Omar al-Bashir: South Africa sides with the Oppressor

On obtaining power in 1994, there was a wide-spread expectation that South Africa’s foreign policy would confound the trend of realpolitik and support the underdog and oppressed wherever this situation was manifest in the world. Today African Solidarity triumphs over such high-minded ideals. The Omar al-Bashir incident is but the latest example of this trend where the Dalai Lama is banished but a tyrant like al-Bashir is lauded. How far has South Africa fallen from its ideals and sullied its image?

 The democratic South Africa was conceived in a wave of optimism that finally there would be a nation which would buck the international trend and base its international relations on a firm foundation of human rights.

Main picture: Omar al-Bashir attending the AU Summit in Sandton

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E-Tolls – The Tale of Two Cities

Normally they just stand on the overpasses with their banners unfurled. “NO TOLLS” they read. Last Friday was different. Instead of a peaceful protest against the iniquities of the e-toll system, the Metropolitan Police descended upon the small bunch of protesting claiming that they were disrupting traffic. Instead it was the 10 police vehicles which were causing the obstruction. A visitor from Dubai then enlightened us what was their experience with toll roads. It could not be more different than Gauteng’s response.

Like all protest action, facts and reasons are lost in the squabble. So it is with e-tolls. Regurgitating the arguments at this juncture is pointless. In his revised proposal, the Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa did make two salient points. Firstly, somebody has to pay for the new roads. By converting the e-toll to a fuel levy as advocated by OUTA, the poor would bear portion of the cost as taxis would also be liable for a fuel levy whereas if the cost were split between tolls and other taxes, the effect would be felt mainly by the affluent citizens.

Main picture: E-Toll gantries are now part of the landscape of Gauteng
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Vintage Photographs

None of these photographs represent earth shattering events. Rather they are old photographs that provide a view on the minutiae of an older age. That age cannot be accorded the epithet of gracious, rather it should be have the appellation of a bygone age.

All of them are part of the National Geographic Found series

Main picture: A British airman gives a signal to another friendly aircraft, 1918

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Trail Run in the Rhenosterspruit Nature Conservancy

Trail Runs are not my favourite form of running for two reasons: Invariably I trip and fall and secondly because, unlike road running, one can never get into a steady stride. As such, it is a case of changing gears all the time which is tiring. However it does have some advantages such as viewing some of the stunning places within less than an hour’s drive from Joburg.

This morning’s 15km trail run was held in the Rhenosterspruit Nature Conservancy just off the R511 to Pretoria. Starting at a drug rehabilitation Centre called Netso Plaas – Just so Farm – the owner must be a Rudyard Kipling fan as Kipling is famous for his Just So stories.

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Meeting the Neighbours or How the Other Half Lives

Road Running certainly exposes one to how the other half of South Africa lives. To be more mathematically correct: how most South Africans live. Last Saturday, the Solomon Mahlangu half marathon ran through Mamelodi and today’s race – on Youth Day – was held in Kagiso in the far West Rand.

When I first started running about 31 years ago, running through the black townships was considered life threatening for whites in light of the “antipathy” with which whites were regarded in the townships. Most whites would boycott such races but by participating in the 1000 Km Challenge as well as the Around the World Challenge, certain of us had no option but to participate in all races including those running through these supposed death traps.

Main picture: The township of Kagiso is surprisingly clean. Very few corrugated iron shacks are to be seen. In fact, the township has uplifted itself over the the past two decades to represent a lower middle class black stratum with mainly well-maintained livable houses maybe not with the opulence of Sandton or Steyn City but certainly comfortable.

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Warthogs have Feelings Too!

Of all of my friends, Ashley Wood was the only one who truly loved this creature, the unattractive and unlovely Warthog. Not that they are hideous like the much maligned snake or repellent like a macabre bat, but they certainly lack the cuteness factor of a lion cub or the majesty of a tiger. That was why Ashley loved them because nobody else did. Even though they will never grip the imagination like the furry cuddly animals, somebody had to befriend them, so Ashley accepted that role.

As always, Ashley might have been the eccentric iconoclast but warthogs have feelings too. As such they deserve our protection.

Main picture: A sounder of warthogs absorbing the heat from a bushveld fire

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My Travel Plans for Next Year

I have been in many places, but I’ve never been in Kahoots. Apparently, you can’t go alone. You have to be in Kahoots with someone.

I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my children, friends, family and work.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I’m not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older.

One of my favourite places to be is in Suspense ! It really gets the adrenaline flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age, I need all the stimuli I can get !

I may have been in Continent, but I don’t remember what country that was in. It’s an age thing. They tell me it is very wet and damp there.

 

Another Quiz to Test your General Knowledge

It seems that most of you scored higher than me on the quiz the other day. Here is another one but which a geographical favour. Some are well known such as the highest point on the earth or the country that consumes the most food per annum. Others are less obvious such as which country consumes the most alcohol per annum or which area has the least rainfall. The answer has to be a desert but which one?

I cannot attribute the author as the person is unknown but I can thank Alan who graciously emailed it to me. The email was timeous as I was just putting pen to paper about the Omar al-Bashir / ICC commitment debacle.

Main picture: Where is the world’s hottest place. Answer further below

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Paraprosdokians by Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill loved paraprosdokians, figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected.

1. Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on my list.

3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.

5. War does not determine who is right – only who is left.

6. Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

7. They begin the evening news with ‘Good Evening,’ then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.

8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

9. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out, I just wanted pay checks.

10. In filling out an application, where it says, ‘In case of emergency, notify:’ I put “DOCTOR.”

11. I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

12. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street…with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

13. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

14. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

15. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

16. Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

17. There’s a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can’t get away.

18. I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not so sure.

19. You’re never too old to learn something stupid.

20. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

21. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

22. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

23. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

24. I’m supposed to respect my elders, but now it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one.

Photographs of Berlin in 1945 and Today

Hitler’s decision to fight until the last man and boy had been killed resulted in Hitler retreating from the Wolf’s Lair in Eastern Prussia and ensconcing himself in the so-called underground Fuhrerbunker near the Reich’s Chancellery in Berlin. Large swaths of Berlin had already been laid to ruin due to the continual bombing sorties by the British and American Air Forces. Now it was the turn of the Russian Army to complete its destruction.

Main picture: These photographs, taken by the Boston Globe, show the same location in 1945 and in 2015.

Cloistered within the fetid and otherworldly atmosphere were Adolf Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun together with the Goebbel’s family – Joseph, Magda and their six children. In spite of the German Wehrmacht being woefully inadequate to prevent the demise of Deutschland, Hitler and his closest aids still lived in a dream world. Accompanied by Albert Speer, Hitler even took a tour of the Reich’s Chancellery in order to view a model of the future Berlin; such was Hitler’s unwavering belief in Germany’s invincibility in spite of the deteriorating military situation.

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