is the wrong motivation that detracts from the credibility of the discussion. Ideas are like water; they always find the best way to flow. Let the ideas flow by themselves and good ideas will plant a seed of good in the hearts of some.

The African languages like Zulu or Sesotho in South Africa don’t have a word like convince. Those languages are closer to the natural environment than an English language. In fact the word convince exists in order to make someone believe the unbelievable and accept the unacceptable. When you find yourself attempting to convince another person, you are engaging in a situation where you are going against the resistance like advertising. Advertising and marketing don’t exist in a natural environment like the African jungle because there is nothing to advertise or market. Imagine trying to sell advertising to the lion about some patch that has gazelles. The lion would be convinced that you are a gazelle in disguise and eat you at which point you become dead meat.

Conclusion

A goal oriented debater is efficient because is guided by purpose and measurable outcome. The goal of the debate together with the measuring of the outcome helps to save our energy for much better and more constructive debates. The mountain that refuses to be moved will never be moved and that is an immutable fact. Next time you debate, ask yourself: Is this mountain interested in being moved? If not, collect your poise and run as fast as you can before you lose your sunshine. There are better minds out there ready to be moved and that's where you should be concentrating your valuable effort.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Their Patience Is Not Endless

2009-08-04T05:50:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

South Africa’s City Press Newspaper has published a shocking revelation that South Africa’s opposition parties like DA (Democratic Alliance), COPE (Congress of the People) and others have held at least two secrete meetings in which concrete talks were focused on formulating an anti-ANC front designed to unseat the ANC during the 2014 Provincial and National Elections after gaining momentum in the 2011 Local Government Elections. In the article Zille and Shilowa Plot New Anti-ANC Front published on Sunday the City Press is in possession of the minutes of the meetings that took place in Cape Town on July 21 and another that took place on July 7 in an undisclosed location.

A vehement defender of the white establishment, the DA boasts a powerful financial backing and seeks to use COPE as a political instrument of Black mobilization in order to drive a wedge between the ANC and its core base.

An Arranged Polygamist Marriage

The calculation is to foster an arranged marriage in which DA is the polygamist husband and COPE is the chief wife while other smaller parties like UDM (United Democratic Movement) and others are junior wives who get married into such an arrangement for purposes of concocting a witchcraft mix that poses a deadly threat to the administration of President Jacob Zuma.

The charismatic and charming President Zuma was swept to power three months ago by his economically disenfranchised African natives who saw him as a true and loyal vanguard of their grass roots economic aspirations after those whom they had elected to serve their interests jumped ship to form COPE, the new nemesis of the ANC.

To Inflict Backstabbing Wounds

Instead of focusing on working with the Government of the day to expedite delivery of basic services to the historically disadvantaged majority in the spirit of Ubuntu and the rainbow nation, the DA and COPE see the suffering of the people as an opportunistic window to inflict backstabbing wounds on the ruling party in what appears to be a calculated risk.

News24 interviews Helen Zille from News24Video of Youtube

Can this work? Can the financial muscles of a White based DA and a politically disaffected COPE (led by ANC defectors) command the credibility that will sway the African majority in their favour? Both parties collectively enjoy nearly a quarter of the vote estimated at four million votes.

Frost Over The World - Mosiuoa Lekota - Nov 21 - Part 1 - from AlJazeeraEnglish of Youtube

Grassroots Economics

First, let’s understand the situation of the African natives on the ground. When freedom arrived in 1994 which ended brutal apartheid many believed that the time had come to live a better life. For the most part, that time came and went without producing any material change on their lives while their former oppressors continued to enjoy legally protected privileges.

Fifteen years is a very long time to wait for something that never comes. Even rain eventually comes down while the rain clouds of economic emancipation remain an empty threat. Currently more than 50 000 White farmers enjoy an exclusive stranglehold on more than three quarters of the food producing land while many African mothers and their children scratch the dusty ground for food. The extreme suffering from the deplorable grassroots economic conditions, has only served to catapult the economically disenfranchised African majority into action as demonstrated by a variety of political actions on the ground in recent times.

Arrested Development of 1994

The ANC has been consistently working to improve the lives of the people on the ground but has gotten stymied by voodoo economics of contractual agreements that were guaranteed in 1994 and stipulated, among others, that the bureaucrats of the apartheid administration must be retained. In a case where they needed to be removed, they had to be given prohibitively expensive gold parachutes to cushion the blow of forced landing.

The Administration of Mr. Mandela walked that path but backed off after a harsh realization that the billions of dollars in payouts were bankrupting the young democratic country. The regrettable alternative was to let the status quo be and hope that things would change by themselves. As it turned out under the highly skilled and Western trained economist President Thabo Mbeki who ruled between 1999 and 2008 the South African economic milieu had no intrinsic desire to change by itself unless there was someone willing to drive a fundamental change. As a corollary the many promises of 1994 became an arrested development.

Interestingly, the African natives and their leaders psychologically find themselves in a state of arrested development or self-effacing state of inertia where they are too tentative to take what is rightfully theirs. Somehow (through colonial indoctrination using religion and rule of law) they are not aware that if they marched and took what is theirs, the new generation of former colonial powers would understand and morally support those initiatives because the African sons and daughters would be taking what is rightfully theirs. This sentiment has been expressed to this writer by many young Caucasians. It's the old folks who still want to maintain the status quo.

The New Era of Charismatic Msholozi

Now enter the new era of the charismatic Msholozi who pushed aside the less than bold Mbeki and threw his Umshini Wami gauntlet into the fray by vowing to bring about the much needed change which led to his sweeping victory in the last elections.

Some elements of South Africa’s white establishment are uncomfortable about the strong mandate received by President Jacob Zuma and would like to get his wings clipped. To achieve this the white based DA, under the leadership of the strident and confrontational Helen Zille, has embarked on the path of forging an alliance or possibly one political party as previously illustrated with a polygamist marriage in order to work for the demise of the administration of Jacob Zuma.

Their strategy seeks to create many speed bumps on Zuma’s rapid transit of economic change in order to slow down the already slow pace of economic change. By rolling and throwing hurdles at the existing aggravation of grassroots economic conditions (i.e. frustrating delivery services through under spending), the DA’s death wish is to create faults in the core base of the ANC.

Is this possible? Theoretically yes but practically no and here is why.

The Teachings of the African Jungle

The answer lies in the African jungle where the need to survive is the supreme law of self-preservation. An African fly commonly known as drosophila has often times been faced with a situation of attempting to carve out a home in a plant using its rich and diverse nutrients.

Some evil plant that seeks to repel and discourage the drosophila from enjoying the fruits of the African motherland releases toxins to dislodge and even kill the bold insect that ventures far enough to the tasty reserves. The modus operandi of the toxic plant is to keep the tasty and nourishing nutrients away from those who need them the most.

The African fly has seen and counted the casualties of this great struggle including injured and dead bodies of those who have tried and failed to access the food reserves of the plant. What does this African fly do?

One of the things that happens in the African jungle is that if an organism feels threatened by some threat it must modify its behaviour to avoid the source of that threat. In this case the African fly can walk away in order to eke out some inferior lifestyle elsewhere. Well not quite. The African fly does not accept that. The African fly views this antagonistic situation as a special case where avoidance is not an option but rather an opportunity to mobilize its body mechanisms to either eliminate or render the threat useless by developing resistance to it.

He fights back by continuously attacking the plant and developing immunity against its toxins in the process. He gobbles up the toxins and internally converts them into antibodies that help him to defy and prevail over the toxins. If he dies, those who come after him are even stronger and in better shape to take on the toxic plant from a fresh angle. If they persist long enough by sustaining their struggle, the African fly eventually becomes like a god who now enjoys privileged access to the food of the gods otherwise known as ambrosia. Not only has the African drosophila solved the impossibility by upholding the supreme law of self-preservation but has gone on to conquer the whole world.

Why African Fly Follows this Strategy?

The African drosophila felt that it was cornered by lack of access to food reserves of the plant and that behavioural avoidance through brainwashing was not an option but had to face the toxic plant with a view to resisting its killer toxins. As a consequence, the fly has developed natural defense mechanisms that effectively render it immune from the toxicity of the killer plants. In fact, as the plant increases its toxic effects, the African fly gets even better at defending its territory making it a home to raise its babies and the future generation.

The moral of the story is that inventing ways of economic exclusion by making the political environment toxic for those who seek to gain their rightful access to the economy (currently reserved for the white establishment) is not sustainable over the long term. Moreover, the patience of the people is not endless as they agitate and seek ways and means of gaining forcible access to what is otherwise their inalienable right to enjoy the natural wealth of their native land given to them by their foremothers and forefathers.

Conclusion

The DA and COPE have raised the stakes and stoked new fires by opening a new front in the great struggle between those who seek to halt the wheels of economic emancipation vis-à-vis those who have nothing to lose but their crushing chains that perpetuate their extreme suffering. The African fly has demonstrated that determination, consistency, adaptation and boldness can overcome the impossible and make it possible to build a better future for the new generation.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

My Destruction

2009-07-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

from A Goodbye To My Little Troubles

The manufacturer
of this little thing
wanted to save it
from being burnt out
he engraved six volts
that no one should make
a mistake about it

In the same way providence
Preserve my existence
in some various ways
Don’t increase my disadvantage
like a very high voltage
For this little lamp
that lights my way
will be snuffed out
Nothing will be left
but my destruction

Contextual Commentary

Facing unrelenting adversity on his own inevitably engendered a feeling of being headed in the direction of a destructive path. The author reasoned and appealed to the Creator to remember the capacity of the creation. The author, who had known adversity since very early in life, had still not mastered the mental skills characteristic of other humans like Tibetan monks or the great Sangomas of South Africa. Each adversity made him feel as if he was a beginner and, thus, vulnerable to destruction.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.