Xenophobia in South Africa, How Could This Happen?

Residents at the Ramaphosa informal settlement try to salvage building material before the blaze overtakes them on May 20.- Paul Botes, M&G

This xenophobia problem is getting way out of hand. What the mainstream media has failed to give significant coverage to though, the climate of fear which is being created across the country. This is not only facilitated by the violence which is spreading from province to province and town to town. Just this weekend, one of my friends whose family is originally from Malawi couldn’t leave his house because his dad was getting death threats over the phone.

This aspect is very scary, so many expats from other countries who I work with and deal with on a daily basis are now forced to keep low profiles so that people won’t hurt them or their families. It’s even gone to the point where these “Xenophobics” are using the Zulu language to distinguish whether a person is a foreigner or not. Many South African citizens are now being attacked because they don’t speak Zulu and hence are regarded as immigrants.

Zapiro’s take on the Xenophobic Attacks and their effect on South Africa’s image.

Various churches, mosques and other religious institutions are getting involved in order to help the immigrants who are fearing for their lives as various attacks occur around the country. For anyone reading this, please go and help out… apart from helping these people in need we need to spread education about this issue and stop all of this nonsense. This is South Africa! Why are we killing and destroying people’s lives? Is this what was fought for, for decades, and now in such a short time we’ve forgotten our own heritage?

Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another. – Nelson Mandela

UPDATE: UnitedforAfrica.co.za has a great webpage set up which uses Google Maps to track the events of the Xenophobia attacks in South Africa so that citizens can mobilise and help those who are affected by the scourge of xenophobia.

Technorati Tags: South Africa, Xenophobia, Violence

If You Could Spend 10 Bucks to Make Someone Smile, Would You Do It?

Of course you would. (If not… well, you should.)

On the weekend as I was parking my car and got out to pay for the parking, this car guard came up to me and offered his assistance, he was all smiles and courtesy. I didn’t have the change for the parking meter so he stuck with me and took me to a store where I could get the change I needed. I only needed R2 for the parking and then said to myself “What the hell… he definitely needs it more than I do and he was really helpful.” So I gave him R10 and at that moment I saw the most sincere smile ever and heard the mot gracious thanks I probably have ever received. It was more than just the expression on his face and the words, I just felt it.

A little later it hit me… it was just R10. Something I wouldn’t miss if I lost it and yet it meant the world to this one person. This has been an age old tale and has happened in a myriad of circumstances across the globe, across the ages and yet it never loses its impact when it happens. The measure of things. The way seemingly minuscule things, according to us, affect the world around us in the most profound way. It’s not limited to money either, a thank you, a smile, opening the door for someone, complimenting someone, all these have the most profound influence on people and our environment.

This phenomenon has been proven scientifically by the way. It’s called Chaos Theory, the main point of which is that the smallest of actions can have the greatest of consequences… a butterfly flapping its wings in South Africa can cause a tornado in Hong Kong (there’s an ad based on this for an investment company talking about investment potential… clever.)

I think I digressed a bit from my main point which is that we’ve lost this concept in our modern technology-driven world. We rarely pay attention to how our seemingly meaningless actions are transforming the world around us and affecting the people we interact with. Worse, we rarely do the little things which make small differences in our environment and lift the spirits of those around us in even the smallest way.

We need to change that. So start today. Smile at someone, thank someone. Commit some act of random kindness :)

Technorati Tags: Car Guard, Philosophy, Life, Smile, Little Things

Zuma vs. Mbeki on Thought Leader

This is my recent blogpost on Thought Leader’s Reader Blog is my thoughts on the Future leadership on South Africa and the two main protagonists which play the critical parts in what looks like to be a tragedy (but hopefully, not).


Technorati Tags: Zuma, Mbeki, Thought Leader, Muhammad Karim

Afro-Realists on Thought Leader

I recently published a post on South Africa’s foremost News Blog, Thought Leader. The post is called The Afro-Realists. It talks about the battle between the pessimists and the optimists about the current situation South Africans find themselves in and the future ahead.

Proven: We’re all from Africa…

A new genetic analysis of people from around the world adds further confirmation to the African origin of humans.

The study of genetic details from 938 individuals from 51 populations provides evidence of how people are related and different, researchers led by Richard M. Myers of Stanford University report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

The team looked at variations in 650,000 sections of each of the DNA samples, providing a view of the similarities and differences between people in greater detail than had been available previously.

Scientists have long believed that modern humans first developed in Africa and spread from there to populate the rest of the world, a theory strongly supported by the new analysis, the researchers said.

In addition, they noted that residents of the Middle East can trace their ancestry to both Africa and Europe, which they said is logical since the region formed a bridge for movement back and forth between the areas.

Also, they noted, they found a close a relationship between the Yakut population of Siberia and native Americans, who are believed to have migrated from Siberia via a land bridge at a time of lower sea levels.

So genetically, we are all from Africa… what implications does this have in terms of viewing the colonial heritage of the West? They colonised their original homeland and raped, tortured and killed in the birthplace of humanity. And now they’re sucking all its resources dry. *sigh*
I’m suddenly thinking of analogies here between rebellious kids and their parents.

Technorati Tags: Africa, DNA, Origin

South Africa: Ignore the Doomsayers…

This is the letter Alan Knott-Craig (MD of iBurst) sent to his team:

Hi guys,

2008 has certainly started with a bang! The future was rosy on 31 December 2007, but suddenly everyone is buying candles and researching property in Perth!
A combination of recession in the USA, global equity market negativity, high interest rates, the National Credit Act and power outages have combined to create the perfect storm.

But don’t panic!

This is not the first time there’s been doom and gloom. Every few years the same thing happens. We experience massive economic growth, everyone is optimistic and buying Nescafe Gold, and holiday homes, and Merc’s. The positivity gets ahead of itself and the economy overheats, and then panic sets in because the economy seems to be collapsing when in actual fact it’s simply making an adjustment back to a reasonable level.

It happened in 1989, when SA defaulted on its international loans and the stock market and Rand crashed, it happened in 1994 when the ANC took power and everyone thought war would break out, it happened in 1998 when interest rates hit 25% and you couldn’t give away your house, and it happened in 2001 when a fairly unstable guy by the name of Osama arranged for 2 Boeings to fly into the tallest buildings in New York!(side comment – wtf? there’s no proof of that, but I’m going for the bigger message of this write-up)

On each of those occasions everyone thought it was the end of the world and that there was no light in sight. And on each occasion, believe it or not, the world did not actually end, it recovered and in fact things continued to get better.

I think 2008 will be a tough year, but I also see it as a great opportunity to seize the day whilst everyone else is whinging and get a front-seat on the inevitable boom that we’ll experience in 2009, 2010 and beyond.
Make sure you make a mental note of everything that is happening now, because it will happen again and again, and if you don’t recognize the symptoms you’ll be suckered into the same negativity, and forget to look for the opportunities.

It’s easy to be negative. Subconsciously, you WANT to be negative! Whenever you open the papers they tell you about the goriest hi-jacking and the most corrupt politicians. Why don’t they dedicate more pages to the fact that Joburg is the world’s biggest man-made forest, or to the corruption-free achievements of the vast majority of public officials? Because bad news sells. Good news is boring.

SA still has the best weather in world! We’re lucky enough to possess a huge chunk of the world’s resources, i.e.: gold, platinum, coal, iron. The growth in India and China will continue to accelerate (India and China sign 10mil new mobile customers every month), and so will their demand for our resources. The government has already embarked on massive infrastructure projects (some of them a tad late, i.e.: electricity), and this will pump money into the economy.

We are all lucky enough to be a part of the birth of a massive and all-encompassing industry. The Internet has and will continue to change the world. The enormity of its impact is up there with the wheel, electricity, TV, telephones, and possibly man’s greatest ever invention, coffee. Not only does it open up an entirely untapped world of commerce, but it is also the ultimate disseminator of information and news. Apartheid would not have lasted 40 years if the Internet had existed! And you’re part of it!
I’m looking forward to another year of ASA complaints, IR issues, Plug & Wireless parties, BTS roll-outs, billing runs, irate customers, happy customers, orange bubbles, faulty elevators, etc, etc. The nice stuff makes me feel good, and the challenges remind me why we can beat the competition. Most importantly I’m looking forward to having fun and making memories.

So ignore the doomsayers, install a timer on your geyser, and buy Ricoffee for a couple of months.

Cheers,
Alan

Technorati Tags: South Africa, Alan Knott, iBurst

90 Minutes for Mandela

The game last night between the Africa 11 and the World 11 was pretty good. I mean it had its boring moments like most other soccer matches, but over all it was pretty engaging. The score ended up 3-3, and the level of play was brilliant.

I found it funny though that as soon as the match ended, spectators flooded the field to get near the the stars on the pitch… All you could see after while was people dodging security guards and running and shaking hands with players… and it wasn’t like 2 or 3 people it was more like 20 to 30 people.

What I most admired about the match though was the dignity and behaviour of the players.  All of them were smiling and even after a few fouls that took place on the pitch, they shook hands and slapped each other on the back knowing it wasn’t intended.  I really admired that.  I wish the World cup Players were watching and took notice of this, since the general trend in the World cup with players is to feign injury and cause all other nonsense, in order to get an edge in a game.

I guess the context and the age of the players played a major role in this match though.  you can’t expect the same from younger players with less experience and more ambition to get to the top.  Fame Corrupts.

Peace,

M.

Technorati Tags: World 11, African 11, 90 minutes for Mandela, Pele, Samuel Eto’o, Soccer

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