Random Thoughts

When you were screwed over with Apartheid, the rest of us in the world did something about it. Not that we did it quickly or ' liberated ' you a-la-Iraq style. But we did something. Maybe diamonds slipped the embargos. Maybe it took 20 years longer than needed. But know this; we were there. We stood shoulder to shoulder in solidarity. My passport had a stamp in it saying I could not enter South Africa. Stamped by my own government. Because we were serious about boycotting Apartheid-ridden South Africa. We did not play cricket with South Africa. Why? Because we wanted to make sure they were isolated. Guess what? After many, many years of your pain and suffering and even more of your sweat, blood and tears you gained your freedom. I remember that Sunday when some dude named Nelson Mandela was released from prison. I remember because they interrupted all TV programming on our ONE TV channel town to let us know he was released. I recalled asking my mum who he was that his freedom m...

I've been thinking of Africa of late. I am not sure why. Maybe its the Akon music. He's Senegalese. Or from New Jersey, your choice. Maybe its something else. Some of you may know that many years ago, I lived in Africa. I don't have too many memories of it, but the ones that I have are good ones. I somehow stumbled upon SABC's Greatest South Africans list . One tends to forget that a rather large continent sits out there and is teeming with some truly amazing people. Its amazing how we as a world are sometimes more obsessed with the next lunatic thing Britney Spears is going to do instead of perhaps enjoying the diversity that is this planet. As I scanned down the list, I noticed some names that I can say I have the honour of knowing about. There are the obvious ones for me: Mandela, Sisulu, Tutu, Tambo, Verwoerd (yes, he's on the list). But some that are not so obvious like Gandhi, Smuts (contemporaries of each other btw), Rhodes. But they are all sons and daughte...