Friendly Mr Zuma

Mr Jacob Zuma, the newly elected president of the ANC visited a town called Greytown in KwaZulu Natal the other day, to celebrate this victory of his, when he took time off to portray to the world a "friendly uncle" image when he visited Mrs Josie Nel on her 100th birthday. Mrs Nel is the widow of Phillip Nel who was a springbok rugby captain in the 1930's. (see Beeld for photo and story in Afrikaans).

This is all heart-warming stuff Mr Zuma, and there is place for this sort of thing in any politician's career. But at the same time please do not forget other perhaps much more pressing matters, i.e. violence, crime and HIV Aids. You have made certain promises in this regard. We realize, as we say in Afrikaans, "een swaeltjie maak nie 'n somer nie" (one swallow doesn't make a summer), but you have the support of the majority in the ANC, you can probably command the National Executive Council and you have declared you will be working nicely together with Mr Thabo Mbeki, the so called "lame duck" President of the country.

Let's get rid if all this in-fighting and also people in the top levels of government who are corrupt and useless. We don't have to mention the names here, the news media is doing their best to identify these people and splash their names on the front pages of the newspapers. Also put people's mind at rest about the so-called media tribunal which is seen as a possible threat to the freedom that newspapers ought to enjoy in a democracy. Show us that we indeed have a friendly uncle in the business.

Realization came late

My impression is that men could quickly say that women are sometimes so different, irrational and that it is just not possible to understand them. And by saying this they suggest (not verbalized mostly) that men are "superior" to women, especially in the manner in which a person's behaviour is predictable and logical.

As a member of the male specie I would naturally take the side of my fellow members. But, something happened which somehow makes me think we men misjudge the whole affair and there is more to it than meets the eye.

I am in the 60+ age group and it was my unfortunate experience to have had two major operations in the past year. What made these events more traumatic was that apart from minor visits to the doctor and/or hospital, I was fortunate to have enjoyed good health all the years prior to these operations. I thank the Lord that I am on the road to full recovery.

What these operations have done is to sharpen my awareness of what happens to and in my body, almost like a constant monitoring exercise. This conscious, or even sub-conscious, awareness is something that was never really part of my thought processes when I was younger.

Now for the point I want to make. Browsing the web pages on health matters the other day I came upon an article which made mention of some of the things that a woman's body goes through in the short as well as long term, things that men do not experience. For instance mention was made of menstruation, menopause, hormonal activities, etc. Of course men know that these things happen but their lack of comprehension of these matters pushes the topic mostly to a very vague phenomenon, which is easily "explained" by the expression that women are sometimes illogical and are so difficult to understand. But the reason the article mentioned these things was to illustrate the fact that women from a young age are far more aware of their bodies and what happens to it than men are of their own bodies.

And because of this continuous awareness that women pay to their bodies they keep themselves in better health than men and that this could be a major reason why women on average live longer than men!

So my fellow men folk, next time a woman behaves irrational or like a "typical woman", maybe we should remember that this behaviour is part of a bigger picture which has a beneficial effect on their health. (Granted, I think even if we do comprehend these complexities it would still not make the irritation it causes more bearable!) It is just a pity that we men do not also have this continuous awareness of our bodies and that we must sometimes first get bypasses and pieces removed from our insides before we start paying the necessary attention to what our bodies tell us.

Will it ever end?

Is it already the beginning of an continuation of the clash between Zuma and Mbeki? It has been coming a long way and one had hoped that after the election of a new president for the ANC that all resources and management skills would have been applied to unify the country's different cultural groups and, most importantly, to clean out government of corruption and to effectively fight the scourge of crime that is pushing this lovely country to the point of total destruction.

ANC Conference | Africa - Reuters.com

ANC Conference | Africa - Reuters.com

Let us hope the man chosen to lead the ANC will be able to do something to curb the violence.

The more the merrier?

New queen of the court?

The Serbian born Ana Ivanovic is said to moving onto Maria Sharapova's territory. Maria is known not only for her talent in world class tennis but also for her incomparable beauty.

Scared

Thousands died for this?

South Africa is such a scary place. Not just scary in the normal sense of the word, where you fear for your life. That also, especially, but firstly I mean you look around you, read the news media and watch television, and you cannot help wondering when will this beautiful country come to its senses; and THAT is scary because if something drastic is not done soon to salvage our beloved country, there is no reasonable expectation that the slide into anarchy and civil war is not inevitable.

South Africa is now at the crossroads, notwithstanding assurances, promises and empty slogans by the authorities, from the lowest rank to the highest, that things are not as bad as it is portrayed by "unpatriotic" elements. Yes, at the crossroads where decisions from quality leaders are critically important to steer us away from the road to self destruct.

We had such high expectations after 1994, the year when we simply "gave the country away" (it was called the introduction of full democracy) to what was then known to us as terrorists. After 1994 we were told they were freedom fighters. Over the past 14 years we have had to hear piece meal about some horror happenings during the years of apartheid. But no person with a balanced sense of judgement will agree that everything that happened during the apartheid years was evil.

We "embraced" a new "democracy" that was going to change everything that was "bad", there would be peace, global participation and so many other things. But, alas, corruption, nepotism, greed and so many other ills have robbed this country of a fantastic future. More and more people realize SA has become a snake pit in the world of violent, sadistic crime. Yes, we can cry for this beloved country.

selfish

Most of the times you have a choice.


If the choices you make do not affect others, choose the hell whatever you want and if you perish in the process nobody will feel sorry.

Well done Maria

Maria Sharapova, the brilliant and beautiful tennis star, earned something like $23 million last year! "Only" more than $3 million came from winnings, the rest from sponsorships and other promotional word. Well done, for this Russian born girl.