A different view on current affairs & history
The source of these facts is unknown. Like many emails that one receives, its author is never known. Unlike most which I immediately delete or distribute after reading, this is one which I kept and read again the following day.
Maybe you will also find some of these facts equally as fascinating. For instance, the size of a kangeroo when it is born in its mother’s pouch cannot be larger than a few peas.
It was like déjà vu. As I drove alone south on an almost empty N3 in the pre-dawn gloom towards OR Tambo to catch the early morning flight to Pietermaritzburg, I was astounded at the overt racism of the callers either in their justification of the attacks on the foreigners or their “humane human-rights” solutions to the problem.
All of the callers to the Early Breakfast show – as it is styled – on 702 Talk Radio were predominately from the townships.
Main picture: Xenophobic attacks halted business in Durban’s CBD
If I had to ask God just one question what would it be? “Why take Barry so young” or perhaps rather, “Why Barry?” Such were the questions that swirled in my mind when I heard that Barry had passed away from a stroke. The final question – a rhetorical one I suppose – posed to humanity in general is why we do not celebrate somebody’s achievements and their life before that person passes away. Why reserve it for the eulogies after their death? Shouldn’t we verbalise the positive that we feel about our friends and family.
So it was with Barry.
Main picture: Barry Cornish with son, Craig
Hard grinding physical labour was the lot of these workers. What was more iniquitous was the pittance that they were paid for these long hours of toil.
Main picture: Lumberjacks besides their handiwork. The height of the man is indicative of the diameter of the tree
The chain saw is merely a metaphor for machinery
The incomparable David Attenborough has introduced me to a few especially the star-nosed mole which has feelers protruding from where its nose should be positioned and the disgusting naked mole rat which even at birth has the body of a wrinkled superannuated rat on its death bed.
Main picture: The star-nosed mole which only its mother could love
The ANC has experienced breakaways and splits before. Historically the most significant was by the PAC in 1959. Of the most recent, Bantu Holimisa’s UDM was never going to be a threat to the ANC whereas Cope was potentially never a life threatening hazard but rather a less venal and self-serving version of the ANC itself. More ominously the EFF with its self-proclaimed populist radical policies are more lethal and hazardous not only to the ANC in particular but to SA in general. The dilemma for the ANC is whether to politically engage with them or totally ignore them. What is my prognosis for the EFF?
Main Picture: Julius Malema sings after addressing a group of soldiers in civilian dress at the Lenasia Recreation Centre Continue reading
Many organisations abuse History to buttress their credentials or to make political statements. It can also be used as a weapon in political disputes. The fluidity of the interpretation of events creates the ability to distort it for one’s own advantage. Currently it bedevils South African politics mostly as a weapon to silence the ANC’s critics by labelling even their own missteps as being the fault of Apartheid. Let us consider its past and its possible future.
Main picture: An unwitting victim of the war on the statues: The Horse Memorial in Port Elizabeth
This is the third episode in the life and times of the Reverend Francis McCleland [1793-1853]. It chronicles the period from his arrival in Passage West in early 1820 aboard the East Indian from London. Francis had visited the British capital in order to expedite his acceptance as a Settler. Furthermore, William Parker had assigned him the task of escorting the English settlers in his party to Ireland. On his arrival in Passage West, Francis’ spontaneous disposition takes precedence. He engages in a whirlwind romance and marriage to a native of Passage West by the name of Elizabeth Clark. A week later, the couple sailed off into the blue yonder – the Cape of Good Hope.
Main picture: View of current day Passage West
Continue reading
Main picture: Peace and transquility personified