The Casual Observer

Rhodesia: The Great Betrayal

By Dean McCleland in Rhodesia / Zimbabwe 6 June 2015 50 Comments

For just over three months I stayed at the Hilton Hotel while I worked in Pietermaritzburg recently. Staying there also was an ex-Rhodesian of roughly my age. This is his story in his words of his experiences and emotions during that war and its turbulent consequences.

First my experience when living in Rhodesia.

As portion of my articles for my CA were served with Price Waterhouse in Salisbury in 1977, I experienced the effects of the terrorist war first hand. I rapidly developed an affinity for the Rhodesian’s rugged demeanour in which the rigours of war were borne with equanimity. A second social phenomenon also struck me as an endearing attribute; a largely classless [white] society. Homogeneity and a common enemy would bind the white society inextricably together.

Main picture: The Rhodesian SAS
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To what lengths would you go to assist a pet?

By Dean McCleland in Other Personal 4 June 2015 0 Comment

When the apple of my daughter’s eyes, her ginger tabby cat Tiddles contracted diabetes, she was forced to inject it twice a day for the rest of its life. For many, this would be considered an imposition and a burden not to be lumbered with. Others take that view to the other extreme.

My only personal experience of assisted a non-domestic pet relates to a fully-grown hadeda. While some people resent these birds, I find them rather quaint and quintessentially African. Even if one is not a fan of them one could not assist one in dire need.

That is what happened to me.

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

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 3 June 2015 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.

Animals are always the Losers

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Nature & Animals 2 June 2015 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.

Be Wary of Lions

By Dean McCleland in Nature & Animals, Other Opinion Pieces 1 June 2015 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?”

Famously Inaccurate Predictions

By Dean McCleland in Miscellaneous Topics 31 May 2015 0 Comment

Here is a list of 25 of the world’s worst predictions. Everybody is aware of some but certainly not all. In hindsight it is absurd that these predictions could have been made but that is the problem with predictions, the mind-shift required to incorporate the change is beyond most people’s ability. This inability pervades even the highly intelligent including Einstein.

Being a devotee of science and technology, I avidly read magazines such as Popular Science, the New Scientist and Scientific America during the 1970s. Perennially on the long term discoveries lists of 10 years or more were fibre optics together with fusion power. Whereas 50 years later fusion power is still on the long range list, overnight in the late 1970s, fibre optics migrated in one year from the long term to the already discovered list.

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

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, SA Heroes and Mamparas 30 May 2015 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

Churchill’s WW1: From Humiliation to Redemption

By Dean McCleland in History, Military History 28 May 2015 2 Comments

Being born in Blenheim Castle, built by his ancestor the 1^st 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

Creative Graffiti

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 26 May 2015 0 Comment

Normally I find graffiti offensive. It despoils and defiles all manner of items from walls, electricity boxes to bus shelters. As these pictures illustrate, perhaps I should not be so rigid in my approach and thinking. I will make one admission albeit sotto voce. They are stunning but amongst the quantum of graffiti that I have ever seen, they must represent far less than a fraction of a percent of the images that I have seen.

In Celebration of Trees

By Dean McCleland in Miscellaneous Topics 26 May 2015 0 Comment

We all have a favourite tree even if it is not a conscious decision. For me gigantic shade trees are my ultimate favourite. Aside from these the one tree which has a special place in my soul is a syringa tree. As a callow youth, Sunday afternoon was the time to visit granny Mac in Albert Street Walmer. In the back yard next to a huge concrete underground water tank stood an enormous old syringa tree. From a young age, my goal was to climb along its sturdy boughs right to the top. Of course the higher one climbed the thinner the branches became and more they would sway.

Trees are a place in which and under which one can find solace and contentment and recharge one’s soul.