Enough! Enough of all the pussyfooting, slippery tongue-sliding circumlocution. Enough of the fall backs to culture, ancestry, age, wisdom, the struggle, the party and the legacy of apartheid. Enough of the misuse of taxpayers’ money. Enough of the failure to speak when appropriate and necessary and enough of the propensity and frequency with which inappropriate, inarticulate and best-left-unsaid comments are made. Enough of the failure to declare assets transparently and enough of the chommie-appointing, corruption-loving, tender-sharing money grabbing. Enough of the unwillingness to provide a safe space for women, homosexual people, foreigners, and HIV-positive people. Enough of the inaction.
When will the elected government act as the representatives they are supposed to be? Never mind being representatives of their voting population, or South Africans, but as actual representatives of a successful, transparent and free society? When will the electorate who voted for the ANC government, and the members of the ANC party who actually still have a backbone (those whose backbones have become puppet-strings in the throes of absolute power are already too far gone) stop sucking up, brown nosing and generally being too power-fearing to comment and criticise a bad job when they see one? Or perhaps it is impossible to see a bad job when there is in fact very little work being done at all.
New legislation granting rights for people and marginalised groups feels like a treat left just outside the cage. We are supposed to look at it and feel pride in what we have been given. We begin to locate our failure to live in a country where we become economically empowered rather than enriched with ourselves.
It is frustrating to be so full of love and hope for a future in South Africa at the moment because it feels like it taunts me. I am within the cage of a country locked in a cage of public inaction and I don’t have the key. The people with the keys are safely seated in luxury hotel rooms, smart cars, lathered in their bubble baths made of oil, money and the blood, sweat and tears of the working public.
The cage of fear of criticising government traps many people. It misshapes their mind in a way that even Orwell could not have anticipated. For it requires no methods or machines of torture. It requires far less. It requires that the majority remain inactive, apathetic and bathed in the belief that the world outside does not affect them, and more so that they can’t affect it.
So enough of the government’s half-eaten sweets of success casually thrown to the masses to allow them a brief taste. Enough of their pitiful efforts to justify their glutton-like lifestyles. Enough of the fear that we cannot criticise. Enough of people who don’t want to act because it ruins their gym routines, their Saturday afternoons or the linings of their latest and most stylish wallet.
Change is inevitable, like death and taxes (well for most people). It requires that we do things and act to make the change the way we want to. It’s as easy as giving an hour of your time for the greater good or opening your mouth to speak out about injustice.
I hope that the government knows that the history books will not be rewritten and their failures will speak more loudly than their successes if they do nothing to remedy them.
We must all take responsibility for building a better South Africa.
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66 Responses to “Take some freaking responsibility”
I could not agree more!
At first I was disappointed with the SA government. Then I became frustrated. Now I’m downright seething.
They are a bunch of greedy sell-outs, and their arrogance is insulting. No one is willing to accept responsibility for anything, and any confrontation is responded to with calls of racism, or worse still, silence.
I think it is the silence that is most infuriating! Its as if government knows that it doesn’t need to respond to accusations of corruption and the like. They know that after a short while the media will forget whatever the latest perversion of justice was.
I only wish there was something more we could do to vent this frustration besides blogging and writing about it.
er…perhaps people should exercise their right to vote in the next election. WAIT! The majority of South African’s like the abuse of power and are too dimwitted to do otherwise!
The rhetoric, ignorant behaviour and sheer greed will prevail due to the idiocy of the masses.
Cue… the rants of government apologists.
All I know is that I am a young, white expatriate woman living in London and do you know how freeing it is to live in a society where you don’t have to worry whether what you say will immediately be miscontrued as racism or live in fear of being white? I have black friends (from South Africa, Zim, Jamaica etc), I have friends of other nationalties (for example refugee Albanians) the list is endless and I don’t feel I have to apologise for being white to them, nor a white South African, nor do I feel I have to be on my ‘political correctness’ guard the entire time.
When will South Africa let it go and not make the up and coming generation feel they have to apologise for being whatever colour they are.
Apartheid has been over for 16 years and it seems South Africa has much more pressing problems than who owns what - like corruption in the government, starving children (of all colours and creeds), rape and most prevalently AIDS AND CRIME.
It’s time to ACTUALLY start living by our flag that was created to represent our rainbow nation.
All I can say is that I miss my country - because my word is it a special country or what? But I am just too scared to come back and I don’t want to apologise for being white anymore!!
The only people who can change SA are the voters in rural KwaZulu, in Mphumalanga, in squatter camps around the country, in the Eastern Cape, etc.
The opinions of the middle-classes are irrelevant. The opinions of Thoughtleader readers count for nothing. Whities like myself can tear out our hair and shout “enough” till kingdom come. It means nothing. If anything, it is counter-productive, because some Black guy is going to read it, and just because the gripe comes from a Whitie, he is going to become even more determined to keep the ANC in power.
A key element reinforcing the ANC’s grip on power is that it controls the SABC, and in particular, the radio stations that broadcast to the mass of the electorate that keep it in power. In practice, it is mainly through SABC radio that the masses can be politically educated about the destruction that the ANC is causing. Instead, because the SABC almost exclusively reports about the ANC, and only the ANC, in the minds of the masses the ANC is seen as “the only game in town”.
I hope I am wrong, but I fear that we will have to move much closer to implosion before the masses agree to change their government.
So true. Its scary to think where our amazing country will be in a decade if our “leaders” care more about themselves than South Africa and it’s people.
haiwa, if you have such a problem with everything that Jennifer has to say then why not stop reading and complaining about everything she has to say.
Its people like you who turn a blind eye to these issues that are perpetuating the problem. Open your eyes and smell the corruption and inequality haiwa!!!
Enough… suddenly because you are tired of it? Apartheid happened, and we continue in this country to live with the aftermath - because of the action of our previous regime, AND the inactions of the current. So no, not enough. Not even nearly enough. And you can take THAT to the emigration desk.
It’s time to stand up and be counted South Africa, for evil flourishes when good men do nothing! Take it out of the blogs and the press (See www.corpa.co.za ) and onto the streats…AMANDLA!! I sense the stirrings of the next revolution….VIVA SOUTH AFRICA VIVA!!!
Haiwa your comment is completely unhelpful, you must be one of the blind followers or tenderpreneurs. If there is a nationwide, multicultural, multiparty protest against these useless fatcats.
Haiwa your comment is completely unhelpful, you must be one of the blind followers or tenderpreneurs. If there is a nationwide, multicultural, multiparty protest against these useless fatcats, I will be there.
Well. I would like to see you say that in the townships
And convincing a mother with 7 children and a cheating husband
In a shack all of that. I am made sad that you have not stopped
over to just live with her for a day to know that what ever
fraud in this country will not affect her and she does not
even care. What she does care about is you coming in with your
grandfathers and grandmothers to apologise face to face and
give her your house in Norwood. It is very crucial that we
do not use the illetracy in government to hide the actual solution
that should be taking place in our society that we must fix togethe.
So I say again, go to alexandra. And do some good. You and your
family. You will see that the people there will give back to you too.
They will even allow you to stay with them in their new house
you have blessed them with. They might even allow you to teach
them how to refill the pool or how to use chlorine. Peace to you girl.
Work hard to boiling to the problem. Its in your blood and
I am thankful for that.
Everybody needs to take responsibility. You cannot expect the government to behave responsibly if they are not monitored and criticised intelligently. In fact, part of the problem is that the Zuma government was installed without any examination of its criminal, corrupt and incompetent nature, and received a free ride from the press for almost a year before anyone started paying attention.
Not that the Zuma government is the only problem, of course. The Democratic Alliance is equally corrupt — except that it, like the early Zuma, has the press to cover up the facts. And, unfortunately, the press will continue covering for the DA because the ruling class supports this.
Jennifer I think your views are spot on and reflect what a great many feel. I am utterly seething but feel entirely powerless to do anything to change it.
Haiwa - my comments to you are merely “What can we expect from a pig but a grunt”
God Article Jennifer, but the only problem is that Apartheid officially kicked off in 1948 and petered out in the early 90’s. So setting aside the colonial era etc, Apartheid was around for about 50 years. So 16 years into democracy, I don’t think the “black” population are ready to look critically at their elected struggle heroes and demand good governance (transparency, accountability, rule of law etc,) which is a eurocentric idea anyway. We have a long time to wait until the ANC will be called to task for enriching themselves and forgetting their constituency. Only the people who vote ANC and gave them the majority vote can reprimand these leaders. It’s just one of those things…
Jennifer, I’m afraid that as long as the majority of voices in this country see demanding responsibility as ‘whining’ we are all dead in the water. (Even those who would rather support a destructive government than speak out against their beloved ruling party.)
While being angry about government incompetance is all well and good (and justified), without contructive suggestions or solutions this is just annother post that says a lot but not much in reality…
haiwa tigere, says ‘enough of your whining’? This comment comes from someone who is playing his/her fiddle whilst the country burns faster and faster. The ANC just like most revolutionary organisations know how to revolt, KILL, destroy and loot. Now that they are in government they are doing the same things but not for the greater good, they are doing it for their own accounts.
Revolution is one thing but now the ANC has to run the biggest business in the country and they are still using revolutionary methods to do things. Buddy buddy, denials, corruption, bullying and looting will not replace sound and good governance. Very few governance people exist in the ANC and all those that South Africa had before the ANC took over have been replaced by incompetent, uneducated ex bush fighters who do not know that they don’t know.
The revolution is over now we need a government to run the country - not a bunch of machine gun waving, gun toting, looting, farmer killing madmen.
haiwa tigere look around you and see what the people you voted for have done - very little works now and its getting worse. The ANC worked towards making the country ungovernable prior to 1994 and since then not much has changed!!
WAKE UP.
Yep, the whining culminates in a wimpish “call to action” to people who are too used to white-AA privileges that haven’t a clue about protest politics or selfless sacrifice. Pathetic!
@ haiwa tigere
None so blind as those who who will not see. It is with glee that we all await the day when you have something go wrong.
The people of South Africa may be patient but they are not stupid.
Lack of service delivery will catch up with this administration.
Remember what happened to Marie Antoinette at the time of the French Revolution. She, like you, made uncaring utterances.
Be afarid be very afraid….
Haiwa, You call this wining? You must explain to us whities how you manage to accept all this mismanagement going on and not wine…Oh,perhaps it’s because you know no better.!
No, haiwa tigere, don’t!
But do, as Jennifer suggests, think of the history books 50 years on. It’s your history and you are helping to make it!
Does that make you proud? Do you visit townships and squtter camps and tell the poor and starving that they don’t matter? To anyone?
That the people they voted in are taking them for a far bigger ride than the apartheid system ever did?
I guess not, for you are possibly too much of a coward to face the truth of what is going on around you.
Or perhaps you are just sorry you’re not as far up the rungs as others who got there before you. Caught in the rush?
This is neither racial nor political. It’s the fact that ubunthu, a facet of your culture that government preaches but doesn’t practise, is an absolute farce!
Jennifer Thorpe - you are spot on.
Micheal, we have allowed them to get away with it for years. Most of the public is too apathetic or gullible and swallow all their double speak.
haiwa tigere - I see you are biased and blind to what this government is doing.
@haiwa tigere. I fear your acceptance of the status quo more than the governments attitude to its people.
If you and others like you are not prepared acknowledge the truth then the slippery slide has no boundry. Your short term gain is a huge loss to this country and its future people
Try attending some conferences to widen your tunnel vision of this South Africa. At these conferences you will learn that three things are in play.
The government does not want you to save on carbon emmisions. Nor do they want you to save water or electricity. All they want is to be able to increase the price / add tax while pretending that they are doing it in the interest of the country and the poor.
Rod of Sydney, your comment disgusts me. The only person who should wear a badge is you and it should say ‘I am a backwards relic of an even more backwards regime’.
I could not agree more, and they are roping in the whole country. Ask anyone who has had to deal with the Transport department. Unless the average citizen acts dishonestly & pays individuals in the various departmental offices for quite ordinary transactions to be carried out, nothing happens at all. They are forcing honest people to become dishonest by making everyone pay bribes.
And never forget that the ANC is not about representing the people - it is ONLY about representing the members interests. Mandela would have fired the lot of them - & they know it!
haiwa tigere, you remind me of the Nat officials and politicians who retorted exactly the same way to criticism of their bad messed up policies.
Dave Harris, what do you suggest Jennifer does, burn down a few schools, block off whole neighbourhoods with burning barricades and if that does not work necklace a few “chosen” government spies?
Both of you try and debate the points raised giving your opposing view using a bit of wisdom and “grey’ matter if you have any. Debate by opposing sides is vital for a new democracy to grow, petty point scoring drags us all down to the gutter.
Check out Zim for confirmation that bad government affects all of the population except the 1% ruling elite.
Don’t you see that the government is at work,no nobody is threatening to close down your space. You are at liberty to say whatever, whenever and however you want to say irrespective of other people.The other things are not meant for them!!
@Dave Harris…you one really funny guy you…hee..hee. I never knew that one needed prior experience in protest politics to be effective. Please help me out here. As an inexperienced campaigner is there some course I could attend to learn the fundamentals of protest politics, a diploma meybe, or maybe an online book..something like Protest Action for dummies..or how about Advanced Protest Politics 101….
I also assume from your tone that you are experienced in Protest Politics and a master of Selfless sacrifice…Do you offer evening courses by anychance?? Hoo boy..you crack me up…
@ Sun King- thank you for telling like it is.
Jen:
“Enough of the fall backs to culture, ancestry, age, wisdom, the struggle, the party and the legacy of apartheid” This statement alone shows she does not even attempt to understand the black SAcans .Let me say this catergorically- blacks are ok with their culture and its not a fall back- its just a continuum. let me state just some of the cultural things Lobola, extended family, belief in both ancestoral spirits and jesus christ (call it hedging your bets) sacrificing cattle for traditional ceremonies and traditional medicine and respecting your elders and polygamy among other things
You respect your elders and expect those younger ones to respect you. Thats the way it is.
The eurocentrics astound me by starting to attack these core values of the african people. So much space has been given to a minister walking out of porn labels gay art. This will garner the said minister votes in any election except among the minority(but loud) who are eurocentrics.
Dont get me wrong gays must be free to do whatever they do but dont expect the african people to embrace them en mass. Gayness is not widely accepted by blacks.
Few black people will punish a politician just because they are polygamist.Hell we all know a polygamist if we are not one. By attacking the core values of black people you make yourself irrelevant to majority voters.
We are not europeans and dont want to be
Rod of Sydney and the author are two sides of the same coin…
…the author is just suuuch a nagging girl, that prides herself on pseudo-white liberal credentials and…
…Rod… well …the scary bit is that you actually believe that one is more likely to contract HIV/AIDS in a room filled with HIV-positive people regardless of actual sexual intercourse between the parties in the room…Alas!…”Its proximity” that faciliates the spead of “that Black disease” ..ooh beacuse the people in the room are HIV positive (apart from being most probably black) the room is also more likely to be decoarted with raving-bright neon coloured glitter and guys dressed in leather-cut-off shorts and pink tank tops, hairy underarms and limp wrists….
…it’s a slippery slope when any form of prejudice is glibly supported and promoted, something which the not-so sophisticated article tried doing…
Thanks for the great article Jennifer - maybe Dave Harris is right for once? A bit of protest action is needed on our side. I’m in.
I really think the ANC has lost a lot of voter confidence. I know at the last election, there was ANC intimidation of people from Kayalitsha for defecting to COPE. People didn’t want to vote because they felt hard-done-by by the ANC, but feared there might be repercussions if they voted for another party. ANC spent a lot of cash printing t-shirts from China and reaching more rural people to increase voter turn-out. I think next elections there’s going to be a bit more of a urgent campaign by the ANC, because they know they’ve lost ground and are losing ground by the week. The questions are, will next election be free and fair, how far will our infrastructure have fallen by that time & most importantly will the masses that voted for the ANC have the courage to hold the ANC to task and place their vote elsewhere to show their dissatisfaction?
Dave Harris: As a black man who is ashamed of his race, when will you start looking objectively at what the Govenment does? Why do you have to keep on shooting the messenger? One blogger after another points to the corruption of our “leaders” and all you can do is trying to attact them (the bloggers) personally?
I have asked you before: Please tell us if these “leaders” are above the law, and who, if any, in your opinion is entitled to criticize them? I am still waiting for your answer.
You obviously did not “heroically” shun education before liberation like you suggested others did; your English is too good for that.
You prove one thing: You can teach some people to read and write, but some of them will never learn to think for themselves. You are a prime example.
Well put - I share your frustrating about not being able to DO anythng!
I yearn for a UDM type civil society movement that cuts across racial, religious and political boundaries and affiliations - sign me up!
I do agree with Sun King, though, that the majority of poor ANC voters (biggest single voting bloc?) do not care too much about government corruption, nepotism, policians affairs, greenhouse gases and their carbon footprint whilst they have 4 kids to feed, clothe, house and educate, and papa has gone awol years ago.
In the township where I do voluntary teaching work, 70% of households are headed by women.
I am not making a judgement, just stating a fact.
Their question to political parties who want their vote is “what are you going to do for me?” - plain and simple.
This is the crux of “service delivery”.
Ther are under 7 million registered taxpayers in SA and 17.6 million people voted in the last election.
Ergo - the majority of voters who decide on who should govern the country and ultimately how taxpayers money should be spent do not pay any income tax.
What to do?
Probably go and work in the townships and help the residents to acquire skills and education.
What is the cliche about not being able to understand another person’s position until you have walked a mile in their shoes?
@RubinB
Its shameful to see someone in this day and age trying to determine someone’s race race rather than respecting anonymity on this forum. Stop making a fool of yourself with your racist comments, your indoctrination blurs your thinking. There are reasons why this forum is structured so that people, like you, can use pseudonyms.
Rather than pathetically groveling for attention, try addressing the issues for a change and make a contribution to the discussion.
@Witbooi
Sorry, no evening courses in protest politics. You gotta learn the hard way, I’m afraid. Good luck! You’ll certainly need it…LOL
@Dave Harris
I would like to see you take part constructively in these debates. You are forever attacking people who contribute as white racists, having improper struggle credentials, being COPE members etc etc, in stead of telling us what you think.
I ask you again:
Do you believe the President and his cronies are above the law? (You seem to think so)
Do you or don’t you think they are corrupt? (You do not seem to think so)
Are people who find the government abhorrent entitled to their opinions? (Judging by your reaction you seem to believe that only dyed-in-the-wool black ANC supporters are entitled to speak, and only if they bow and scrape to Zuma et al.)
I hope I am wrong, but from the many comments you have made, I get a pretty grim picture.
Come on, tell us what you think!
I personally think this government stinks, and not because I have been indoctrinated, or white or anti-ANC, but because all indicators show how corrupt they are. I would gladly support a clean government who honestly try to uplift the poor. These guys are certainly not doing it.
By the way, what do you think of Malema? And what do think of Mugabe? Your answers would be informative.
@Peter L -Spoken like someone who understands the problem?.The issues that would make pseudo liberal hot under the collar are not the same as what make the voters hot under the collar.There is no meeting of the minds. No villager would vote for someone because they are big on reducing carbon footprint.
There is too much of the “caffe latte” culture here to be relevant to the voters. when people here mourn about wasted taxes- people in so called townships ask - what taxes?.
Let me put it another way- most of people here would complain about potholes on the road while the rest of south africa look forward to disappearing down such a pothole as soon as they can afford a bicycle.
When people say -the voters are not happy which voters are they talking about? people on these forums or people in the rural areas and townships.
@ Dave Harris
So let me get this right. Are you saying that protest politics is a reserved occupation, or are you implying that only those causes aligned with your view of the world are legitimate. You should be concerned Dave, you are beginning to mirror the (illogical) thought processes of your masters. Oh, sorry..I forgot, that’s why they hired you in the first place!
are you forgetting the fact that our country has one of the highest HIV contraction rates in the world?surely if we are going to have a person in power, they should pay atttention to such alarming facts and therefore act accordingly!!its not an attack on the culture of Jacob Zuma, its clearly stating that the man does have a responsibility to this country to act in a way that will not harm any of its people!and that is precisely what he is doing as he is stating that it is ok to have unprotected sex with as many partners as one pleases instead of maybe taking a second, thinking, and realising that in doing so he is setting an example to be followed. the result = more HIV infections!!!
get real haiwa!!or more importantly why dont you go live somewhere where HIV and Aids are not an issue!!oh wait, no such place exists.
its people like you who make this country worse by making unprotected sex acceptable..good luck when you are on the receiving end of HIV and lets see how much you have to say then..
Karin and Jen, you live in a cacoon. And Karin you ran (like a median - not all - woman) with your own interpretation of what I said. I will be more specific below.
When I lived in Southern Africa I had the “privilege” of attending funerals very regularly. 60%+ of my old staff is now deceased. Before dying some of them “murdered?/man-slaughtered?” or gave a death sentence to wives and girlfriends through spreading infection. Culture meant that nothing could be said about protecting the ignorant and susceptible to money (as especially many of the very young rural disempowered girlfriends are). NOTE: FIGHT FOR THE DISEMPOWERED NOT FEMALE - I KNOW IT DOESN”T PAY AND IS DIRTY AND DANGEROUS.
With fast action to protect the ignorant, naive and let’s face it hormone-fuzzy-headed youth; the epidemic would be significantly less..
So Jen, you and Mbeki can pat each other on the back agreeing that despite coming from different angles your dogmas have achieved the same end.
@ Haiwa Tigere
You miss the point my friend. As a part of the so called “Caffe Latte” culture, let me give you an example. 10 years ago a plan was initiated in our neighbourhood to transfer 20 hectares of land free of charge to approximately 28 destitute families. The only proviso was that the Government help finance the construction of the houses. Well, 10 years down the line, after countless meetings with various departments, direct petitions to Mbeki and Zuma, press articles and any other means of applying pressure, still no success, so we have embarked on doing it ourselves. The so called “villagers” and land owners are coming up with their own solutions and working together because this Government is too damn inefficient to help with handing over FREE land. Good governance and service delivery are not solely the plight of the wealthy. Quiet the contrary my dear fellow. I have my hand on the pulse of the rural areas and I foresee a serious shock coming the way of the ANC. As the Aussie saying goes..Brace y’erself Sheila….
I see you are reading the comments (sometimes I have wondered). I whole heartedly identify with your frustration, but it is not going to stop. Why?
From the diverse reactions you are getting it becomes clear that the determining factor is world-view. Three quarters of our Government are communists which indicates they have an atheistic world-view. They do not acknowledge any authority but their own. So they call the shots. They are looking after themselves and their buddies. The rest of the African population have an African world-view, which promotes a laissez-faire attitude. So they are satisfied with their entitlement attitude. As Jen F has said she is tired of apologising for being white and left.
The only change in this country will come when we recognise an absolute authority, greater, higher than ourselves.
@Rod of Sydney, you’re completely missing a crucial element of the spread of the virus and that is the stigma that surrounds talking about the virus.
If the virus is not talked about, and people are ‘branded’ as positive, those people will be subject to further social stigma making them easy targets for fear mongers to abuse, exclude and disown.
A badge will never serve the purpose of preventing a virus and it only serves to increase the ignorance around the issue. People would become afraid to seek information about HIV because someone ‘might think they had it’.
I’m sorry about the workers that you lost. The current context requires that we each do something in our daily lives to help those infected with HIV and our own recognition that we are affected by HIV. At least you have the second part right, but the first part I fear lacks empathy and understanding of the social context.
@Dave Harris
You have not answered any of my questions.You said: “Is there not a problem with using a fake name to peddle hatred and spout rubbish?” Who is using a fake name (and who is spouting rubbish?)
I think that is exactly what you are doing, instead of giving us your views on the present government. Stop trying to shoot the messenger and give us your objective opinion!
With your private school background you should be able to give us some well-thought-out ideas. I may not agree with you, but I will respect your right to air your views.
@RubinB & Witbooi
You are waisting your time and energy with the so called “Dave Harris”. Dont engage him in intellectual debate. He neither has the capacity or character to think clearly and speaks from the “Malema” book of so called “potest politics”.
Be mindfull of the brainless amongst us, because destruction and personal self interest is their only goal.There is no other way for them to bask in the sun of the great politicians of our time.Dummies for Dummies he needs a job either way.
@ Jen
Well said,but as pointed out,lets stop talking and start using these forums to put action in place and level Ideas at saving this country for all its people. We will get no help from anyone,where are the concerts and the sponsors now. I guess its Ok for Blacks to suffer under Black oppression.
Wow! I’m reeling after having read the many comments… why is there so much name calling etc? It’s counter-productive and clearly identifies that cultural and racial discord is as much a problem as the ineffective governance.
@Peter L. Your words are refreshing - what a relief!
How about educating the leaders? That would be a great help with educating the masses of followers.
We cannot go back 50 years, only forward and that being learning from the well acknowledged mistakes from the past and not insisting upon tit for tat 50 years to recover.
As animals all humans have a need to survive and when operating on that need alone anything goes provided that it appears to be satisfying that need.
Humans also have another need and that is to flourish as human beings. Exemplars like Jesus Christ have shown us that if we want to flourish as human beings then we have to become totally for others, selfless in other words.
Most people lie somewhere on the spectrum that stretches from only survival to complete selflessness. Politics is a profession that seems generally to draw a greater number of people from the only survival end of the spectrum than from the selfless end.
In 1994 we were terribly lucky as a people because there seemed to be a greater proportion of people involved in politics who were towards the selfless end of the spectrum than is currently the case. Now we seem to have a greater number of people who, are involved in politics, and are, as people, at the survival end of the spectrum. The consequence of this is a surfeit of bad governance, corruption, fraud and other socially dysfunctional behaviours.
Jen, talking about it is what intellectuals in city offices do. It is not common in the rural areas of makatini, Gungani, Bunya, Mhlabatini, wherever.
I would like to make an analogy with teenage pregancies - very related I’m sure you would agree? People know the consequences but the “forces” driving this hormonal-induced “love”, status-seeking, amateur prostitution (ie. susceptibility to bling and presents) process of making babies from the young and ignorant goes on and on and on and grows…..
So, it is not stigma of talking consequences but rather that the urge to bonk (for a variety of reasons) is strong.
Furthermore be pragmatic, must we continue to protect the infected (who are the ones doing the infecting or who have the ability to do the infecting!) in case some members of the community ostrasize(sp?) them? That is ridiculous. What about the yet to be infected? They are more important in my book! As an analogy I can be sympathetic to the social drinker who on the only occasion they slipped over the limit caused a fatal crash but I still support a lengthly jail term for them as a deterent to protect others on the road in future.
And no I do not advocate social rejection of HIV people and find any implication a personal insult. I do however think that sexual rejection should be the choice of the uninfected - hence the need for them to know!
Armed revolution is another parallel - sometimes the only way.
@Cobus De Wet
“Good old Racism, who is and who isn’t. Am I or am I not ?? Why do we waste our time on these unanswerable questions.” (Cobus De Wet on May 29th, 2009 at 9:23 am)
Your desire to sidestep the very real racial issues of our country, shows your apartheid denialism.
I’ll ignore your insults and highlight just this hollow statement -”lets stop talking and start using these forums to put action in place and level Ideas at saving this country for all its people”
Did you really mean ALL its people? How could you speak for ALL people when you deny basic reality???
If there is one thing you should have learned from your apartheid heritage, its that you and your ancestors have ALWAYS been DIRECT BENEFICIARIES of white-AA. The days of white-AA are nearing its end and will NEVER come back in SA. So “saving this country” is a euphemism for saving your white-AA privileges eh?
Well brace yourself, you’re in for a rough ride…if you catch my drift
I suppose there are many different ways the same thing could have ben said.
I’m gatvol, says it all for me, but then I already vote against the ANC. The question is how do you get enough gatvollers (GV’s)to use their common sense and swing their vote away, to any other party other than the ANC.
The power quite simply has to be diluted, you dont have to vote for a party with the potential to win for this to happen but you can make a difference and wipe away some of the disgusting, stinking arrogance that permeates our beautiful land.
The country will be a much better place with an ANC majority below 50%, they dont need to be beaten.
@haiwa tigere:“Enough of the fall backs to culture, ancestry, age, wisdom, the struggle, the party and the legacy of apartheid” This statement alone shows she does not even attempt to understand the black SAcans.
After reading this statement I went back and reread what the author had written. No where did I find her alluding anything that she wrote to a specific race or culture. And maybe that is one of the biggest problems that face South Africans today. We tend to blame everything on race. What does race have to do with the problems we are facing. We can have whites, with the same mentality as Zuma and Malema run the country and we will still face the same problems. How does attacking one another solve the problems we are facing? Problems that were caused by blacks and whites alike. Surely if we loved our country we would stand together and ‘fight’ for it instead of slinging mud and insulting one another’s race and culture.
Yes the goverment and therefore the country is in a deplorable state - and before somebody makes some inane comment about being welcome to leave if I don’t like it, I happen to love my country - and maybe what we should be doing is trying to figure out a way of fixing it before it is too late. Why wait for the ‘uneducated’ to ruin a beautiful country before we will fight for it?
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Jennifer is a young feminist, activist and advocate for women's rights.
She is a big fan of debate and discussion, and always keen for a good constructive argument. Her interests like with all issues relating to the body and to the many ways that government and society regulate our bodies.
She likes talking about uncomfortable issues so that they become a little easier to negotiate in our day to day life.
She has started a women's writing project called 'My First Time' which can be accessed using the link below. She is thrilled with the results.
She's working at Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust as the researcher, loving the feminist vibe and is working on bits and bobs here and there.
My First Time A writing project that has blossomed into a blog. Over 80 women have written stories for me on their 'first time' experiences that have impacted their lives. You can read their stories and comment here.
Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust An incredible organisation working to achieve justice for women, and to provide support to rape survivors and their loved ones.
Victim Empowerment South Africa A blog about the positive side of being a victim of crime, how victims can empower themselves and what the law and policy says to support them.
I read with horror the reports of more gang rape in the DRC over the past weekend. Many women and young men were raped by soldiers (of a form), with g...
On Saturday night I made my way in a Rikki taxi to attend what I expected to be an Afrikaans sokkie-jol in the heart of a suburb of Cape Town. We pull...
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But I am just too scared to come back and I don’t want to apologise for being white anymore!!
I could not agree more!
At first I was disappointed with the SA government. Then I became frustrated. Now I’m downright seething.
They are a bunch of greedy sell-outs, and their arrogance is insulting. No one is willing to accept responsibility for anything, and any confrontation is responded to with calls of racism, or worse still, silence.
I think it is the silence that is most infuriating! Its as if government knows that it doesn’t need to respond to accusations of corruption and the like. They know that after a short while the media will forget whatever the latest perversion of justice was.
I only wish there was something more we could do to vent this frustration besides blogging and writing about it.
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