The Opinion Pieces are an eclectic bunch on current affairs & history often with a human interest aspect. The Movie/DVDs reviews are mainly on documentaries with a smattering of movie reviews.
That evening, Monday 15th January 1934, was not going to be a good one for the ship from Osaka, Japan en route to Cape Town. An angry south-easter was gusting as this steamer left the protection of the recently completed Charl Malan Quay at 19:00. Unlike the days of the sailing ships, when the wind from this direction could be a death sentence for ships at anchor in the bay, the conversion to steam had long since tamed that menace. After exiting the harbour and entering the choppy waters of the Bay, the ship veered to starboard and headed for Cape Recife to meet its fate.
That day would also not be a good day for the newly-arrived destitute Jews from Nazi Germany. In effect the call by the Grey Shirts in the Feathermarket Hall to block the emigration of Jews to the Union, would constitute a death sentence to Jews trapped within the warped bigoted anti-Semitic world of Nazi Germany.But how would the stranded Japanese sailors fare in a race addled country far from home?
Main picture: The swansong of the Japanese merchantman, The Paris Maru
While the hiking function of Quo Vadis might have terminated with a whimper, the game viewing segment of our “hike” bore testimony to both Malcolm’s generosity as well as the capacity of a certain contingent to once again drink themselves into a stupor. For them, the wealth of game was a distraction.
But as Julie Andrews would
sing in the Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the very beginning”.
Main picture: Malcolm’s shack in the Olifant’s North Game Reserve
As the Dutch boeren trekked ever eastwards in order to escape from authority, they encountered an enemy of a different kind: a series of rivers in steep defiles. The one solution was to bypass them by traversing the Langkloof route. The final challenges were the Gamtoos and Van Stadens Rivers. The Gamtoos was the easier foe as it could be crossed by making a turn to the north. The Van Staden river was a foe of superior mein.
Van Stadens Pass is a passage through the gorge of the Van Stadens River and is locally known as the iPospathi – the post road, for it was with the opening of the pass that post was conveyed by way of the road for more than a century.
The success of Port Elizabeth has always been determined by its transport links to the interior. Initially it was the port from which the bulk of the Cape Colony’s wool was exported and then in the first half of the 20th century it was the port through which all cars assembled in South Africa were imported. Before the introduction of rail services in the 1870s, inland transport was dependent upon the state of the roads which were execrable. Secondly the condition of the roads impeded the exports in that it took three months for an ox wagon to complete a round trip from Graaff Reinet to Port Elizabeth and back.
Main picture: Typical old Divisional Council roads, narrow and rutted, with a drift below and ox wagons toiling up the hill
During the period June 2006 to June
2019, the traditional initiation procedure for African males has resulted in a
veritable genocide in South Africa. Yet year after year all that government provides
as a solution and solace for grieving parents are platitudes and promises.
What is the extent of this travesty?
Main picture: Xhosa initiates
The extent of this disaster is obvious
from the cumulative statistics for this period. These statistics relate only to
the Eastern Cape.
Consequence
Number affected
Hospital admissions
8218
Deaths
794
Amputations
317
What has been the response from the
government? Apart from some platitudes and proposals, no concrete action has
been taken. Has any person been charged for culpable homicide? Has anybody been
incarcerated or even fined? A deafening silence will be heard. Instead somebody
is fined R200,000 for uttering the word Kaffir. The use of such a pejorative
and demeaning term cannot be justified but none of the perpetrators of death
was even fined by a derisory R1. Where is the justice?
On the other hand what has been the
response when one black scholar was drowned while on school-organised adventure
in the North West? Immediately the Education MEC for Gauteng, Pansy Lesufi, was
baying for blood. The principal of the school was suspended, the South African
Human Rights Commission became involved and vitriol was heaped upon all and sundry.
Yet 794 black youths can callously die without nary a raised voice. The school
officials deserve to have opprobrium heaped
upon them as all the basic control procedures such as the issue of life jackets
seemed to have been ignored but what about the rights of 794 youths on the cusp
of attaining adulthood. Does tradition trump life itself? Any government truly
concerned about the rights of all its citizens would have put in place the relevant
controls and punishments to prevent this senseless slaughter.
Why the asymmetrical treatment? Surely one irregular death is the same as another. This demands equivalence in the treatment not only between the various methods of death but also the severity of crimes such as crimen inuria versus death.
At this rate, South African doctors
will become the most experienced in the world in performing penis transplants.
In fact we will be in the invidious position of inviting foreign doctors to
hone their skills in this little-practiced area in medical treatment.
A TED Talk about the reality of renewables set the cat amongst the pigeons – in my mind at least. Most people are unaware of the energy intensity of fossil fuels vis-à-vis renewals whether biofuels, solar or wind power which means that the facilities to produce the latter are so much larger.. Furthermore, renewables such as solar and wind power are subject to the vagaries of the weather as well as the diurnal cycle. These factors confound the issue of reliable 24/7 power requiring alternative energy sources such as batteries, open [or closed] cycle gas turbines or pumped storage schemes to meet such shortfalls.
Main picture: The future blight on the landscape. Wind turbines on all available land in windy regions
Disclaimer: As apposed to my brother Dean, I should
be the long distance runner in the family.
I, in my callow youth, was short, wiry and ornery (but mostly just went
my own way). Suddenly one day in
standard 9 the ugly duckling became a ‘swan’.
From always being on the ground in the annual class photographs I
suddenly found myself in the second row – heady times. In Matric, I proudly took my place alongside
all those guys in the back row who had played rugby lock their whole lives –
traditionally reserved for the tallest while the coach struggled to find a
position where he could hide me. I might
have got tallish, but I never got broad, let alone broadish. I left Varsity a tad under 6 ft and weighing
in at 73kg. By the age of 55 I had put
on weight – I weighed 75kg. I was long
distance material – rangy and still a bit ornery. Dean, my elder brother by 4 years, was not
the archetypal long distance runner. He
was an inch or two shorter than me and struggled with his extra poundage for
his whole life. In addition, a very,
very septic burst appendix (caused by our sister Cheryl, a tough little shit of
note, giving him a voltruis skop in the right side when he was 10 or 11)
ensured that his 6- pack, if he could get one, was ripped to pieces by the aggressive
surgery resulting in a recurrent stitch when running.
The objective of any biography is to obtain an understanding of what motivates that person and how they handle situations, especially the troublesome ones. Essentially what one attempts to do, is to understand what makes a person tick. Even in the best cases, vital pieces of evidence are missing, hidden behind the veil of their private lives. Just ask a divorced person for a resume of their ex-spouse and compare the response with what is publicly known about the person. The mask will slip, and the real person will be revealed. So it is with Francis McCleland except that Francis’ obnoxious actions towards third parties became common knowledge and were not restricted to one person. Being so egregious, the other parties took public umbrage at Francis’ actions and hence his personality – or at least to the putrescent bits.
Almost ab initio, the Cape Colony was cleaved into
two after the arrival of the 1820 Settlers. The Eastern Province separatism originated as
early as 1823. The initial resentment
which inspired separatism arose due to the British settlers’ demands for a
greater military presence on the frontier. Within thirty years, this resentment
was driven by a different set of concerns as the two regions differed in their demographics
and their politics. However, the west-east division was not absolute until it
was built into the structures of the Cape’s legislature with all the English majority
areas being demarcated as being part of the Eastern Province. This was a
prelude to the formation of the Eastern Province Separatist League which
demanded greater autonomy for the Eastern Province as a separate Colony with its
own capital.
Main picture: In 1854, the Cape Colony was split into 2 provinces comprising 22 districts
Normally women during this era were hidden from the purview of subsequent generations. Whether they are remembered – if they are recalled at all – is through the deeds of their husband and not for what they achieved themselves. But Polly – Mary Ann’s sobriquet – was different. She survives not through some outrageous deed but rather her wistful letters and poignant poetry.
Main picture:Joseph James and Mary Ann Beckley with their youngest daughter Grace on the front verandah at Draaifontein.
