A light of dawn for the physically challenged

Lebohang Centre in Zone 10, Sebokeng met a messiah who showered them with manna from heaven recently. A major steel manufacturer Arcelor Mittal Foundation through its Minigrants Programme donated a sum of $3,800 to the centre for the building of carport in December 2011.

Ouma Tshabalala a resident who lives nearby and works at Mittal urged the centre to approach the company and request donation. It was the first time they heard of it and simultaneously applied. The carport was built during festive holidays and finished in February 2012.

Makgaola Mollo, Centre Manager said “Carport comes in handy for the kids health and exposure to sunlight, not only will the carpot help kids with shadow when playing especially in summer but events will be hosted under it (which curbed costs), it will also cater for feeding programme and accommodates twenty-eight (28) users for daily activities. It is an achievement for the centre as it has been the greatest structure to be erected this year.”

So… over the weekend President Jacob Zuma announced that Nelson Mandela’s face will feature on all South Africa’s bank notes to honour the former president’s role in fighting apartheid.

The announcement coincides with the 22nd anniversary of Mandela’s release from prison after serving 27 years in jail for his opposition to white-only rule. Whether you like him or despise him, the truth of the matter is that the man will now be in your pocket.

“Madiba will be on our money now, but have we honoured all the other heroes enough?” this is a question posed by The New Age on their social site and I felt compelled to take part and air my-views and my response read like so “I, acknowledge that Madiba is an icon who fought for freedom and deserves the accolades BUT was he alone? What about others, the Sobukwe, Hani, Dube, Biko, Slovo, Sisulu, Tambo, Suzman, Ngoyi, McCamel, Theresa, Mbatha the list is endless.”

Don’t get me wrong Madiba fought against white domination but what about others? No-one from the previous regime to the current and coming generations would claim not to know who he is but how many can say they know who you are talking about when you mention the above mentioned self-less leaders including the likes of Duma Nokwe and Moses Kotane, for instance goggle Levai Mbatha and see if you’ll find anything on him except the clinic named after him.

“It is a befitting tribute to a man who became a symbol of this country’s struggle for freedom, human rights and democracy, with this humble gesture, we are expressing our deep gratitude as the South African people, to a life spent in service of the people of this country and in the cause of humanity worldwide.” Zuma said.

SA Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus pointed out that the new notes would have enhanced security features that they would be easier to read by the blind or partially sighted people and would be machine readable. The new banknotes would have similar dimensions to the current notes. She pointed out that banknotes were only second in importance to a country's national flag.

News on Friday that Zuma would make an announcement of “national importance”, along with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus, spooked the market and sent the rand tumbling by 2.6% on the day. Marcus apologised for the confusion. The current banknotes that depict the big five wild animals would continue as legal tender until they have been replaced by the new design and the new notes featuring Mandela will be in circulation by the end of the year.

Mandela has not been seen in public since the closing ceremony of the Soccer World Cup in Johannesburg in July 2010.

ADDITIONAL SOURCE: Dispatch and Sowetan

It's happening on your soul connection

He is widely-known as a “man of god” and has went on claiming to perform miracles and healing people but on Monday evening the prophet who is named after a male organ revealed his side which left masses shocked, irritated and baying for his blood.

Paseka “Mboro” Motsoeneng arrived with his entourage at Thetha FM’s premises at Isikhumbuzo Secondary School in Orange Farm, extension 2 for his usual radio show but found doors locked and demanded explanation. Up-on not getting answers he was infuriated and retaliated by producing a pistol, blocked the entrance with his car and declared “war” to staff members as he hurled insults. Acting on Motsoeneng’s instructions his bodyguards manhandled a presenter and pointed firearms at two reporters from a national newspaper threatening to confiscate their equipment.

In a fit of rage the presenters stormed into the studio and interrupted normal programming by going on-air and informed the listeners about the mayhem; this angered them and within a blink of an eye community members graced the scene to witness the drama.

Motsoeneng is said to be bringing a lot of revenue to the station through his religious shows and as such has been treating presenters like dirt claiming to be the one who pays their salary and this didn’t go down well with the staff and last week was the last straw as the station’s breakfast show’ crew urged the management to attend to the matter; this come after the prophet harassed a sports presenter telling him that “he was playing sh@#t music during his time slot”.

“Judging by how things transpired on the day we have a reason to believe that one of our colleagues (name known to this blogger) tipped the prophet about our intention, because even his back-up didn’t take long to arrive” said a presenter.

Motsoeneng’s fleets of cars were damaged as community members punched the tyres and demanded Mboro be handed to them for a “respect lesson” they were willing to give to him for free however together with his bodyguards were rescued as they fled the scene in a police car.

In a meeting that convened between the station’s management, prophet and presenters where solution was to be sought it was agreed that the prophet should be released and never set his foot ever again at the station.

On arrival at the Orange Farm Police Station, Motsoeneng’s alias who was the presenter at the station was already there and took it upon him to address the concerned community members, it was through his conversation on the phone with Motsoeneng and negative comment about his (former) colleagues which saw community members taking matters into their hands but the police soon took control of the situation.

Meanwhile the cops disarmed Motsoeneng and his bodyguards and a case of malicious damage to property and pointing of firearms was laid.

The life and times of Jacob “Jake” Serame Hlanyane (21 December 1947 – 18 January 2012)

Jacob Hlanyane, one of the Delmas Trialist was buried on the 28th January 2012; COPE leader Mosioua Lekota who was one of the trialistist gave a speech two days before his burial at “Jake” memorial service. His family, friends, comrades and community gave him a sterling send-off. We take a closer look into his life and times.

It was in the trade union movement that Cde Serame Jacob “Jake” Hlanyane got his political baptism his life was never the same as politics defined and guided him until his untimely death. In 1983, armed with a deep understanding of the struggle waged by the people of South Africa against a repressive regime of Apartheid that Jake’s political activism came into the open in defence of his own right as a citizen and those of his neighbours and compatriots.

In October 1983 frustrated by a local authority system that did not deliver services to the residents, political activists and residents resolved to form a civic movement that would represent and fight for their interest. The Vaal Civic Association (VCA) was born.

The VCA was modelled in a manner that it would have its roots in the various townships and zones of the Vaal Triangle. Talking about its strategy at its launch, Dr Motlana hailed the strategy of the VCA and commented that it would come to be a very strong movement in time to come. Indeed, the VCA started to establish zonal and township committees formed by the citizens in those townships and zones. The purpose of these committees was to enable the VCA to be close to the people that the VCA Cde Jake was elected onto the Zone Three Committee and thus became one of its first leaders.

Soon after they were formed these committees started to organise the Anti-Election Campaign against the soon-to-be-introduced Black Local Authorities (BLA) local government system. Various meetings were held where residents were residents informed of the uselessness of the new system and why it had to be rejected. The VCA succeeded in mobilising the people against this farce and while the elections were held they were characterised by low numbers of residents at the pools and the system was introduced and forced onto the residents.

At the national level the masses were organising against the new Tricameral Parliament – in terms of which Coloureds and Indians were brought into separate Parliaments thus having a superior parliament for whites, and junior partners in the Coloured and Indian Parliaments. This ploy by the Apartheid Regime was meant to divide those who were opposed to it. In the same year, 1983, the United Democratic Front (UDF) was formed to oppose the implementation of the Tricameral Parliament

The UDF was a coalition of various civic, youth, women, students, and health workers – indeed people from all walks of life. The VCA affiliated to the UDF after it was formed thus forging a link between local struggles of bread-and-butter issues to the broader struggle of national liberation, freedom and democracy led by the then banned African National Congress (ANC).

The formation of the VCA became a catalyst to new other organisations, the Vaal Youth Congress (VAYCO) and the Vaal Organisation of Women (VOW) strengthened and reenergised other existing structures such as the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) and the Vaal Council of Churches (VCC), and the Trade Union movement in the area like MAWU and CCAWUSA and others.

By January 1984 the VCA was consolidating itself and investigating ways of how to introduce paid membership cards; how to raise funds and become sustainable and how to further empower its members through intensive and deepened political education so that they become truly informed servants of the people.

According to predictions of the time, the newly-elected Lekoa Town Council, with barely six months announced huge rent increases to be paid by residents. This announcement went squarely in the face of the residents protests of “Asinamali”. The VCA could not stand aside when this happens.

The Zonal and Township Committees began a series of meetings from August 1984 leading too September with the community and other structures in the Vaal to actively oppose this rent increase.

Cde Jake was part of the leadership that did community mobilisation for the 3 September 1984 VCA march. People marched from different places but Cde Hlanyane led the march from the Evaton Catholic Church in Small Farms to the Council offices at Houtkop to present a memorandum with the following demands,

• The reversal of the unilateral decision for rent increases,
• Resignation and dissolution of Lekoa Town Council and its councillors who were puppets of the apartheid system.
• The release of political prisoners and,
• The scrapping of the tricameral parliament, which excluded African communities from representation in the political decision making and running of the country.

The march on 3 September was successfully conducted by Hlanyane and his comrades as the leadership. Unfortunately, the march was intercepted by the police before it reached its destination and violence broke out in the Vaal and later in the whole county. From a simple township march around the rent increases and other legitimate demands Jake and his comrades in the VCA, the UDF and AZAPO and other organisations such as COSAS, VAYCO, VOW, some were arrested and later charged under of the then Internal Security Laws – notably Section 29 of the Internal Security provided for the detention of the people deemed to be suspects for a period of 180 days without trial and without being seen by the family and the public.

These comrades were kept in separate prisons from October 1984 until when the 22 detainees were formally charged with treason, murder and organising illegal gatherings. They only made their first court appearance on 11 June 1985.

While most of the accused came from the Vaal Triangle, the State could not risk holding the trial in the Vaal or Johannesburg, or even Krugersdorp as they feared that many people would attend the trial and support the accused. The trial was eventually held 70 kilometres from Johannesburg in Delmas. The trial came to be known as the ‘Delmas Treason Trial’ and at the end these leaders of VCA and UDF were found guilty as charged. In 1989 they lodged an appeal against the sentences with Supreme Court of Appeal; ultimately they were released from prison.

Cde Hlanyane served ANC under the leadership of the late Levai Mbatha as Branch Treasurer, later elected as an additional member in ward 40, Mvimbi Mashinini Branch. Other leadership roles include serving as SACP Greater Evaton Branch as the Secretary. In the year 2000, cde Hlanyane was deployed by ANC to be a Councillor in Ward 40, in addition he served in the following Council Committees: Land Tribunal, Whippery of which he served with humility and political distinction for 2 terms until 18 May 2011 Municipal Elections.

ADDITIONAL SOURCE: Emfuleni Local Municipality

MKMVA members picketing

Disgruntled members of the MKMVA (uMKhonto we Sizwe Military Veteran Association) staged a sit in and picketed outside the Sedibeng District Municipality’s offices in Vereeniging on Monday morning demanding Executive Mayor Simon Mahole Mofokeng explain their eviction from the RDP houses which they were allocated and later removed without an alternative residence.

Picketers were left with an egg on their faces when they were told that the mayor was in a meeting and couldn’t listen nor attend to their demands.

“We are not happy with how our government treat us and it is so sad to hear an official say they will give attention only to MKMVA, what about us as APLA? Didn’t we contribute equally for the country in our struggle for freedom? This goes to show that the ANC-led government don’t recognise the PAC” said Johannes Tolo, member of APLA.

Addressing them Sedibeng Municipality Chief Whip Christina Sale said “The matter is beyond our control hence the Housing MEC Humphrey Memezi will be here on Wednesday to attend to the matter.”

What lies ahead

Welcome to the year dubbed 20-wealth, don’t ask me why or who the pioneer is all I know is that we are living in a free country where you’ll never ran out of trends or creativity. I guess it’s never too late to pass on my compliments of the new season. I have been asked on one too many occasions as to why I have neglected my-blog? The reality is… I didn’t, just that a lot has emerged (career wise) since my last post till the one you’re reading now hence I’ve been busy like a bee. Luckily it has been growth, development and success and I am so grateful to see people taking interest; it is not because I am smart but God grace.

Moving on… recently there I was minding my own stuff when five media students rocked the newsroom looking for an editor to help them with their assignment, unfortunately the editor was not around but that didn’t mean they were not going to get help. I am a graduate myself and have been practising for about a decade now so I offered to step in and give a helping hand. Browsing through their list of questions were basics like how one entered the field, affiliation the company fall under, a day in a life of a journo and a draft on phases articles go through before it gets published.

Well all these I can answer even right in the middle of the wee hours of the morning. Knowing me I wasn’t going to spoon feed them therefore decide to engage them and find out how much they know about the media industry seeing they are in their second year of study. “Disappointed” is an understatement I wonder if “shocked” can cover for it, the poor journo-wannabe were in the dark about what I am talking about when I mentioned 5W’s and an H principles and they took the throne home when they dwelled deeper not knowing what the “press ombudsman” is all about and it irked me more to realise that they were popping around R28K a head for zilch. I thought with that amount I’d reserve R8K for my time allocated to them as I tutor them and then the rest will go into acquiring equipment, believe you me by the end of their training they will emerge fully fledged journo’s who are fierce and already bringing diversity in the industry. They presented a campus newsletter to me and none of them had a by-line or caption, “maybe this term we will write something” was their response; hello! That’s too late if you ask me. Front page article and photo was courtesy of a local newspaper which appeared some time ago, why publish something from a well-established paper on a campus paper while you have students studying that field? What is this tuition fee for? When will they learn or gather the experience that media companies require? Soon they will graduate and would have no snippets or clip whatsoever to include in their portfolios, what does this mean for the future of our budding journo’s?

I don’t like entertaining the blame game but someone has to be held accountable, I have always maintained that theory as part of tutorial in tertiary institutions is vital but should not consume most of the term. Distributing manuals and later reading in front of class is old school and unnecessary, students can do that at their own convenience and come class time pose questions, seek clarity and so forth. Majority of their time should be spent on field with a pen, writing pad, voice recorder and camera sourcing out stories as that is the only way they will perfect the craft they yearn to enter in the near future.

For these poor students sake I hope the situation change as it’s a waste of parent hard-earned money and it is a god-eat-dog out there and perhaps they will break through as lately it’s not about what you know but who you know.

Youth in Sports Magazine

A new breed and a light to the youth in the southern Johannesburg region is about to dawn in a form of a publication. Frying Pan Media House in conjunction with the Gauteng Department of Education will publish a magazine which will be distributed to ninety-eight schools in the District 11.

The magazine which is a first of its kind will cover sports, arts and culture and is armed with youth mainly from Orange Farm and surrounding areas.

Bafana Luwenda, the coordinator said “during our days in schools sport was a priority irrespective of whether you are active or not, nowadays our youth are misled and seek solace in barbaric activities. It is this mentality that made us act; our vision is to make sure that we keep learners in the playground instead of the streets. It won’t be easy though but through working with the community, schools and department we are certain positive results will be achieved”

Youth in Sports Magazine is expected to be launch on Friday the 27th January 2012 at a venue that is still to be confirmed and will be available from schools on the 30th January 2012.

“Prior to Christmas weekend we conducted interviews as we source staff, it is disheartening that our youth lack confidence and most importantly they can’t express themselves to the core. Overall it was an eye-opener for our young team as they learned from the experience which is why some must be given credit in a sense that they were prepared and knew their story”, said Oupa Leboko.

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