Workable Monday

In typical style, I am the only dick who had work to do today, which is a public holiday. It is Heritage Day here. This means that if you are caucasion, it only serves to remind you how UnAfrican you are; how terrible colonialism was; and that we were never taught any of the eleven indigenous languages when we were at school during the famous Apartheid Years (A period of time to which any bad thing currently happening can be traced back to, and blamed on).

No, No... I am not racist. Don't get me wrong here. It's just sad how one can be made to feel like an illegal immmigrant in your land of birth sometimes.

If you have read 1984 by George Orwell, you will remember there was a government department whose sole duty was to rewrite history based on the government's statements. So if the government said that an event never occured, this department would access every written account of it, and destroy it, so that it could never be proved they were lying about it.

*I was going to rant some more, but deleted it*

But suffice it to say, that the current school curriculum makes no mention of anything good achieved by white people (unless they were fighting for the ANC against apartheid). Four hundred years of my own heritage in this country erased.

And Patrick just texted me to tell me he is booking the the Cape Town trip... so it looks like it is on.

Why do I feel anxious about this whole thing? Perhaps its just a general feeling of anxiousness.

Had a long breakfast with W this morning. We talked about a lot of stuff. Was choking up at one point. Funny how it takes a different angle to clarify a situation. I was explaining to him why it is so important to work for myself at whatever cost. It has everything to do with the fact that
my whole life has been lived for someone else's gain. And I just can't do that anymore. I can't wear that mask anymore. I am not one to look for kudo's or awards, but it always seems that in every relationship I have been in, both personal and professional, I am the one always giving, while the other party smiles and takes. And calls me a good boy with a pat on the head.

Then stopped to say hi to mother and came home to finish some more work. The client left at 9pm. I am Photoshopped out....

Its funny how this clients work depends on how I make it look. It has a look that is 'his'. It's why he gets work.

Which one would you prefer in your album?


"Good Boy. Now go to your room."

Voting day tomorrow

So yeah, tomorrow we go to the polls. They are calling it the most significant elections since 1994 when Nelson Mandela became our first black president.

It's far more interesting this time round though. In the past, people have voted out of loyalty. Parties were racially stratified. If you were black, you generally voted for the African National Congress (The ANC) who have been the ruling party since 1994. If you were black, Zulu, and lived in the Kwazulu Natal province, you voted for Zulu Prince Mangosuthu Buthulezi's Inkatha Freedom Party (The IFP). If you were white, and spoke English, you voted for the Democratic Alliance (DA), and if Afrikaans was your home language, then the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) was your party.

Some permutations have occured though. The ANC is now led by a Zulu (Jacob Zuma) - it has always been a traditionally Xhosa party. There is a new breakaway party from the ANC called The Congress of the People (Cope).

The DA is now led by the charismatic Hellen Ziller, who has been Mayor of Cape Town for five years, and was recently voted best Mayor in the world by international press. From being a party that simply whinged about everything the ANC said or did, they are a real force. A Hillary Clinton combined with Maggie Thatcher type.

What everyone who is not voting for the ANC agrees on though, is the importance of not letting the ANC take a two thirds majority. This would give them the power to change the constitution, and is very very dangerous indeed.

For the first time, actual delivery and policies are important, rather than just voting blindly loyal.

My Guess at the national results?

ANC 58%
DA 12%
COPE 7%
IFP 6%
FF+ 2%
etc... 15%

We also vote for local ward councilors, and provincial parties. We have nine provinces. I think our ballot paper has twenty-four parties on it. The rest are made of parties like the Pink Party (gay), the Green Party (Enviro-mad), the African Christian Democratic Party, and the South African Communist Party.

Last year, 16m people voted, they are forecasting 20m this year. Let's hope the Obama magic rubs off, and will give people the courage to make a change, rather than to just vote how they always have.

Interestingly, this year is the first year that South Africans living or traveling abroad could vote (that was over the weekend). Convicted murderers, fraudsters and rapists have the right to vote from prison.

I dislike electioneering season immensely. It brings out the worst in people.

I Hate Politics

What is it about African Politics?

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has just announced the dropping of all charges against Jacob Zuma due to 'political interference' in determining the timing of announcing charges against him These charges involve bribery and corruption. Serious Bribery and Corruption.

So they are basically saying: Yes, there are charges, but because there was impropriety earlier on in the case("abuse of process") by the then Head of the NPA, they have decided not to pursue the charges.

Jacob Zuma is the President of the African National Congress (The ANC). We hold elections on the 22nd April, and the ANC is bound to win (though not by as much of a margin they previously enjoyed). But they are bound to win. It is still a case of loyalty to a particular party than any kind of common sense, but that's the state of the nation right now.

Jacob Zuma will be our president. A man very strongly suspected of accepting bribes is going to rule our country. The very same man has had rape charges dropped against him. During that trial, when asked if he was in any way afraid of contracting AIDS when he slept with the said victim ... er consentual sex partner... he said that he wasn't, as he promptly had a shower afterwards. A fucking shower?

If he runs for president, I would rather vote for this guy...