Assistant Editors: Johannes Dube, Patricia Mceka

Braille Trumpet

October 2007

Editor: Wellington Pike

Assistant Editors: Johannes Dube, Patricia Mceka

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Contents

Black culture is dying

Beware the R500 000 flu

Low-cost housing boom

Embarrassing name is a load of bull, says mayor

Judges flee after Xhosa girl wins Miss Teen India

Stop the lies about Zimbabwe

At least we're semi-proudly South African

Crime project builds goodwill

Granny, 101, graduates

`Culture here to stay`

Bye-bye stress

Your easy-to-use account

Black culture is dying

Sowetan, Wednesday September 12 2007

Since Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko died 30 years ago, his ideals lack a champion to take them forward and South Africans find themselves still trapped in colonial mind-sets, writes Eric Naki

Since the unbanning of black liberation organisations in 1990, I have been asking myself: Where would Steve Biko be politically if he were alive?

This question arose from the fact that since his death, Biko's Black Consciousness ideology has not followed a clear direction.

Again after 1994, the question kept haunting me. Would Biko have been in Azapo, the Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa), PAC, ANC or would he have formed another party? The answer has not been easy to find.

Biko was an open-minded leader who believed in the unity of black people. His ideals were not exclusively for blacks, but he believed in black emancipation and black people's independence from Western culture, hence his famous "Black man you are on your own" refrain.

Biko's ideals of liberating the minds of black people are more relevant now that we are free. Biko had a massive following.

He would have "decolonised" blacks from the current colonialism of the type where many black people behave like Americans or whites at the expense of their own culture. The pride in being African or black is becoming moribund as television influences our youth to adopt foreign cultures.

I don't think Biko would have campaigned for black children not to attend Model C schools, but he would definitely have encouraged them to be themselves, even in a sea of foreign cultures.

He once said: "The basic tenet of Black Consciousness 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."

It brings to mind the attitude of many black middle-class people who dump their own cultures lest they be labelled uncivilised. Wearing traditional African regalia is seen as primitive. Black culture has been subjugated and only displayed at cultural events or in curio shops.

Artists are ridiculed in the media because they can not speak "proper" English. Do German or French artists, who prefer their own languages and cultures, get the same treatment? Many other nations have the same attitude as these Europeans. So why not us?

These are some of the things that Biko would have guided us on.

Without a leader like Biko, the African culture is slowly and sadly dying.

At a young age, Biko filled the vacuum left by banned political organisations and their leaders who were jailed or exiled.

Azapo has not lived up to expectations, though it had a promising start in the early 1980s.

Leader after leader failed to come up with an attractive strategy of how to move the Biko legacy forward.

While Sopa's socialist utterances make sense, their Black Consciousness message has not yet filtered through to grassroots level.

If Biko was alive, Azapo and Sopa would have been non-existent. As for the PAC, Biko was more influential than many of its leaders and there is no way he would have been influenced by the pan-Africanism envisioned by the party.

When thinking of Biko's position in the post-democratic South Africa, two scenarios come to mind.

He would have had reservations about the pro-Western culture policies of the ANC government, but the party's national democratic revolution would have appealed to him.

Biko would have operated his movement in a way that said, whites are only human, not superior, and blacks are also human, not inferior.

Black Consciousness need not be a political party, but a movement that straddles all political ideologies - pan-Africanism, nationalism and socialism.

Consider his statement: "Black consciousness is an attitude of the mind and a way of life.

"Its essence is the realisation by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers around the cause of their oppression – the blackness of their skin – and to operate as a group to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude."

I hope that this 30th anniversary of Biko's death will unite us all.

We will see many events unfolding as part of what has become known as the 30-30 anniversary, a reference to his death at 30 and the 30th anniversary of his death.

An elaborate programme that covers this year and the next is already under way by the Biko Legacy Reference Committee which recently unveiled a road map that follows Biko's route from his first arrest at Walmer police station, to his detention and torture at Room 619 Sanlam Building in Port Elizabeth, to Pretoria Prison where he died, and other events.

An exhibition of posters and photos on October 19 and Opera Biko will run for the better part of next year to commemorate and celebrate the life and times of this icon.

A few years ago Biko's statue was erected outside the East London city hall and John Vorster Bridge in the area was renamed Steve Biko Bridge.

He was also honoured with the Steve Biko Garden of Remembrance in King William's Town and his grave was declared a national monument.

To crown it all, I believe that the government should rename the Amathole District municipality or Buffalo City after Biko, in line with the nearby municipalities of OR Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Alfred Nzo and Chris Hani. Eastern Cape was Biko's base and tourists will flock there.

Beware the R500 000 flu

David Kau

The Times, Friday August 24 2007

Jacob Zuma, Willie Madisha and Blade Nzimande seem to have caught the same infection

I left the country for a week – only a week – and I come back to find Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is addicted to WAW (Wine and Woolworths), pronounced WOW, if you've read the Sunday Times and seen the front page pictures for the past two Sundays.

After a week of doing absolutely fokkol in Croatia

(according to a member of parliament in Mpumalanga, it's okay to say fokkol) I was itching to get back to the motherland.

Even though it made us popular with the ladies, I soon realised myself and Tumisho (the Top Billing presenter) would remain the only two blacks in Croatia for the remainder of our trip – that's a lot of pictures with the locals.

Considering all the jet skiing, parasailing, and "driving a boat" that we did, I felt more like a board member or CEO of a Top 100-listed company during the company's annual golf day.

Apparently all the biggest deals are made on the golf course nowadays. What a load of rubbish – everyone know Manto doesn't play gold. If it's true that most deals are struck on the green, then all the DA needs to investigate about Manto's liver on behalf of the public protector are two things – who is in the Medi Clinic fourball, and what's President Thabo Mbeki's handicap?

I landed back at Johannesburg's OR Tambo Airport with such relief that the airport hadn't been renamed – again. I wanted to kiss the ground and proclaim: "I'm home! I'm home!" Glad to be in the motherland!" Then I realised I'd have to put my bags down to do that, and that, unlike in Croatia, my bags would be gone in 60 seconds.

It's been almost two weeks since I got back and I've realised the crime rate remained the same. Not only is the HIV/Aids pandemic and Joburg traffic also the same, now I have to watch out for a new "R500 000" flu that's spreading.

When Jacob Zuma was first accused of corruption and bribery, there was a figure of R500 000 somewhere on the charge sheet. Now Cosatu president Willie Madisha has admitted to having the R500 000 flu, which, he says, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande also has.

We all know that viruses and flu can be contagious, so it's no surprise Willie has caught it.

As much as he tried to distance himself from Zuma at the Cosatu conference, I can't think of any other way he could have got the "R500 000 flu". If there's someone else out there, with a liver, who is suffering from the R500 000 flu, the symptoms will soon start to show.

Low-cost housing boom

XOLILE BHENGU

The Times, Wednesday August 22 2007

Housing department says SA needs 2.2 million affordable homes by 2014

Low-cost housing looks like an inviting market.

Demand is huge – the national housing department estimates 2.2 million affordable homes need to be built by 2014.

Finance is also available. Banks have committed by means of the Financial Services Charter to make at least R42-billion worth of mortgages available to low-income families.

Already, one building company that targets the low-income market, Sea Kay Holdings, has floated on the JSE's alternative exchange, AltX, successfully placing 47.9-million shares at R1 each.

Another company, RBA Housing, plans to list on AltX on September 20. It hopes to raise R65-million through its AltX initial public offer. RBA chief executive David Wentzel said demand is so great that at least 132 low-cost housing specialists are needed.

Wentzel said: "The capital proceeds from the listing will enable us to increase our capacity to not only supply houses to our key target market, but also to keep them affordable."

Affordable houses are defined as those that cost between R250 000 and R700 000.

They are currently being built at a rate of about 250 000 homes a year. But the shortage of houses in this price bracket is currently estimated at 650 000.

Banks, initially pressured by government into providing mortgages to low-income families, have done well from this market so far.

Affordable house price inflation has outpaced the rest of the property market for the past few years, making it easy for banks to recoup loans from defaulters.

The housing department plans to double the number of low-cost houses being built each year to 500 000 units.

Falling house prices raise the spectre of something similar to the current US sub-prime mortgage crisis hitting South Africa.

Wentzel said. "Whereas the downfall in the US was reckless lending to people who could not afford to pay back."

RBA expects to build 1 000 units this year, a pace it plans to double. RBA has built 5 000 homes to date which are between 40 and 80 square metres.

Embarrassing name is a

Load of bull, says mayor

BY HEINZ DE BOER

The Star, Thursday August 23 2007

Durban official finds it difficult to explain the name eThekwini to people

The name eThekwini is to be consigned to history, but Durban will live on. That is the word from mayor Obed Mlaba.

But he is on mission to change the current "eThekwini" name for the whole metropolitan area – because the name is embarrassing.

Mlaba said the meaning of eThekwini, which refers to the testicles of a bull and was the traditional name given to the shape of Durban bay, had caused him a fair amount of international embarrassment.

Mlaba was speaking after the tabling of the long-awaited policy document that will govern the roll-out of the second phase of street, building and natural landmark renaming.

Senior council officials are confident eThekwini will give way to the proposed new name, KwaKhangela, by the end of the year.

Mlaba, however, reiterated that the city's name, Durban, would remain.

"If you unpack what eThekwini means, it just doesn't sound right. A lot of people overseas have asked: `What does eThekwini mean?` Then you start saying `Well, you see, ummm, please pass me the milk for my tea` because you are not proud to unpack what it means," Mlaba said.

"But also, KwaKhangela is the name the royal King Shaka gave to this region when his military training ground was where the University of KwaZulu Natal is now situated. It means `watch out (for any attackers)`, so as a military person he saw this part of the world being very strategic," he said.

And although tight-lipped on when the new name may be adopted, Mlaba said the change would "come out" of the policy document adopted this week.

Opposition parties were concerned that the ruling ANC planned to do away with the name "Durban", but Mlaba said that had never been the intention. Durban was the name of the city, while KwaKhangela referred to the metropolitan municipal area.

The executive committee meeting at which the report was tabled also marked what appeared to be the first tentative steps from the ANC and Democratic Alliance to pull together in finalising the process.

This comes after the ANC, in an almost unheard of display of co-operation, agreed to DA caucus leader John Steenhuisen's handing in a supplementary document correcting the more than 40 spelling and grammar mistakes in the renaming policy document.

Mlaba had minutes earlier objected to the document's being handed in for consideration, saying that Steenhuisen's proposals should rather have been tabled at the Masakhane Committee that is spearheading the renaming process.

Calls for the policy document to be deferred by a week were then met by stiff opposition from the ANC and DA, who ultimately agreed that city manager Dr Michael Sutcliffe and committee chairperson Zandile Gumede would scrutinise and implement suggestions that will not impact on the policy outline.