Why does it seem to be such a fine line between the extremes of what brings me great joy or incredible anger? The Art of Traffic'ing Take traffic for example. You want to bring me deep joy? Offer me a space in front of you when i am trying to make my way into a busy road. Or even just wave a thank you or flash your lights at me when i have made [...]
On the evening of the election, tbV [the beautiful Val] and i hosted our own party. #ISeeWhatIDidThere We invited around ten of our friends for food and drinks and cake and conversation and just hung out - no agenda beyond celebrating friendship and being in a trusted space with people we love. And it was a diverse group of people. And it was good. Then last night we gatecrashed [kinda] another dinner with some [...]
Dear South Africa, Actually, dear white South Africans. My peeps. I love you but we can't have another year like 2017. Seriously. I've taken the liberty of writing a few New Year's Resolutions for us. I reckon we can do it. Learn an African language. Pay your domestic worker a living wage and stop calling her "Irene". Her name is Thobeka. Only read novels written by African authors. Get on Black Twitter. Look at black [...]
Dear South Africa... Charles Dickens starts A Tale of Two Cities with this: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had [...]
Dear South Africa, LOVE BLACK PEOPLE It only dawned on me recently, how we need this. Desperately need this. I cannot speak for all Black people, I cannot even speak for the majority of Black people, but I can speak for Black people like me. Love us. It has been alleged that the idea was ‘stolen’ from someone else, so I will not state where I saw it, but the premise was that people from [...]
My friend Thandi Gamedze is an exceptional poet and wordsmith and her 'Dear South Africa...' comes in the form of a poem Beloved South Africa, I bless you to let loose the oceans of tears that you have carried, and cry For your sons that have been trodden down and stripped of their dignity And your daughters that have been raped, abused and dehumanised For your fathers that have turned to unfeeling stone, under weight [...]
Dear South Africa... And so the letter begins. A letter penned to a nation. Well, not 'penned' per say, because who does that anymore? Typed. A letter typed to a beloved country. But what type of letter might that be? How would yours look? Would it be filled with hope or be more likely to resemble a tired, worn out missive of anger and accusation? Might it call people out to be what we've seen [...]
We had a dream our lives would be... So different from this hell we're living So different now from what it seemed, Now... Life... Has killed The dream... We dreamed... The dream to some it seemed started in '94 as lines of voters snaked around fields Filled with the anxious anticipation of first-time voters eager to claim their rich inheritance Before the years were peeled back to reveal that perhaps the vote was all [...]
Just to be clear, that's not Jesus in the picture, it's my friend Rudzani Thangoane. i met him in Durban too. Sho, it would take too many words to do our recent KZN trip any justice, but let me try a few. That was definitely the highlight two week period of 2017 for me so far, and so Cape Town you had better work your magic quickly cos i am feeling strongly pulled in that direction [...]
i was being driven home from a hockey match yesterday when my mate turned to me and asked me, "How are you feeling about South Africa right now?" The answer is that i am feeling hopeful. In fact a number of people both black and white have been asking me this question recently and that is my honest response. BUT i am not blind or ignorant. i know that there are some really angry black people, [...]
