BY GEORGE KAGAME
A Korean proverb goes: “When two sharks fight; the shrimp suffers,” if that does not make sense as you may not be familiar with sharks and shrimps.
The local version of the proverb drives the point quite straight into your head and it goes: “When two Basopes fight; the Mtwa suffers” and he suffers for an extended period even after the two giants have stopped their fight.
You see the Basopes are not even giants after all but over the years they have built stereotypes against my people and me that it is cliché that a Mtwa is a pygmy; that rare thing that you only read about in storybooks. But my neighbour in the forest was a tall man, so tall he was always requested by the women in our forest community to pick fruit that was way up on the apex of fruit trees. Yet he was a Mtwa, his father Gudulia was well known too.
We lived in the forest; we loved the forest and knew how to take care of trees and bushes such that they would never dry or be cut down. We also existed peacefully with the animals too since mostly the animals acted as our defense shields against unwanted visitors; the animals were also too big for us to kill for pleasure.
Basope arrive
But our peace was disturbed when the Basope started arriving in our ancestral areas and started creating barriers. Barriers for crops, for their homesteads, barriers against other latecomers as well as barriers to keep us away from ever getting nearer these barriers.
The Basope subjugated us; we became the banter of their jokes.
even more Basope
But a short while later another group of people also came in the area and they also wanted a piece of our land for settlement. The new people who were similar in many ways to the earlier Basope negotiated their way to settling in. And settling in they did.
But soon afterwards the two were at each other’s neck and feet. Cue in violence, hatred, intrigue and downright madness. Apparently the First Basope were upset with the new Basope for cutting a share of the land to themselves, thereby reducing the portion of the first Basope. The second Basope did not stop on land; they also came with cows and even established a system of control and order. Placing themselves on top, lording it over the second Basope and they in turn lording it over us.
Baby bonanza and extermination
The population of the two visitors grew sporadically; with the first Basope reproducing at a rate that even spiders envied. My people and I were forced to move further into the forests ever vacating space for newly minted Basopes.
But even in the forests we were invaded as agriculture and further population growth found us. The first Basope were determined to win the battle of mothers and babies, their wives were particularly fertile in large parts thanks to the fertility of lands.
Perhaps that is the reason that the first Basope; having won the babies contest by far, even attempted to exterminate the second Basopes.
When the first Basope had issues with the later Basope the two were separated after widespread violence and death. The aftermath of this skirmish left the second Basope homeless and cultureless and in later years the First Basope attempted to wipe out their rivals completely that in JUST 100 days one million second Basopes were cut into pieces and thrown in rivers.
Who is watching who? the Mtwa and the gorilla
As a result of the contest between the two, we the Mtwas were reduced to nothings, we were not considered as equal human beings but little creatures upon which the Basopes poured their scorn and ridicule.
Somewhere along the way of their ‘development,’ the Basope stopped their violence and ventured deeper into the forests where we had been pushed. Inside the impenetrable forests they found that we were living amicably with a blessing of creatures that were not even heard of in other places on earth.
Oozing With arrogance and contempt, the Basopes now wanted us to vacate the forests for these animals and trees, how absurd?
That’s when we became what we are today. A bunch of incognitos, reduced to numbers sighted for sheer academic interest. We have been rendered landless, and are now living as squatters, surviving as potters and beggars, some of my childhood friends have resorted to crime, while even more have found a prosperous career in rebellion.
It does not matter what rebel groups we join, as long as we also have a right to the violence that for so long we have been subjected to. As a result I normally chat with my friends who are affiliated to several rebel groups-some of these groups in fact fighting against each other- but we don’t care. We have been reduced and forced into mercenaries.
Once we lived peacefully with the gorillas and the chimpanzees but unfortunately somebody came and took the pictures of the gorillas and chimps. These pictures attracted strange coloured people who came with even more cameras. The next we saw gorillas posing for pictures. People were paying in foreign currencies to watch the gorillas. Our comrade gorillas in the forest!
They were now very important.
Their pictures were beamed across the world, the animals acquired spin around them that even the most powerful Public relations firm could not achieve. Yet in all this nobody took our pictures and our stories, how we took care of the gorillas all those years in the forest before even the Basope arrived.
Our story has now become so blurry it resembles a puzzle.
That is because we are nowhere to be seen. The authorities have created game reserves and forest conservation areas where we once lived. Our land now belongs to the prestigious gorillas. Uhm, I wonder since when did animal rights become more important than human rights!
We are like a sore thumb and the authorities are eager to keep us far away from the visitors and their cameras.
My friend Mugabanya Mkolofi who was once very popular with the community belles is now a guide for these visitors that come to see the gorilla. But deep in his heart he is hurting. Reminiscing of the past times, he knows that if the Basope and others had not interfered with his abode he would be a powerful lord.
We could persevere through the foolishness of the Basopes; what we fear most however is the Mai Mai. These are cannibals; not only do they stop at displacing us from our environs as they search for gold and whatever else, they eat us. Like roast meat. According to the Mai Mai a serving of a Mtwa heart is a magic portion for bravery, a sort of Viagra for war!
donuwagiwabo@gmail.com
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
vox popping
"Now Sancho tell me what everyone in the village is saying about me. Don't make anything up-I promise not to shout at you.”
“Well,” said Sancho, “the common people say you are mad and stupid. The posher people don’t approve of you calling yourself a nobleman, and the noblemen think you are getting ideas above your station. As for the rest of it, some people call you, ‘brave but unlucky,’ others, ‘polite but interfering,’ and others ‘bonkers but entertaining.”
Don Quixote
Miguel De Cervantes
“Well,” said Sancho, “the common people say you are mad and stupid. The posher people don’t approve of you calling yourself a nobleman, and the noblemen think you are getting ideas above your station. As for the rest of it, some people call you, ‘brave but unlucky,’ others, ‘polite but interfering,’ and others ‘bonkers but entertaining.”
Don Quixote
Miguel De Cervantes
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
In memory of William Muwanga victim of suicide bomb
A Letter to a friend in Tanzania
BY GEORGE KAGAME
OMAR, as a Tanzanian and resident of Dar Salaam you understand very well the pain of terrorism.
Were it not in your city and Nairobi that US embassies were bombed in 1998, killing 214 and wounding 4100?
The bombings happening simultaneously in the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar Salaam had effectively brought terrorism on the frontiers where East Africa meets with the new world order.
“Hi; Osama Bin Laden here!”
In fact they did more than that. They brought you Osama Bin Laden and his colleague Ayman Al Zawahiri in 1998. The two were talking about the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, the possible break up of Sudan and the invasion of Somalia. Dustbin Laden was upset about all those things and so he decided to bomb the US embassies in protest.
WHERE suicide bombings and bombings in general were expected to blow up London, Moscow, Madrid, New York, Kabul, Baghdad and add yours cities; they were really not an African concern.
When we were growing up the closest terrorism came to us was the Algerian Ninjas in the mid 90s. The ninjas were reputed to disappear "just like that," other than those crazy ninjas we never had bombings. And terrorism was a thing like fashion. Happening in New York, Paris and London!
And somehow it was a problem for those crazy Arabs with their beards, oh yes we also watched 24.
And yet East Africa beat New York, Moscow, Madrid, London, Kabul and Baghdad in the bombing championships.
Terrorism gets personal
I would expect that you might have known some individuals that died in the Dar Salaam US Embassy bombings or even the horrendous one in Nairobi. They were regular people, who never cared for politics even.
For you it is not just a talk of numbers and figures whenever terrorism is mentioned in the news. You have a personal experience with terrorism and like death, the things becomes entirely different when it starts happening in your neighbourhood.
Awkward conversations
Yes, twice it happened in Nairobi and Dar Salaam but for me that was far away in the city. Then I moved to the city too.
And that is when talking about terrorism became like a conversation about racism. Mysterious and awkward.
The people that took much interest in it were crazy.
Starting with the active participants-the suicide bombers -to others that make a living off it talking, and even fine people, they were all crazy. I never wanted to have a conversation with such people.
Because there would be a lot of misunderstandings, so much sensitivities and awkwardness!
It gets closer to home
Alright; this is when your sympathy.
Keziron was a good kid. He was a close friend to my best friend at the time Edongu Ronald.
Ronald or Edro as he called himself was one of the brightest boys in the school; he was competing with Frank Mugisha another genius in economics by our standards. That outstanding class of 2001 in Katikamu Secondary School also included Muwanga William aka Keziron.
Keziron was interesting in that he never spoke English. He protested the speaking of English as the lingua franca of the school and spoke exclusively Luganda as a sign of loyalty to his King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi of Buganda.
It was always a paradox, if he did not speak English, how did he manage to write and think well in it?
Keziron for all his protest against English was a fanatic of European football and his favourite club was Manchester United.
That was one of the first and major things for which he was famous. He loved his king and Manchester United period.
The World Cup Final and 70 virgins in heaven
Keziron was at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds on Sunday 11 July 2010 to watch the World Cup Final between Spain and Netherlands and was killed in the bomb blasts at halftime. Even the suicide bombers had to watch some football first before they blew up! As if the 70 virgins in heaven are not enough for him/her? Damn it!
The bombs killed Keziron along with 73 people.
One of the things the news highlighted as the story evolved was that Al Shabab; a Somali religious and militant group of bearded men were happy with the efficiency and motive of the bombs and later admitted to carrying out the bombs.
Omar, the suicide bombers are nowadays killing people you know. No longer a story you read about in the newspaper. It is a reality in your life.
And suddenly George Bush was a not crazy afterall.
Terrorism is the one thing whose conversation about I would rather pass. I just don’t understand what it is that is the crap with terrorism. And I don’t want to. What is it that is so hard to figure out really to stop this thing? How come we are talking advancement in technology and solving other problems.
Even for poverty we have the MDGs. That sounds like a hardware application for an awesome video game but it is an important solution to poverty. Just think about it. What is the difference between PS3, Ibox360 and MDG?
That’s evidence enough that we are working on poverty. That conversation we can have. It is also very easy to talk about charity, development aid, and millennium goals, NGO, HIV/Aids and more donor aid please!!!!
But with terrorism people start talking of Israel, Jews, Arabs, Islam, oil, and; you can add your issue too! It becomes a conversation of extremes and passions.
And then I ask myself; “What’s up with the Somalis really?” It is not just the Al Shabab that is fucked up with them Somalis. They have not had much going on their way really.
It is said that they, along with the Ethiopians were the only Africans that were ever colonized. And look what they got?
From Siad Barre they got Mohammed Farrah Aideed. You remember him? The one who brought you the famous BLACK HAWK DOWN series? The movie about 18 US soldiers who died when their chopper was brought down in Mogadishu in 1993, they had their bodies pulled throughout Mogadishu to the global shame of the US and Bill Clinton.
Do you remember them choppers that also did the job in the Afghan and Iraq war where uncle Saddam Hussein was deposed? Yes we saw his statue fall, didn’t we?
But did you watch the Black Hawk Down?
But yet I miss uncle George Bush. He was on the other side of the coin in the conversation about terrorism. HE tried to tackle it practically other than be mouthing on it with declarations and what do they have there in Iran? Sanctions?
Bush for all his weaknesses, I cannot blame him for setting the globe rolling in terrorism. The thing was there way before he became president and hell; he went for it.
Omar; the big picture of Somalia was designed by President Bush and Ethiopia when they chased away the bearded zombies in 2008. Ethiopia at the time overrun Somalia, Installing a government appropriately named as Transitional Somalia Government or something awkward as TSG, LIKE an application for a video game itself.
The TSG like all applications was short-lived and was chased away by the Al Shabab, It as not clear what happened to them Islamic Court Union, the predecessors of TSG.
And when Mr. Mouth ON Him Barrack Obama replaced Uncle George look what happened? Oh how I remember seeing Uncle Bush in Kigali in 2008!!!!!!
I miss him!
donuwagiwabo@gmail.com
BY GEORGE KAGAME
OMAR, as a Tanzanian and resident of Dar Salaam you understand very well the pain of terrorism.
Were it not in your city and Nairobi that US embassies were bombed in 1998, killing 214 and wounding 4100?
The bombings happening simultaneously in the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar Salaam had effectively brought terrorism on the frontiers where East Africa meets with the new world order.
“Hi; Osama Bin Laden here!”
In fact they did more than that. They brought you Osama Bin Laden and his colleague Ayman Al Zawahiri in 1998. The two were talking about the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, the possible break up of Sudan and the invasion of Somalia. Dustbin Laden was upset about all those things and so he decided to bomb the US embassies in protest.
WHERE suicide bombings and bombings in general were expected to blow up London, Moscow, Madrid, New York, Kabul, Baghdad and add yours cities; they were really not an African concern.
When we were growing up the closest terrorism came to us was the Algerian Ninjas in the mid 90s. The ninjas were reputed to disappear "just like that," other than those crazy ninjas we never had bombings. And terrorism was a thing like fashion. Happening in New York, Paris and London!
And somehow it was a problem for those crazy Arabs with their beards, oh yes we also watched 24.
And yet East Africa beat New York, Moscow, Madrid, London, Kabul and Baghdad in the bombing championships.
Terrorism gets personal
I would expect that you might have known some individuals that died in the Dar Salaam US Embassy bombings or even the horrendous one in Nairobi. They were regular people, who never cared for politics even.
For you it is not just a talk of numbers and figures whenever terrorism is mentioned in the news. You have a personal experience with terrorism and like death, the things becomes entirely different when it starts happening in your neighbourhood.
Awkward conversations
Yes, twice it happened in Nairobi and Dar Salaam but for me that was far away in the city. Then I moved to the city too.
And that is when talking about terrorism became like a conversation about racism. Mysterious and awkward.
The people that took much interest in it were crazy.
Starting with the active participants-the suicide bombers -to others that make a living off it talking, and even fine people, they were all crazy. I never wanted to have a conversation with such people.
Because there would be a lot of misunderstandings, so much sensitivities and awkwardness!
It gets closer to home
Alright; this is when your sympathy.
Keziron was a good kid. He was a close friend to my best friend at the time Edongu Ronald.
Ronald or Edro as he called himself was one of the brightest boys in the school; he was competing with Frank Mugisha another genius in economics by our standards. That outstanding class of 2001 in Katikamu Secondary School also included Muwanga William aka Keziron.
Keziron was interesting in that he never spoke English. He protested the speaking of English as the lingua franca of the school and spoke exclusively Luganda as a sign of loyalty to his King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi of Buganda.
It was always a paradox, if he did not speak English, how did he manage to write and think well in it?
Keziron for all his protest against English was a fanatic of European football and his favourite club was Manchester United.
That was one of the first and major things for which he was famous. He loved his king and Manchester United period.
The World Cup Final and 70 virgins in heaven
Keziron was at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds on Sunday 11 July 2010 to watch the World Cup Final between Spain and Netherlands and was killed in the bomb blasts at halftime. Even the suicide bombers had to watch some football first before they blew up! As if the 70 virgins in heaven are not enough for him/her? Damn it!
The bombs killed Keziron along with 73 people.
One of the things the news highlighted as the story evolved was that Al Shabab; a Somali religious and militant group of bearded men were happy with the efficiency and motive of the bombs and later admitted to carrying out the bombs.
Omar, the suicide bombers are nowadays killing people you know. No longer a story you read about in the newspaper. It is a reality in your life.
And suddenly George Bush was a not crazy afterall.
Terrorism is the one thing whose conversation about I would rather pass. I just don’t understand what it is that is the crap with terrorism. And I don’t want to. What is it that is so hard to figure out really to stop this thing? How come we are talking advancement in technology and solving other problems.
Even for poverty we have the MDGs. That sounds like a hardware application for an awesome video game but it is an important solution to poverty. Just think about it. What is the difference between PS3, Ibox360 and MDG?
That’s evidence enough that we are working on poverty. That conversation we can have. It is also very easy to talk about charity, development aid, and millennium goals, NGO, HIV/Aids and more donor aid please!!!!
But with terrorism people start talking of Israel, Jews, Arabs, Islam, oil, and; you can add your issue too! It becomes a conversation of extremes and passions.
And then I ask myself; “What’s up with the Somalis really?” It is not just the Al Shabab that is fucked up with them Somalis. They have not had much going on their way really.
It is said that they, along with the Ethiopians were the only Africans that were ever colonized. And look what they got?
From Siad Barre they got Mohammed Farrah Aideed. You remember him? The one who brought you the famous BLACK HAWK DOWN series? The movie about 18 US soldiers who died when their chopper was brought down in Mogadishu in 1993, they had their bodies pulled throughout Mogadishu to the global shame of the US and Bill Clinton.
Do you remember them choppers that also did the job in the Afghan and Iraq war where uncle Saddam Hussein was deposed? Yes we saw his statue fall, didn’t we?
But did you watch the Black Hawk Down?
But yet I miss uncle George Bush. He was on the other side of the coin in the conversation about terrorism. HE tried to tackle it practically other than be mouthing on it with declarations and what do they have there in Iran? Sanctions?
Bush for all his weaknesses, I cannot blame him for setting the globe rolling in terrorism. The thing was there way before he became president and hell; he went for it.
Omar; the big picture of Somalia was designed by President Bush and Ethiopia when they chased away the bearded zombies in 2008. Ethiopia at the time overrun Somalia, Installing a government appropriately named as Transitional Somalia Government or something awkward as TSG, LIKE an application for a video game itself.
The TSG like all applications was short-lived and was chased away by the Al Shabab, It as not clear what happened to them Islamic Court Union, the predecessors of TSG.
And when Mr. Mouth ON Him Barrack Obama replaced Uncle George look what happened? Oh how I remember seeing Uncle Bush in Kigali in 2008!!!!!!
I miss him!
donuwagiwabo@gmail.com
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
: MTN and how World Cup Citizens have mouths on them!
From the Hammock
4 July 10
Majukumu aka responsibility: Everything about him is irritating, he is smart and that’s okay but he also comes across as if he is ever driving the point home and proving a point to himself that indeed as advertised, he is smart.
I don’t like Majukumu sometimes but it is inevitable to recognize him. His turf stretches from Johannesburg, through East and West Africa. Others call him MTN, but I disagree, I think MTN is his poster face. MTN puts in the work and makes Majukumu’s money.
In fact MTN’s motto can be his logo; “everywhere you go,” and like many latecomers in the Citi, Majukumu has a mouth on him. Just think about it for a second, how many people used MTN to communicate this Sunday morning, and then consider the mouth doing the communication. How busy? How important?
After mouthing his way to bringing the World Cup to Africa he is now demouthing it away, dismissing it as big business, the usual suspects; Coca Cola, McDonalds (poor McDonalds,) the Jabulani, beer and even bigger countries.
And talking about Africa’s World Cup how come there is never been a European Cup or even American one?
Is it not because those countries are so diverse that one country cannot represent them? Is it not true that most of the Africans who played in the African teams Cameron, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, and Ivory Coast also have EU citizenships?
Many of the African players in the six African teams also played in the most prestigious leagues in Europe just like the players from Brazil, Argentina and Spain.
Of the Algeria’s 23 players at the 2010 World Cup, 17 had French citizenship and 6 had represented France at junior level. The Algerian Coach: was the only African coach in the world cup and even he exited in the preliminary rounds of the tournament.
African time my foot; it is a very good thing the world cup but it is not African time. And yet all the African teams failed miserably?
See the Nigerian president Jonathan Goodluck has more to his leadership than an appropriate name as he has suspended Nigeria’s football from international tournaments until the Nigerians find out; ”what’s up?” with their talent and mediocrity.
Majukumu is yet another lazy African elite.
Mtali: (he can speak for himself)
What’s up with these cities of the World Cup? Drakensburg, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Rustenburg, Dutchburg, Franconstenburg, Englishburg(and those shrewd and crazy Bafokeng had to appear here also.) Do you remember them Bafokeng? They are the people that had a kingdom in South Africa throughout the time of colonialism and apartheid.
Somehow…
The kingdom was within the country of South Africa where apartheid and its predecessors had ensured black people and their kingdoms were irrelevant.
The Bafokeng had some smartness; they bought land from government and continued their kingdom under semi autonomous rule. At least the even crazier Boers believed in good old capitalism.
Therefore when the South African government banned gambling, the Bafokeng and some white South African types built Sun City. The Bafokeng were considered a separate nation in South Africa.
Today Sun City is known for a different spin. But the Bafokeng were still able to build this World Cup stadium from which England were chased out of the tournament by Germany? Totally a cool tribe that one.
And talking about tribes. Is it not odd that the only African ethnic group that has the same name as the mother continent is that of Afrikaans?
Of all Africans, these are white. Indeed the rainbow country.
The truest and closest to a rainbow nation I know of is Brazil and boy; are they having a wonderful time in African time? They make Argentina look indeed talented and lucky rather than efficient.
And what’s up with Africa, FOOTBALL and the World Cup? We are failing so bad that we’re accustomed to being the cute under dogs in everything.
It is not just football where we have a lot of promise and potential that we never fulfil. If you thought that making it into the big league, as a sportsman is almost impossible ask local musicians how they have developed their talents and you will be shocked.
Think about the relationship between football and politics. Politics is heated because it is the only avenue that one must take if ever they will achieve any meaningful accomplishments in life. The universally accepted ones at least, a family, a job and a home. Politicians rule in Africa.
We all bend to their whims, cruelty and violence.
Semi illiterate power brokers on the other hand manage sport; they operate with a mystery and they are mostly a hybrid between businessmen, witch doctors, politicians and peasants.
The day we demystify politics in Africa and demand of our leaders the same results as we demand of sportsmen then it will be our time.
African time.
Mtali: noise, noise, noise. That’s what you are all making all the time. Noise. Talking without speaking, hearing without listening. We’re fed up of people like you.
Ends
4 July 10
Majukumu aka responsibility: Everything about him is irritating, he is smart and that’s okay but he also comes across as if he is ever driving the point home and proving a point to himself that indeed as advertised, he is smart.
I don’t like Majukumu sometimes but it is inevitable to recognize him. His turf stretches from Johannesburg, through East and West Africa. Others call him MTN, but I disagree, I think MTN is his poster face. MTN puts in the work and makes Majukumu’s money.
In fact MTN’s motto can be his logo; “everywhere you go,” and like many latecomers in the Citi, Majukumu has a mouth on him. Just think about it for a second, how many people used MTN to communicate this Sunday morning, and then consider the mouth doing the communication. How busy? How important?
After mouthing his way to bringing the World Cup to Africa he is now demouthing it away, dismissing it as big business, the usual suspects; Coca Cola, McDonalds (poor McDonalds,) the Jabulani, beer and even bigger countries.
And talking about Africa’s World Cup how come there is never been a European Cup or even American one?
Is it not because those countries are so diverse that one country cannot represent them? Is it not true that most of the Africans who played in the African teams Cameron, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, and Ivory Coast also have EU citizenships?
Many of the African players in the six African teams also played in the most prestigious leagues in Europe just like the players from Brazil, Argentina and Spain.
Of the Algeria’s 23 players at the 2010 World Cup, 17 had French citizenship and 6 had represented France at junior level. The Algerian Coach: was the only African coach in the world cup and even he exited in the preliminary rounds of the tournament.
African time my foot; it is a very good thing the world cup but it is not African time. And yet all the African teams failed miserably?
See the Nigerian president Jonathan Goodluck has more to his leadership than an appropriate name as he has suspended Nigeria’s football from international tournaments until the Nigerians find out; ”what’s up?” with their talent and mediocrity.
Majukumu is yet another lazy African elite.
Mtali: (he can speak for himself)
What’s up with these cities of the World Cup? Drakensburg, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Rustenburg, Dutchburg, Franconstenburg, Englishburg(and those shrewd and crazy Bafokeng had to appear here also.) Do you remember them Bafokeng? They are the people that had a kingdom in South Africa throughout the time of colonialism and apartheid.
Somehow…
The kingdom was within the country of South Africa where apartheid and its predecessors had ensured black people and their kingdoms were irrelevant.
The Bafokeng had some smartness; they bought land from government and continued their kingdom under semi autonomous rule. At least the even crazier Boers believed in good old capitalism.
Therefore when the South African government banned gambling, the Bafokeng and some white South African types built Sun City. The Bafokeng were considered a separate nation in South Africa.
Today Sun City is known for a different spin. But the Bafokeng were still able to build this World Cup stadium from which England were chased out of the tournament by Germany? Totally a cool tribe that one.
And talking about tribes. Is it not odd that the only African ethnic group that has the same name as the mother continent is that of Afrikaans?
Of all Africans, these are white. Indeed the rainbow country.
The truest and closest to a rainbow nation I know of is Brazil and boy; are they having a wonderful time in African time? They make Argentina look indeed talented and lucky rather than efficient.
And what’s up with Africa, FOOTBALL and the World Cup? We are failing so bad that we’re accustomed to being the cute under dogs in everything.
It is not just football where we have a lot of promise and potential that we never fulfil. If you thought that making it into the big league, as a sportsman is almost impossible ask local musicians how they have developed their talents and you will be shocked.
Think about the relationship between football and politics. Politics is heated because it is the only avenue that one must take if ever they will achieve any meaningful accomplishments in life. The universally accepted ones at least, a family, a job and a home. Politicians rule in Africa.
We all bend to their whims, cruelty and violence.
Semi illiterate power brokers on the other hand manage sport; they operate with a mystery and they are mostly a hybrid between businessmen, witch doctors, politicians and peasants.
The day we demystify politics in Africa and demand of our leaders the same results as we demand of sportsmen then it will be our time.
African time.
Mtali: noise, noise, noise. That’s what you are all making all the time. Noise. Talking without speaking, hearing without listening. We’re fed up of people like you.
Ends
Friday, 2 July 2010
From the Hammock : Football not among “things of note” in EAC
BY GEORGE Kagame
But in consolation even reclusive North Korea finally opened up; albeit only briefly.
Misery is being subjected to the hooh hah of football and The World Cup when you don’t care what the hell it is about.
mean, what really? You wonder where the sentiment comes from. I once had friends who would swear their lifetime allegiance to Argentina and Arsenal.
Conte was a fanatic of Manchester United and Italy, but secretly he hoped Argentina was a better team. Conte’s real name was Tusiime Anthony and he was a staunch catholic too, he had never been to England or Argentina but hoped to someday make the trip; somehow!
East African sport is bizarre; when people from far off places hear that football is popular here they never realize that our interest in it is only limited to watching it on TV. And even that is watching the football played in Europe and not here Africa.
But Football is important because for many it is the only chance to see and watch television in their lives. When the World Cup happens, the anticipation it carries equals that of Christmas. In Kigali we have businesses starting out with a television set, a bunch of benches and a shack nearby a market. These in most cases provide the only real leisure time activity of many in the country.
A football match between Arsenal and Manchester United is much more anticipated than even the budget and Independence Day ceremonies combined. On FM radio stations Competitions are held, draws, raffles and picks, prizes, awards, airtime and “so much more.” Most Rwandans do not care who the minister of the environment or public service is but they know the entire line up of Arsenal and Barcelona.
There are very stark contrasts and fortunes between the football being watched and that being played around here.
I have met The lumpen, a self styled expert on English football. In the pub they call him Arsenal.
For those of you who are wondering what Arsenal, it is an English football club managed by a Frenchman who is an economist and I got those facts spewing from the lumpen in less than three minutes of acquaintance.
Maybe we love to watch the football quite a lot on television so much that we have no time to play the sport or go to the stadiums to support those who play it or we have despaired from the administrators of the sport that we don’t care what they do anymore.
When Tanzania hosted Brazil in a friendly in Dar Salaam before the Brazilians flew to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, and lost the match by 5:1, the Tanzanian players were congratulated for the loss by all sundry in the country. They were expected to lose by a larger margin. And I won’t tell you about CECAFA as you will forget it by the end of this paragraph anyway.
There is no platform of success that East Africa is renown for in competitive football, the biggest export from the region so far is a certain Kenyan aptly known as Mariga;
“many sheep,” who plays for Inter Milan. Perhaps the West Africans have been much adventurous in football, but they also remain whipping boys when prestige stares them in the face.
Football really is an extension of our politics where the most powerful people in the game are also the same in any other sector of the economy. And if politicians in Africa are corrupt; as advertised; yet they are the rule makers, just imagine how far more corrupt the football administrators are. Many like the politicians above them in the pecking order of “people of note” have no or limited expertise, experience and skill.
And like other sectors of many economies in east Africa, it is a waste, pure carelessness. A mess.
But for its mess, football is an outlet. In the days of dictators and liberators in east Africa and indeed on the entire continent, The World Cup was the only event where east Africans got a chance to see a TV. Personally, as an eight year old in the early 90s, I watched Italia in the middle of Lake Victoria on an island known as Kibbanga.
On this island there was no telephone, no radio, health centre or even a road but somehow we were able to watch the World Cup. It was our only contact with the other world.
Also football enables fair competition and debate to take place, the kind that is unheard of in politics, business and legislature.
The good thing about being a journalist in Africa is that when there’s a mess in sport the coverage is freed of other restraints in the mainstream media about politics and its cousins. The mess is much more scrutinized than politics because it attracts less serious people.
“People OF note,” are too cool to be bothered by politics and crucially the donors are not interested in your sports, you may run, walk, sleep or kick about, as you want.
Donors are talking about serious things like human rights, world peace, saving endangered animals, climate change and capacity building. Football or sport IS way down the pecking order of “things of note.”
A sports reporter will therefore uncover details of a fraud scheme in football and they are quite aplenty and expose it without sanctions and limits from big brother.
As such, there are resignations in sports and some form of procedure is followed. In politics there’s limited scope of unearthing a fraud and corruption. News comes at its time.
In these circumstances of relative freedom to compete on the pitch, east African football administrators outdo each other in competing for attention, sympathy, success, prestige and good old bragging rights amongst human beings.
For its sheer fun, try watching a match between APR FC and Rayon Sport in Kigali; YOU will enjoy it immensely. If you happen not to be a football fan, at least the traffic dilemma in the city and Kwa’Rubangura that day will be less congested and so you will get home earlier.
But if east African football is misery, beyond misery is being a North Korean football fan or even worse national team player. In that country they have never watched a live World Cup match or any other live programme on their lone television station. So last week’s decision to show North Korea against Portugal was a blessing.
But it was a classical Case of Typical wrong timing.
North Koreans used to seeing only positive news about their country were shocked when their first opportunity to watch live television ended in disaster with Portugal humiliating the dear brother leader’s team seven nothing.
Television and the World Cup were immediately halted and positive news restored.
But in consolation even reclusive North Korea finally opened up; albeit only briefly.
Misery is being subjected to the hooh hah of football and The World Cup when you don’t care what the hell it is about.
mean, what really? You wonder where the sentiment comes from. I once had friends who would swear their lifetime allegiance to Argentina and Arsenal.
Conte was a fanatic of Manchester United and Italy, but secretly he hoped Argentina was a better team. Conte’s real name was Tusiime Anthony and he was a staunch catholic too, he had never been to England or Argentina but hoped to someday make the trip; somehow!
East African sport is bizarre; when people from far off places hear that football is popular here they never realize that our interest in it is only limited to watching it on TV. And even that is watching the football played in Europe and not here Africa.
But Football is important because for many it is the only chance to see and watch television in their lives. When the World Cup happens, the anticipation it carries equals that of Christmas. In Kigali we have businesses starting out with a television set, a bunch of benches and a shack nearby a market. These in most cases provide the only real leisure time activity of many in the country.
A football match between Arsenal and Manchester United is much more anticipated than even the budget and Independence Day ceremonies combined. On FM radio stations Competitions are held, draws, raffles and picks, prizes, awards, airtime and “so much more.” Most Rwandans do not care who the minister of the environment or public service is but they know the entire line up of Arsenal and Barcelona.
There are very stark contrasts and fortunes between the football being watched and that being played around here.
I have met The lumpen, a self styled expert on English football. In the pub they call him Arsenal.
For those of you who are wondering what Arsenal, it is an English football club managed by a Frenchman who is an economist and I got those facts spewing from the lumpen in less than three minutes of acquaintance.
Maybe we love to watch the football quite a lot on television so much that we have no time to play the sport or go to the stadiums to support those who play it or we have despaired from the administrators of the sport that we don’t care what they do anymore.
When Tanzania hosted Brazil in a friendly in Dar Salaam before the Brazilians flew to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, and lost the match by 5:1, the Tanzanian players were congratulated for the loss by all sundry in the country. They were expected to lose by a larger margin. And I won’t tell you about CECAFA as you will forget it by the end of this paragraph anyway.
There is no platform of success that East Africa is renown for in competitive football, the biggest export from the region so far is a certain Kenyan aptly known as Mariga;
“many sheep,” who plays for Inter Milan. Perhaps the West Africans have been much adventurous in football, but they also remain whipping boys when prestige stares them in the face.
Football really is an extension of our politics where the most powerful people in the game are also the same in any other sector of the economy. And if politicians in Africa are corrupt; as advertised; yet they are the rule makers, just imagine how far more corrupt the football administrators are. Many like the politicians above them in the pecking order of “people of note” have no or limited expertise, experience and skill.
And like other sectors of many economies in east Africa, it is a waste, pure carelessness. A mess.
But for its mess, football is an outlet. In the days of dictators and liberators in east Africa and indeed on the entire continent, The World Cup was the only event where east Africans got a chance to see a TV. Personally, as an eight year old in the early 90s, I watched Italia in the middle of Lake Victoria on an island known as Kibbanga.
On this island there was no telephone, no radio, health centre or even a road but somehow we were able to watch the World Cup. It was our only contact with the other world.
Also football enables fair competition and debate to take place, the kind that is unheard of in politics, business and legislature.
The good thing about being a journalist in Africa is that when there’s a mess in sport the coverage is freed of other restraints in the mainstream media about politics and its cousins. The mess is much more scrutinized than politics because it attracts less serious people.
“People OF note,” are too cool to be bothered by politics and crucially the donors are not interested in your sports, you may run, walk, sleep or kick about, as you want.
Donors are talking about serious things like human rights, world peace, saving endangered animals, climate change and capacity building. Football or sport IS way down the pecking order of “things of note.”
A sports reporter will therefore uncover details of a fraud scheme in football and they are quite aplenty and expose it without sanctions and limits from big brother.
As such, there are resignations in sports and some form of procedure is followed. In politics there’s limited scope of unearthing a fraud and corruption. News comes at its time.
In these circumstances of relative freedom to compete on the pitch, east African football administrators outdo each other in competing for attention, sympathy, success, prestige and good old bragging rights amongst human beings.
For its sheer fun, try watching a match between APR FC and Rayon Sport in Kigali; YOU will enjoy it immensely. If you happen not to be a football fan, at least the traffic dilemma in the city and Kwa’Rubangura that day will be less congested and so you will get home earlier.
But if east African football is misery, beyond misery is being a North Korean football fan or even worse national team player. In that country they have never watched a live World Cup match or any other live programme on their lone television station. So last week’s decision to show North Korea against Portugal was a blessing.
But it was a classical Case of Typical wrong timing.
North Koreans used to seeing only positive news about their country were shocked when their first opportunity to watch live television ended in disaster with Portugal humiliating the dear brother leader’s team seven nothing.
Television and the World Cup were immediately halted and positive news restored.
Monday, 21 June 2010
badass day off.
Yes.
I have a day job, the kind of job that you have too. That you wake every morning and sometimes night and then attend to.
Like you i also attend the altar of earning the bread. And like you I worship every day. Well like you I have day offs from the altar. That is badass.
One should not have days off. All days must be days on.
Like they write on radio studios; "On Air." Just imagine having "off air" on your doorstep, or somewhere to brand you at any given time of the day.
Today I have a "Day Off" REALLY, that sounds like a copy edit for a trendy advert post, and then the opposite: "Day on."
Why should one then have a day off, a sort of an "off air day" placed in front the studio room of a radio station.. Imagine being off air. Thats also badass.
Really? I don't need a day off. All my days need to be day on. Not day off, not for me. It is forever 'Day On."
Because I am cool like that.
So I have a day off, really? DAY off on monday? But somedays off are very beautiful like the one for today. Imagine a day off that starts with a live World Cup MATCH on my bed. First thing in the morning. At 5 am. North America does things to you. Thats also badass.
watching a Live World Cup game at 5 am on a Monday morning taking place in Johannesburg is nice and right. But somting is wrong somewhere. It is geography I know, wait where is the map?
Yes, I see it is 10.00 PM here in Calgary, the sun is out and shining brightly. Seriously? the sun is out and shining brightly at 10.00 pm? In fact children are playing football in local school pitch. three boys, they are playing kick about, they exchange stints in goal posts.
The forth one runs, he makes very fast start and stop short sprints
10.00 pm? the sun is out?
There is a God. He is somewhere there. He is watching over everything at his time. Time to him is a trick. Seriously? sun is shining at 10.00 pm?
The of the kids doing said sprints is a good kid. He is 16 and plays football for Chinook United FC. He is training for a tournament in Seattle US. His origins are as far back as Ottomans, you know those badass people from sometime century. They were apparently great people according to wikipedia.
Now they pass off their days as China Turk. Otherwise how really will you remember some province that is controlled by China but somehow they are Turkish. Turkmen, Shinza men or whatever.
I think they are some country or province somewhere who are fighting for liberation and struggling for this spin or that. Are we not doing that our selves. Everyone of you that will ever get to read here are that place with a weird name. Having days off and days on.
When one gets their days on and off right in Rwanda they earn the title of "Msirie.: which it is much more fluent in its English translation; the serious one.
So If you don't get your days and hours right you don't get to qualify being be "the serious one" by Rwandan standards leave alone Calgary.
that is also badass.
Day offs must be abolished and the sun must shine until 10.00 pm everyday. That way God can look at us all he wants. Not checking upon on us his time as he does now. Johannesburg+5 am+World Cup+Vuvuzela+LA Lakers+sun+10.00 pm=
badass.
We must have day ON all the time.
Downtown, the train, the university, the library, the bus, the football pitch, The World Cup, the Ottoman. I saw a Vuvuzela live on TV today, it was being blown by fans of LA Lakers who were cheering their team in the victory parade of their 2010 NBA Championship in los angeles where they defeated the Boston Celtics.
Talk about patents!!!!!
I have a day job, the kind of job that you have too. That you wake every morning and sometimes night and then attend to.
Like you i also attend the altar of earning the bread. And like you I worship every day. Well like you I have day offs from the altar. That is badass.
One should not have days off. All days must be days on.
Like they write on radio studios; "On Air." Just imagine having "off air" on your doorstep, or somewhere to brand you at any given time of the day.
Today I have a "Day Off" REALLY, that sounds like a copy edit for a trendy advert post, and then the opposite: "Day on."
Why should one then have a day off, a sort of an "off air day" placed in front the studio room of a radio station.. Imagine being off air. Thats also badass.
Really? I don't need a day off. All my days need to be day on. Not day off, not for me. It is forever 'Day On."
Because I am cool like that.
So I have a day off, really? DAY off on monday? But somedays off are very beautiful like the one for today. Imagine a day off that starts with a live World Cup MATCH on my bed. First thing in the morning. At 5 am. North America does things to you. Thats also badass.
watching a Live World Cup game at 5 am on a Monday morning taking place in Johannesburg is nice and right. But somting is wrong somewhere. It is geography I know, wait where is the map?
Yes, I see it is 10.00 PM here in Calgary, the sun is out and shining brightly. Seriously? the sun is out and shining brightly at 10.00 pm? In fact children are playing football in local school pitch. three boys, they are playing kick about, they exchange stints in goal posts.
The forth one runs, he makes very fast start and stop short sprints
10.00 pm? the sun is out?
There is a God. He is somewhere there. He is watching over everything at his time. Time to him is a trick. Seriously? sun is shining at 10.00 pm?
The of the kids doing said sprints is a good kid. He is 16 and plays football for Chinook United FC. He is training for a tournament in Seattle US. His origins are as far back as Ottomans, you know those badass people from sometime century. They were apparently great people according to wikipedia.
Now they pass off their days as China Turk. Otherwise how really will you remember some province that is controlled by China but somehow they are Turkish. Turkmen, Shinza men or whatever.
I think they are some country or province somewhere who are fighting for liberation and struggling for this spin or that. Are we not doing that our selves. Everyone of you that will ever get to read here are that place with a weird name. Having days off and days on.
When one gets their days on and off right in Rwanda they earn the title of "Msirie.: which it is much more fluent in its English translation; the serious one.
So If you don't get your days and hours right you don't get to qualify being be "the serious one" by Rwandan standards leave alone Calgary.
that is also badass.
Day offs must be abolished and the sun must shine until 10.00 pm everyday. That way God can look at us all he wants. Not checking upon on us his time as he does now. Johannesburg+5 am+World Cup+Vuvuzela+LA Lakers+sun+10.00 pm=
badass.
We must have day ON all the time.
Downtown, the train, the university, the library, the bus, the football pitch, The World Cup, the Ottoman. I saw a Vuvuzela live on TV today, it was being blown by fans of LA Lakers who were cheering their team in the victory parade of their 2010 NBA Championship in los angeles where they defeated the Boston Celtics.
Talk about patents!!!!!
Sunday, 20 June 2010
A Vuvuzela inspired space programme for Africa
From the Hammock : Africa and our Vuvuzela inspired space programme
BY GEORGE KAGAME
With the World Cup in South Africa spinned as Africa’s time to showcase whatever we have here; the talking season is in frenzy.
Pundits, serious people, important people, people of note and even our fellow Citizens are talking. Albeit in drink filled mouthfuls and typical Third Street foul mouths; you can call it ranting.
Captured below are some of the things that concern our three favourite Citizens transcribed from a discourse taking place in that favourite of watering holes; The Ship&Anchor in downtown Citi.
Naturally this is a good time to be in Africa or to be African, it is the World Cup for Christ’s sake on our doorstep. A global feast of joy and happiness.
Don’t you reckon?
Africa is now welcome to the cheer party of the world. But like the script goes; if you come late to the party you try to make up for lost time. (Ask UN representatives of their opinions regarding Muamar Gadafi’s UN summit speech in New York recently.)
South Africans are late comers even to an African party but in a very short time they have successfully upset the established cheer party by their Vuvuzelas and this has many Citizens talking in space.
Bwana Mdogo: “It was a laughable idea a year ago when it was announced that the DR Congo government was planning on launching a space programme. And no; we are not talking about the space as in political space, media space, personal space, democracy space and space in whatever fashion it comes in but the space of mars, the sun, rockets and scientists.
DR Congo and a space programme really? You must be joking.
The project is still in incubation but not many people take it serious. This is due to the fact that despite many countries in Africa being more developed and more stable than DRC, we have not yet embraced the space thing.
The industry of satellites, rockets, and general space has simply not yet blossomed around here. Predictably, it is said that South Africa has nuclear technology, but not even they have space.
As such there’s a very limited presence of Africa(ns) in space, the only known African who ever made it there was Michael Shuttleworth, a young and wealthy white South African investor. And even he had to pay 20 million dollars to go there as a tourist.
While other people have been talking space, computers and satellites we are still stuck with the pre cold war technology of those poor miserable Russians and their notorious arms dealers.
So when DR Congo announced their space programme we remarked; “seriously Congo?” we knew that a solution to our space conundrum would have to come from South Africa. And indeed our answers were answered recently in Africa’s creative hub; Johannesburg.
Our first encounter with space was not ideal. It comes across as irritating; like someone you cannot stand in a staring contest. See? We have been left behind in the space race for so long yet we also need a presence there and if noble means won’t take us there we have no choice but to creep upon space with our noise.
Episode one started on 11 June 2010 with a plastic horn. The now famous Vuvuzela, blown by South African crowds thronging football stadiums to watch The World Cup, apparently the sound produced by these horns has reached the science space.
Never mind that many visitors have complained about its noise; upon which FIFA President Sepp Blatter has responded; “Seriously, this is Africa!”
Maama nani: Perhaps they brought the World Cup to a wrong place, somewhere really bad, a place with a lot of crime and violence, rape, muggings, and HIV/Aids.
And since it will take a little bit longer to see those other things, the poor Vuvuzela has been catapulted into a serious talking point of Africa’s World Cup. It might as well be the everlasting image and memory of the 2010 World Cup.
I have an idea for a Vuvuzela moment; I suggest we build a statue in memory of this horn and how it made us heard in space. Caption it with a statement like; “we made contact with space minus the drama and the cold war.”
We are good at this kind of thing, we build statues everywhere in Africa, and in fact recently we just got a cathedral of statues, the mother of them statues across the world.
This one was even a prophesy of Kenya’s Ngugi Wa Thiongo in his book; “The Wizard of the Crow.” The cathedral of African statues built by Senegal’s Abdoulaye Wade in Dakar cost more than 28 million dollars.
But in fairness to Wade, the statue is that of a guy with abs, a marvellous woman by his side and they are even carrying a cute child. The African Renaissance project as it is known could have been worse, just imagine it being the face of Wade himself while at the same time he earns a fortune from it from tourists.
Indeed Africa, space and sports are good topics for future generations to interest themselves.
Mtu Mzima: Take away your craze!
Take away your Africa and its World Cup spin. I will watch football even if the World Cup was held in Tonga, Fiji or Samoa.
Please don’t tell me about apartheid, crime, violence, HIV/Aids, spin this spin that. I have known about these issues for a very long time; very eloquently told through the lives of Lucky Dube and Brenda Fasie. And don’t even tell me about your Vuvuzela. This is sport.
South Africa is not different from Germany or Bhutan. I don’t care who hosts the thing. It is not the place I feel attached to. It is the play, the competition and the story of those countries that are competing. Save me the drama not connected to the sport.
BY GEORGE KAGAME
With the World Cup in South Africa spinned as Africa’s time to showcase whatever we have here; the talking season is in frenzy.
Pundits, serious people, important people, people of note and even our fellow Citizens are talking. Albeit in drink filled mouthfuls and typical Third Street foul mouths; you can call it ranting.
Captured below are some of the things that concern our three favourite Citizens transcribed from a discourse taking place in that favourite of watering holes; The Ship&Anchor in downtown Citi.
Naturally this is a good time to be in Africa or to be African, it is the World Cup for Christ’s sake on our doorstep. A global feast of joy and happiness.
Don’t you reckon?
Africa is now welcome to the cheer party of the world. But like the script goes; if you come late to the party you try to make up for lost time. (Ask UN representatives of their opinions regarding Muamar Gadafi’s UN summit speech in New York recently.)
South Africans are late comers even to an African party but in a very short time they have successfully upset the established cheer party by their Vuvuzelas and this has many Citizens talking in space.
Bwana Mdogo: “It was a laughable idea a year ago when it was announced that the DR Congo government was planning on launching a space programme. And no; we are not talking about the space as in political space, media space, personal space, democracy space and space in whatever fashion it comes in but the space of mars, the sun, rockets and scientists.
DR Congo and a space programme really? You must be joking.
The project is still in incubation but not many people take it serious. This is due to the fact that despite many countries in Africa being more developed and more stable than DRC, we have not yet embraced the space thing.
The industry of satellites, rockets, and general space has simply not yet blossomed around here. Predictably, it is said that South Africa has nuclear technology, but not even they have space.
As such there’s a very limited presence of Africa(ns) in space, the only known African who ever made it there was Michael Shuttleworth, a young and wealthy white South African investor. And even he had to pay 20 million dollars to go there as a tourist.
While other people have been talking space, computers and satellites we are still stuck with the pre cold war technology of those poor miserable Russians and their notorious arms dealers.
So when DR Congo announced their space programme we remarked; “seriously Congo?” we knew that a solution to our space conundrum would have to come from South Africa. And indeed our answers were answered recently in Africa’s creative hub; Johannesburg.
Our first encounter with space was not ideal. It comes across as irritating; like someone you cannot stand in a staring contest. See? We have been left behind in the space race for so long yet we also need a presence there and if noble means won’t take us there we have no choice but to creep upon space with our noise.
Episode one started on 11 June 2010 with a plastic horn. The now famous Vuvuzela, blown by South African crowds thronging football stadiums to watch The World Cup, apparently the sound produced by these horns has reached the science space.
Never mind that many visitors have complained about its noise; upon which FIFA President Sepp Blatter has responded; “Seriously, this is Africa!”
Maama nani: Perhaps they brought the World Cup to a wrong place, somewhere really bad, a place with a lot of crime and violence, rape, muggings, and HIV/Aids.
And since it will take a little bit longer to see those other things, the poor Vuvuzela has been catapulted into a serious talking point of Africa’s World Cup. It might as well be the everlasting image and memory of the 2010 World Cup.
I have an idea for a Vuvuzela moment; I suggest we build a statue in memory of this horn and how it made us heard in space. Caption it with a statement like; “we made contact with space minus the drama and the cold war.”
We are good at this kind of thing, we build statues everywhere in Africa, and in fact recently we just got a cathedral of statues, the mother of them statues across the world.
This one was even a prophesy of Kenya’s Ngugi Wa Thiongo in his book; “The Wizard of the Crow.” The cathedral of African statues built by Senegal’s Abdoulaye Wade in Dakar cost more than 28 million dollars.
But in fairness to Wade, the statue is that of a guy with abs, a marvellous woman by his side and they are even carrying a cute child. The African Renaissance project as it is known could have been worse, just imagine it being the face of Wade himself while at the same time he earns a fortune from it from tourists.
Indeed Africa, space and sports are good topics for future generations to interest themselves.
Mtu Mzima: Take away your craze!
Take away your Africa and its World Cup spin. I will watch football even if the World Cup was held in Tonga, Fiji or Samoa.
Please don’t tell me about apartheid, crime, violence, HIV/Aids, spin this spin that. I have known about these issues for a very long time; very eloquently told through the lives of Lucky Dube and Brenda Fasie. And don’t even tell me about your Vuvuzela. This is sport.
South Africa is not different from Germany or Bhutan. I don’t care who hosts the thing. It is not the place I feel attached to. It is the play, the competition and the story of those countries that are competing. Save me the drama not connected to the sport.
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