MUAMMAR GADDAFI'S DEAD BODY PUT IN PUBLIC FOR DISPLAY!!!!

Lebohang Pita

@LeboPita

The tragic end of Muammar Gaddafi. What can we draw from this picture? Was it really imperative to the Libyans that the "Brother Leader"s supreme reign end the way it did?

Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Maathai dies

Reuters, Times LIVE | 26 September, 2011 11:12

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, has died in hospital after a long struggle with cancer, says her environmental organisation the Green Belt Movement.

Maathai, 71, who was also a veterinary anatomy professor, won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for campaigns against government-backed forest clearances in Kenya in the late 1980s and 1990s.  

Maathai had to endure being whipped, tear-gassed and threatened with death for her devotion to Africa’s forests and her desire to end the corruption that spells their destruction.  

“It’s a matter of life and death for this country,” Maathai once said. “The Kenyan forests are facing extinction and it is a man-made problem.”  

She called the clearance of forests a “suicidal mission”.  

“To interfere with them is to interfere with the rain system, the water system and therefore agriculture, not to mention the other industries dependent on hydro-electricity.”  

In 1989, Maathai’s protests forced then-president Daniel arap Moi to abandon a plan to erect an office tower in a Nairobi park. In 1999, she was beaten and whipped by guards during a demonstration against the sale of forest land in Nairobi.  

“It is with great sadness that the Green Belt Movement announces the passing of its founder and chair, Professor Wangari Muta Maathai, after a long illness bravely borne,” the organisation id in a statement on its website.  

“Her departure is untimely and a very great loss to all of us who knew her — as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine — or those who admired her determination to make the world a peaceful, healthy and better place for all of us,” the statement said.  

Tributes poured in on social media, and Kenyan television stations broadcast past interviews with Maathai.  

“We join family and friends in mourning Prof. Wangari Maathai, a phenomenal woman, a friend and role model. You lived, you inspired,” said Kenyan politician Martha Karua on her Twitter account.  

Maathai’s Green Belt Movement has spread across the African continent and gone on to plant millions of trees around Africa in a campaign to slow deforestation and erosion.  

Besides founding the Green Belt Movement, Maathai campaigned for civil and women’s rights and also served as a member of parliament.  

“Rest in peace Dr. Wangari Maathai. A great woman, an inspiration for many women across Africa, a magnificent visionary and embodiment of courage,” Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said in a Twitter message.

Achmat Dangor, Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation says the organisations offers their deepest condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Maathai.

“It was with great sadness that we learned today of the passing of this exceptional environmental activist.

• COURTESY OF TIMES LIVE



TUT HONOURS ATHLETES

Elated students poses for a photo with their accolades.

Lebohang Pita
@LeboPita

TUT Soshanguve campus hosted an award ceremony at the Soshanguve South Campus gymnasium on Thursday night, October 20.

This ceremony is held annually to give gratitude to  sportsmen and women who have excelled in their respective sporting fields.

The athletes have represented the institution in regional, provincial and national levels and have collected many accolades, putting TUT among the best sporting Universities in South Africa.

Director of TUT sports and recreation, Mr. Chaka Croukamp, opened the event with an inspiring speech and congratulated the Ga-Rankuwa campus acrobatics team for reaching the semi-finals of the acrobatics world championships taking place in Australia.




Athletes of the year Kgopotso Mhlongo

 and Thoblle Mbonani.

  “Events like this are very important to students who excel in sport. TUT is unique and it’s about your performance and respect when you don the institution’s jersey"he said." I’m in a buoyant mood because the Ga-Rankuwa campus acrobats have reached the semi-finals of the world championships.” concluded Croukamp.

Students were entertained with good music by various DJs and the Master of Ceremonies, TUT FM’s Venda Boy, kept the guests on their toes with his funny antics.

The night saw about 50 winners, with some students and staff members scooping several awards.

The most notable are karate players Gugulethu Ngwenya and M.W Damisa who received three awards apiece for their contribution and participation in provincial and national levels.

These sport stars are not excelling only at sport but are also doing well academically.

The academic sportsman and woman of the year award went to Maletsatsi Modise and footballer S.L Khumalo.

Both these athletes were jubilant.

“I am speechless and I am grateful that the good work I am doing is being recognised.” Said Modise.

Khumalo echoed Modise’s sentiments and thanked his coach for giving him courage.

The biggest winners of the night were dancer Thobile Mbonani and basketball star Kgopotso Mhlongo who went home with the Soshanguve campus sportman and woman of the year.

Mbonani said she was astonished by the award.

“I am surprised by the award but I’m grateful and congratulations to all the winners.”

Mhlongo was coy.

“It is not the first time I am receiving this award. It’s all thanks to god.”

Event organiser Muzi Dlamini was ecstatic that the event was a success.

“As you can see, it has been well organized, everybody is happy and I’m grateful it’s a success,”concluded Dlamini. 

THE LEGEND LIVES ON

Lebohang Pita
@LeboPita

The 12^th of September marks the 34^th anniversary of the death of Steve Bantu Biko while in police custody. Biko’s ideas emancipated black people from the chains of oppression in the 1970s when apartheid was at its peak.

In honour of Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement, I rewrite this essay that I wrote in my history final examination in matric.

The 1960s saw little participation of black people in politics because many of the struggle icons were in detention at Robben Island and political parties were all banned. The only way for black people to engage in politics was through the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). NUSAS was an “anti-apartheid” organisation that operated in liberal English speaking universities with the majority being white students. Subsequently, black students felt marganalised
within NUSAS and decided to leave the organisation. Steve Biko co-founded the South African Students Organisation (SASO) which catered for only black students in 1968, a body from which the Black Consciousness Movement emerged. Biko said the reason for the formation of SASO was that “blacks are standing at the touchlines to witness a game that they should be playing. They want to do things for themselves and all by themselves.”

Black Consciousness was a philosophy by Steve Biko in which he urged black people to free themselves from the chains of oppression and for all blacks to work towards liberation. Biko said “the basic tenet of Black Consciousness (BC) is that the black man must reject all value systems that seek to make him a foreigner in the country of his birth and reduce his basic human dignity.” The BC gave blacks a new sense of belief as it opened the way for blacks to remove their feeling of fear and inferiority and help each other gain freedom.

The Black Consciousness was an attitude of mind and a way of life and it condemned the idea that blacks be made foreigners in their own land. It told the oppressed to stop depending on the oppressors thus it poured in a new sense of belief in blacks and rejuvenated the liberation struggle.

Steve Biko was influenced by the writings of the first president of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), Anton Lembende and the Black Power Movement in the United States of America. In particular the ideas of Malcolm X and the actions of the Black Panthers that stood proud of being black. Biko said to black people, “Black man you are on your own.” He told all black South African to take responsibility for their own struggle and not depend on white liberals.

In order to do this, he believed that they needed to regain their confidence and free themselves from the chains of oppression. He hated the term non-white because he believed that black people really wanted to be white but they couldn’t because of the colour of their skin. Biko said “being black is not a matter of pigmentation-being black is a reflection of a mental attitude.” His ideas were highly appreciated because their inferiority and fear was replaced by a new courage.

Black Consciousness ideas were put into action when Steve Biko set up Black Community Programmes in which blacks worked without whites' assistance. A clinic known as Zanempilo Community Health Clinic was established in Grahamstown and it was operated by blacks and run by a black doctor, Dr Mamphele Ramphele.

Biko set up the Black People’s Convention in 1972 to give expression to the ideas of BC in forms of African dances and poetry.  He also formed the Black Allied Workers Union that motivated black labourers to fight for their rights. These programmes conscientised black people and made them believe that they can do a lot better without whites' assistance.

The message passed by the Black Consciousness really inspired the youth and the results were seen in the events of 16 June 1976 Soweto Uprisings. The youth of Soweto was filled with self confidence and a determination and ability to address their own harsh circumstances.

Students were protesting against the harsh conditions they were taught under and the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction within all schools in South Africa. Their teachers were university drop-outs so they influenced all students to take action against their marginalisation. The events of June 1976 stirred the fight against apartheid and soon many other schools in the country followed with endless protests.

Due to the unrest in the country, Steve Biko was detained and he died in police custody on the 12^th of September 1977, becoming the forty-first person to die while in custody.

The minister of police Jimmy Kruger was quoted saying “Biko’s death leaves me cold.”

·         Information from sahistyoryonline and the new generation history textbook

photos taken from google
 



THE DAILY DISPATCH'S GORY REVELATIONS

Picture of a dead baby found by the Daily Dispatch at a government mortuary in the Eastern Cape

The photo was published as one of the findings by The Daily Dispatch in an invesyigation they conducted in all government mortuaries in the Eastern Cape. During the investigation corpses were found piled high on floors, a dead baby was found rotting in a waste bucket, certain body parts were left out in the open with the employees working under those conditions.

The Daily Dispatch ran the story with the photo of the dead baby on the front page, causing controversy.

The story is newsworthy and I take my hat off for the newspaper for running it with the photo. The photo clearly illustrates the aforementioned findings by the newspaper. An article of  this nature should be accompanied by relevant photographs which will paint the whole picture. What is the use of running an article with shocking details but with no  photographs to grab the reader's attention? Candidly speaking,there are no words that could have illustrated the seriousness of the situation and the conditions in which government mortuaries are in the Eastern Cape better than that photo itself.

   topsy.com/twitpic.com/67e2zj

Daily Dispatch publishes front page photo of dead baby dumped in bin. (. twitpic .com/67e2zj – view page – cached page...



Overcoming our past

Lindiwe Mazibuko | 04 August, 2011

DA spokesman Lindiwe Mazibuko says South Africans need to embrace the spirit of reconciliation.Photo from google.

Are South African politics really only about black politics? The short answer must surely be "no", that is the one thing it is not. Or certainly it should not be if we are trying to achieve the aims of redress, reconciliation, delivery and diversity - which South Africa so desperately needs to undo the legacy of discrimination, the fruits of which are still with us today.

We cannot begin to forge a shared future of freedom, equality and prosperity for all the people of this country if our first assumption is that the politics of one racial group are considered more relevant than those of another. The very words "reconciliation, diversity, redress" speak to the needs of all of South Africa's people, not just some - even if some make up the vast majority of the population.

South African politics may be highly racialised, but this is informed by each and every racial grouping in the country, and within these, a plethora of different needs, views and responses to the past and the future.

The politics in South Africa today are increasingly about the struggle to overcome our past - in particular how to undo the emotional and the socioeconomic damage wrought by policies of racial and gender discrimination under apartheid. In short, it is the struggle to attain freedom for all. Unfortunately, this means different things to different people and politicians.

To some, it necessarily requires the rise of a black ruling class which will ultimately be at the centre of every aspect of public life. In other words, some see black domination today as the appropriate response to the white domination of apartheid. Former president Nelson Mandela spoke eloquently and famously against both forms of domination in his iconic speech from the dock during the Rivonia Trial in April 1964.

To others, redressing the imbalances of the past is about striving towards equality and diversity; in particular, equality of access to opportunity, resources and power.

Indeed, with respect to party politics, as the electorate's voting choices have rendered the fringe ideologies of smaller opposition parties increasingly irrelevant, the debate between the two main parties - the DA and the ANC - has also become about the best way to achieve these goals.

Some people in South Africa want to make this country's politics about "black politics" only. Not all are in the ANC, and not all of those in the ANC want this.

But since the party has failed categorically to repudiate the words of those who peddle the politics of racial division in its name, we can only surmise that it hopes to capitalise on division for electoral success - while at the same time preaching non-racialism and claiming a commitment to the values of a glorious past.

The path of divisive, racial politics is an easy one, fuelled by populist rhetoric and conspiracy theories, straw men and distorted facts. It also appeals to the most wounded parts of the South African people's psyche - the anger, shame, denial, and deficit of self-esteem which apartheid has bequeathed to us. It is the path of easy villains, lack of empathy and understanding, and the peddling of fear, loathing and resentment. This is profoundly bad for South Africa and bad for democracy.

We have a tendency to forget that hatred is a moving target; one that can never be permanently vanquished. Perhaps the political leaps and bounds of 1994 led us to believe the journey to reconciliation was like a river we would cross over, and emerge on the other side, victorious, having slain the demons which followed us into the new dispensation. But if events like the recent massacre in Norway have taught us anything, it is that the battle to extinguish hatred based on ignorance is never over.

It requires constant vigilance, and regular examinations of our history - not to fashion it into a weapon, but to gain a better understanding of how it is that we are here today. It also requires that rational, thinking people who believe in our democratic dispensation and in the constitutional values upon which it is founded, stand up to those who seek to take us down the road of domination by one race group over all others.

On Freedom Day 2011, DA leader Helen Zille delivered a speech at Solomon Mahlangu Square in Mamelodi, Pretoria, in which she reflected upon the emotional and economic scars left by apartheid.

She said: "Let us be honest and give name to the feelings that oppress us still. There is anger and resentment, natural human responses to humiliation. There is a deficit of confidence and self-esteem. There is embarrassment and guilt. And there is that most pernicious of responses to our past, the anti-feeling that is denial. In all of us, there is a yearning to be seen and heard; to be understood.

"We cannot engage these feelings, nor reconstruct our relationship with ourselves and each other, by means of confrontation. And we cannot overcome the feelings that oppress us in court rooms. Nelson Mandela showed us the way forward. Reconciliation takes courage and generosity. And it takes time."

Likewise, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, in her book Laying Ghosts to Rest - whose entire premise is that the ghosts of our oppressive and repressive past must be named out loud before they can be laid to rest - takes a similar view.

Unless responsible leaders are willing to work daily to facilitate such discussions, based on the truth and on understanding, the populists and their cynical, short-term political ends will gain ground, our society will be driven deeper into re-racialism, and our chances of reaching mutual understanding so we can commit to protecting and defending each other's rights will be irrevocably extinguished.

• This is an extract from a speech by DA National Spokesman Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, to the Cape Town Press Club, earlier this week.

·         TAKEN FROM TIMESLIVE.CO.ZA

Let's save our children from dying like Amy Winehouse

Jackson Mthembu | 31 July, 2011

All parents would like to see their children grow up and become useful members of society. This is what has driven me to speak about our pain when our first-born son veered from a normal life.

It was only after he failed matric twice that we discovered he had been a drug user and addict since grade 5.

He would have been around 11 or 12 years old at the time.

We became aware of his drug use through his peers at high school, but we had already become suspicious. His performance at school had gradually deteriorated from best performer to average - and ultimately a worst performer in matric.

We had become puzzled at the disappearance of home appliances and expensive toys belonging to his siblings, like a Sony PlayStation.

Television sets vanished, as did video recorders and sound systems, his younger brother's clothes - even bottles of expensive liquor .

When we found out the truth, we persuaded him to go to a rehab centre where he spent about six months .

When he came back we thought our difficulties were over. But after a month or two, he was back on the drug trail. He said the environment in Nelspruit was not conducive for him to stay clean; he pestered us to let him live with his biological mother in Witbank. There, he said, the supply of drugs was "not as huge".

In Witbank he got worse and stole appliances and groceries.

On his return to Nelspruit he started living on the street. We again made efforts to take him to rehab.

When he returned again, we organised with some of our friends to have him employed by their company in Johannesburg.

He fooled us all by pretending he was clean. But then he started stealing from them and from his co-workers. Then, as usual, he disappeared.

Again, he lived on the streets until we found him and took him to rehab after talking to him at great length. He came back and pretended to be "a good person and clean".

But it was only a matter of time. When he stole money we had put aside to pay for his school fees for his siblings, we took him to the police and brought a complaint of theft against him.

After a few weeks, we withdrew the complaint - but he was back at the police station after robbing someone else.

We have lost count of how many times we took him to rehab. At one stage we enrolled him at a further education and training college and paid all the fees. But he was there only a month before disappearing into the streets.

It was then that I said to his mother, stepmother and siblings that I would have nothing to do with him until he decided what to do with his own life.

I believe as a family we have done everything possible to help my son and support him. I told him I had reached the point of walking away from him - and the only way he could come back into my life was when he proved he could lead a life without drugs.

I even told him that if he did not change his ways, we would be available only to bury him.

I said these things - and they hurt me. But what do you do as a parent to save your kid from this disruptive life? What do you do when you have other kids who need your parental love, support and look up to you?

We have received a message of support from Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I was fortunate to receive a prayer from the Arch and I believe that he was not only praying for me but all parents in a similar situation.

I believe that as a country we need to close the drug supply line. I believe we need to remove the suppliers from our streets, our schools and our public and private places.

If not, we will not win this war against drugs and we will most likely have a lost generation. I believe my son is already in that category.

We need to have a way of coming together to fight this scourge. We need to form forums and associations to help in the war against drugs.

We feel - and live - the pain of being the parents of children who are drug addicts. The time to stand up is now.

Let us not have a host of Amy Winehouses in South Africa.

We must come together, work with our government agencies and institutions. We owe this to our country and our children.

• Jackson Mthembu is the national spokesman of the ANC

Does YOUR child need help?

If you have a child or know of someone who is in dire need of help to fight a drug addiction, contact the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drugs at centres countrywide or dial the helpline: 0861 173 422.

·       Taken from Timeslive.co.za