Comrades: Is it a Rite of Passage for South Africans?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 1 Comment

In no other country in the world, is an endurance athletic event the pinnacle of achievement for the average citizen. Over 90 kms of arduous hills, the Comrades winds its way between Durban & Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. How did this race become an institution and receive the acclaim that it does?

Having completed this race, the Ultimate Challenge as it is known, I have also been drawn by its allure and experienced the mind altering odyssey that is Comrades. Unlike other athletic events, this race attracts not only athletes but also the athletically challenged, as I am, to endure the mental and physical challenges of a race that is, upon sober reflection, beyond one’s physical capabilities.

Main picture: Wally Hayward at 80 years old completing the 1989 Comrades with Les Hackett just within the 11 hour cut-off.

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Animals are always the Losers

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Nature & Animals 0 Comment

In human / animal interactions, animals will always be the losers. As the latest tragedy at the Lion Park illustrates – where an American tourist was killed by a lioness – whenever a human is injured or killed by a wild animal in spite of the human’s stupidity, the animal is killed. The term “put down” does not do justice to the callous act of retribution.

Fortunately in this case the animal will be spared its life. Instead it will be removed from the pride and kept in isolation. This measure is an injustice and violates its “animal rights.” Unlike leopards, lions are social animals and operate in clans. Being isolated from her clan is akin to being kept in solitary confinement for a human.

Main picture: Notice on entering the lion enclosure at the Lion Park. On the Talk Shows some have criticised the Park Management for the lack of a “prominent sign” which I dispute. Secondly I contend that such a sign is unnecessary as one is entering a lion enclosure in a nature reserve called The Lion Park. I have no doubt that as the victim was American, the Lion Park will be sued for vast sums for negligence in allowing the woman to open her window.

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Be Wary of Lions

By Dean McCleland in Nature & Animals, Other Opinion Pieces 0 Comment

Of course this maxim applies to other wild animals as well. Most at risk are foreign tourists who find certain animals such as lions cute and innocuous. That is as maybe but common sense must prevail. The inevitable happened today. An American tourist was driving through the Lion Park no more than 20kms from Joburg with their window open when the lion struck. In the contest between man and the lion, guess who wins. The woman passenger did not.

What is troubling for me is that there have been calls for this lion to be shot.

“Why?”

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Mampara of the Week: Nathi Nhleko, South African Minister of Police

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, SA Heroes and Mamparas 5 Comments

Does the Minister of Police take the South African public for idiots? Clearly he does. In attempting to justify the indefensible, he has clearly treated the rest of us as imbeciles.

Ultimately the sordid Nkandlagate saga will define Zuma’s legacy much like Watergate defined Tricky Dicky Nixon’s and Monica underscored Clinton’s term as president.

Mampara – Afrikaans for supreme idiot, an imbecile. Its onomatopoeic property especially when pronounced gutturally engenders it with more potency than the English idiot; hence my usage.

Let us recapitulate for those that have been in a coma for the past 5 years. Zuma’s personal homestead is located in the backwoods of KwaZulu Natal, a nondescript quintessential African village called Nkandla. This fact would have remained in obscurity and a footnote to history had it not been that this private residence required a security upgrade.

Main picture: The Nkandla “compound” from MyBroadband

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Churchill’s WW1: From Humiliation to Redemption

By Dean McCleland in History, Military History 2 Comments

Being born in Blenheim Castle, built by his ancestor the 1st Duke of Wellington, the victor at Waterloo, would leave an indelible imprint on the impressionable youngster. He believed that he was born to greatness. Another streak also drove the red haired youth; a deep desire to impress his parents both of whom, due to their social commitments, neglected the youngster who craved their affection.

Churchill’s humiliation during WW1 was unquestionably the folly and slaughter at Gallipoli but what was his ultimate redemption and what did it take to overcome the stigma?

Main picture: Churchill’s favourite pasttime – painting which he only discovered later in life

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Living one’s Life as a Lie

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Religion 2 Comments

The essence of mankind is sex and sexuality. When one’s physical sex is at odds with one’s mental gender, the person suffers mental anguish. Usually at a young age, they become aware that they are different from their peers. Their desires range from the relatively benign such as cross-dressing to the more overt form where the desire for one’s own sex is overwhelming. To make matters worse, there are implacable societal pressures to conform to accepted gender and sexual roles. What does it mean to these people so conflicted and what should society do to alleviate this burden?

In a bygone era and even amongst modern religious people and conservative societies, non-heterosexual sex is regarded as a taboo, an abomination to be exorcised from society. This exorcism takes many forms from “aversion training” to the other extreme of the death penalty. Such extreme “treatment” is still considered necessary by many to rid society of a vile polluting influence.

Main picture: Bruce Jenner transitioning from male to female

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Guns do Kill

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 2 Comments

This issue was again brought to the fore when my daughter was held up at gunpoint by three black thugs last Friday in our driveway at midday. The reflexive response by the gun lobby to resolve this problem is to meet fire with fire. Is this really a viable option?

The maxim “People kill, guns don’t” was conceived by the NRA – National Rifle Association – in the USA to deflect criticism from the devastation wrought by the wanton and callous murder of innocent people in the USA.

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To be or not to be euthanised

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 1 Comment

The recent case in South Africa in which Advocate Robin Stransham-Ford made a High Court Application to be afforded his constitutional right to human dignity respected and freedom to bodily and psychological integrity guaranteed has brought this issue to the forefront in South Africa. Rather than retrace the sanctity of human life versus the free will/ right to human dignity debate, the focus of this blog will highlight the human cost of not allowing euthanasia under certain rigorously controlled conditions.

The detractors of the dignity of life advocates base their opposition to assisted suicide on the principle of the sanctity of life. The medical profession in particular is incensed at this possible amendment to the Hippocratic Oath. Simply put, this tenet entrenches the right to life as being paramount to the exclusion of all other considerations including severe pain and imminent death.

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Pre-Occupation with the Past

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 0 Comment

This is not a uniquely South African phenomenon or even the propensity of the ANC. The previous Nationalist Government aka “The Apartheid Regime” would without qualms use the British atrocities during the Boer War as a point of argument. The Arabs used it against the Americans when George Bush Junior obligingly used the “inflammatory” word “crusade” to describe the American invasion of Iraq. So why do certain peoples, nations or political parties have a predilection for harping about the past?

Main picture: President places the blame for South Africa’s “challenges” squarely on the first white in South Africa – Jan van Riebeeck

The fact that President Jacob Zuma stirred the racial pot before the ANC’s meeting in the Western Cape by proclaiming that the landing of Van Riebeeck in Cape Town in 1652 was the commencement of South Africa’s problems was both a blatant lie and vicious distortion of the facts was ignored by most commentators. Instead with the proverbial racial hackles raised, the Rainbow Nation bifurcated into racial segments as if cleaved with a meat chopper.

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Mampara of the Week: Mcebo “I Love Hitler” Dlamini

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, SA Heroes and Mamparas 1 Comment

One wonders what level of general knowledge that the average university student in South Africa possesses today? Look no further than the Wits University SRC President and fifth year law student, Mcebo Dlamini with his contentious comment “I Love Hitler”.

Earlier this week the SRC President posted a photo on Facebook comparing the Israeli Government to the Nazi Regime. As if the ire the Jewish Students were not sufficiently incensed by that photo, he added “I Love Hitler” in the comments section.

Main picture: The Mampara himelf – Mcebo Dlamini
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