Scenes from the 80's in 2006

Most of us that live in Cape Town know that a sunny Sunday afternoon means one thing. A trip down the N2 to Kwa Mzoli in Gugulethu. A popular hang out spot, a time to give your card a deserved R30 Kasi Valet, waiting for your meat from the braai, while sipping cold one on the sidewalk with friends. It is my opinion that Cape Town is not accommodating to the black person, as most hang out spots have been designed for whites. It is in this that we find conform in the unjudgemental and carefree streets of Gugulethu.

This was not to be Sunday afternoon as cops re-enacted a scene from Sarafina and raided Kwa-Mzoli arresting anyone seen carrying a bottle of alcohol. What was ironic was that some of the arrested where white tourists who came to experience authentic township life. It was quite a scene seeing the white youths being hurled face first into the police trucks (imigqomo, the exact ones from the 80's). There where about 30 cops along with numerous security guards armed with rubber bullet short guns, and I suspected that the rubber bullet's sister the tear gas was hidden in those pockets.

Senzeni na?

A glimpse into the lives of ordinary black people

I am not much of a reader...trying to imagine when that big question comes about, "So Mr. Ntshinga, what are you reading at the moment". To save myself the embarrassment I decided to pick up a book, I am not a big fan of novels or 1000 page editorials...My wife brought home a book from work, its called, "Marketing through mud & dust " by Muzi Khuzwayo. I highly recommend this great piece of literature to everybody, especially white South Africans. This is a well written step by step journey into the lives of black people in general. The book is addressed at Marketers who constantly insult black people by putting out lame, degrading, uninformed, blanketed and misdirected advertising campaigns. Case in point "The OMO ads of old". For any black person who grew up in black environments like "Eloxion" this will be a nostagic read, which invokes mixed feelings like anger, sadness, laughter. For the average white person it will open their eyes to the reality about black people, acknowledge the fact that we are positevely different and help whites appreciate this fact.

In closing I would like to paraphrase from the book depicting a sense of blackness..."A black guy is being interviewed for a job, the white guy says to him, come back tomorrow for round two of the interviews...black guy looks at the manager with sincerity and says, 'Sorry Sir, I won't be able to make it for tomorrow, because my brother will be using the suite I'm wearing for his job interview'"