I heard the most horrific story on the radio today. It is about a (white) man in who started his own business about a year ago, and was finally starting to reap the rewards of all his hard work. He was transporting children from schools. It took a long time to build up a rapport with the schools and parents, and to establish the infrastructure needed to fulfill his mandate to the schools and parents.

As he was doing his rounds, transporting children, he was pushed off the road by a number of taxis. They shoved a gun in his face, stating that if he continues to “steal their brother’s business” they will kill him. He explained that he is transporting children and is not competition for his brother, to which the gunmen replied “We don’t care. If we see you here again, we will kills you.”

The man went on to tell the talk show host that he had to cancel contracts with parents and schools and refund people their money due to this. It is logical – you can not run the risk of having someone’s children injured, or worse, killed, in performing your duty. Putting those children at risk is simply not a good option. In short, this person’s business was ruined from being profitable to nothing in a matter of a minute or two. He cannot operate anymore, in fear of getting killed, or getting his passengers killed.

He said that “I am too white to get employed, and too white to work for myself”. Due to the past of South Africa, there is definitely a strong shift towards employing previously disadvantaged individuals. I do not know much about this man’s history, his education or his skill sets, but I believe, based on the hosts’ talk on the radio, that he started this business because he could not get a job. This means that he is possibly uneducated or his skills are not in high demand. For a person such as this, finding his own employment is paramount to survival, and he had the guts to make the move and start something that was starting to bloom, only to have it taken away from him in a matter of minutes.

In South Africa, the taxi industry are primarily run by non-white people, and therefore may be the reason why he made the statement about his skin colour. I am not sure that it was the correct thing to say, as it puts a racial spin to his situation, however, it may well be true. Lots of callers, including black people, called in to say how appalled they were about his situation, and expressed their condemnation of what happened to him. Some people called in and said something to the lines of “All you have to do is get a black driver”. Really? Is that the solution? He runs his own one-man show. He drives his own vehicle.

With the recent history about how many children died in taxis over the last year or so due to negligent driving, how could he even consider that? Besides the fact that he was starting to become profitable, it does not mean he makes enough money to hire a driver. Have you seen the condition of some of the taxis on South African roads? Sometimes it is the owner’s fault, for not keeping it maintained, but generally the passengers and drivers and damaging it with their reckless driving and disrespect for other people’s property. Why on earth would he trust his own vehicle in the hands of another driver, regardless of the colour of the driver’s skin? “Get a black driver”. Seriously? Should this be necessary? can we not all just drive our vehicles on the common roads in this country without the risk of being intimidated like this? Wouldn’t that be super?

Until next time…

Okay – let’s not beat about the bush. One thing that the Zuma Spear saga has brought to light, is the true reflection of what the political climate is about in South Africa. To the world at large, South Africa is a democracy, and we are working hard to overcome the injustices of the past and all that other bullshit. But The Spear, dear friends, The Spear, yes, one little painting, has exposed the true situation to anybody living in South Africa who thought that the image that we try to portray to the outside world is the same as it is experienced in South Africa.

For those of you who did not follow The Spear saga, I will briefly go into it. A white artist, called Brett Murray, painted a picture of President Jacob Zuma, with his private parts hanging out of his trousers, which was exhibited at The Goodman Gallery. From what I understand from this huge media debacle (and please don’t quote me as an official source of this sentiment, as it is just as I understood it), Murray attempted to say that respect is earned, and that if Zuma was an upstanding citizen who deserved respect, the painting would never have been made. It seems to have been his personal opinion about his thoughts on Zuma.

The Spear had the whole country in uproar and has clearly divided the country in two primary groups, namely those who love the painting, and accepts freedom of expression, as allowed by our constitution, and those that feel that the dignity of The President has been deeply scarred. The divide has also been said to have divided the country by racial lines, but that is not entirely true. We have heard hundreds of testimonials from white people classifying it as “disgusting” and we have heard hundreds of testimonials from black people claiming that the artist had the right of freedom of expression, and even that Zuma didn’t deserve the respect he and his supporters feel he is entitled to.

For those of you who are not aware of Zuma’s indiscretions, just a few short notes on that. He was involved in a shady arms deal. He is often associated with corruption and unlawful appointments of his personal contacts in high positions, he has had rape and various corruption charges against him, all mysteriously dropped before he became The President, and he has several wives. So, to say that he is “a promiscuous criminal” is probably a fair statement, depending on who you ask.

Back to the issue at hand. You may have heard or deducted from the article so far, that Brett Murray is a white artist. All of a sudden, this becomes an issue about race, and not about a supposedly corrupt, promiscuous politician, who happens to be our president. How dare a white man paint a black man like that? The masses are on a rampage. They are marching, and they are defacing, and they are demanding! They are destroying,  they are rioting, and they are littering! They are screaming “racism” and they are insisting that Jacob Zuma’s decency has been violated. The Painting has been defaced, The Artist made out for a racist, The Gallery has been vandalized, and The Media has been forced to remove The Spear from their websites.

Our government (and the ANC) is spending millions of our taxpayer money to sue The Gallery and The Artist, and use the full power of their political arm to crush said Artist and Gallery, and cry racism all at the same time. One day the world’s eyes will open and the word “racist” will mean nothing to them, just as it is starting to lose its true meaning to the masses swept into a frenzy by the ANC.

Although Jacob Zuma argues that his children and grand children are bearing the brunt of ridicule from their class mates and colleagues, which is probably true, he should’ve “kept his nose clean”. If he was the upstanding citizen that he wants to be portrayed as, none of this would’ve happened.

Let’s face it, we all have skeletons and some shady things in our past, but we are not all The State President of South Africa, a very, VERY public position that comes with a certain responsibility to inspire his people, and to, yes, you’ve guessed it, “keep his nose clean.” Chances are that his children and grand children were already the joke of the town, albeit less public.

Fast-forward about two weeks ahead, and we have had talks about lawsuits, major marches, the defacing of The Painting, cries of racism, and generally a huge hullabaloo about something that started as freedom of expression, and ended as racism.

According to certain media talk-show hosts, The Artist, The Gallery and The ANC have come to a currently unknown agreement regarding this, and a popular newspaper’s editor has, depending on who you ask, “been forced to remove The Spear from their website” or “decided to see that good intentions caused too much harm and decided to take it off”. Where am I on this point? I believe she has been forced, and buckled under the pressure.

With the agreement, and a supposedly “peaceful march” to the gallery today (which is causing a whole lot of traffic problems in an already chaotic Johannesburg, by the way), the unnamed media talk-show host mentioned that we are now starting the process of “National Healing”. National healing. Seriously? That’s what you’re going with? National healing? Wow.

Was the roles reversed, and a black artist painted a prominent white political figure in the same manner, would we have national healing then? No. We would possibly have outrage, and we would possibly have discussions and talks of lawsuits. But would we have national healing? No. Why not? Because the minority group who would be violated in the reversed situation would be insignificant. Although the majority of the minority group would probably feel angry about the incident, had it been reversed, the majority of the minority would still be a drop in the population bucket of South Africa. National healing? No chance. It would simply have been swept under the carpet like everything else that is supposedly shady and bad.

When Julius Malema sang “Kill The Boer” songs, and thereby advocated racial violence, was there any outrage? Check. Were there angry white people? Check. Were there court cases? Check. Was there an uproar among the involved minority group? Check, check, check and CHECK. But was there NATIONAL HEALING? No. It simply died out with a slap on the wrist for Julius Malema, and a court ruling that “He should not sing the songs at national gatherings of the ANC” or something to that effect. The big thing about this ruling was that in personal capacity he, and everybody in the country, could continue to sing the so-called “struggle songs”, as long as it is not in official capacity of the ANC (or so I have heard). So, anybody can sing these “struggle songs” whenever they want, as long as it is in private capacity, yet, nobody may say the dreaded “K” word.

If the article by TheFridaFactor is anything to go by, and if the fact that I am angry and sick and tired, my views may be considered racist, then so be it. I will then be gladly called a racist.

How many times have you been told that your credit card company responded with “Declined” or that your gym access card responded with “Access denied”? How many times did this happen when you are NOT guilty of any misconduct? With misconduct I mean that your gym bills are paid, your credit card has available funds in it, or the likes, yet this irritating – and often humiliating – message is blundered out at cashiers or points of access control hundreds of times a day.

I believe anyone can make a mistake; anyone can press the “check account” instead of “savings account” button on the electronic payment machine. Anybody could (although it is scarce with modern technology that makes a lot of typing unnecessary due to scanning technologies) enter the wrong customer number when activating or deactivating your gym access card. My problem is not with the fact that these errors or mistakes can happen, but with the way this is addressed.

For most people, including me, when this happens, it is an embarrassing situation. So, a little bit of discretion would not harm, until we can find out what the problem is. If my card was really declined, due to no mistake on the electronic payment machine’s operator, and the problem is dealt with discretion, nobody would feel the need to start a major argument with someone else at the pay point.

I did this the other day – had a major argument with the staff at my gym for blundering out loud that my access to the gym has been denied. I have only joined this particular gym 4 days prior to the event, and paid my fees on the day of joining. I have been visiting this gym three times in total, out of four days, and my card worked fine. When I wanted to enter the fourth time (which is the fifth day) the attendant almost shouted out “Denied!”

Some people sitting nearby immediately got this How-dare-he-come-to-the-gym-without-paying-his-membership look. Some even had a slightly amused expression on their faces. Some even looked as if they were happy for my sudden misfortune.

So, here I stand, at the access point, hearing this harsh word: Deeclaaaaint! Okay – so I am already humiliated, and decided to use this opportunity to tell them about discretion, closely mimicking their antics and tone of voice as they say the word, and telling them that their lack of training to do what they do, and their lack of common sense not to offend and humiliate people publicly, is one day going to cause a much bigger storm than the one they find themselves in at this current moment in time.

Now – the story is over, and I have finally been granted access to the gym, and my card’s problem was fixed, yet, you’re wondering what this post has to do with South African politics, as this article was tagged? Simple. The problem is with appointing the wrong people for the job, without proper training or skill, or without the ability to consider “the human factor” in matters such as these, simply because of South Africa’s history with racial problems in the past; simply because these people must now have a job, due to BBBEE, or some other political bullshit where they imply that they are”rectifying the past.” The problem is not with them rectifying the past. The problem is with them putting just anybody in any position they want, without considering the consequences of putting an unqualified person in that position. That is not rectifying the past. That is crippling the country.

It is not old archaic religious beliefs such as listening to the spirits of your ancestors that created orphanages and old age homes. That is very clear. You will find that usually, there are no constructs in such archaic beliefs to even contemplate the creation of such “inhumane” places such as orphanages or old age homes. But stating that Christianity (or any other organized religion, for that matter) is responsible for creating these places? That clearly is a sign of lack of understanding of what religion is, what it is for, and what the reach of religion is.

Our president, Jacob Zuma, has reportedly been quoted by The Times as saying that these institutions are the work of Christianity.

“As Africans, long before the arrival of religion and [the] gospel, we had our own ways of doing things,” Zuma was quoted by The Times at the launch of a road safety and crime awareness campaign at KwaMaphumulo in KwaZulu-Natal.”

Where on earth did he suck that out of? How does he justify this statement? How is “their own way” of doing things better than what “Christianity has brought to Africa?” I guess that depends on how exactly “their own way” works.

Is it defined as instead of putting them in a place where they are being cared for, rather leave them in the fields of glorious Africa to die? Maybe it Is defined as “well, see, this person here, well, he is disabled. I do not want take care of him. I am going to kill him.”

Certainly, people can be put in old-age homes, or children in orphanages, for the wrong reasons. I am by no means encouraging this, or denying that this phenomenon exists. It is merely childish and irresponsible to make a generalized comment as the one made by our president.

As a Christian (or any other organized religion follower), maybe, after I killed my disabled son, instead of letting people who are better trained to deal with him take care of him, I will maybe have a bit of conscience issues because I am not entirely strong enough to take care of him myself. This can be counter-acted by being involved in the care of my son. Visiting him regularly and have a special bond with him. The same can be said about leaving my frail, old parent or grandparent in an old-age home. I have a job. I have a family. I need to earn a salary. I need to take care of my family. I can not fit full-time care for all of my family members in my busy schedule. Times have changed. I do not cower in fear of my ancestors because of my actions. Modern society calls this a conscience.

Now – I think I just saw a flash of light and heard an eerie voice due to raising my opinion. Let me get up on my bed raised with bricks, so that the tokolosh can not reach me…