Actually many Africans do keep dogs and it is not just the white Africans that do so. There are stereotypes that abound, but like many stereotypes they do not exist in a vacuum. Many Zulu people do not have dogs as pets. Some of the rural peoples do have dogs that they keep for hunting and while they do love them as dearly they do treat them differently than I would. Affection is rare and they are often poorly fed if at all. Much of that is due to poverty, but does intersect with other attitudes towards animals. When I did my fieldwork among a Zulu community in the Drakensberg, my host family expressed shock and surprise at my stories of family dogs being allowed to enter the home. The dogs here were used for hunting and were not that common and definitely were not allowed inside. My experiences in parts of Zululand and the Kalahari made me want one of these Nguni hounds.
In fact the Nguni or Africanis dog is a local breed that is quite a nice pet. My own is named Lily (I know my brave hunting dog is named after a flower)) and she is quite, clean and non-destructive compared to her boisterous kennel mate Ajax (Border Collie/German Shepherd cross). Most often the Nguni hound is seen skulking around townships and trotting behind his/her master in rural spaces. They are very common in the Kalahari and the San/Bushmen have been hunting with them for about 2000 years. It seems they originally came down with the Bantu speakers and were readily adopted as excellent hunting companions. See my other blog for information on Bantu ethnogenesis in the region.
In the Kalahari the dogs quarry prey for the San. The Gemsbok is fairly aggressive and will turn on a dog that is nipping at its heals. The Gemsbok, tired and angry from the chase is then able to be speared at close range by the hunters. It of course, may also be shot, but with hunting rights controlled by the government many San poach and do not risk the sound of a rifle shot to give away their activities. They do have limited hunting licences that are used up to quick or held in reserve only to be used when confronted by a wildlife officer. But that is another story for another blog.
These brave dogs are rewarded with little for their efforts and rarely shown affection as pets. These dogs do not get patted often in the way I constantly pet my own. It is a different working type of relationship and I have seen some real cruel beatings and kicks delivered by owners to their own dog for daring to creep into the camp to search for scraps. Although within the community this is changing among the youth and the educated as their dogs are being better fed and treated with more affection. I just wish I could teach them how to better hobble their donkeys to avoid chaffing from ropes that results in open sores and lameness.
Among the Zulu it is a grave insult to be called a dog (inja) and they are seen as dirty animals. I know the maid was horrified by my cats and dogs being in the house and not just because of the fur she swept up. And dogs that are kept are not kept in the house and are often left to their own devices. The notion that they are filthy animals and often vectors of disease is due to ignorance coupled with a cultural belief. So in short, dogs are not seen as pets in the way many Europeans treat them, even though with education and cultural change this is changing and more attitudes change so I do not wish to make an over-generalisation.
What I have also observed is that my dogs react differently to different peoples. And it is not to say my dogs are racist, but that people who are not comfortable around dogs or fearful elicit a different response from my dogs. To generalise a little bit, I have found Basotho people are well-liked by my dogs. Anyone who has been to Lesotho sees plenty of dogs and they are accorded a friendship not seen by those that use them for hunting. People with little experience express fear and my dogs react towards them with mistrust.
Other things about the keeping of animals that could be noted is the treatment of cattle. Ritual sacrifice often makes the media, but rarely the other things that are for more significant and a regular occurrence. The Zulu love their cattle and have an incredible and beautiful naming system for them. These animals are well-treated and very much loved. Cattle are not merely objects to be used as food in the way my family keeps sheep. We have few named sheep and with few exceptions they are all potentially sent to slaughter. See my ethical farming blogs if you want to know more about my family farm.
Nguni cattle are kept for many years and are symbolic creatures and not sources of food (except in times of need). When a beast is selected for slaughter it is done so with much thought and concern beyond material concerns. Often the family herd is left alone and a beast is purchased explicitly for the ritual. So the much maligned ceremonies in the press are not the norm and not indicative of the Zulu attitude towards cattle.
There are different cultures that treat and behave towards animals differently. Some of that difference is acceptable and some I feel could be changed. I would like to see the Kalahari dogs treated slightly differently. I do not expect they will become family members the way Europeans often treat them, but some of the harsh beatings could be done away with.
So in one sense it is true that Africans do not keep dogs as pets. They are accorded a different category of belonging and attachment. Most often this does not hold the same connotations as the notion of “pet”, even as there are differences within these communities. I am also aware that there are Zulus that do keep dogs as pets in the full sense of the word.
I welcome responses here from Zulu and other African peoples about their thoughts and feelings towards the keeping of animals in the home and as pets.
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55 Responses to “Africans do not (often) keep dogs as pets”
The thing is Africans value human life than animals. Theyt keep dogs for hunting and for security purposes. They keep donkeys and houses for transport purposes. Cows, sheeps, gaots, poultry represwents wealth and source of supply for food and sometimes used for ritual purposes.
Unlike those of European origins who keeps animals as pets and treat them better than humans especially Africans. Its common to Africans that whites prefer a dog as a passenger in a bakkie with a black man at the back without a canopy irrespective of the weather.
Africans believe that an animal is made up of soul and body while a human irrespective of race is soul, body and spirit. The Creator did this delibarately because He knew that we have to use the animals for survival hence He did not add the spirit to the animals. Once a animal is dead if finish and this is contrary to human. You can kill the body and the soul but not the spirit. This is real! I hope next time you will give better treatment to a human being than your pet.
This is what happens when you try to write about a culture that you cannot relate to. I think as a Canadian you simply have blindspots to the long term effects of apartheid in our country. Did you know that even today, dogs are still raised to bark and attack blacks? Can you comprehend the insanity when dogs are treated better that humans by some in our society?
I totally understand why many blacks do not have this love-affair with dogs that some whites seem to have.
btw. Based on your other blogs advocating your brand of meat eating, can you tell us at white point your dogs become your dinner?
[…] Thought Leader » Michael Francis » Africans do not (often) keep dogs as pets www.thoughtleader.co.za/michaelfrancis/2009/12/03/africans-do-not-often-keep-dogs-as-pets – view page – cached Actually many Africans do keep dogs and it is not just the white Africans that do so. There are stereotypes that abound, but like many stereotypes they do not exist in a vacuum. Many Zulu people do… Read moreActually many Africans do keep dogs and it is not just the white Africans that do so. There are stereotypes that abound, but like many stereotypes they do not exist in a vacuum. Many Zulu people do not have dogs as pets. View page […]
@Pieter - I think I treat people pretty well. I also happen to treat my dogs and cats very well. The thing is my animals survival and well being is based entirely on my behaviour to them and how I treat them.
While it may seem abusive when there is an African riding in the back of a bakkie like a gas bottle while the dog sits up front it does not negate the affection one feels for their dog and it may not be meant to be cruel just thoughtless.
My dogs ride in the cab with me because they may jump out and could bite someone who comes too close.
Be careful to not over generalise the statement that those of European descent treat pets better than humans. It is a pervasive stereotype and possibly arises from a different sense of what it means to keep an animal. Someone very poor who does not value a dog in the way I would could see the expense paid for the upkeep of the dog as strange and unfair even.
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I totally agree with Pieter and would like to ask the writer why he wants to impose his ways on the “Africans”. If where he comes from they treat dogs so lovingly as their “best friend” who is he to say that is the only and the right way. what is wrong with using them as hunting tools? And why is he so dismissive of the “African” viewpoint that dogs are vectors of diseases and should not be brought into the house?. Does he not know that dogs can carry fleas. My own mother’s sister died as a child at the age of 8 in the 1930s of rabies after being bitten by a dog. I assume he also has issues with the Asians (Chinese and Koreans) who I understand eat dogs!! The point I am making is that no culture has a monopoly on wisdom or on knowing what is right or wrong. Trust me there is a lot of wisdom in the “African” way of treating dogs the way they do. And ditto the issue of cattle. The saying “holy cow” comes from Indians where cows are worshipped. That is another discourse. In short mister, “Africans” really have better things to do that to be pampering a dog and in some cases making it your heir and leaving it millions of dollars in your will the way some “Europeans” do. To us that is silly!!As Africans, we wonder at the sanity of such people!!
The notion that Africans of any hue value human life, or any life for that matter, sits a bit uncomfortably with me. This is especially true in SA, in my opinion.
With a murder rate amongst the highest in the world, and reported rape cases apparently representing the tip of the iceberg, it seems that we are dealing with mass psychopathy.
The stories of victims in many cases tell of brutal indifference to their suffering, and the consequences of the perpetrators actions for the survivors is heartbreaking.
The lofty thoughts and ideals expressed above seem at odds with the reality.
People train dogs to keep skelms out. Certain breeds are called security dogs, you don’t have to train them they WILL be very loyal to their owners and they WILL be vigilant and protective, irrespective of the owners race.
dog’s as pets? that is animal abuse at the highest level! its worse than keeping animals in a zoo, so that humans(mostly whiteys!) would enjoy!
how would you feel if you were caged for life under the guise that humans are doing you a favour?
dogs, especially african hounds(not chihuahua’s!) are born to be hunters, that is what they evolved for. keeping african hounds as pets, feeding them ready-made food is the worst thing you can do to them.
leave them to hunt, that’s what they do best instead of reducing them to be obese animals like most so-called pets!
A really good article. The information will be appreciated by those who cannot understand why Urban dogs are treated so badly when compared to their treatment from whites.
@Harris showing his ignorance and seeing a race issue under each heap of S**t. Harris take your ignorant Racist mind into the bush and see if the African dogs bark or try to bite you.
Tell us Harris what it is really like carying this hate on your shoulders? By what you write it must be some weight. Does it achieve anything?
If it is a given that people of “European” descent treat their “pets” with affection and due care, how do we explain the need for SPCAs in culturally-”European” countries?
Surely the issue is not white vs black, but rather a class response to immediate needs? A rural, peasant farmer needs dogs for protection of livestock or for herding; an urban professional buys a puppy as a pet (leaving security issues aside)because he can, just as he can afford a car for transport, as he is no longer reliant on a donkey. I would hazard a guess that these class responses to animals would apply across history and place. How often would a 16th century rural English farmer have ‘petted’ his sheepdog?
Dave Harris, you incredible idiot, SHARKY prevented a hijacking BECAUSE HE WAS RIDING IN THE CAB WITH ME. I actually heard the leader (driver’s window) say to the two guys approaching the passenger side: “Can’t get in front! Dog in front!”
So, no-one got shot. Your team lives on to score another day. Are you not pleased?
That is why I have the dog in the bakkie with me. (Well, one…) My bakkie, my dog, my rules…See?
We used to keep dogs at home - and we are only left with one now - and my only problem was having to feed them. To me, at the time, I wish they could just feed themselves.
All the animals I work with are part of my family and accept others that I also accept. This means that my dogs and cats are free to be in my home. HOwever, they have their rules. The dogs’ place in a vehicle is in the back (because of airbags in the front). If the car is full, then we remove the flap over the boot and they sit there!
All my dogs have been trained to work with everyone that comes onto my property, unless I am threatened.
My animals are true companions and have often been wet with my tears when things have been hard.
All beings require respect and honour. Not just humans
I think it’s a difficult situation to judge ‘treatment’ of dogs. It has to be cultural, and I’m not at all sure how it comes about.
I know, for example, that if you looked at the man who worked for us in the garden in Zimbabwe, and saw the dirty ragged clothes he wore, you would think I was an awful employer. If you knew that I actually banged my head against the wall trying to get him to wear the clean whole clothing I gave him for multiple changes, and had the people who worked for us wash their clothing in our washer and dryer, you would have a different picture. For him, to work in ‘clean clothes’ didn’t make any sense, and he would wear the clean ones, when he went out.
If our dog barked at him was it because he was afraid of dogs, and the dog scented ‘fear’, or was it because I had trained the dog to bark at black people. I do know that I curtailed walks with my dog because the neighbourhood dogs went wild at him…what does that tell us? That dogs protect their household.
Certainly many people go overboard in the way they treat dogs,
Dave Harris, you are one big blind spot!!!!! I have animals and love them like my own children. So what????????? Go to any informal settlement and you will find that dogs there will bark at you, a white person, as well. That’s just the way it is so get over yourself!!!!!
My dachshunds are inside and under-the-duvet dogs. The Cele’s dachshund next door is an outside dog with two much bigger dogs to play with and keep him warm at night. I’m quite sure they are all loved.
Just as another thought, in “European culture” they have the saying that a dog is man’s best friend. Is it possible that this is in fact a symptom of the loneliness and isolation and breakdown of relationships that they have in those societies. I mean as an African I fail to comprehend how a dog which cannot talk etc can be said to be one’s best friend. Maybe that is why you have so many problems rooted in loneliness in your “European” societies.
The English have long had a reputation within Europe for indulging their dogs - the upper classes especially. I agree with the comment above the links a love of animals as pets to class; I know many middle class black South Africans who keep dogs as pets (and a couple who even keep cats).
Globally, pet ownership is growing as a direct consequence of the need for human beings to connect with another creature in an increasingly urbanised and alienating society.
What a set of interesting responses as usual people make claims about what I did not say.
I was so impressed by the bushmen hunting dogs I got one for myself. I do not pretend to say how they should use them and hope to see them keep hunting with them, but some of the attitudes to them could change without changing their use.
@Lillian
Do I detect a tinge of guilt there? I have nothing against you treating your dogs like your own children. I do trust however, that you treat the human children at the informal settlement with the same love.
@jakes
Of course dogs serve a utilitarian purpose as well, but haven’t you seen some guard dogs act like normal dogs in the presence of white passersby but go berserk when they see blacks? Can you explain this common phenomenon?
@Hugh Robinson
Tut, tut…your argument is as flimsy as the bikinis you sell.
@Brett Nortje
What are you on about dude? I have no problem with SHARKY riding in the cab with you.
@thokpzile - do europeans really suffer from so much loneliness and if they do it is all that bad when you have a loving dog to come home to? Sure beats coming home to thieves in the garden. I won’t even sarcastically mention the horrors and violence across Africa compared to Europe as a critique of how `others` treat animals or let alone people.
@dave harris - I found I related quite well to rural Zulu culture. I even have a Zulu name and adopted family they I can stay with any time I like. What we shared in common was a bond based on farming a respect for nature that we acknowledged a debt of for its use and a shared sense of despair for the crude excesses of urban living as seen in South Africa. What we loved about tradition was not the trap of not being able to deal who future but having a deep and meaningful sense of where we come from. So I do relate to African culture just not to the sense of entitlement you think is so meaningful.
@mpumelelo my African hunting I can reassure you suffers naught at her two square meals a day. She was rescued from starvation in the Eastern Cape and since become a real princess. Her experiences of real hunger have not made her a glutton (she is clearly not ANC) but enabled her to hold out for the good. Steak one night means nibbles just won’t do and a hunger strike ensues.
She just needs to adjust to the snow as she will join me in Canada in January. She is worth more than enough for me tojustify any expense to bring her here and in case dave Harris is worried I ll never eat her even as I would not begrudge those that their dogs in other contexts and other lands.
Rudolph Zinn, gun prohibitionists’ pet and UNISA researcher did forensic debriefings on 100 convicted home invaders who had, on average, committed 100 crimes each before they were caught.
In other words, dangerous, hardened criminals, who beautifully demonstrate the way the ANC has ‘transformed’ the criminal justice system.
Zinn’s study found the single greatest deterrent to the invasion of a given home was the knowledge that there was A DOG INSIDE THE HOUSE.
The criminals in the study rather hit the neighbour.
The SPCA exists in western countries because of the belief that animals have to be treated with due dignity and respect and that ideal is enforced strictly. Countries that do not value animals allow abuses and have no enforcement to ensure standards are upheld. Abuses do happen but they are not the norm and go against what is deemed acceptable.
@Michael Francis
Your right-wing hetoric about blacks having a “sense of entitlement ” shows your ignorance of blacks and how hey survived for centuries. “Adopting” a Zulu family sounds amazingly condescending to me. As soon as your Zulu “adopted family” figures out your right-wing political views, they’ll most likely disown you!
Gosh, if only SA had laws against the “adoption” of African dogs. I remember seeing the movie “The Freshman”, which btw is a hilarious flick, and now I’m spooked by the fact that you may just happen to be a member of one of those degenerate clubs that have a taste for exotic meat!
i love dogs, when i grew up we had lots, we had “izinja” African hounds and “izinja zomlungu” any other breed. Thats what we called them. We kept them as pets and but mainly for security. We treated them like dogs, they stayed outside where dogs stay and let them in only when there is thunder, we fed them before going to school and gave them water, we would take them to the vet when they fall sick and that would be the only time the were in the back of my father’s bakkie, kick them when they do wrong. we never took them for walks, but we walked with the dogs for security if we were walking at night in fact they just followed us if we leave the house in the afternoon. Those were good dogs.
Our friend Brett Nortje above cannot help but bring gun ownership into the comments section of any article he blogs on. He has assured me elsewhere he does not sell guns but stands by the belief that More Guns = Less Crime.
Now we have Sharky the anti-hijack dog in on the story. Maybe; More Dogs = Less Crime. Should make for an interesting (yawn) exchange.
Thanks for this article as well as your articles on Zulu culture and the ritual bull. Apologies that the most intelligent comments some South Africans can make about your writing is criticise you for being Canadian. Xenophobia is a national pastime in South Africa.
Dachshund are amazing little hunting dogs. Amazing trackers. There are game farmers that use them to track wounded game. The Standard was developed to dig badger in burrows. Miniature was refined for rabbits. My sister’s miniature smooth dachsie saved her life - he dived on a huge cobra she was about to step on as she got off the sofa to switch off the TV. They got the snake away from him with a broom 4 or 5 times but he kept diving back on it. He killed the cobra but the multiple hits he took got him before they got him to the vet.
More Guns = Less Crime! Not a belief - I offered proof.
Between 1994 and 2000 a million black families armed themselves with handguns - and the homicide rate came down dramatically, per the Bus Day article I posted.
I cited Rudolph Zinn, who found that the one factor above all that would make home invaders - among the most hardened criminals in South Africa - decide to pass this home, rather hit the neighbour, is a dog in the house.
Why? A dog buys you time to get to a gun.
Sure, Sharky saved me from possibly being shot, the three would-be hi-jackers are still walking the planet rather than burning in hell because they saw him next to me and decided to try a softer target.
The Constitution and the rule of law are worth fighting for, and if I can help guide innocent people away from becoming victims along the way, to winning a fight or two against criminals - The Lord has smiled upon me that day.
My dog, while becoming deaf, is yet my ears, and after fifteen years cannot be cast aside, as many do with their children. Alas, the pain to see the dogs of the townships, fleas, tics, lost limbs - indeed it is not life to be a pet in these places. Comments regarding nonequivalence of dog to human reflect baseness, the gutter, sans human against human behavior. Have 50 million children and screw up the planet without clear reason, yet talk about a dog like it is just a dog, like an African slave sold out by his brothers. Who gave that dog a computer so as to comment that there are better things to talk about than this article. Don’t feed that dog. Don’t give it nothing.
Jeez, thokozile, dogs have been part of the human family for more than 10 000 years, and it is very clear from many texts, archaelogical digs and other clues to the past that people all over the world have enjoyed close personal relationships with dogsm throughout history and prehistory. Most dogs have always also been working animals - the ‘breeds’ are a relatively new construct and the ‘lapdogs’ never were that common - but it makes sense for a farmer to care for and about the animal he will work with so closely, or a hunter or whatever. Humans throughout time have developed passionate relationships with all sorts of animals, from horses to cows to monkeys to dogs to rats.
@Dave Harris - you are an odd creature who apparently can only think in binary terms. I can’t get too mad at you as it is mean to dislike someone for being stupid as you clearly cannot help it. I am curious as to the ‘right wing’ designation as I have argued for class based scholarships, policies based on need not entitlement, rural development and not just agriculture, sensitivity towards other cultures, a deeper sense of history based on evidence and so on.
I am neither left or right, but fight for human rights based on critical thinking and rational inquiry.
Dave Harris is really Fungayi Dzvinyangoma, a rabid chappie of note in other posts.
I bet anything the webmaster blocked his email address because of his posts, and now Old Dave has surfaced. Ignore him. His English is a bit ‘iffy’, hence the stupid remarks about your adopting a Zulu Family and his not understanding that the family liked you and you became their Canadian son. Dave needn’t worry, that won’t happen to him any time soon.
The Chow Chows are liking Canada, and the little Zim orphan Chow Chow has met snow for the first time. You’re in for fun.
How about getting to what causes crime. Poverty, social instability, society in transition, losing cultural values with urbanisation, traumatized youth from apartheid and the township violence pre-1994, dysfunctional youth from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Your theory of more guns = less crime is like a motor car salesman claiming that increased car ownership in the last few years has coincided with a decrease in crime, therefore More Cars = Less Crime. Flat earth stuff my friend, flat earth stuff.
A society that needs dogs and guns to protect itself is a society in decay. Turn social decay around and crime will decrease. Once you have a stable prosperous society good policing can take care of the rest.
Wild West guntoting stuff is not a solution.
An aggressive friend of mine packed a gun and was hijacked at his mothers garden gate. He pulled the iron and killed the guy on the right hand side but did not see the guy on the left who shot and killed him.
If he had not been packing a gun and quitly got out of the car he may still have been alive.
In your article on the ritual bull slaying in Zululand you suggest that a quick stab with a spear in the jugular will appease the ancestors in the same way as what currently happens. Great point.
Animal Rights Africa say they tried to approach the Zulu monarch before the court case but could not get an audience and the SPCA have been trying to stop the bull slaying for years. They had no option but to go to court.
How can sensible people (not hystrical animal rights activists) meet with the King to negotiate an acceptable solution?
“a staggering 208 090 firearms were lost by, or stolen from licensed gun owners”.
“In recent research exploring the dynamics of house robberies and robbers, Dr. Rudolph Zinn of Unisa found that 97% of respondents used firearms in the commission of their crime. More than half of these perpetrators reported personally stealing licenced firearms.”
So pleased the “Lord has smiled” on you by advising people how to kill a criminal or two.
I guess the Lord also smiled on the Crusaders, and the Church when they were burning witches, and even George W Bush when he lied about weapons of mass destrution and invaded Iraq.
Preparatory Workshop on Department of Police Annual Report
Date of Meeting:
13 Oct 2009
Chairperson:
Ms S Chikunga (ANC)
Portfolio Committee workshop on Department of Police’s 2008/09 Annual Report
Summary:
The Police Portfolio Committee research team gave a workshop on the Annual Report due to be presented by the South African Police
Service (SAPS). The workshop focused on each SAPS programme and the work done in the 2008/09 financial year. The main programmes
singled out were Administration, Visible Policing, Detective Services and the expenditure analysis and findings of the Auditor-General. It was reported, that the Administration programme had done well in achieving some of its set targets. A
total of 182 754 posts were filled out of a total 183 180 created posts. Even though a huge number of personnel had terminated their service (3 310), over 14 611 police officers, a bulk of them being entry level appointments, had been recruited. A lot of resources was reported to being channelled towards the visible policing programme. It was through this programme that over 13 675 firearms had been recovered, most of those being R5 and R4
rifles which are mainly in the custody of the SAPS and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Detective services showed
significant improvements, which worryingly for the Committee was not matched by high conviction rates…
Mr Mpumelelo Mpisi, from the research unit led the presentation
Programme: Visible Policing
The programme had recorded a total of 1 223 505 arrests compared to 1 274 602 in the previous financial year. It also saw the recovery of 13 675 firearms, up from 12 765 firearms recovered in
the 2007/08 financial year. Mr Mpisi said that most of the firearms recovered were R4 and R5 rifles and it was common knowledge that in the majority of robbery cases, R5 rifles were
mostly used. It raised a critical question which was how criminals were getting hold of those weapons since the SAPS was the main custodian of R5 rifles. He said it would be interesting
to know how many of the recovered firearms belonged to SAPS and how many were linked to crime scenes
Well balanced article. I have some concerns, a hunting dog needs to be lean but surely not emaciated. When wild animals are in the state that many dogs are in SA and Namibia they are starving, not optimal for hunting. I think people have to do some reflection on that and not just knee jerk decide because its my culture i’ll do it. Its nonsense also to equate a care for animals with a disregard for human life. I believe (i may be wrong) that dogs in China that are used for food are bred in farms, Chinese people also keep dogs as pets. So there is nothing too weird about that if you think about it.
Finally, when I was around 20 I worked at the world of birds in Hout Bay pretty much as a labourer. I had to take a pay check to a colleague who lived with his very wealthy mother in Newlands in a mansion. When I opened the gate I was immediately attacked by their Alsation and bitten on the leg. I was assured by the owner that the dogs never attacked someone like that before. I was wearing overalls. These dogs were classist never mind racist!!!!
@once again (not so) wise old joe [I think you have reached your *sell by* date, dude]
MORE GUNS = LESS CRIME!!!! The FACTS speak for themselves.
However - you gun prohibitionists don’t let the truth interfere with your evil agenda, do you?
Continue your lying - keep it up - I am not as subtle as Brett - I promise NEVER to use my firearms to protect you., your wife, your mother, your daughter
Problem is, I can never keep that promise as I am a sheepdog and I will ALWAYS look after you.
I wish I could take you and yours back with me to witness villages in Bosnia, Serbia, Owamboland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ruanda and a few more to see what became of those villagers that had no guns… you would puke up your dinner!
Your children would curse your name if they knew what disarmament(gun control) and victim disarmament resulted in.
Very well put Mr Nortje. And yes, its been conclusively proven, by empirical, factual, peer-reviewed research, (by non-pro-gun researchers academics), that your statement is entirely correct, “More Guns” actually do “equal Less Crime, its an inarguable fact.
I miss Memphis, and your post reminded me of some of the reasons why I miss it. I’m planning a vacation there in the spring of next year. I am so excited about it.
Africa and Europe, very bad combination; black vs white, very sharp binaries. very immature article, the homogeneity borders on a lack of critical race theory and mind, the stereotyping shows a typical lack a deep thinker. lastly, its obvious you have never read about other blacks who love their dogs as much as the white people you want to pit against. Oprah details her love for her dogs which are taken care of that she even committed a copy of her magazine to dogs…so please, do your research, people of colour do have a love and doting relationship with their dogs.
Obel,
You have clearly missed the point about different cultural behaviours and attitudes towards dogs. Oprah is African-American and shares no cultural commonality with South Africans so her dog magazine is irrelevant. I also do mention that there is diversity within Zulu views towards their dogs where some are kept as pets. I would guess that you are not South African and have no idea of the land or people. I suggest you re-read what I actually wrote.
Mr Multiple Fake Names on February 24th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
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I am a cultural anthropologist at Athabasca University who writes about ethnicity, identity and social change in a globalised Southern Africa. I am fascinated by the way in which people find and create their 'identity' in this rapidly changing world. Processes of cultural creativity and regeneration of histories was stark in Southern Africa , but I have found that returning to Canada I was shocked to find the familiar strange and when in Africa to see the strange as familiar. I started to see patterns of life that had once been unsee-able and just matter of fact ways of doing things. I enjoy seeing the patterns of life that inform us; the tropes of life that are silently transmitted from our past. And in our increasingly mass-mediated world how these are visualized, transmitted and transformed.
I have worked with Zulu speakers in the Drakensberg Mountains who claim dual identities of San and Zulu as well as different San communities in South Africa and Botswana. I have a deep love and respect for these rural communities who have been kind, welcome places for me since 2002 when I first moved to South Africa. I am sad to have left South Africa, but will return each year for research and to visit my friends.
I am a pacifist, but love a good verbal fight. My pacifism is based on reason and logic and not religious or spiritual beliefs. If I am not to be found in my office look high up in the mountains as I may be there seeking solace from the cruelty of the world.
Eugene Terre'Blanche was a figure of ridicule and disdain for many people. He evoked strong responses of anger and shame for his political beliefs and...
If there is no global warming then it is business as usual, right? We should remove any barriers to economic growth and dismiss the consequences. What...
I am echoing the old debate where Eugene Terre'blanche referred to a statue of Chief Tshwane as an "apie". For the record, I do not think he is ape-li...
It is a really important topic but has evoked some really bizarre responses and comment. I personally see the climate has changed in the north since m...
One thing I dislike and like at the same time about the web is being anonymous. While I am always honest about my identity when I make comments or wri...
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The thing is Africans value human life than animals. Theyt keep dogs for hunting and for security purposes. They keep donkeys and houses for transport purposes. Cows, sheeps, gaots, poultry represwents wealth and source of supply for food and sometimes used for ritual purposes.
Unlike those of European origins who keeps animals as pets and treat them better than humans especially Africans. Its common to Africans that whites prefer a dog as a passenger in a bakkie with a black man at the back without a canopy irrespective of the weather.
Africans believe that an animal is made up of soul and body while a human irrespective of race is soul, body and spirit. The Creator did this delibarately because He knew that we have to use the animals for survival hence He did not add the spirit to the animals. Once a animal is dead if finish and this is contrary to human. You can kill the body and the soul but not the spirit. This is real! I hope next time you will give better treatment to a human being than your pet.
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