Well today is June 12, and I woke up to head line news; a young girl seeing visions of “the virgin mother Mary”, people have flocked to be blessed by her. Psychiatrists want to admit her to hospital, claiming she is on the verge of becoming psychotic. Strangely, if she were a young black woman having these experiences, there would be celebrations, she would be nurtured by the elders and taken to an initiation to begin her journey as a Sangoma, a great position in the tribe. Today, there are also one million people striking, the army protecting schools and hospitals, 2 sub stations that have blown up due to negligence of routine maintenance which have resulted in 14 suburbs and 100 000 people being without electricity - again.
The entire sub station burnt down and it will have to be rebuilt, so these people will be without electricity for at least a week and all businesses will be closed and millions of rands will be lost. It’s winter at the moment; at night the temperature drops to freezing or below. And a student that I taught at varsity, the father of two small boys, was shot dead by suspected robbers.
One cannot say that living in Africa does not offer an intense range of emotions.
As the sun starts dropping behind the day and we get ready to meet the 0 degree evening, we will wake up to a complete union strike tomorrow morning, all unions are on strike in solidarity with the public sector union: this means all service providers including taxis, buses, trains - everything and everyone. It should be a very quiet morning tomorrow. The strike has had many incidences of violence; private schools and hospitals have been intimidated. Teachers and nurses have been assaulted by striking workers, and parents have been shot at by wild frustrated strikers. These events have necessitated the army's protection, and they have come out to protect the strikers. If you changed the dates on the news paper headlines, it could be a scene from our apartheid days. Armed soldiers with A4 machine guns protecting schools and hospitals. It is surreal. Last Sunday the paper had an editorial by Max du Pressis, who is an ANC Afrikaaner, which is very unusual. He was detained in the old days for being a strong ANC supporter. Max was called a traitor to the Afrikaans culture because he supported and became a card carrying ANC member during the apartheid regime when the ANC was banned and declared a terrorist organization. Most liberal, white South Africans tended to be English speaking supporters of the Democratic Party, whereas the white Africaans people tended to be supporters of the National Party. Du Pressis's article focused on his disappointment in coming to the realization that the ANC are just like the Apartheid leaders of yesteryear. It was a heartbreaking article, because it conveyed his sadness and disappointment. He described how he had fought for what he thought was freedom, only to have a country where the people became slaves to leaders of a different colour who behave exactly the same way as the old regime. It seems both the ANC and the National Party (the Broderbund) operate from a DQ/ER existence. The wealth and jobs are only shared amongst the inner circle who are determined by their position in the organization which is ordained by the authority within each structure. The normal, poor people of South Africa Du Pressis referred to the security systems strike last year which was extremely violent; sixty-four people were murdered for going to work instead of striking. He said: In the 1976 Sharpeville shooting, 64 people were killed and it started a revolution, last year 64 people were killed and not one person has been arrested for their murders. Speaking of Sharpeville, today is June the 16th; 31 years ago 64 teenagers were shot dead by a small group of scared, frantic, apartheid police officers. People ran through the streets, tires burned as black smoke mushroomed into the air. The front pages of newspapers led with pictures of a country in turmoil. Today, 31 years later, our newspapers lead with an editorial: Why has this has been a winter of discontent, people marching through the streets, burning and damaging cars and property. Has much changed? Is this freedom? What has freedom brought to the people of this country? A sad thought is the comment that many have made, a black person today would rather live under the violence of apartheid than under the rule of the ANC. Why? Because they have less now than they had under the apartheid regime. People have the power of the vote, but what is it worth without economic power and with a deterioration in one's standard of life? A transfer of power from one party to another, who on the surface looked so different, one white Afrikaans, one black Xhosa, but in Graves Some people believe this strike is the real revolution. It is the first time that people are rising up and speaking out against their own government. This strike should never have reached the place it is at now. The people who provide essential services asked for 12% increase in their salaries. They make R6 000 per month, that is about $750 per month, and a teacher can earn R78 000 a year. Meanwhile, parliament members just proposed they give themselves up to a 57% increase to their R1,1 million a year salaries while proposing the workers receive a 6% increase. ESKOM can't even keep the lights on and the CEO earns half a million rand a month despite his poor performance. Meanwhile, this country has collected more taxes than ever before; most departments do not even spend there budget in a financial year. This is what it means to be living in a society approaching Gamma. Ahhh..to be born an African….
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Posted by: オテモヤン | March 27, 2010 at 02:44 AM