Marikana Round two?

A woman battles the Police at Lwandle informal settlement during the evictions in the Western Cape. www.iol.co.za

It’s barely two years since the miners were shot and killed for what they believed to be rightfully theirs. Less than a month after the 5^th democratic elections were held and the homeless are thrown out on the streets, on the eve of winter. What happened to all the election promises of building the better life for all? What happened to the ‘batho pele’ principle? This people all they ever did was to run away from renting backyard rooms for the rest of their lives and they are trying to raise their own families but it looks like that is not enough to the few elite.

It is disturbing to look at the images of a school girl sneaking her books through razor wire, just to make sure that in all of this, her future may be safe. All of this no one cares about because the mandate is to erect the e-tolls. The very same e-toll that has been shoved down the throats of taxpayers without permission from the “funders”.

What is the difference between this image and that of miners being slaughtered on the hills of Marikana in 2012? Those same family men tried to feed their families but in the end had to lose their own lives? The image above says it all about freedom in the new South Africa. Is this the price humanity has to pay for erecting a shack?

As I watched the evening news on my favourite channel I could not help but repeat in my heart the famous quote of Nelson Mandela’s speech in 1994, the man who had also sacrificed his own families’ happiness for that of the nation. I am sure he somehow knew that this day would come when he uttered this words; “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”. I can’t imagine what Madiba would be saying if he was around to see this photos.

www.iol.co.za

Another one bites the dust

There we go again

A disappointed Igesund when he heard that SAFA won't keep him beyond August

The marry-go-round of South African Football has started again and the grinding machine does not seem to stop firing coaches. Whoever is next on that hot seat will not last even the mere 2 years. As Ted Dumitru has said, South African brand of football is long overdue and honestly, whoever takes that seat won't last unless someone at SAFA house understand that the reason Brazil are five times world champions is because in all those golden years, they were playing their own home-grown brand.

I am not saying foreign coaches are bad; all I am saying is it will take time for a local coach to get the correct combination but in time, results will come. Do we only want a quick fix as a footballing nation or we want consistency the results? That will not happen overnight. My point is; the sacking of Igesund was premature. Didn't Bafana at some stage under the very same Gordon upset the current world champions on home soil? Isn’t this man's track record at the helm of the national team enough to make him keep his job?

My plea to Dany Jordan and the rest of his crew: put the interests of South African football before your own personal glory. We all know that you are a good administrator of football hence under your leadership we were able to stage the best World Cup ever on African soil, but at the moment it’s not about wielding that axe just because you can. Think about our football in say 10 years from now. Where will Bafana Bafana be at that time? The only tournament that they will play is the COSA FA...that because no one really has to qualify for that, or we will play big tournaments only if we get to host them, like it has been the trend in the past four years (2010 World Cup included).

It’s about time someone put the country first now that Madiba is gone.

A word of advice to Juju and the red army

EFF LEader Julius Malema Outside Malema with EFF-MP's
www.destinyman.com

First of all congratulations for finally making it to parliament, it is now a first step in the right direction in your quest to rule the beautiful land one day, hopefully. I have been observing in silence your journey from your ANCYL days to the Commander In Chief (CIC) of the economic freedom fighters and I must say you still have a long way ahead of you. I also observed how you and your delegates in parliament were so eager to make the mark, we hope you won’t disappoint and go back to your old self.

I first want to remind you of that unfortunate rise and fall of the Congress of the People (COPE), this is because they also started just like you and won the hearts of nation and once in parliament, arrogance crept in. As we all know what happened, I hope you will equip yourself with some political education and keep your head on the ground this time around and have a little patience and watch your words.

Please hear me well CIC, I do not mean to insult you or say you have no respect but the perfect example is the way members and leadership of COPE handled themselves in parliament and look at where they are now. The one million-plus people that have voted for you believe that you may be the panacea to the political landscape of the country act the part. It is no secret that a lot of people have lost faith in the leading party’s leadership role in taking the country forward after 2 decades of democracy, capitalize on that and surround yourself with intellectual minds.

We hope that you will propose and put into effect the ideas that were on your election manifesto but just don't throw tantrums when things don't go your way because you may only get to serve for 5 years and that’s it, I am sure you do not want that. I am sure all the people who put their faith in you do not wish to have their political rivals tell them that they have wasted their votes in putting you in that seat. With patience and the fighting spirit, someone one day may wake up to a country that say “we are proud of our President, President Julius Malema”, this is possible but only if you review what you say and where you say it, more importantly…how you say it. 

As I see it…

Politics in our football

I do not in a single sense condone the failure to utilize the home-ground-advantage of the boys but my problem is embarrassing the family men like that in the media.

The pain of watching the helpless Bafana go down out of the group stages as hosts is unbearable, ask any soccer loving South African and they will tell you. In fact, truth be told our senior national team has NEVER qualified for any major tournament after 2004. They were always handed a ticket as hosts or having to sit with us and watch other 'boys' on TV. Who can forget the pain of crashing out of the 2010 World Cup of which they had failed to qualify for as well after a defeat to Uruguay.

My point in all this the Footballing body in the country SAFA needs a proper restructuring on its own and be manned by the former footballers but that does not mean that we should allow politics to interfere with the beautiful game. The sports minister took liberty in hauling all sorts of insults to the national team, even going as far as singling out the keeper. What does the minister expect his utterances to do to Moeneeb Josephs as a person? Some may argue that it is a constructive criticism but i beg to differ, knowing personally that you have let the country down is one thing, but having the leaders of the same country label you a loser and a disgrace on national television is another. 

I am sure we are not ready as a country to face the Benni vs Bafana issue in future because now our players are afraid of making mistakes since it will be all talk of town. we have a lot of aspiring and talented youngsters who can  play at the highest level but will they agree to play for the national team because the first mistake they make will be on the news all week. We recently endured another debacle of that nature with the talented Thulani Serero  apparently faking an injury and your Steven Pienaar retiring from the national team. Expect a lot of this kind of stories in future if the politicians do not canvas for the elections but instead insult the boys. 

This may even turn worse if FIFA decides to imporse what it did to the country during the Apartheid regime. Isn't this the very same reason why the country's sports were banned from international stage? Because of political interference? 

can the politicians of this country stick to their manifestos and let the football legends deal with the crisis we are facing as the football fraternity please...

As I see it…