Democracy..............and South Africa. THE NEW CONSTITUTION. amandla!!!!
Dear Diary,
Gavin said a funy thing to me today.......
I said "hey Gavin! we are free??" or did I say...."hey Gavin,
does it mean we are free now?"
He said....."Yes, now we can go back to coping with unemployment, crime, corruption, and poverty!"
I have said before, and I will mention it again, we will become as "quaint" as the rest of Africa......its not far off. Do I mind? yes.
I know there is a poem somewhere, about waste...can't put my finger on it at the moment...and.... it is a waste.....never mind the intentions, never mind the fairness, or who is right, the fact remains, that in the hands of the government, we will slip back into the third world.........and that is the shame of it. When one takes history, and thinks of the thousands who are dead in the name of freedom, equality, and all that bull shit, "we" are the first world and now we are going to have to cope.
In our new constitution, the most important laws, the ones that were fought over for years, have been left out! EQUALITY. How can it be fair, if you have the legal right to strike, but the person who owns the business, does not have the right to lock you out? The department of education, has passed a new law, that there will no longer be seperate schooling, thats fair.....but, what they intend doing, is to no longer have special schooling for handicapped children!
What they are going to do, is start with just a few children, blind, deaf, mute, crippled, or any other horror that one cannot imagine, and put them into the same schools as "normal" children. They say, that specialized schooling is discriminatory, ? What know one seems to appreciate, is that the cruelest people on earth, are children. They are, to a point, the most honest. They say things, that we have been taught not to say. In my study, of the culture, as little as I have done, since I do not profess to be an expert, it is a fact, that in the "black" culture, anything that is not whole, is outcast. This is so in nature, and it makes for the balance, that mother nature seems to have taught the animals. So......how can, the so called experts, without any real thought be so cruel to the children??
Is this then equality?
We no longer have a government of sharing, our former rulers have decided to become the opposition. Well, this is actually a very good thing......since at least then the laws that are passed, will take longer than they are doing now, to go through parliment.
In our regional government offices, in a place called Bisho, the corruption is so rife, that the civil servants only go to work to collect their pay. Millions are paid out every month to "ghost" employees........during the course of the month, no phones are answered, and there is no-one there! If you want to tender on work that is government related, and you are prepared to "share" with the person in charge, you may charge what you like, and you will also get paid........eventually. But, we are all cheerful.
Now, we have "twinned" huh? with Detroit in the USA....wonderful, now the Mafia can come here....never mind that we have our own Mafia......they can teach us about laundering money, and we can give them a few lessons in rape, burglery, and how to handle wepons. One can always learn thing ....eh? there is no need for them to worry about drugs, we have those here.......actually, we can get it for them wholesale. The chief crop of Lusikisiki....in the Transkei, is "grass"...it has been so for at least as far back as I can remember, it grows in lush profusion alonside the roads, is stacked in bags on the dirt roads I have travelled, and the police and army, are all the "God fathers". I always find it so odd, that the penalty for drugs, is so severe, and for murder and theft, you either get off scott free, or have a very light sentence.....then whilst in jail, you can carry on trading in the "stuff". odd hey? I tried it once, grass I mean......two drags.......so? I'm still waiting for the effect to take place........I know I had a headache for days afterward........maybe thats what they want? I'd rather have a glass of wine anyday......do you think I missed the point? "kola rouge" was much better........nu, never mind.......money is money......how ever dirty.
The new constitution?..........they also left out the protection and punishment for child abuse..........the Western Cape and the Transvaal, amongst the highest figures for child abuse in the world! But Mr Mandela loves children, he donates one third of his salary to the childrens fund........not that he is responsible for the new laws.......I just kinda thought he would give his views on the subject......I guess equality has different meanings.....
I guess what brought this one....this mood, was the news of the new schooling system..............I feel really sad......am I wrong?
Bev
