SA Rocks

I am suitably impressed with a news article that I was emailed by a South African friend of mine (Thanks Courts) living in Australia. The article is fair, just and doesn’t bounce about the fact that SA has problems. But it is well-balanced and positive too.

Let me just specify however, that this article was not written by a journalist but an Australian living in SA.

Here’s a little excerpt:

Is South Africa up to hosting an event of this size? Until about a month ago, many locals would have said “no”.

Spookily reminiscent of Sydney immediately before the 2000 Olympics, the locals seem to have passed through an arc of emotions ranging from “no one is going to come” to “the transport is going to be a disaster” to their current mind-set: “This is going to be a hell of a jol [party].”

If Sydney is any guide, the South Africans will spend the latter stages of the tournament putting their case that they hosted “the best World Cup ever” and be properly morose when it is all over.

Do yourself (and me) a favour and go and read this short and interesting article. It’s worth the read.

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When I’m an old woman, grey, frail and allowed to be cantankerous, I’ll gather my grandkids about me, puff on something seemly for my age and station, and launch into a tale about the many, many Aussie whippings that I watched dished out to us. The spectre of the Waugh brothers at the Wanderers crease, the world cup agonies, the humbling series defeats, the glimmers of hope that were so cruelly bowled over by Messrs Warne, McGrath and Co…. And my grandkids will nudge each other impatiently wondering what the point of my tirade is. And then I’ll get to the tour of OZ in 08/09 and everything will be much clearer.

The twin victories in the test and ODI series are massive to South African cricket, South African sport but even beyond sport- It is a triumph over the ugly politics, the discontent over the board’s commitment to play a team that is reflective of the country it represents, the emigrations en masse ala Pieterson- these victories speak of a nation that is prepared to roll up its sleeves and fight through the night.

When Graeme Smith was dressed by Morne Morkel in Jacques Kallis’ shirt and Paul Harris’ stained pullover and faced ten gut wrenching balls with a plastered forearm, that fighting spirit was exemplified. The series was already won, we could have gone easily into the good night, it was a dead rubber, it really wouldn’t have mattered that much, but Captain, Hero, you call him what you like so long as it is sufficiently adulatory, he showed what it meant to be a Captain of a South African team. It’s little wonder Kevin Pieterson resigned the England captaincy soon thereafter, he probably realised this captaincy business had been set standards he wasn’t likely to scratch up to.

We may be accused of dishing out an unfair portion of our glee to Mr Pieterson, but you see these victories have justified in the most everything that KP has so publicly and liberally criticised about SA cricket. Among the stars of the test series were JP Duminy and Hashim Amla, players whose place in the team would previously be labelled spots of affirmative action, they flouted the misconceptions and silenced the detractors with every stroke of the ball while playing among the other rising stars, the Morkels, Steyn and within a team united in purpose and spirit.

And the spirit in which the Proteas approached the tour is in itself something to be proud of. Far from the maddening controversies that mired India’s tour down under, the Proteas, led admirably by Captain Fantastic, were not duped into engaging in wars of words. Even in the immediate aftermath of the ODI series victory, Johan Botha, called on the team to be humble. Truly signs of a great team.

With bat and ball they played, with bat and ball history has been made. Rock on SA!

This post is a contribution from http://kayenchantey.blogspot.com/

Images contributed by my friends Courtenay and Tam who, for the moment, live in Aus and attended the great ass-whipping of ’09!

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Ed’s note: Rouvanne from peakperformance sent me the below post explaining that his mind was reeling and that I should edit it if need be. I haven’t touched a thing. This is really one of the best posts that I have ever published on this site. I love the concepts Rouvanne talks about and I love the way he has constructed the post. Thanks Rouvanne!

There are crises going on all over the world in terms of global warming, fights for or against democracy, religion, economics, medical diseases that threaten humanity, and they seem to be gathering speed at an ever increasing rate as the years fly past.

A few things in the recent media got me thinking. Zimbabwe and dots; Australia and brains; and Nelson Mandela and the Elders – though they might be worlds apart, it started a process of imagining a South Africa looking after its own future and hopefully also inspiring other nations, particularly African, to follow suit.

I think it was firstly Robert Mugabe’s reference to English Prime Minister Gordon Brown just being a “tiny dot” in the world that got me thinking. I am just a dot in the world, and damn proud of being here too. I was born of two dots; I have 3 sibling dots; I am fortunate to have found a sexy dot to spend my life with; and we’ve had so much fun that we even produced another two dots ourselves. So counting all my dots together, we’re getting closer to being a small blob, in this world.

Then secondly this past weekend, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd co-hosted the Australia 2020 Summit, inviting 1000 (dots) artists, scientists, corporate chief’s, unionists and central bankers, to come up with 10 great ideas that’ll improve life in Australia by 2020.

And thirdly, last year President (dot) Nelson Mandela, with funding from (dots) Peter Gabriel and Sir Richard Branson, created The Elders who, using “their collective experience, their moral courage and their ability to rise above nation, race and creed, … can make our planet a more peaceful and equitable place to live,” said the former South African ‘presidot’. A subtle introduction of ubuntu to the world stage by both Branson and Mandela…

This jumble of ideas led me to realise that in every society there are individuals that are recognised as being the experts in their particular fields. Many are the intellectuals of our day, who have dedicated themselves to the study of specific fields in the sciences, arts, and economics; from the obscure, to the popular. Surely these people have ideas that their valuable education has given them the ability to see and work out, which should be considered seriously in creating viable alternative means of solving the problems we face collectively.

Education is a valuable privilege, but what is the use of these people being ignored while we debate due to political and popular thoughts in what can mostly be considered as a fight for more power or to satisfy our greed? Regardless of how you had the privilege of your education, what is the use of having it if you are not going to benefit society around you, and those that come after? It is your duty as a citizen of this world to share the knowledge that you have gained.

A database should be created (a Muti? a Wiki?) in which these models and ideas could be available for the use of humanity, for the people of South Africa. And it doesn’t have to come from any government – it should be sponsored by big business, by caring philanthropists, organisations and individuals who benefit from society around them – which is basically all of us, isn’t it. It’s taking social and corporate responsibility to a new level; admitting that without all the tiny dots in the world, we all would be nothing.

Over 9000 ideas were submitted to the Aussie summit from the public, defined by PM Kevin Rudd as, “Today we are throwing open the windows to our democracy to let a little bit of fresh air in.” Rudd set 10 themes for discussion: productivity, economy, sustainability and climate change, rural Australia, health, communities and families, indigenous Australia, creativity, governance and Australia’s future in the world.

I think that this could come up with some blobbing great ideas; as a gift to the people, a true and proudly South African “Think to Thank”. Ideas to take us into the future.

Rouvanne

http://peakperformances.co.za

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This is not a new news story. In fact I have read it and debated it before on blogs and around the dinner table. But I think that the question needs to be asked, does SA in fact need a leader like Ex-Australian Prime Minister John Howard?

Read this – straight from the horses mouth:

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation’s mosques. Quote: ‘IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in pa triotism by the majority of Australians.’

‘This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom’.

‘We speak mainly ENGLISH; not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society. Learn the language!’

‘Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.’

‘We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.’

‘This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other g reat Australian freedom,
‘THE RIGHT TO LEAVE’.’

‘If you aren’t happy here then LEAVE. We didn’t force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.’

I don’t think the same principals apply here that apply in Australia. We are different nations with different principals and outlooks. We are diverse and accepting of the fact that the country is diverse. We have eleven national anthems to prove it. I can’t decide if this is the right approach.

What do you think?

Ed: This was emailed to me ages back and I re-received it today. Thanks to Bryan for keeping me on my game!

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Last night I had drinks with some people at a pub. I was shocked and astounded to find out that parents of the one people were planning on immigrating from SA to Australia.

Why the blog post? Well let me put it to you this way. In my experience people like to talk about how crappy their situation is, how unhappy they are and how they want to leave. When the truth of the matter is that they neither want to move or are able to move financially. Not to Australia or anywhere else for that matter.

It seems to have become trendy to discuss where you want to live when you leave. It seems to have become dinner party chatter. I think it’s crap and it irritates me.

My immediate take on immigration is that it is such an extremely personal choice that it shouldn’t be thrown about like a game. It’s not a game. It’s not a game for you, your family, friends, country and lifestyle/livelihood.

I say it’s not a game because most people really don’t think it through in its entirety. Immigrating is not about escaping crime, it’s not about the political state of the nation that you live in, it’s not about power cuts or anything other than your personal outlook on things.

You need to move if you personally feel that your quality of life would be improved anywhere else (or the place where you intend to move to). You should not be leaving any country or lifestyle for one factor alone. It needs to be you deciding to better your life. If you are running away, trust me, your problems will follow you.

Then another friend of mine decides to mention that when he completes his studies here in SA he is leaving to go to the UK. Why? Because he will never find a job here, he’s white, young and semi-privileged, thus he believes that he will never, ever, ever find work in SA.

Let me clarify my stance on this point; yes affirmative action is around and yes it affects some people at some point. But in my personal experience (including my friends and associated friends groups) it has not affected anyone detrimentally. At all, ever. All of my friends graduated from university and got jobs. Not within a year, not within five, but from the time of graduation within months.

There are exceptions to everyones rule, there are cases that defy what you think is normal, or actually taking place. In the end the most irritating part of the entire discussion was that the end result is personal. The best part is that there are people in SA who are passionately, defiantly and overtly proud to be here, live here and build a life here. That makes me happy, that keeps me going.

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I am interested to know how everyone feels about New Zealand and Australia going out of the Rugby World Cup?

Personally, I feel a bit saddened that they went out. I am of the mind that it would have been incredible to have four teams from the Southern Hemisphere in the semi-finals.

It can also be argued that if we don’t beat Aus or NZ that we don’t really play the best teams. I am not sure about this logic. I firmly believe that when SA wins this final it will be by beating the best team simply by the fact that they are in the final.

NZ are renowned chokers and Aus simply lost their heads. So they went out to better teams on the day and thus deserved to leave the tournament. At least now we still have Argentina and SA in the final. It is a pity that the SA semi-final wont be the final, would be a cracker.

What do you think?

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