Destinations

I suppose in life we are faced with many crossroads and sometimes we choose the wrong fork in the road, unbeknown to us we travel for miles on end only realise that we don’t seem to be going where we wanted to..

What does one do? Keep walking? Stop and take in the beauty that we missed on the wrong path or continue walking until we reach some sort of familiarity? Most people in my opinion don’t do anything, they just keep walking and hope for the path to somehow make sense. This is Dangerous, years pass by and you feel empty, alone, depressed and confused, by the time you realise that you have walked too far you feel trapped.

I say be brave, stop, take stock and decide what will make you happy. The only solution is to find your way again, find yourself, and the hardest thing to do, is to walk back to that fork in the road where you went wrong and decide from that point to choose the other path. The silly thing about this is that it’s not a day’s walk, it’s a journey that you must take alone and even worse while back tracking you change, you grow, and you become someone else. I believe the trick is not to lose yourself again but note the points of interest and mark them.

People say life is a journey, how true is that? We never have a destination and the journey never seems to end, the goal posts keep changing and sometimes it knocks the wind out of you when you least expect it. You get lost, run out of fuel, hungry, tired and even worn down. Should life not be considered as a journey me thinks, life should be a destination. I mean are we all not trying to achieve different things in life? Are we all not trying to make a life for ourselves? I say the journey begins when you change your life, ie: when you change your destination. Think about it, when you were young, you wanted to be a doctor, teacher, lawyer and so you thought that what life should be. You chose a destination, and then you journeyed to reach that destination, but you grew up and realised you rather be something else, so you swopped one destination for another. That to me is what life is like, we chose something and only the brave and fortunate decide that it’s time for a change. Time to change the destination.

As the New Year approaches many people make resolutions that they never fulfil, I say stop trying to tweak your reality and start trying to change it.

Here’s to a new year filled with unknown possibilities and new destination.......

'Joberg'

‘JOBERG’

One word with a whole lotta meaning.... After recently relocating to Johannesburg, I think I received the biggest shock there is to come in my life....

So everyone talks about how Cape Town seems to be in another time zone, right? Well I think that’s a phrase the ‘jobergers’ use to make themselves feel better about the place they live in. Yes I’m from Cape Town but I have challenged myself not to be bias in regards to this matter.  The bear facts that one must look at is the standard of living, the ease of access to public works, the role that the government has played in that province, and as if it’s nothing new, Joberg falls flat.

Let me explain, the people in Joberg are for lack of a better word, fake, they live in this bubble that they have created and call it home. I see this place as a big giant wheel they keeps turning round and round all possible with the oil that the people of Joberg manufacture, and the key word is manufacture. This is exactly the point; it’s all manufactured without an ounce of real living.

There is no comradery on display, no one really cares about the next, it’s all party party party and work work work, but do they actually understand what friends are? Social life in Joberg is just that social, you don’t need to know the people you party with all the time, the essence is about fun, and while some may see it as a friendly gesture, it’s more like a fake tan that is as clear as daylight. The South African word UBUNTU never existed here...

After settling down, it was time to install a landline, and that was more for the benefit of ADSL, we were told that Telkom would not lay down lines as the cable has been stolen 3 times before. So the whole road of houses that cost more than 3.5 Million each would not have a landline provided by Telkom.

I go shopping and whilst I parked my car with the handbrake up, it decided to roll one step into another car while I was shopping. I'm sure you know that sinking feeling in your body when you walk out the shop, look for your car and you can’t see it anywhere; I was relieved when I found it but found it strange that it was so far down. Before I could even get a chance to find out what happened, I had an 80 year old white man swearing me from here to thy kingdom come, challenging me to a dual, telling me what he thinks of Cape Town people (as my reg is CA) all for the fact that his number plate was loose??? Even worse I had 5 white young guys surround me as is I was the oppressor.

What struck me the most was the fact that somewhere in his rage he mentioned I don’t know the week he has had, that hit a cord. In Joberg you always have a bad week, there is always something not working, there is always some basic service that is lacking. Another example of what been fake does to you in the long run, you always want to defend and fight, you have no respect for other human beings, and albeit that you are old, you still feel the need to fight and lash out. People in Joberg have confirmed that it happens and on a much larger racial scale, hmm so I'm not the only one?

Water and Electricity, need I say more.... We had a leak outside the property and it was not known to us, except I had to query a R2500 bill for water, after about Two months it was fixed, the bill has still never been adjusted and same story with the electricity. Try calling the city of Joberg, it’s like a maze to enter and if you happen to get through to the right place you looking for (bonus), you find a person on the other end that has absolutely no interest in helping you but they always transfer you midsentence. This has to be annoying in any part of the world, and then the cycle goes on, been passed from one person to the next until after you have told your story about a thousand times you ask for a supervisor, oh dear, wrong move. You as a rate paying citizen do not qualify to speak to a supervisor; you get given a reference number and told to call back in two weeks to find out about the progress. Is that not just dandy? I have spoken to a few people and they say yeah it’s common, they have received bills of R45 0000 and R89 000. Hmm so I'm not the only one?

Postal service, what a waste of good time, took three months for a parcel to be sent to Cape Town after been sent back and forth like a yo-yo without anybody knowing where it is, AND THATS WITH A TRACKING NUMBER!!! I still don’t receive post, and when asked how I can ensure I get post, I was told very politely by the post office to get a P.O Box. Bloody great idea!! So I immediately asked can I please pay for one, and I get told ‘SORRY WE DONT HAVE ANY’ I mean come on.... Finally it dawned on me the reason why there are no P.O.Box’s is because everyone has the same problem right?

There are countless other tales, Cell C, going shopping at PnP, going to any mall. The customer in Joberg must be grateful that the stores are open with staff and the staff have the ‘ I don’t care attitude’ It’s amazing I tell you, when you experience it firsthand. Maybe coming from Cape Town has spoiled me?

The crux of this story is that Joberg is a cool fun place to be, but the people of Joberg are living a lie as to what Joberg really is. When the people of a city forget where we all came from to where we all wanted to be, its screams out ILLUSION.. The people of joberg have some kinda pills they take to forget about what is really happening in joberg and they have now created it to be a norm. It’s a norm in Joberg  not to receive your post, it’s the norm in Joberg to be given outrageous municipal bills to pay, it’s the norm in Joberg to have a ready to fight attitude, it’s the norm for part state owned companies to refuse basic services that customers are willing to pay for, it’s the norm in Joberg to ignore all things that should be provided and replace them with work, money and weekends.

It’s sad when one can see how a society can choose to ignore the problems it faces by mere elusion of the truth, its sad when society loses its will power to fight for the basic services that is a constitutional right. It’s sad when someone like Julius Malema must fight for what Joberg’s society should be fighting for, we all complain about Julius and the radical actions and words spoken, but what have you done as a citizen of Joberg  for the fight of the poor?

Jobergers, take back your city, choose the society you want to live in and fight for it, it may soon be a society you run from.....

To my family

To my fandamily

Tis Christmas time and the belles that suppose to be ringing in your head and that happy uplifting spirit that comes around just about this time of the year seems so distant to your and my ears....

Christmas is never the same after you hit 30, after your first child, after a long hard year of work and trials and tribulations, it just seems like another day that people share and the meaning has totally eluded us. Have we forgotten, and no not the lecture about Christ our Saviour (as we all know that part) but have we truly forgotten how it felt when the middle of November crept up on us and your mom had all her ducks in a row for Christmas, the lunch menu planned, the tree up, the gifts all wrapped under the tree and somehow you felt that this day approaching was for you and your family. How proud were you? With all your friends as its holiday time and this time of the year just could not get better. No one really cared about the report cards that were suppose to come home to your parents, oh no, this is a ‘HAPPY TIME’

In hindsight, did we ever look back at how that day was planned throughout the year? Do we ever sit and think how every emotion we felt leading to Christmas day was manufactured by one person, the clothes that were sitting in the wardrobe for that special day, the shoes, the copious amount of food that would be presented, including deserts. Still do we sit and think about those days? What was so special about those days that we don’t see anymore, that we don’t feel anymore, that when we hear Christmas carols in the mall in November we get so despondent? What went wrong? Where did we lose that spirit?

I may have a hint of a clue, ... See when we were young and the world was just another big place, we had brave strong great mothers who carried the burdens of our lives (taking nothing away from dadas), who made sure that Christmas spirit was the one thing that we carried forward in our lives, and that it would be the one day that we would all be happy. Mothers pushed this idea for years, they broke their backs, and gave everything that a mother can possibly give. So did they not do a good enough job that we and they don’t feel that Christmas JOY anymore?  No my dears, tis we who have forgotten what our mothers have taught us, we have forgotten the little lessons of life that  mothers have taught us to be kind and gentle, to love our neighbours and family alike. Tis we who comment on other family members who visit, tis we who made it a set time that we eat, a set time for when people can visit, a set time for when things need to be done, tis we who get upset with the laughter of children in the next room while we watch the Christmas movie. Tis we who try to control Christmas and in the process we forget to show what the day really means, to show loved ones that the world is still good.

Tis we people who have lost the spirit, and we who long for the days that past, yet we still wonder why the spirit has eluded us the in the last years. We are the key to changing this, only we can choose to love life and be happy. I say let’s start now.... you never too old to start.... FORGIVE AND LOVE.....

Well there is one last thing left for me to say, I sincerely hope that you all have a wonderful merry Christmas filled with Love, Laughter and Life. May this be the year that you reconnect with the meaning of the day and to appreciate your mothers for what they taught you, and for us lucky enough to still have them alive, to shower them with more love than anything else. Remember we can never measure up to the gift of life.

LET YOUR FAMILY THIS FESTIVE SEASON KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LOVE THEM, MAKE IS MEMORABLE...

LOVE TO ALL....

Juju and South Africa

Finally I decided to take someone specials advice and bog in my spare time; I’m probably one of those that have too much to say and was passed off into having my say on a blog.....

I have many topics swirling in my head, and to find the right one that sparks it all off would have to fall in the hands of Dear Juju, what a ‘controversial’ figure he is, though he admits he has no idea what controversy is...

Recently Carte Blanche decided to show an interview with him, and if you missed it, you would have seen a brilliant performance from Juju, with a touch of class and dare I say emotion. He presented himself very well and though few people will see it he has valid points that he raises.

We all seem to say that Juju’s ideas are so radical that he probably does not know what the hell his talking about, well it could not be further from the truth. Juju in my opinion (which does not count for much) is that Juju does have a cause and seen that the regular channels of voicing them are shooting him down his taking them on and his not holding back.

For example, that his analogy of the amendment clause in the constitution, he wants to expropriate land (take land in the name of the government with no compensation) and in order to do it, the constitution needs to be changed. His argument is that if the constitution was never to be changed why have that law in the first place. 

His asking the question about Nationalization as well and while the ANC deny that it’s on the agenda, while a conference is taking place it well is on the agenda. Malema boldly asks “who do u want to trust those that tell the truth or those that blatantly lie to your face “ his been screaming about nationalization for a while and always states that it is an ANC agenda. Juju has just jumped the Gun, while the ANC wants to slow things down and try to keep the economy intact before unleashing these big agenda’s but the poor have waited long enough, they want reform and they want it now.

When asked what the fight is for, Julius simply says and without hesitation, Economic Freedom. We all hear of his antics in the news but never hear the cause... well in simply terms Julius is calling out the ANC and demanding that they take action and put public interest first, the ANC, however is trying everything in their power to halt Julius. Why you ask, well, the ANC realises the changes that South Africa needs to go under in order to get to the stage that we believe we at right now. Confused ........, ok let’s try this, we all believe we the rainbow nation, we all believe that we have the best constitution in the world, we believe that we have overcome a difficult past and we on course...... Basically we believe in fairytales... The truth could not be further, we are still racist, sexist and ageist. We just don’t show it in the open anymore, Nelson Mandela was wise and foresaw this a long time ago, he knew that in order for the people of South Africa to heal, and all people, we needed to set the ground rules first on what every human being should be afforded, he also knew that the rich of the country would have a role to play and that through the years and through negotiation redistribution of wealth would someday come. What lacked in the plan was the fact that not all men are made of ‘MANDELA’, as soon as his presidency was over the long term goals were forgotten , Julius tried to revive them by pushing for President Zuma, and when President Zuma now in Julius’s eyes has forgotten the long term plan, it’s time to evoke serious change. Can one blame him for trying to keep the original goals in sight? This is the start of a long term battle for the ANC and the country.

Julius fights for the people and has to face the famous question of been rich yet advocating for the poor, I love the way he candidly replies, ‘Joe Slovo, Gill Marcus, they all fought for the black in the struggle, they went home to their suburbs and slept, do I have to be poor to fight for the poor’

No matter which way you look at it, Julius has pulled on a string that the ANC has forgotten to sew together, they have risen to power and find themselves left wanting and the same people who empowered them are asking big questions which the ANC seems to try so hard to sweep under the carpet.

It’s time for change in South Africa, we can doubt the way Julius has expressed his concerns, and we can laugh at the fact that sometimes he makes ridiculous accusations, but what we must not forget is the fact that we are not a nation as healed as we think we are, we are a nation divided by a standard of living gap. Irrespective of whether you fought in the struggle or not, there is a new struggle, a struggle for the livelihood of those poor people who have even less than you do, for the people who believed in a better life and 17 years later they might be at the end of their lives and they still don’t see it.  It’s the hope that Nelson Mandela brought that is been crushed by the government of today. It’s time for change, and although it may not be a pretty change it’s a change that must happen for new challenges to arise.

So on a final note, Juju you can tone it done a bit and look more sophisticated at times when you are available to the public, if your cause is as noble as it sounds you don’t need the antics, you need a voice... To the fellow public, think before you read everything; look further than what is presented to you. I don’t agree or disagree with Juju, but I do know that we have huge social issues that the government needs to work on....

Till next time