RUGBY AND THE RAINBOW NATION

Although the wave of national pride shared by South Africans of all colours as they greeted their rugby team on its return from winning the world cup in France, the issue of race in sport, as in other aspects of life in post-apartheid South Africa, is sure to continue.

President Thabo Mbeki made it clear that he shared the rainbow nation's joy, even though only two of the team's players were non-white, both of them being Coloured, as mixed-race South Africans are known. Mr Mbeki even called for the coach, Jake White, to stay on, though reports have buzzed around that he may look for a job elsewhere when his contract expires; he is said to be fed up with political interference. Voices in the ruling African National Congress have called for a more transformative approach to team selection: that means more non-whites should be picked.

Along with cricket, rugby remains a favourite sport of most white South Africans, whereas most of their black fellow citizen prefers football. Rugby is still particularly popular among Afrikaners, white South Africans of mainly Dutch descent who were the bastion of support for the ideology of segregation and racial domination; of the 32 players in the victorious world cup squad, not just those that actually played in the final game, only four were whites of English-speaking stock, five were Coloured and just one was a black African.

Nelson Mandela's gracious support for the Springboks, as the national team is known, when they last won the cup, on home soil, in 1995, softened the hearts of white South Africa, even of the most diehard white racists. But a feeling still lingers that rugby has yet to shed its image as a mainly white sport that long symbolised apartheid at its macho worst.

Pressure on the sport's governing body and coaches to ensure that the sport better mirrors the country's racial make-up is intense. South Africa's 48 million people, about 38 million are black, 4 million plus are white, almost as many are Coloured and about 600,000 are of Asian descent. Set racial quotas in professional rugby at the top level were dropped in 2004.

THE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality recently graced Port Elizabeth residents with a Jazz Festival that left Port Elizabeth residents craving for more of the show. The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality clearly prepared for the show in advance because the security was very tight in all angles, some roads were closed because of this event, and this was for traffic purposes.

This all started on Friday the 13^th of May at the Vuyisile mini square which is also known as the market square. On Friday it was just an opening show and it was a free show, it started at 17h00 and ended at 23h00. The main concert was on Saturday the 14^th of May at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium where the tickets to enter was R40.00-R400.00. There were many artists who were rocking there, amongst those artists there was also the talented Bra Hugh Masekela, Goldfish and Belinda Adams.

On Saturday the doors were opened at 14h00 and the show started at 14h30. Indeed it was a main event because it included artists like freshly ground, Huge Masekela, Prime Circle, Geoge Benson, Jamali and Loyiso Bhala who was an important guest. People came from all over the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape to witness this big event that was held by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. “It was a very exciting and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen, not to mention the vibe and the hospitality of the Nelson Mandela Bay”, said Velem Spark, who came for the festival from Westen Cape. This viewer says he came all the way from Cape Town to witness this festival, especially to watch his favourite jazz legend in South African Music Bra-Hugh Masekela.

The performances from these superstars were of cause not disappointing. “They delivered exactly what I was expecting and the audiences enjoyed themselves”, said Anga Mnge, a Student from NMMU, who was truly excited about the whole show.

                  

   

LEARNERS ARE BEING ASSAULTED AT SCHOOLS

CORPORAL punishment has become a serious issue in schools, especially in rural areas and black disadvantaged schools. Teachers feel the need to use corporal punishment on learners who misbehave and those who do not make their home works. The question is that should corporal punishment be used at schools knowing that it has been burned long time ago.

The department of education’s code of conduct is turning to be blind on issues that lead teachers on spanking learners. The learners nowadays are ill-disciplined and the law favours learners over their educators. If a learner does not do his/her school work which result to failure, the teacher get blamed for not doing his/her job properly. School kids do whatever they feel in school premises that are against the school’s code of conduct, so teachers try to enforce discipline by applying corporal punishment.

The learners quickly jump on accusing teachers, saying they are being abused and they call the officials to take this issue on their hands. Do teachers have the right to corporal punishment? This is the question that everyone is asking around. The Herald has recently reported about a 14-year-old pupil that was badly beaten by his teacher at St Josephs junior secondary schools in Mthatha.  Zandile Mbabela, a journalist from The Herald reported that this young boy received five strong lashes on the left hand with a pipe by a female teacher. Doctors reported that this young boy could not walk again because his condition has become worse to the point of almost total paralysis and the loss of feeling in his legs.

Department of education discovered that some teachers relieve their stress by beating learners. The department of education burned corporal punishment long time ago. The department gave some alternative measures of corporal punishment such as detention and community service, like working in the school garden and other work at school, not spanking a child. The provincial superintendent of the Eastern Cape, Modidima Manya Said, “We are taking a zero-tolerance approach to corporal punishment and any assault on a pupil by a teacher. We cannot keep spending government money defending teachers who act against government policy. If they cannot comply with the rules, they should not be in the government’s employ.”

Corporal punishment makes children fear school, they not even participate in class and their class marks decreases. It also makes dropouts at schools. Children are not motivated to go to school, and as a result there are a lot of street kids starving in rubbish bins because of fearing school.            

‘WHO TO VOTE FOR’

The South African municipal election for the year 2011 has come again. All political parties are busy impressing people all over South Africa. Political parties are campaigning trying to convince people to follow and vote for their parties. The whole country is painted by posters of different political parties.

Only two weeks left for South African citizens to vote for their local municipalities, each South African political party is running up and down trying to get all the votes on the day of elections. What is shocking about these coming municipal elections is that there are only two parties who seem to be contesting for the votes. Democratic Alliance (DA) and African National Congress (ANC) are the most political parties that the media is busy talking about as if they are the only political parties that need the votes.

Political parties are promising people that they will meet their needs and they will deliver every service they need, but a lot of people are fed up with the propaganda of political parties. People are claiming that the government only consider them when they need votes. A lot of rural areas and informal settlements in South Africa are still struggling to get services, people are living their lives in shacks and they are still using bucket system because the government does not provide them with better sanitation and houses. The government does provide people with basic needs. People are forced to vote, but they have nothing to appreciate from the government because they do not see any difference from their previous votes.

Some people say they will no longer take part on South African elections. Others alleged that they will not vote on these upcoming elections because their votes do not make any difference in their lives. Others says they are really confused and they do not know who exactly they can vote for because they trusted the ruling party but it is not doing as it promised, it does not deliver, the only thing that is doing is to increase the inflation and it does not provide jobs.

Each political party is criticising another party and they accusing each other for using the state’s money for their own benefits. There is an ANC candidate that have two posters with two different surnames at KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga and people know a totally different surname that does not even appear on those two posters, so people are willing to vote for this man but they need his explanation before they can vote for him, they say they cannot vote for someone that they do not know. People are confused, they are asking around whom to vote for and what differences will that person make in their lives.

On the other hand, students are protesting in their institutions, claiming for free education and other students do not even stay on campuses because of lack of residences.