VICTORY!

It’s really all everyone’s talking about at the moment. Every blog I’ve read today had something to do with the victory. Oh it was just so awesome. I sat on the edge of my seat for 80 minutes. I had a dry mouth and was filing my nails so profusely I’m surprised there’s still something left of them. When the final whistle blew we sat in silence for a few seconds before we screamed. It was just so surreal. We drove through the streets (took a while to find some life – this is PMB after all), and hooted at each other, screamed and waved.

Wow. What a rush! Flags and people hanging out of car windows. I giggled with glee every time a fellow South African returned our hooting. It was as though we suddenly all just knew each other. A great big family. This nation has so much spirit, so much joy, so much to offer… For once the differences were forgotten and all cultures celebrated together for one common reason. It was just magic. It’s at times like these where I really see how the scourge of crime is spoiling an otherwise incredible nation.

Being in the shops on Sunday I heard so many conversations between shop employees about where they had been the night before, how they celebrated, how wonderful the victory and the vibe had been… This nation is on such a high right now.

My personal high is a little over-shadowed by my sick husband. He really is miserable and suffering at the moment. It’s terrible when you see the person that you love more than anyone else in the world suffering, and you are powerless to do anything about it. He’s been booked off for a week. I hope he recovers before our weekend to Cape Town. I swear its stress causing all this. My husband has been seriously ill (I don’t mean sick-but-still-able-to-work kind of sick. I mean seriously-ill-in-bed-booked-off kind of sick) 3 times this year already. That’s just not normal. Something’s wrong here…

So a friend of a friend got married on Saturday afternoon. They left the wedding ceremony at 19:30. I had to wonder what they were doing at 21:00. I mean, it was their wedding night after all... But also the rugby world cup final… Decisions decisions…

Racism

It's probably my naivety coming through again, but I really thought that South Africans were starting to realise that it doesn't matter whether you're Black, White, Coloured, Indian or Asian. I guess it's a little too idealistic of me to expect a change in 13 short years.

Two stories I heard this week really shocked me though. I can't believe people have such (openly) racist attitudes.

My manager was showing me photos of a managers get-together they had in Cape Town earlier this year. She paused at the one photo showing a (rather arrogant and too skinny-looking) white women. I asked who it was, and she said:
"I don't know her name, but she doesn't like black people. It's a whole group of them at Head Office actually. They don't want talk to us, they don't want to sit next to us, they don't want anything to do with us."

I was stunned. A company with a (supposedly) wonderful BBBEE policy still has a chunk of people with a seriously racist attitude.

Then yesterday the Fidelity guard came to get the cash, and told us that he had just been to Woolies. He had greeted the (white) manager there in Zulu. The manager had had a real fit, telling him that he must only greet him in English or Afrikaans, otherwise he will have him thrown out.

Thrown out for greeting someone in your mother tongue?

This really makes me sad and angry. I can only hope that over time, attitudes of people will change.

Something fishy

OK.

So 10 prisoners (murderers and rapists) escape from Qalakabusha Prison. Helped by corrupt prison officials. 13 of them have now been suspended.

"Suspended?" I ask.

Yes. Suspended. Obviously helping dangerous criminals escape is not enough to have someone fired.

And then who can forget the Travelgate Scandal. Corruption at its best. And what do they get? Oh - they get to pay all the money back (interest free), and have all the time in the world to do it.

Now the Deputy Health Minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, who is one of the only government ministers that has come to the party i.t.o fighting HIV (and has thus criticised the pres as well as the health minister), has been FIRED (yes, FIRED) for a minor detail (although some say that the reason for her sacking is unclear). She flies to Spain for an AIDS conference, gets there and finds out the pres didn't give her permission, so she hops on the next plane home.

Um. So what exactly did she do wrong?

She criticised the pres and the government.

Is this legal? There is something seriously fishy going on here...