Another request for amnesty….
Some time back, through the tough negotiated settlement that was CODESA, a Faustian pact was made that has set an irrecoverable precedent for this dear land of ours.
Somehow, through this process it was established that if it could be shown that if the commission of a crime could be explained with reference to a political motive then the crime was justified and the perpetrators would be duly exonerated.
So we were treated to some of the most heart-rending reality TV ever broadcast as atrocity after atrocity was first relived and then with varying degrees of success the perpetrators attempted to justify their actions. If the justification appeared honest and complete then that perpetrator’s slate was wiped clean.
So we have calls now for the slate of Jacob Zuma to be wiped clean so that we can move forward as country and sidestep the political nightmare that currently faces us. The so called “ARMS DEAL AMNESTY”.
When does this stop?
If it is considered expedient to indemnify folk for “justified” past “mistakes” why do we not extend this to all criminal activity?
Why does a political motive, or political expediency have some moral high ground over an economic motive, or crime of passion for that matter?
Is it not perhaps an economic motive (to feed one’s starving family?) that is more noble that a political one. Or for that matter the heartsore feelings and subsequent actions of a crossed lover?
Do we then introduce into a court’s, not a test of right or wrong, but a test of circumstance? If your circumstances justify the crime in any way then thou shalt be kept out of jail.
We can’t stop it.
The pact with the devil has been made, we can’t reverse it.
We did it before, for political expediency and to avert a bloodbath and it gave us 10 years or so of stability, which is a lot to ask of any African land.
Sometime back, I quoted the ANC president’s stance on crime with some admiration:
“In a country without the death penalty, the laws must bite”.
Once in a while, however, that bite needs to be of the toothless kind, a mere shake of the gums that loses its hold. So then, I agree, as much as it galls me, with Max Du Preez: Let us do it again for Mr Zuma, grant him amnesty.
For we need to avert the bloodbath again and let us get on with the more important things in our land. Addressing poverty and violent crime.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Lazy and preoccupied
I have left this site unkempt and unmaintained for some 7 months now. The grass is now knee high and full of wriggly creatures. But, when I look at my previous (19 Dec 07) post it is as if time has stood still for the entire period.
Both our state and that of our Northern neighbour are in stasis, stuck it seems in perpetual gyre, like mice on a treadmill.
The only thing that has changed is the oil price, and thankfully that is coming off a little too.
Even though today is Rohlihlala's birthday, he too has been celebrating that for some months now.
It is time to move on, shift gears at least, jump out of the treadmill and embrace a new era. (Whatever it is, bring it on).
Spice things up a bit - like with this real hot stuff.
Both our state and that of our Northern neighbour are in stasis, stuck it seems in perpetual gyre, like mice on a treadmill.
The only thing that has changed is the oil price, and thankfully that is coming off a little too.
Even though today is Rohlihlala's birthday, he too has been celebrating that for some months now.
It is time to move on, shift gears at least, jump out of the treadmill and embrace a new era. (Whatever it is, bring it on).
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
“…the trouble with having the vote, is that other people have it too.” JR Lucas
JR Lucas is quite an interesting bloke with a rather convincing argument "proving" free will but that's not the point today. I just like the quote I used in the header.
Today I'm with Steven Friedman in his Thoughtleader column.
I don't know if I know enough about Jacob Zuma beyond the Zapiro showerheaded caricatures and his disconcerting middle name "GEDLEYIHLEKISA" (the one who smiles at you while causing harm to you). (per Fred Khumalo).
I do believe that there may be better candidates for a future president of the country - but who, and why haven't they shown their hand?
But - while his historic actions are questionable he is currently saying the right things:
On Zimbabwe:
While friends apply for residency or pack quickly for other climes I think I'm in for the ride. Looking forward to it in fact.
In a comment some 20 months ago I wrote this:
1. We are not a normal democracy,
2. Despite this, our democratic and legal checks and balances are far more robust than Russia's were, and
3. We ain't seen nothing yet!
And to close, Evita Bezuidenhout has inimitably chipped in - likening JZ to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Happy Holidays.
Today I'm with Steven Friedman in his Thoughtleader column.
"This was not mob rule. In the main, it was active, democratic participation, precisely what the ANC’s preoccupation with public displays of unity has denied its conferences for the past 17 years. If the Zuma delegates are now in the majority in the ANC, and this is how they intend to act at future meetings, the ANC may well be in better democratic health than it has been for a very long time."
I don't know if I know enough about Jacob Zuma beyond the Zapiro showerheaded caricatures and his disconcerting middle name "GEDLEYIHLEKISA" (the one who smiles at you while causing harm to you). (per Fred Khumalo).
I do believe that there may be better candidates for a future president of the country - but who, and why haven't they shown their hand?
But - while his historic actions are questionable he is currently saying the right things:
On Zimbabwe:
"It is even more tragic that other world leaders who witness repression pretend it is not happening, or is exaggerated. When history eventually deals with the dictators, those who stood by and watched should also bear the consequences.And on crime:
“A shameful quality of the modern world is to turn away from injustice and ignore the hardships of others,” he charged.“There is no substitute or alternative to democracy, even in instances where we feel that democratic processes threaten our personal interests."
“In a country with no death penalty, the laws must bite”I have a vision of Foucault style drawing & quartering. (Read the harrowing preface to Foucault's Discipline & Punish here). And even the lily liberal in me may argue for that.
While friends apply for residency or pack quickly for other climes I think I'm in for the ride. Looking forward to it in fact.
In a comment some 20 months ago I wrote this:
1. We are not a normal democracy,
2. Despite this, our democratic and legal checks and balances are far more robust than Russia's were, and
3. We ain't seen nothing yet!
And to close, Evita Bezuidenhout has inimitably chipped in - likening JZ to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Happy Holidays.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Everything bad is not new but it still smells queer
Jonny Steinberg writes in his opinion piece in Business Day.
"Why is it important to remind ourselves of these continuities? Because if yesterday’s illusion was that everything bad would vanish, today’s illusion is that everything bad is new. So many of the black, working-class people I have interviewed recently express nostalgia, insisting that life was more stable in the old days. Their amnesia is destructive. It robs them of the capacity to measure what has changed and what hasn’t, how far we have come, and how little we have moved. Without that perspective, we have no ground beneath our feet; we risk driving ourselves insane."
Please bear this mind my dear ladies and gentlemen who at every turn and around every braai fire are exhibiting renewed and anxious ambitions of packing for Perth. Perspective is a long term game. Hang in there with me.
There seems to be a current buzzing mindset that the book of the South African Dream began with the 1995 rugby world cup win as the opening chapter (the release of Nelson Mandela as a prologue) and has just reached it's finale with the 2007 spoils marking the final chapter and the end of a flirting golden era.I disagree - if anything these events are minor parentheses on a single chapter of the story of this land.
It's complicated living here but I'm a firm believer in the mantra of "The more things change the more they stay the same."
But one has to bear in mind that it is the nature of the place - the country has its own Jungian consciuosness - it cannot be changed to fit in with our own normative view of just what it means to be part of (this) civilisation.
As Carl Jung himself noted on arriving in Africa :
"I kept thinking that the land smelled queer. It was the smell of blood, as though the soil was soaked with blood."
"Why is it important to remind ourselves of these continuities? Because if yesterday’s illusion was that everything bad would vanish, today’s illusion is that everything bad is new. So many of the black, working-class people I have interviewed recently express nostalgia, insisting that life was more stable in the old days. Their amnesia is destructive. It robs them of the capacity to measure what has changed and what hasn’t, how far we have come, and how little we have moved. Without that perspective, we have no ground beneath our feet; we risk driving ourselves insane."
Please bear this mind my dear ladies and gentlemen who at every turn and around every braai fire are exhibiting renewed and anxious ambitions of packing for Perth. Perspective is a long term game. Hang in there with me.
There seems to be a current buzzing mindset that the book of the South African Dream began with the 1995 rugby world cup win as the opening chapter (the release of Nelson Mandela as a prologue) and has just reached it's finale with the 2007 spoils marking the final chapter and the end of a flirting golden era.I disagree - if anything these events are minor parentheses on a single chapter of the story of this land.
It's complicated living here but I'm a firm believer in the mantra of "The more things change the more they stay the same."
But one has to bear in mind that it is the nature of the place - the country has its own Jungian consciuosness - it cannot be changed to fit in with our own normative view of just what it means to be part of (this) civilisation.
As Carl Jung himself noted on arriving in Africa :
"I kept thinking that the land smelled queer. It was the smell of blood, as though the soil was soaked with blood."
Friday, October 19, 2007
Hello There
Where have I been?
– a most unproductive day in office today as I sit barefoot and sockless in support of Jake White and his prodigies. May the force be with them tomorrow. ....So let me venture back into the netherworld of blogging with a newsy bit of diary writing to assure all that I’m still alive, kicking and slowly pickling my liver.
Still sailing my sinking ship at work, dodging icebergs and the like. Seems a bit rough though in that I think my principals are losing patience and are likely to pull the plug or sell the family silver from under my feet. I am not sure that I blame them – but it’s a bugger to think that a year’s worth of 70 hour weeks may have been in vain.
The industry still runs on diesel and nicotine and has an official language of bad English but it’s been a good ride. And my clients are still full of shit. But as Johan Rupert always said – don’t diss your customer – “The customer is king – he pays your salary”. Now on that case – how come he (Rupert) gets the inside track on the Rugby World Cup – flying in and out of France – hobnobbing with players etc. & Ernie too. Seems that if you’ve got serious cash then you getto watch good rugby.
On the home front been renovating my old place with it’s wooden floors and lekker back stoep, and the wlaking distance to office. Now gone are the passages and poky fin de siecle bedrooms – having made way for large airy open plan living space. One word of advice though – don’t try and actually live in a place while knocking down almost every internal wall in the place, relocating bathrooms and demolishing kitchens. Must admit that pots & pans scrub up very well in the bathtub. Oh hindsight is such a perfect science is it not?
To end a brief paragraph from Bryan Magee’s “Confessions of a Philosopher”, a paragraph which – if I was half as bright as him I would have written about myself.
“All my life I have been brimming over with an almost uncontainably powerful desire to live. I feel it as an ever-present drive, thirst, lust, of which I have been inescapably aware since childhood. This drive would have to be somehow broken before I could calmly accept my own demise, which until then will mean accepting the unacceptable. I should not, however, misrepresent myself—it is not only with my personal survival that I am concerned: I have also a greedy, sharp-edged curiosity about how things are, a clamant need to understand, that will not let me relax; and about this there is something impersonal and objective. I believe I would still have it if I were indestructible.”
Peachy day in PE today. Love and happiness to all of you.
– a most unproductive day in office today as I sit barefoot and sockless in support of Jake White and his prodigies. May the force be with them tomorrow. ....So let me venture back into the netherworld of blogging with a newsy bit of diary writing to assure all that I’m still alive, kicking and slowly pickling my liver.
Still sailing my sinking ship at work, dodging icebergs and the like. Seems a bit rough though in that I think my principals are losing patience and are likely to pull the plug or sell the family silver from under my feet. I am not sure that I blame them – but it’s a bugger to think that a year’s worth of 70 hour weeks may have been in vain.
The industry still runs on diesel and nicotine and has an official language of bad English but it’s been a good ride. And my clients are still full of shit. But as Johan Rupert always said – don’t diss your customer – “The customer is king – he pays your salary”. Now on that case – how come he (Rupert) gets the inside track on the Rugby World Cup – flying in and out of France – hobnobbing with players etc. & Ernie too. Seems that if you’ve got serious cash then you getto watch good rugby.
On the home front been renovating my old place with it’s wooden floors and lekker back stoep, and the wlaking distance to office. Now gone are the passages and poky fin de siecle bedrooms – having made way for large airy open plan living space. One word of advice though – don’t try and actually live in a place while knocking down almost every internal wall in the place, relocating bathrooms and demolishing kitchens. Must admit that pots & pans scrub up very well in the bathtub. Oh hindsight is such a perfect science is it not?
To end a brief paragraph from Bryan Magee’s “Confessions of a Philosopher”, a paragraph which – if I was half as bright as him I would have written about myself.
“All my life I have been brimming over with an almost uncontainably powerful desire to live. I feel it as an ever-present drive, thirst, lust, of which I have been inescapably aware since childhood. This drive would have to be somehow broken before I could calmly accept my own demise, which until then will mean accepting the unacceptable. I should not, however, misrepresent myself—it is not only with my personal survival that I am concerned: I have also a greedy, sharp-edged curiosity about how things are, a clamant need to understand, that will not let me relax; and about this there is something impersonal and objective. I believe I would still have it if I were indestructible.”
Peachy day in PE today. Love and happiness to all of you.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Albert Ellis - A Stoic to the end
Albert Ellis, archetypical stoic and the father of CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) died aged 93 on 24 July 2007.
A great article and his final interview in Prospect Magazine.
Some epic quotes :
"He is also a colourful character, given to swearing like a fishwife (he has suggested that Freud's ideas were "horseshit from start to finish") and insistent on his view that "most human beings are out of their fucking minds." You could say he is a modern Diogenes: foul-mouthed, free-thinking, trying to liberate us from the mental habits that make us miserable."
And on being fired from the board of the institute that he created: "Ellis himself manages to stay stoical about the whole nasty business. "They [the board] have behaved abominably," he says. "But they're fucked-up, fallible human beings, just like everyone else.""
His writing and thinking is a model for survival of the fucked-up human beings we all are.
A great article and his final interview in Prospect Magazine.
Some epic quotes :
"He is also a colourful character, given to swearing like a fishwife (he has suggested that Freud's ideas were "horseshit from start to finish") and insistent on his view that "most human beings are out of their fucking minds." You could say he is a modern Diogenes: foul-mouthed, free-thinking, trying to liberate us from the mental habits that make us miserable."
And on being fired from the board of the institute that he created: "Ellis himself manages to stay stoical about the whole nasty business. "They [the board] have behaved abominably," he says. "But they're fucked-up, fallible human beings, just like everyone else.""
His writing and thinking is a model for survival of the fucked-up human beings we all are.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Why I stay
On being pushed why I stay, and why I want to stay. I finally figured it out. I'm a gambler through and through.
I could see this sky from many safer places but I think I'd just detest the people around me if I wasn't here.
I just hope the dice roll well.
"Goudstad stoutgat/Ek moet net aan jou boud vat/Vergeet nou maar jou, wat/Vir jou het ek ietsie spesiaal
Kaalgat in Kaapstad/Kan ek maar by jou slaap, skat/My reënjas is al papnat/Vir jou het ek ietsie spesiaal
Chorus:Dis ‘n kwessie van tyd/Sê die missies vir die meid/Dis die bloed in die pan/Dis die blos op die wang/Dis die vloek van die slang/Dis die moeilikheid met die man
Voodoo in Windhoek/Ek wens ek kon jou blinddoek/Jou boyfriend kan ons inboek/Vir jou het ek ietsie spesiaal" - Valiant Swart (Boland Punk)
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