Mzoo Spot

The State Theatre hosted a Fela Mzantsi Festival this past week incorporating music, drama, poetry and comedy. Judging by the numbers in the three shows I attended, this was a successful exercise. Ringo and Thandiswa were sold out, HHP and Rhythmic Elements and Sammy Fever pulled good audience. On the same night that Ringo was performing a group of youngsters from Soshanguve, Afro Percent was given space to showcase their talent. After seeing those boys I was reassured that at least we still have talent in abundance this country. The very same boys were playing for the Rhythmic Elements. Rhythmic Elements are a talented bunch of guys with a unique sound – putting unusual vocal style on top of what sound like house rhythms. This is Kwaito in a different slant. Meanwhile the comedy scene has grown with leaps and bounds among Blacks acts at least. I remember in 1999 at the Grahamstown Festival, the only Black comedian there was David Kau. All the other acts were White, eg., Mel Miller, ...

Still on the matter of service; last week I bought a bottle of Powerade, and after a few sips I descovered that there was some foreign object inside. The following day, I e-mailed the company that makes the drink, ABI to notify them about this. A few hours later I was called with an assurance that my complaint will be dealt with shortly. Indeed ABI sent somebody to collect the offending bottle and on top of that, I received two bottles of Powerade. So it is good to complain when the service is below par. When I heard that Ringo will be perfoming at the State Theatre, I quickly rushed to get myself a ticket. Indeed it was a sold out show. A group youngsters from Soshanguve called Afro Percent warmed the stage for Ringo. I must say they literally livened the mood. They delivered beautiful funk. After them it was Mathapelo whose also originally from Soshanguve. The lady is produced by Ringo and is extremely beautiful,but her music did not really move me. In a way she was introducing her n...

There was whiff of tardy service at the Sterland Ster Kenikor on my visit there just recently.   A while back there was some buzz about the place. There were attendants ready to assist you. Now if you want to buy a ticket you are forced to queue with those who want to buy popcorn. Often this causes long lines and slow service. Luckily New Metro has just opened at the now revamped Sunnypark; those of us who do not want to be taken for granted will try there.   The movie I came to watch at Ster Kenikor was terribly bad. This was the new Mr Bones 2. Still on the matter of service, the Shoprite near me requires that we leave our bags at the door when we enter. This shop fears that we might steal, and our understanding makes us then to oblige by dropping our bags. But the problem I want to raise right now is that we sometimes have to queue to leave these bags. At Shoprite you queue for everything. I am now thinking why should I tolerate this inconvenience? It was this month that I tur...

This week will go down as one of the epoch making event in the history of the US and the world in general. This is so, because Barack Obama is a black person, and happens to be the first black person to win a presidential race in the US. But what does the Obama presidency portend for the US and the world? Obama predecessor, George Bush presided over a disastrous and belligerent foreign policy that saw the US engaging in a war with Iraq. This, like all wars has been a futile exercise- costly and tragic.  The US has displayed intransigence in climate change negotiations and has up to this day not ratified the Kyoto protocol. If the US were to sign the protocol, it will mean a great deal towards addressing the challenge of climate change.  The US has taken controversial positions in its defence of Israel over the occupation of Palestine; it will be interesting how Obama intends to deal with this one.  There has been a tendency during the Bush presidency to want to haul African heads of ...

Who would have thought that exactly in this time of our new democracy we will have the formation of a new party, coming as it is directly from the ANC? Clearly the Convention that was held in Sandton this past weekend was a resounding success. There is no doubt now that a new party will be formed that might offer some challenge to the ANC. Some have argued that this will be a party of the disgruntled; of those who failed in Polokwane.  The party could gain between 5-15%, so say some pundits. If the party gets anything in this range, that will be a success. For now though, we wait and see!

Tardy service at government departments From time to time circumstances force us to go a government department to do this or other, and often the service is below par. The tardiness in these departments usually lies in the lack of co-ordination and integration of systems, i.e., you will be asked to go from this door to the other in order to do something that can in fact be done by one person, all at once. Furthermore, whereas so many people still do not have access to computers or internet, there are however those who have, and they must be accommodated when plans are made. This will ease off administrative workload and may improve the speed with which service is delivered. At the Watloo Testing Centre in Pretoria a first time visitor may not know how to get service, because there are no people dedicated to receive and direct you. At the First National Bank for example upon arrival you are met by a floor consultant whose task is to direct you to the relevant counter. This kind of s...

On the 30 Sep - 1 Oct I attended the 24th annual SASAS conference held the University of Pretoria. This year's theme was heritage and rain, and emphasised on the heritage of rain making. This opened up an opportunity for Dr Mathole Motshega of Kara Institute to give a key note address on opening day.  The highlight of this conference for me was the award that was given to Ms Mary-Jane Kgatuke by the WMO for her ground-breaking work on atmospheric modeling. She received the award for the best young African scientist!  Dr Francois Engelbrecht of Tukkies made a call,cajoling young African scientists to seize the moment of African rebirth by taking part in scientific research that will help Africa to develop its first model. He says, the fourth IPCC report did not have any model results developed in Africa.

What an interest week in SA politics. President Thabo Mbeki was asked to resign and in came Kgalema Motlanthe. Ministers understood to be loyal to Mbeki resigned,but others were reappointed. Many thought Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang will resign, well she is now the minister in the Presidency. In future a comprehensive article about everything that tickles my fancy will appear every week in this spot.

Today I gave a talk to students at Nomzamo High School. I give these kinds of talks from time to time whenever I visit Port Alfred. I spoke to grade 7s about possible career options.   Later during the day I met the staff at the school; I have development ideas for the school. Generally the ideas were well received, and now we will work of project timelines. Meanwhile, two days ago here in Port Alfred,high tides pushed ocean waters right into the streets in town. This is the second times in as many weeks this sort of thing has happened. I managed to take pictures of this water penetrating into the street. This is particularly worrying for coastal towns; they generally have little money to deal with these kinds of challenges. It is possible that these events may be frequent. It is important that when they occur they are documented.

My half brother, Thobile Dude has been ill for a while, he even had to take disability pension very early in his life. He was a teacher. He was born in 1971. We had thought he will fully recover, a few months ago he and his wife were blessed with a young one, "Zosuliwe"! This evening my sister sent an sms, telling me that Thobile Dude is no more. Lala ngoxolo Tshonyane!

First day of September is understood to be the official Spring day; I don't know where this comes from. Suddenly people expect to have a nice and warm or hot day where they can wear their new colourful clothes. Well, the weather did not allow that in Gauteng today. In fact in many parts of country the weather was horrible for an ideal Spring day.

Slowly but surely we are leaving winter behind; it is warming in Gauteng. Soccer dominated my weekend. The news of the war in Georgia was disturbing. I was also interested in a documentary about the situation in Sudan, quite a complex situation there. I wonder what will happen in Zimbabwe?

Wow, an unusually grey, gloomy and cold weekend in Gauteng. The good thing about it all though is that it kept most of us indoors. Lots of food was consumed in the process to keep the body warm. Other activities necessary to keep bodies going were also considered! The significant thing this week was Mavo's CD. A 10 track CD with beautiful music. The man also appears on TV to promote his CD...we will watch.

You must love Julius Malema, the President of the ANCYL, or is he? I am mean the boy makes reckless statements about dying or even killing for Zuma right in front of JZ. This on June 16, cabanga!Supposing I was the member of that organisation listening to this boy president making such statements? If the ANCYL allowes him to come out victorious in NASREC, then heavens help us all!

June 16 stills remains an important day in SA calender. Today marked 32 years after the Soweto youth took to the streets to protest the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. Sadly the protest would claim the life of Hector Peterson. I celebrated the day quietly in my flat. It was a nice long weekend, Joe and Hlobi visited us in PTA, and this offered us a rare chance to make a braai. I ate a lot of food no wonder now I am suffering heart burn.

Xenophobia reared its very ugly head again in Mzantsi, this time attacks started in Alexandra on the weekend of 17 May. The violence was later reported to have claimed more than 5o lives with thousands of others displaced. This chaos created a serious humanitarian crisis that is a first in a post apartheid SA. It further tarnished the image of SA in the outside world.

Kanti what's up with South Africans and xenophobia? Last week foreigners were senselessly killed in Attridgeville. About two years ago Special Assignment on SABC 3 showed us a disturbing situation of foreigners in a similar situation in the Eastern and Western Cape. The manner in which these people are killed shows a deep seated hatred of foreigners especially those from the African continent. I am worried that we seem to be treating this lightly. Xenophobia is a thing of prejudice, so is racism, tribalism, etc. People in South Africa continue to use terms like "makwerekwere" even though they know that these are offensive. The very same South Africans do not want to be called with offensive terms like Kaffir - how hypocritical!!

This time I decided I am not going to the Eastern Cape. I don't think it was a wise decision though; Pretoria is empty, well, except a few foreign nationals who never go home! At least this Easter brought with it time for me to read. I also got time to relax, thoroughly. Quite a bit of my time was spent on Facebook. I think I need to devote a bit of time to my blog, who knows maybe it can bring me money in future, or just prestige (whichever comes first). Ndumiso Ngcobo, the author of the book "Some of my best friends are white" made me realise that it is not that difficult to write a book. All you need to do is just to organise your ideas, or sometimes leave them as they are. But at least right them down. I am reading the book this weekend, and my outbursts of laughter are annoying "ma lady" here! It is a funny book, a hotch-potch of stories as observed by Ndumiso.

Mavo created space (in his house) for x-nostra to meet yesterday. It's been a while since I last saw the guy, so bendiza kubetha iintaka ezimbini ngelitye elinye, i.e., meeting him and also members of x-nostra. I arrived ngabo 6 and already some ladies (abo Thols nabo Yols) were already there. Mavo assigned the role yokuba yinjoli - I braaied meat. All were there, abo Thandeka aka Zaksi, Nandie, Yols, Thols, Thandolwethu, Zola....People looked fine, very fine actually. There was pussy too. That's Mavo's cat!

It was a a hectic week in terms of race relations in the country. Mr Irvin Khoza of the Local Organising Committee (2010 World Cup) gave a press briefing where he indicated that he told an unknown journalist that he is behaving like a kaffir. This apparently after the journalist asked whether there was some infighting in the LOC. Then there was an unfortunate incident at the Johannesburg Noord Taxi rank where it is believed some taxi drivers tore a young woman's mini skirt. These criminals did not approve of the young woman's attire. Towards the end of the week a group calling themselves a Forum of Black Journalists held an off the record briefing with Mr Jacob Zuma (Pres of the ANC). The briefing was controversial, because white journalists were not allowed.

I appeared in court at about 9am as a witness of the state. The state prosecutor asked easy question, and I think it was a good thing, because it boosted my confidence. After the state prosecutor, the defence lawyer started his cross examination. He indicated his surprise at the print outs that I brought, as they were only introduced to him that morning. Actually the print outs were only for my reference, but the court found them useful! I had a long time at the witness stand with the defence lawyer. I was not really sure of his line of questioning at times. All in all, I did not deviate from my testimony. It was an interesting experience. The state prosecutor thought I handled it pretty well given that it was my first time!

I am now in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape preparing my testimony as a witness in a court case in the Lady Frere Magistrate Court. This is the first time I will appear in a court, but I am not really nervous because my testimony is purely based on a report that my organisation prepared. So I did no wrong. I do not know the details of the case. I will be here in Q'town until Tuesday.

This spot was created on this date out of sheer experimentation. It will improve as I gain more skills...