The pass system is back.

Last week a colleague of mine was detained by police for 8 hours until his wife could arrive to free him.
His offence: being born North of the Limpopo and being unable to prove on the spot that he was in South Africa legitimately. While he was treated in a civil manner he has now vowed never to leave home without his ID document.
I ask, how different is this from the pass system of old?  

Dilemmas dilemmas that rage in my head

What should one do?
Option 1 : STATUS QUO: Jo'burg, the monthly cheque (aka golden handcuffs), barrage of email, corporate cr#p, suit and tie.
Option 2 : CHANGE OF NOTE: Small town by the sea, monster huge MF debt, my business, no beer money for a while, at the mercy of an uncertain economy, labour unions, customers, huge potential, dreams, too close to family, huge risk.
Option 3 : MOUNTAIN: Cape Town, the smaller monthly cheque (aka golden handcuffs) and dead end career, barrage of email, corporate cr#p, suit and tie.

Each has the potential of happening in the next few months. The crux of the dilemma is really about defining who I am? Watch this space, while I decide.

Full throttle excitement

Olive Schreiner (1855-1920) wrote a letter from "Hell" to John X Merriman (later governer of the Cape).
"You will see from the superscription that I am still in Johannesburg. We are a city given over to lust. Lust of money in the first place, lust of pleasure, lust of excitement."

Sir Herbert Baker (1862-1946) (renowned architect of buildings such as the Union Buildings) on arriving by train.
"At Johannesburg, human energy, electrified as it were by the rarefied dry air, can be very vital. The climate impelled all to live and work at full throttle."

I'm confused

I am not going to comment (much) on another pedestrian, unmotivated, lack-of-urgency, disappointing rugby match versus France this weekend (SA 26 - France 36) but I am confused.

The excuse provided by Jake White this time is reported here as being a "lack of experience", and yet IOL reports that "New Young Faces are Expected in the Bok Squad" heralding the imminent arrival of in the squad of some of the returning U21 baby Bok team members.

So the solution to remedy the lack of experience available is to recruit a gang of talented 19 year olds! As I said, I remain confused.

A far better option dear Mr White would be to behave like Captain John Smit by accepting responsibilty and and not offering any excuses at all.

The Freedom Charter

50 years on today and only about 50% achieved..

The Freedom Charter , Adopted at the Congress of the People, Kliptown, on 26 June 1955

We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know:

that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people;

that our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality;

that our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities;

that only a democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief;

And therefore, we, the people of South Africa, black and white together equals, countrymen and brothers adopt this Freedom Charter;

And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won.

The People Shall Govern!

Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and to stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws;

All people shall be entitled to take part in the administration of the country;

The rights of the people shall be the same, regardless of race, colour or sex;

All bodies of minority rule, advisory boards, councils and authorities shall be replaced by democratic organs of self-government .

All National Groups Shall have Equal Rights!

There shall be equal status in the bodies of state, in the courts and in the schools for all national groups and races;

All people shall have equal right to use their own languages, and to develop their own folk culture and customs;

All national groups shall be protected by law against insults to their race and national pride;

The preaching and practice of national, race or colour discrimination and contempt shall be a punishable crime;

All apartheid laws and practices shall be set aside.

The People Shall Share in the Country's Wealth!

The national wealth of our country, the heritage of South Africans, shall be restored to the people;

The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the Banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole;

All other industry and trade shall be controlled to assist the wellbeing of the people;

All people shall have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and professions.

The Land Shall be Shared Among Those Who Work It!

Restrictions of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land re-divided amongst those who work it to banish famine and land hunger;

The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers;

Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;

All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose;

People shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labour and farm prisons shall be abolished.

All Shall be Equal Before the Law!

No-one shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without a fair trial; No-one shall be condemned by the order of any Government official;

The courts shall be representative of all the people;

Imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance;

The police force and army shall be open to all on an equal basis and shall be the helpers and protectors of the people;

All laws which discriminate on grounds of race, colour or belief shall be repealed.

All Shall Enjoy Equal Human Rights!

The law shall guarantee to all their right to speak, to organise, to meet together, to publish, to preach, to worship and to educate their children;

The privacy of the house from police raids shall be protected by law;

All shall be free to travel without restriction from countryside to town, from province to province, and from South Africa abroad;

Pass Laws, permits and all other laws restricting these freedoms shall be abolished.

There Shall be Work and Security!

All who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers;

The state shall recognise the right and duty of all to work, and to draw full unemployment benefits;

Men and women of all races shall receive equal pay for equal work;

There shall be a forty-hour working week, a national minimum wage, paid annual leave, and sick leave for all workers, and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers;

Miners, domestic workers, farm workers and civil servants shall have the same rights as all others who work;

Child labour, compound labour, the tot system and contract labour shall be abolished.

The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened!

The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life;

All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;

The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;

Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children;

Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;

Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan;

Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;

The colour bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished.

There Shall be Houses, Security and Comfort!

All people shall have the right to live where they choose, be decently housed, and to bring up their families in comfort and security;

Unused housing space to be made available to the people;

Rent and prices shall be lowered, food plentiful and no-one shall go hungry;

A preventive health scheme shall be run by the state;

Free medical care and hospitalisation shall be provided for all, with special care for mothers and young children;

Slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, creches and social centres;

The aged, the orphans, the disabled and the sick shall be cared for by the state;

Rest, leisure and recreation shall be the right of all:

Fenced locations and ghettoes shall be abolished, and laws which break up families shall be repealed.

There Shall be Peace and Friendship!

South Africa shall be a fully independent state which respects the rights and sovereignty of all nations;

South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation - not war;

Peace and friendship amongst all our people shall be secured by upholding the equal rights, opportunities and status of all;

The people of the protectorates Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland shall be free to decide for themselves their own future;

The right of all peoples of Africa to independence and self-government shall be recognised, and shall be the basis of close co-operation.

Let all people who love their people and their country no say, as we say here:

THESE FREEDOMS WE WILL FIGHT FOR, SIDE BY SIDE, THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES, UNTIL WE HAVE WON OUR LIBERTY

Sometimes its just worth giving in..

After years of battling this I realised today that it is no longer worth trying to fight the auto-correct functions in applications that insist on changing my S to Z without asking. I realized it is just not worth the bother. Does it really matter?

Delighful People

My profile alongside refers to my being surrounded by some wonderful people but admittedly I don’t share too much news about them on this blog. So for those really curious folk out there who would like to know some more.

Here are some details on the 3 most important people in my life.

Mrs Wit, born on the shortest day of the year and with height to match. We met near the end of our ‘varsity careers (given my 3 years of first year – my studying career has taken the scenic route) and have been together since the day we met, well pretty much. Kissed on first night, but had had enough to drink to only find out that she had braces about 3 days later when I’d plucked up the sober courage to phone her and do movies, chaperoned by one of her mates, which I can still remember being an extremely cheesy thing called “Only You”. That was 11 years ago and we’ve been married for 8 of them. That’s a frighteningly long time. We are diametrically opposed in lots of ways and in a way this is contrary to what I see people do when they try and draw up mental laundry lists of requirements about the ideal partner. She loves reality TV, even revolting stuff like the Bachelorette, and sleep. I can handle The Amazing Race but that’s about it, and have been insomniac as long as I can remember. But we are damned compatible, supportive and happy together and have enough in common to get along most of the time. She really cares about other people which is probably what I love most about her. Also she’s pretty hot. After years of trying find gainful employment with her BSc(Hon), selling drugs (the patent kind) or working for pocket money in research academia, she has most recently found a calling teaching high school natural science to catholic convent girls, and loving it.

Miss Wit, dearest has just turned 4, and is quiet and shy, but also bright and thoughtful. Without doubt, Daddy’s little girl.

Master Wit, 2 and a bit, is named cryptically after a great English lexicographer. He’s a confident rascal who can kick a ball and wield his hockey stick better than his old man. But as Bill Murray’s character Bob says in Lost in Translation "they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk ... and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life."

Hiding behind policy and spokesmen

A simple query for SABC spokesman, Kaizer Kganyago.

As an aside: Why do organizations need spokesmen? Shouldn’t those responsible for decisions, policy and practice (ie management) actually defend their actions in person? I do feel for spokesmen of mainly state institutions, who across the board are put on the spot and armed with only limited information have to bravely defend the decisions of others.

So while I sympathise, I must certainly question Kganyago's logic detailed in this interview that since it is not policy for the SABC to ban certain commentators, despite it being accepted practice, that this is somehow OK. The confirmation that this is accepted practice is provided by most respected of presenters, John Perlman, and all strength to him for his independent and honest stand on this matter.

I sense the influence of one Snuki Zikalala (PhD Bulgaria) behind this. Why am I concerned? Because I am aware (sadly mainly in retrospect) what a dark road the SABC led us on under the National Party government, and feel that the nation deserves better in the new dispensation.

Just like me

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice

Come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are,
Ha ha ha bless your soul
You really think you're in control

Well,
I think you're crazy
...
Just like me

Whinging about crime

An interesting bit of clarification from Safety & Security minister Charles Nqakula today on his comments earlier in June which caused some degree of outrage when he suggested people should either complain until blue in the face or leave the country.

He told editors and journalists at a police media day in Johannesburg his words were directed at three negative opposition MPs taking part in the debate during his budget vote. "This (whinging remark) was meant for them... this was politicking. I was politicking - they were politicking. I would never say people who complain about crime should leave the country."

If I am to give him credit, and accept his explanation being as above then the outrage was clearly policking in itself and a classic case of the DA making political capital out of this issue.

It is also a classic case of comments being taken out of context of the debate that they came up in. Yes, perhaps ill chosen words in a bout of frustration. But I think judging by his clarification (unless he is backtracking on previous comments in some way which I am not convinced of) it is a situation where the words he used did not entirely come out the way that he intended or while aimed at a specific target were extrapolated to apply to the whole population.

Am I being too kind?

That said:  I'm not leaving, but I surely will complain next time (touch wood never) I get jumped on while trying to visit an art gallery.

But the question is then: If the argument is that we should do something about crime rather than complain about it, just what should the man in the street be doing about crime?

Dealing with crime is the kind of thing that we outsource to the state precisely because dealing with it is a rather large task for individuals, and too nationally destabilising if we encourage vigilantism or privatisation.

Fool's Paradise

The damage :
2 x minor grazed knuckles,
1 x  bruised Adam’s apple,
1 x dash of slightly bruised pride,
1 x slightly diminished faith in the urban renewal of ‘Jozi

OK, first things first. I know, I know – just damned stupid!! The classic “don’t try this at home kids” would apply. What on earth was I doing walking to the JAG on my own? Broad daylight aside – Joubert Park is still Joubert Park. So:  crazy, naïve, lucky – all those adjectives apply and the lesson is considered learned.

I walk. I need to walk. ATW walks. It renews me, shakes off the black dog as Churchill would say. I also know the hazards of walking in this country and have developed a spare set of eyes in the back of my head for just this purpose.

The story then. A calculated decision (in retrospect a poor calculation) to walk the 2 blocks down Wolmarans Street, into King George St to visit the Johannesburg Art Gallery during lunch.

Minding my own business, walking purposely and as vigilantly as possible. From nowhere, it seems – despite a brief warning flurry like a swirl of wind, a black-sleeved arm is very tight around my throat as it’s owner, monkey-like, clambers on my back, pulling me backwards onto the tarmac in the process (hence the grazed knuckles as I break my fall – still clinging with same knuckles to my famously and relatively unique “lim” leather-clad A5 notebook). All the time there is a loud but hoarse gasping “I kill you, I kill you” in my right ear.

At least two others grapple with my flailing arms and legs while a fourth man, older and in a green track-suit frantically but methodically works his way through my empty trouser pockets. My relatively well-stocked wallet & cellphone remain safely tucked up in my underwear. All the time it’s like watching a movie or being in a dream, where everything is vivid but in slow motion, but somehow I do not panic and remain almost acceptingly in control of myself, somehow being aware that no knight exits that is about to appear and rescue me from whatever fate awaits. The pocket search proving to be in vain the searcher moves around in front of me, presumably to obtain a better angle on my right hand pockets. All of this is happening on the ground, as I lie, held back. For a moment I see the crotch of the green track suit in front of me and with my only free limb, my right leg, aim my foot at his balls. I generate a fair bit of force, but sadly only connect with fresh air.

My reactionary wriggling remains vigorous and with it becoming evident to my assailants that their efforts may be in vain, their grip slackens. I find my voice: “FUCK YOU, FUCK ALL OF YOU” is the best I can muster as I continue to flail some more. Violently kicking the air and lashing out with a now loose arm.

The scoundrels scatter as I am allowed to stand up, to see the odd bemused spectators still wide-eyedly taking in the spectacle. I repeat my previous comments toward the backs of my scattering assailants and to anybody who cares to listen.

All of this is over in perhaps 3 minutes. I walk off, minding my own business, walking purposely and as vigilantly as possible, but with a serious amount of adrenaline pumping through my system and heart beating in quadruple time. I slow things down and write up this tale longhand in my now battle-scarred, but never released, notebook over a Coke & Nandos burger at Park Station, briefly jumping out of skin as an invasion of striking security guards stroll past and rattle on the windows behind me with the handle of their sjamboks.  It will probably take a while to digest these events internally, and I also know that these events are pale and trivial compared to much that goes on in this town. Time will tell if the experience jades my outlook. It also strikes me as a write this that it hasn't occurred to me to consider reporting  this incident to anyone.

By the way, the JAG is closed on Mondays. I know, I know – just damned stupid!

Brazil 1 - Croatia 0

Croatia are making it hard for themselves aren't they?
They must now rely on Australia failing against the Brazilians just to proceed beyond the pool stages, let alone win the damned cup.
Good game though and I am still not entirely disappointed, so hang in there 'Ant.

 As the BBC wrote:
"The Brazilians might be favourites to claim the "Hexa" - a sixth World Cup - but the way Croatia made Carlos Alberto Parreira's side work for this win suggests the world champions are not without their weaknesses. "

"Hell is other people"..

..Says JP Sartre...and one expects insightful quotes from him.

But Aaron Mauger is a rugby player, and a Kiwi one at that, but what an awesome and unexpected quote:

"We talked about it the other day and the haka is an art... and you don't change art to suit other people."

100% agreed. Even if the "art" includes a throat-slitting gesture.

Consistency

For some bizarre reason (nostalgia) I paged back to my very first set of posts (in 2003) and found that the tone of my second ever post ties in rather well with the comments discussion on the wine of a few days ago.

Glad that I've maintained some consistency over the years.

His feet stick out the bed

Prediction of the day:

If you don't know Peter Crouch, Football's Robocop , yet - you will by the end of the June.

“You can say you do not like Crouch, but that means you do not know a lot about football” — Rafael Benitez

Trust Your Gut

At the end of March I suggested that I should put my cash in a gold ETF. At that point the gold price was about $560/oz. Since then it hit $725 although it has now (in the last few days) tanked to about $622/oz. But I bought a house instead.

I said a couple of weeks ago that "I am almost certain that the 2nd Quarter BER Business Confidence index will indicate a decline in economic confidence." Today this is confirmed in an article in Business Day.

I find that my gut feel and intuition on these sort of things is normally fairly on target and yet I do not seem to be able to apply this to my benefit at all.

My other big intuition is my "proliferation of golf estates as a precursor of a global market crash" theory. Based on a similar pattern that occurred in the boom times of late 1920's. (I was alerted to this through a antique book collecting article about people who collect the glossy property prospectuses from that time - although at that time they were for equestrian & polo estates. Virtually all of these estates vanished in the 1930's depression). Now how different was this to what is happening here & now with golf and polo estates popping up all over the place?

ee cummings is right I think. Just trust your gut.

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you

PS Croatia will win the World Cup & Peter Crouch (more on him to follow) will be the new god of England football.

Merry go round

I have just read a link I found Mike's blog who found the link on Dave Duarte's blog to an article on HOW TO BE CREATIVE. About a bloke who draws on the back of business cards. Great read.

You Can Call Me Al

This tune has been buzzing in my head all week..maybe prompted by the line:
 "Get these mutts away from me
You know I dont find this stuff amusing anymore"

Or maybe just prompted by being an observer in this town.

A man walks down the street
Its a street in a strange world
Maybe its the third world
Maybe its his first time around
He doesnt speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says amen! and hallelujah!
- Paul Simon

Enjoy the weekend. Interesting 'Bok game at Ellis Park. Much to lose, little to gain.

Park Station

Well, I have been a bit quiet over the last week or so. I fear that this near silence will continue for a couple of weeks as I have some serious “deliverables” to prepare. But I am accumulating much thought and news on my experiences on being in the CBD for the first time since I worked a vac job at the JSE (when the JSE was in the CBD!).

This is the view from one of the offices I’m in at present. Hell this city is alive. Not yet sure whether it is a good form of life though - there seems to be a slightly sinister grubby underbelly. But I have had a good aerial view of a couple of Cosatu protests so far & I’m sure there are many to come. There is also something unique about the drive out of town, the dirty brown sunsets viewed over the rusted rooftops of industry and the flashing concrete pillars of the M2.
Watch this space for more, but probably not everyday. Those damned deliverables!