Black Economic Empowerment or blue elephants?

I am not heaven sent from Norway! Beaverboosh grounded me (and Norway) nicely yesterday. I do have some issues with the BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) in South Africa though. That does not mean that I don’t understand… coz I do know the history, and this should not label me as a racist either I believe.

First of all, how can you use racial distinction to create a non-racial society? That’s what BEE is all about, isn’t it… racial distinction? It sounds like a huge paradox that the leaders of this country have chosen. The leadership of a country should be smart guys, so you must trust them to make a good choice. They chose evolution over revolution, and it was pretty admirable to avoid a civil war in my view. BEE is a way to level out the differences in the society! The South African rugbyteam (Springboks, who won the world cup short time ago) is bringing in racial quotas now… and people are worried that this will tackle “Bokke”. It’s a parallel approach the way I see it. I understand and agree with the reasons, but wonder if they haven't made a hurried shortcut?

I see members of the BEE club stuffing each others pockets. People in the informal settlements around, Thembisa and Diepsloot, does not benefit much. They have no ways/ability to capture any governmental BEE funding. It’s the same guys all the time… Bring forward the masses rather than the few already stinking rich guys.Companies hiring ask for AA (Affirmative Action) candidates which means pretty much anything but white. Actually darker the better… in recruitment they call it “pigment premium”! No kidding – it is very real! Darker skin gets better pay. No wonder I’m working on my tan… I should actually skip all that sunscreen nonsense! No pain, no gain, right?! My objection is that it is not always the best qualified candidate that gets the job (at least that is my impression)!

I know the previously disadvantaged did not have the same access to education… so that should be a very important approach. Just do it right! Stories about students getting better grades because of skin color flourish. The other day I overheard a teacher/lecturer talking on the phone; “I have some other AA students that I have to re-evaluate. This is an AA student, right? What mark did he get? Ok, send it over and I will look into it!” It was reminding me of a story from a university in Norway:

An overambitious student had taken an extra subject one semester, but realized that he did not have the capacity to study enough. However, he went to do the exams. He didn’t have the foggiest idea about what they asked for… but had to sit for 2 hours before he could leave, as that’s the rules. This time he spent drawing a big blue elephant, then left! The teacher was quite amused, could not pass him but gave him a 4.1 (1 best – 6 poorest and 4.0 is the last passing grade). It was the best mark he could give without passing the student. Due to a low average result on this exam, they moved all the students up to get a “normal curve”. Thus, the student passed with his blue elephant!My point is that by racial distinction and no other qualitative measure; you might end up with many “blue elephants” passing!

On a trip to Mocambique earlier this year we stopped at the Jozini Dam. Some boys where selling amethyst rocks in the middle of school hours. He was embarrassed when I asked if he didn’t go to school. Whether it was his own choice or the parents’ choice, I don’t know, but money was preferred.

I believe that school should be mandatory, like it probably is also, but forced through to a greater extent. The quality of the schools should probably also be emphasized. Provide a social structure that can allow this and make it economically viable for families. It will take time, but at least the results will come with better quality.

Do whatever it takes to force those kids to school. My father told me he “forced” me to start playing organized football. I can’t recall being forced in any negative way, but actually enjoyed playing… and thankful for it today! If the parents can’t see the benefit… then go to Mandela, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini or/and get the local Sangomas on board so that they can preach the necessity even in the rural areas! Sangomas have been used to fight AIDS – so why not for the sake of BEE?! It would probably enlighten people enough to end the Sangoma traditions… let’s just hope that the Sangomas are not bright and foresighted enough to understand!

In turn, hopefully (and I truly believe) you would get a system where candidates get chosen based on their merits and nothing else. What if only the best qualified students was funneled up into higher education… and you couldn’t just buy your degree?! Provide some scholarships in this transitional period… but give the best students a chance! Take myself as an example: I was nowhere near good enough to go into Medical School. I studied economy/marketing because that was my interest among the studies that I was qualified for. I sharpened up, matured and came out fine I believe. One year later, and I wouldn’t have qualified for the same school either, so I was lucky! Tough, but that’s life!

Beware of the blue elephants and put more focus on education… I guess that’s all I wanted to say!!

TIA – This Is Africa

I was up unusually early this morning (yesterday), because I was too agitated and pissed off to sleep! I took a walk/jog to try and rid myself of some built up excess energy. As I walk under some trees that are hanging out over the street, something drops from the tree. From the side of my vision I could see this “something” dropping, but not really what it was. Whether it was a cone, a branch or a coconut… I was incredibly alert this morning and jumped aside in pure reflex. The curious George in me wanted to know what it was though. It blended into the grass and moved… long after it should have stopped rolling or bouncing. A snake! It was a tiny little green snake. Who knows what kind and how poisonous it could be, but it was a small footstep away from landing on my shoulder.
In Norway we have a poisonous adder. It’s the only poisonous snake around, and for some people it could be no worse than a bee sting. I know though, that juvenile snakes of the kind give everything in one bite… whilst the adult snakes learn to portion out their venom. Thus, it can be worse to meet an unruly youngster than a more impressive one size wise. Size is truly not everything… and this dropping, jumping, flying marine/ amphibian snake could hardly be more than 20-30cm long… and thin and puny. Was it a tiny unruly one, old and slow, dangerous or harmless kind??? I think I will retreat from the bush into a safe and secure library to find out one of these days…
My father in law once told me that they used to climb up in the trees to pluck mangos. High up there, they used to see small green snakes all the time… really poisonous ones I remember him saying. Was it to spice up the story or were they really that dangerous I wonder now? I was impressed though, enough to remember the story now at least. I’ve been on the farm and seen those huge mango trees... and can easily imagine myself up there with jumping snakes… I’m sure my snake was the same kind!

In my more than one year now in South Africa, and several vacations before, I have seen one dead snake on the road before this. That was in a bush area close to the Mozambiquan border and far away from civilization. I knew they where hiding somewhere, but never expected one to attack me from a tree like that… It would have been more likely in the deep African jungle, but not on the streets in Pretoria?! Last week I found a tiny little scorpion on our patio. Then you know that mom and dad must be somewhere around too. I imagined the kids stepping on one on the lawn, and threw it into the braai (barbeque) coals…

TIA I’m thinking – This Is Africa! But TIA has always been a way to explain stupid, bureaucratic, slow and inefficient stuff… All the time it’s been a humoristic way (for me at least!) to make an excuse for harmless but tiresome practices. Only when a snake attacks you from a tree does TIA sort of hit you right in the face. Then you realize that this is as TIA as you can get it in the developed South Africa. All the creeps and wild animals come with the package.
Did I sign up for all this when I left Norway a year ago? The Norwegian winter is bad enough, but no deadly bugs or reptiles can survive it. The cold wipes out that factor sort of and keeps it disinfected! Maybe there is something to Norway after all? Maybe my ancestors saw something that I’ve been too blind to see before today?! Maybe there was a good reason for that great trek after all?? How could my ancestors be so stupid - when I'm so smart after all?! It does not make sense of course! This must be the reason!! Imagine what other scary creatures they had in the Cradle of Humankind back then... a T-Rex Mamba or a Megaladon Bug that is yet to be discovered and excavated maybe? No wonder they jumped that pond and over to the European side!!

Fucked and Abused

I'm gonna rewrite that Led Zeppelin song "Dazed and confused" to "Fucked and abused"!! I’ve had some frustrations as an expat in South Africa. Some small ones and some bigger ones, but thought I’ll not use this blog as a wailing wall. Not unless I could find some cultural perspective or justify it from some other angle. This time I am generally pissed off and I have no intention whatsoever to find a justifiable angle. I need to write off these frustrations in order to not go mad - plain and simple!

I find myself in crossfire between my brother in law and his previous flatmate - let’s just call him Ari. In their dispute Ari has not payed the last 2 months rent and now moved out. He has later broken into the apartment (lock-seal) and stolen my brother in law’s TV. Ari has also found a way (???) to reverse R11.000 out of my account without my authorization. This amount was originally my brother in law’s salary, and from this amount we payed their rent and domestic helper and etc. Ari then decides that he can take this amount out of my account… which leaves me R11.000 (about $1.600) short!

In our household we balance our spending with our income. We spend what we earn. We don’t have deep enough pockets to go R11.000 short one month and smile back to our “friend” who stole it! Ari has come to our house to eat on a regular basis for almost a year and been almost like a family member. He’s been broke and taken in by our family. It’s the Indian way… and I happen to be married into one. We have made extra food to accommodate him… and there have been unexpected times where I personally have eaten less than normal so that he could stop his roaring tummy. Then he turns around and empties 11k’s out of my account?!

I have told him repeatedly to keep me and my family out of their dispute! In return I’m asked to stay away from it… Hello!! He involved ME by stealing 11 grand! This is personal to me. It’s like sneaking up on me at night and fiddle with my dick, very personal! This is the third time (second in a year) this happens to me in South Africa, but never thought that a friend would turn around and steal money from me.

The police tell us that, because of the technicalities, the banking business is a civil dispute that we have to settle between ourselves. The police won’t intervene in this matter. Ari still had a key to the door, and although he broke a lock seal, the police refuse to open a case on this. The TV all the same and there is no way that the police will assist in any way.

Ironically I was listening to Faith No More in the car this morning – The gentle art of making enemies! Although painful, the lyrics were ever so fitting:

I deserve a reward

Cuz I'm the best fuck that you ever had (11k’s worth to be exact)

And if I tighten up my hole -

You may never see the light again

I really feel FUCKED! Not in a pleasant way… but raped and abused!! I have no desire to loose 11grand because of a dispute that does not concern me. Now both I and my wife have wasted two full working days, lost night sleep and been turned away from every authority (bank & legal/police) that we thought could assist us. I’m in a dangerous state of mind right now!! All opportunities within the law have been tried in vain, and I’m fantasizing about “alternative” solutions. If you ever read my Dog Story, then you have a clue what I'm talking about. NO, you actually have to multiply it infinite times to come close!!

I like to have good equipment in the kitchen, so one of the first things I did when we moved to South Africa was to buy some good kitchen knives. Victorinox knives to be specific, that I like and consider good quality knives. Recently the vegetable knife was used to cut bones and was destroyed. Today I went to a china shop around the corner and bought one of these butcher knives made specifically to cut bones... "pork even, no problem"; the chinaman behind the counter told me with a big smile! What else than pork I wonder... I can’t seem to rid myself of that bastard Ari!!

Even if the money was returned to me this instant I would want this guy to really suffer. A very basic caveman instinct in me wants to provide for my family. When that ability is taken away from me, there is another instinct that kicks in (it seems). Let any suspect person in and around Gauteng know that I’m in the market and open to suggestions as how to sort things out!!!

Madagascar

Madagascar, the island at the end of the earth, was for me one of these places on the map that I thought; “I’ll go there some day”. When is another question! The adventurous part of me has this need to put an imaginary flag-pin on the world map stating that “I’ve been there”. How we ended up with Madagascar as our destination this time was due to a 4 year old article in the Getaway magazine. After numbers of beers and whisky’s and brainstorming, that article came up in conversation. The concept of staying on a boat in Madagascar was such an appealing thought that we could not rid ourselves of the daydreams… so the ticket was booked!

I knew nothing about Madagascar other than that animated children’s/parent’s movie that came out a while ago. We rented that movie, so that we where familiar with King Julian and his Lemur friends on the island. I still felt obliged to find out more before going there… so I found some old National Geographic (NG) magazines in a second hand bookstore…. and dug up some of my old Getaway and Go magazines with articles on the place.

Baobab trees have quite cool shapes. Madagascar has got 6 different species although it is known as a mainland Africa tree. Only one species grow on African mainland though. If I’m lucky I might even see a Chameleon and King Julian in one of those trees… it’s an obvious attraction and an excuse to go! Ylang Ylang trees are also quite special! It’s like they suddenly start growing downwards again at about chest height. Henk and I cover the fields of botany, biology, marine biology, social anthropology and lots of other useful things, and could confirm for the ladies that these plants were trimmed to not outgrow the small and petite Malagasy people (reaching chest height)… very much like in a Japanese garden with those tiny little trees that needs constant trimming.

The people in Madagascar are Malagasy, a mix of Africans, Arabs, Malaysians and Indonesians that arrived about 1500 years ago… dugout canoe’s that drifted off maybe? Serious drifting that… from either direction!! In my October 1967 and February ’87 issue of NG I found that the population have increased from 6-10 mill people and to 19,5 mill people as per July 2007. That’s quite an increase!! President M. Philibert Tsiranana explained in an interview (1967) that he is against any form of birth control, and he said: “I want every Malagasy to have at least 12 children”. So there is an explanation to everything… It’s like the introduction of rabbits in Australia, or the Kamtchatka Crabs in Russia, or American lobsters in Norway… and drifters stranded in Madagascar.

I’m diving at Four Brothers - four rocks that look almost misplaced and funny the way they come up from the abyss. It reminds me strongly about rock shapes and islands that I’ve seen in Thailand in the Phuket/Krabi area. My theory is that those rocks where shaped millions of years ago when we still had the Pangea super continent. If you puzzle together the continents today, I’m pretty damn sure that James Bond island will be the 5th brother or so…

Madagascar is a place where they find a lot of fossils, so I bought one of those ammonite things... It’s an obvious souvenir from the place. Madagascar has some animal species that you won’t find anywhere else in the world like Lemurs and some Chameleons. They also had some prehistoric species like the Aepyornis (Elephant Bird) that was a bigger version of the Ostrich. It seems to be a place for a lot of odd creatures, live ones and fossilized ones. But imagine the diversity of the marine life around Madagascar? I’ve already caught Cuta and Sailfish whilst fishing, and seen lots of the colorful fishies whilst diving… What about that Megladon, the prehistoric big brother of the white shark? They say much of the marine life is yet to be discovered, so who knows if the Megladon is really extinct?! If it’s lurking around down there somewhere, then I’m sure Madagascar is the place! Maybe in the deeper end though, so I silently agree with the girls to stay in the calm and shallow water around the little islands. Diving and snorkeling should be safe there. With the possibility of Megladons in the water, I decide to not push “Floater” too much…

Oh, I can put another flag-pin on the world map now... but I still don't feel I have DONE Madagascar properly... only a small part of the northern tip, so I have to come back!!

A beer with someone from history

If you could have a beer with someone from history, who would it be? Graham challenged me… so here goes!

Having a beer with any person existing before my own time would mean some kind of a time travel. I would therefore start at the beginning of time, with Adam and Eve. I would go to them, not the other way around… and there are lots of reasons for that. I would get to see The Garden of Eden, before it got corrupted… and maybe give them a word of advice that could change the world completely! A time travel in itself would also be awesome!!

First of all, I would tell them to stay away from that serpent (Satan)… and maybe even kill it! Satan would surely not give up and come back with some of his cunning… so I would definitely get rid of him once and for all! I would thereby hope that the serpent would not put ideas into Eve’s head… or anytime in the future!

Second I would tell them to stay away from that apple (God, testing his creations!) but that would still make it “forbidden fruit” and make it only more tempting… so maybe I would discretely steal it and eat it up out of their vision. Then I would dress them decent with some leafs, sit them down and have that beer… Carlsberg! We would talk about life in general… their lives. I would of course go along and give advice like a catholic priest and showing no sign of my corrupted future being that could rub off!!

I would do all of this in the hope that I could change the world that I myself live in and make it a better place for everybody. But would I really… By doing this I would kill, steal and introduce alcohol to Eden… all highly sinful stuff... so maybe I should abstain from that beer and that time travel after all?! By the time I made my way back the world would probably have gone under due to my early influence!!

As an alternative I would have some absinth with Nostrodamus. I would give him a book on the world history from his time up to my time… and let him point out his visions! But that would only mean focusing on all the shit that’s happened… so I would probably finish the bottle myself and leave him with the book!!

Rugby and Neanderthals

As the superior race on earth we have traced our background back to the more primitive humans, hominids and apes. We have found so many different species, representing different stages in evolution… and there might not even be a missing link any more?! From the species' evolved features, scientists can make up their minds about how smart these guys where amongst other things.

I read this article a while back about the Neanderthals. They where hunters and maybe not the smartest of the lot! According to findings, the Neanderthals cornered their prey and often had to go head on with the animals. You can imagine it being a warthog, a buck of some kind or something bigger fighting for it's life. Their killing technique was unrefined and often put them in great danger. They took a lot of hard knocks… and often to the head! When you take a serious hit apparently, you get a growth on your bones. That's your internal workshop's automatic service, but leaves you scarred for life (and way longer, on the bones at least)! The Neanderthals had a lot of these growths in the forehead especially…

I’m watching the rugby World Cup on TV now. For me as a Norwegian, rugby does not come around as a very intelligent game when you are first introduced to it… especially not when 15-20 overgrown men are putting their heads against each other in a scrum. I’ve got the hang of the game now, but that’s not the point… They go in with their head first in this game, and take quite a few knocks during a match…
I’m watching the features of these rugby guys… Muscular and big they are indeed! But it’s the eye brows… or rather the bone structure behind them that looks rather oversized as a general feature that draws my attention. Schalk Burger is on the screen (quite fitting name for a rugby player I must say), and the TV commentator is telling me that the players are developing growths in their foreheads from all the knocks (early match in the tournament). Probably not a very big growth, but a few extra millimeters like a bump. Those extra millimeters combined with all the constant bruises and swellings makes a quite distinct look! Big Ben from the Fantastic Four comes to my mind, but where the hell did I read about growths like this recently…??? Where did I see these features before…?! Then I realize, it’s those Neanderthal faces I posted earlier (http://stensbys.blogspot.com/2007/08/neanderthal-affair.html).

Let’s say our civilization goes under now (due to global warming or whatever)… then in another few thousand years, a new advanced civilization develops. They start excavating and finding old human remains and starting to reason what these people where like and how we lived. Be sure, they will find a rugby player… and then for all history we will be marked as backwards people who went head to head hunting for food. I’m not a famous guy, but quite happy in the belief that maybe some of my friends and/or family members think highly of me… only to have my bones displayed next to Schalk Burger’s and be labeled a Neanderthal… that sucks! I’ll choose cremation… better that way!!

Gone fishing

I went on a week’s holiday lately, on a boat in Madagascar! An all in one package for me really. Diving, sleeping, fishing, relaxing, eating… It was my wife and I and another couple, and their 14 year old daughter (Floater).

Earlier this year I got a small taste of what deep sea fishing can be like, when I went to Mocambique with a friend and eager fisherman from Norway (Oyvind). The catch was properly documented on this blog (http://stensbys.blogspot.com/2007/04/fishing-in-mocambique.html), much to rub it in for my friend that went home empty handed. This time I must say that I was looking forward to do some fishing, catch a big one and maybe rub it in even more… and document it like with all the salt and chillies to make it utterly painful for Oyvind, hahaha. Well, that was just a thought that snuck into my mind in a flash of a second… no more!

Well on board the boat, we are presented with the rules and we quickly move on to the priorities for the week. We’re a bunch of landlubbers and beg the captain for some calm waters. That means south of the Nosy Be Island sheltered by lots of smaller sand banks and islands. That also means bad fishing he says… I’m thinking to myself that during a whole week… if I keep the lines out at all times… I’ve bought some fancy lures… but I need all the luck now.

Kailash, the teenager on board has got a bellyring with lots of glittery stuff. We decide that she can be our floater… and all the tackles can easily be hooked onto her bellyring with an easy on and off clips… so Kailash is officially renamed “Floater”!
I take a look at the chart, and figure that our calm waters vary only between 20-30m deep. What big pelagic fishes can you catch in shallow waters like that?? I don’t know, but decide that I have to rely on “The Secret” as well… the power of the mind. Whilst all the others are relaxing and minding their own stuff, I will have to meditate on the fishing and visualize for myself how I battle to get that huge monster of a fish onboard the boat… then the fish will be “heaven sent” back to me as answer to my prayers. In these waters and the captain’s optimistic tone, that might be my safest bet… so the whole fishing thing fades out of my mind…

I don’t know what happened to the the prophets of doom… For two days there where nothing… but then suddenly one day the reel was screaming wildly. The captain had to wake me up on deck… fish, fish!! The line was pulling and pulling… and I just had to accept that only when this thing stops pulling can I start pulling back… but as soon as I started it was suddenly gone… F**K!! But at least something was lurking down there…

Only a minute later it happens again, and this time I landed a nice Cuta that I estimate must have been about 5kg. In an hour or two I landed two more, the biggest one now about 7kg… a little bit smaller than the one I caught in Mocambique, so still no proper salt to rub it in with for Oyvind… but I’m a happy fisherman… and me and Henk had 3-4 other ones on that we lost… so at least we had some good action there for a while!

As we are talking there at the back of the boat… my gaze is constantly swiping the horizon and in the direction of the fishing lines where our hopes lie… From out of the blue comes a fin… I jump up in the air, shouting shark, shark!! It could only be a shark or sharklike something big… and just as I’ve uttered the words the reel start running!! I’m at the rod in a second… but Ali the captain is shouting; “Let it go! Let it go!” I am too excited though and start pulling immediately. I can feel something heavy… and that it suddenly falls off sort of… It was Ali’s special tackle that went… a hairy piece of cotton is a fully good description of it!!
Apparently the cotton thing is a special thing for Marlins and Sailfish. They need to tangle up in the cotton properly before you bring it in… so I blew it big time with my eagerness… Like a premature e****lation it felt like… so bloody exciting but over before it even started!! Who could have dreamt of a Marlin before this trip…?

I’m scouting for fins in the water and Sea Gulls on the hunt now… Suddenly I see two more fins in the water, but nothing happens… Then again we see two fins… Sailfish Ali confirms. As we pass the spot I’m waiting and waiting… and there the line goes again. “Hold it, hold it” Ali is screaming! I’m ready with the cup belt and just waiting to pull and pull like crazy… “Hold it… hold it”; Ali goes again. I’m getting a bit impatient now… I’m wondering whether Ramadan and his fasting mean that he can’t take any fish either… and now he is buggering everything up for me as good as he can…?! Insh Allah (if Allah allows it)… isn’t it… and not for him to decide?!! The line has been running forever now, but then suddenly a huge Sailfish leaps out of the water like a mirror reflecting the sun, spinning around in the air and disappears into the blue again… “Bring it in!”; Ali screams now… and all my doubts in him are gone!
I pull and pull, and realize the fish went quite a distance whilst I was on a hold, waiting for Ali’s go signal. The sailfish jumps spectacularly out of the water again and again and threatens to circle around the boat. I feel very alive with that big thing wriggling, pulling and jumping out there. I am happy only to have seen this live… like on TV. Already I will have a hell of a story to tell… but I manage to land the beast though… the Sailfish only a tad more exhausted than the fisherman. Assany, my dive buddy and crewmember, takes a firm grip on the spear and gives it a couple of knocks to the head. Together we carry it to the front of the boat where it is all mine to cuddle and be photographed with. I really had to sit there for a long time to study in awe this amazingly beautiful creature… almost sad that it was going to the pots in a few hours.

Our chef on board made a lovely Sailfish carpaccio, followed by a lovely garnished piece of Sailfish fillet from the braai. Ali (the captain), Assany (dive-buddy/crew) and Gerrard (chef) shared the rest of the Sailfish in three equally big bags to feed their families. They seemed very happy with their share!! Although we did not have a weight on board we estimate that it must have been around 55-60kg. That’s rubbing salt into Oyvinds already wounded pride!! Cheers!!!
Ready for sundowners we pass a couple of Humpback Whales playing in the surface… I’m full of impressions for the day… and it’s still not deeper than 32 meters according to the instruments…