Burgersfort is a Disaster. This town does not ignite a Spark.

Not long ago the Mayor of Greater Tubatse Fetakgomo local Municipality unveiled a multimillion rand budget during the municipality’s Integrated Development Programme (IDP). According to Councillor Johannes Phokane this budget is intended to accelerate service delivery to the citizens of the Municipality. The IDP’s total budget stood at a whooping R 600 Million and it has been more than six months since this massive budget was presented to the masses.

But until today communities have not heard nor know anything about the whereabouts of that budget. People don’t know whether the many promises made by the mayor at the event are being implemented or what? Because the town, Burgersfort is turning into rubble of mud and rocks, it is resembling a battered zombie. Under Greater Tubatse Fetakgomo local Municipality, Burgersfort is stagnant, roads are peeling off the ground, buildings are depilating and some are flung far apart from each other. The is not even a single branding of the town, but the municipality has a huge budget available. Burgersfort is serving more than 200 000 shoppers and visitors on a daily base, this people access the town via a small and depilating road. The road R37 is a single lane coming into town and until today it is still a single lane. They are properly maintained streets, actually the is only one street inside town that serves as both the main alternative road and a street for shoppers to access shops. This street was recently poorly upgraded to more than a million Rand, but today it is back to its disastrous state.

Why unveil such a huge budget and still fail to fix a simple town? How is the municipality going to be able deliver services to vulnerable communities if it fails to fix its back yard? This and many other questions that others like me may have remain unanswered till today because our municipality is unresponsive.  I understand that its not the local government’s responsibility to fix a national road, but its the municipality’s responsibility to fix all internal streets and infrastructure in town, so neglecting this is purely reckless and ignorant. Burgersfort has more than 20 active mines, 38 wards and a high level of commodity transit daily, this often lead to traffic congestion, especially during month end. So to allow it to depilate like this, so fast is not right. Burgersfort does not ignite a spark. Instead it is broken, falling apart and development has virtually taken a back sit. Communities are losing confidence in the municipality’s ability to deliver services.

Wards are broken down, councillors are no longer serving the communities that elected them, instead they have politicised everything. If you differ with them, they label you a rebel and overlook you and your entire household when providing services. Poor ordinary citizens remain hopeless and helpless, but the mayor unveiled a budget and still we don’t know how far they are in implementing the promises of the IDP\Budget. The political will of the masses that elected the current leadership has not been fulfilled, Greater Tubatse Fetakgomo Local Municipality’s Burgersfort with its 20 mines resemble one of those isolated Villages in Zimbabwe.  I don’t know what kind of contribution these 20 mines make in our town and villages because everything resembles a “Fuck up”.

The Mayor and his ExCo. must rise above pettiness and show some political maturity, begin this by implementing the promises of the IDP openly, fix the broken town and stop denying ordinary citizens the right to enjoy the fruits of democracy. Atleast in that way we will know that we have a functioning municipality with a dedicated leadership at its helm.

LET THEM HEAD TO SCHOOL, NOT A HOME.

 

LET THEM HEAD TO SCHOOL, NOT A HOME.

The number of homes headed by school going children (Child-headed) is at an alarmingly high now in our democratic dispensation than before. We continue to experience a low level of children going to school; instead they are looking after their parent’s homes, caring for their siblings, providing shelter and food. These children are denied the chance of experiencing the joys of being just a kid, play with kids his/her age and do things that normal kids are suppose to do. You would find them (kids) stuck between the walls of an impoverished home concerned about the health and safety of his/her siblings and not school books.

There are many factors at play which contribute to this but that is no excuse to deny a child his/her basic right to be educated.

 As a society we have accepted that as normal and allowed it to flourish without doing anything. Our communities are continually aware of that parent (Mother) who has since passed away leaving small children destitute. Or a neighbour who is a single parent working far from home and has left children with a reckless aunt or a drunkard uncle who are forever absent, yet they pretend as if its normal and acceptable. Our communities are often absent from key issues affecting child-headed homes and impoverished families because they say it’s none of their business. Failing to realise that it takes a village to raise a proper child. It is no wonder we have a high crime rate, young girls turning to prostitution and a teenage pregnancy that leave us tarnished. Not mention the school dropout that has turned our country into one of the highest illiterate nations in the world.

Let’s get our country, rural or urban going back to basics, where children remain children and adults doing adult work. Its time communities unite and rally support for those children whose parents have passed away, and chastise that reckless aunt or drunkard uncle for the wrong they’re doing. Going back to basic means elders recognise that every child in the community is theirs and make their wellbeing their concern. Going back to basics means allowing children to play without worry, while elders provide safety and security.

Let them head to school, not a home because they belong in class, studying and playing with peers their own age.  

LINK YOUR CAREER TO YOUR TALENTS.

“What do you want to be when you finish school?” I’m sure that everyone is familiar with this kind of question, because each of us has been asked or asked someone this question before and i believe it is still being tossed around. The question has been doing the rounds for decades and the answers continue to be varied and vaguer. What is the right answer to give when confronted with it? Why should it continue to be answered when so many young people are clueless and unable to give positive answers?

Many young people today are bombarded with so many career opportunities that choosing the right one for each individual has become a difficult task to execute. So what could be the solution to eliminate this confusion that continues to overshadow our young people? The answer is simple, according to recently released statistics by Foundation for education, on the right career choice, it was discovered that those who succeeded and excelled in their chosen careers are people who normally had the opportunity to first tap into their talents. It doesn’t help much to expose young people to career exhibitions if those careers do not link with their individual talents. Its important that we link our education system with the talents of our children, so that when time come for them to pursue a certain career path it won’t be a taunting task.

Talent is a gift that everyone is born with and to find yourself in an environment that encourages you to showcase that talent will lead to a right career choice. For example, many successful musicians and Actors tell us that, they discovered their gifts either in church or in school plays. They were mostly encouraged by their teachers or pastors, creating environment in which they can continue to flourish through showcasing that talent. With their passion and dedication, and the support from their teachers and pastors, today they are pursuing successful careers. Many young people, particularly in rural areas continue to make flopping career choices because their environments don’t encourage talents to flourish. Our young people find themselves in careers that bore them to death and this lead to unproductiveness. We have a lot of students dropping out of University because of wrong career choices.

Our education system needs to be fashioned in such a way that it leaves space for talent to play a role. In the talents of our young people lies the best and interesting career. Young people must not be fooled by money and toy around with their career life. You can’t choose to be an engineer when you are a talented writer or a Doctor when you are a talented cooker. No ways! Young people must be channelled to careers that resonate with their individual talents. This is where Educators, Pastors, Parents and Career Coaches should play a pivotal role to ensure that young people are exposed to their talents before exposing them to career exhibitions. This will help a lot with reducing university drop outs, unproductive workplace behaviour and the rate of unemployment.

I believe that talent powered by the right education will breed a successful career. A talent is a young person’s ticket to a healthy, happier, productive and long life.

Fikile Mbalula, Minister of Vulgar Language.

By now South Africans have a clear idea what kind of a leader Mr. Fikile Mbalula is and how desperate he has stooped to try to remain relevant among the nations. Mr. Mbalula, the Minister of Police continue to spit vile insults and vulgar language before the eyes of the citizens of this country with impunity and no one among his comrades in the ANC ever called him to order. Could it be that they are also afraid that they might be victims to his insults?

His only defence is that he is trying to be seen as the right man to lead the fight against crime. No doubt our country is experiencing an unprecedented crime outrage and the rate at which these criminals are mushrooming is alarming and scary. No longer have many ordinary South Africans (Grannies, Girls and Gays) feel safe in the comfort of their own homes. Statistics shows that we are a country with a high level of crimes like Murder, rape, high jacking and kidnapping. The numbers are stacked so high against us that we are the laughing stock of many African countries. Zimbabwe brag that, it only takes one police officer armed with only a knobkerrie and sjambok to control masses of protesters, while here at home it takes an army to control just a few protesters. Such derogatory spits do not argue well for a developed country like ours.

However this does not give the Minister of Police the right to go on our national televisions, radios and newspapers to spit such vulgar language in an attempt to scare these criminals into submission. And Minister Mbalula also must be made aware that pouring outrage on twitter does not bother any criminal because many of them don’t waste their times on twitter and facebook. I think Mr. Mbalula’s problem is trying very hard to be seen as radical and a tough fighter. He does this through impromptu press conferences, while neglecting to realise that, that is not entirely effective. I salute the Minister for springing up with crime fighting programmes, but i shiver at the names he attached to this programmes, naming a programme “Operation wanya tsotsi” is just pure vulgar and unlawful. Besides “tsotsi’s”are used to this words and they don’t scare them anymore. The Minister must also be aware that by sitting there and singing words like “Ba zo uqama ba uphuze” (They will urinate and drink it), crush their balls, no matter how sweet he try to sprinkle it with variety of explanations is just plain silly. Mr. Fikile Mbalula if he really want to fight crime, he must go to the ground, listen to the Policeman’s challenge with regard to underpayments and unfavourable working conditions, then improve them, engage unemployed youth and involve them in police fighting programmes because many of those criminals are themselves. Get a proper police commissioner and leave calling on criminal names to that commissioner.

Mr. Mbalula might mean well at his job, but we have enough insulters and vulgaras we just cannot afford one, especially a Minister who’s suppose to tread well and respect the people of this country. He mustn’t denigrate himself to such low level and bring this country into disrepute with vulgar language. If he can’t withstand speaking vulgar every time he opens his mouth, maybe he should consider letting his spokesperson do that talking. I’m sure the minister has so much work to do than do press conferences where he always had to explain himself because of what comes out of his mouth when he speak. Let Mr. Mbalula go to work, not explaining himself or conducting unending press conferences, no i mean real work of a Minister of Police. 

Closing down the Season in Style

2016, has been a year of trials and triumph for me and my team. My team and i have battled so many challenges this year that we have even termed it "Year of Fall"
We have fallen and risen, fallen and risen so many times that each and everyone of us have lost count. B but one thing that kept us going was the spirit of togetherness and the fact that we always had each other's back, no matter what.

So coming to our closing in style of the season. The Head team Leader of Great Talk suggested that, we do what we call a retreat and surrender. This we will bow down on the eve of the 31st December 2016 and kiss the ground goodbye. So each of us will hold a chain prayer prior to the dawn of 2016, each will pray for at least 30 minutes and then buzz the other to take over and so it will go until the break of 31 st where we will all bow down wherever we are and kiss the ground of 2016 away. This we do to usher a new season, where we expect to break even, grow our series of Great Talk into a series of not just Articles on the Blog, but we aim to position this as a series of small to large intimate dialogues in TV  Q&As Show. But Great Talk will not be in studio like, instead we will take it to every community hall, Schools and Auditoriums. The Great Talk Team will assemble a team of Captains of Industry, Community Builders, Politicians, Youth Leaders and Leaders who's influence benefit society to an intimate Great Talk Q&As.


For this season, what we did as Great Talk was to launch the Series here on Blogspot.co.za to arose appetite and generate conversation. Now our beloved readers, I humbly request that you join me and my team on this exciting journey to discover and expose men and women who are doing their best to change lives. Stay with us Readers, i need you more than ever. I want to move and grow with you.

Great Talk is going big, so many changes will occur and i want you to be big part of this move.

2016 wasn't a great year for us at Great Talk and we hope the almighty bless and contain all of us, as we gear ourselves for the next season. Its going to be awesome, its going to be wonderful, dreams are going to come true and excitement will be ours again.


GOODBYE 2016:
HERE'S TO A NEW YEAR WILL ALL POSSIBILITIES!!!!!

Defeating HIV/AIDS

South Africa has the biggest and most high profile HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world. The virus is more prevalent in this country than anywhere in the world. And these statistics keep rising. It is estimated that the were more than 7Million adults and children die every year from it. The most vulnerable to catch or get infected are mostly young people (Youth), female pregnant and it is also noted that this trend keeps growing year in and year out. We are the only country in the world with the highest antiretroviral roll out, according to statistics obtained from the National Department of Health and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). This statistics has not shown any sign of decline ever since it was collected.

Government said, it spend close to R23Billion a year on HIV/AIDS alone. A large chunk of this capital goes to patient Antiretroviral treatment, while the remainder is dedicated to research and finding a better method for effective treatment and possibly a cure. As much as government is showing care and concern about all this, it is also clear that people, particularly young people are not showing any sign of protecting and concerned about their health.

Most youth who are promiscuous when it comes to their sexual health tend to blame others for their woes. But statistics has shown that is not the case. The prevalent of HIV/AIDS among young people high and caused by a number of factors. These include poverty, inequality and social instability, high levels of sexual transmitted infections, sexual violence, uneven access to quality medical care, etc. That’s according to Aids Foundation South Africa.

Now if we look very closely among ourselves, be it in township or rural (Village of Riba Cross, Driekop, etc.) one would spot one or more of this factors. These causes are human-made and it therefore will take a human like you to confront such, thus find a solution.

As a society it is high time that we confront the scourge of this virus eating away our young people. The time is now to deal with this illness and get rid of HIV/AIDS in our communities. But to do that effectively we don’t need certain dates in our calendars to remind us. We need real humans; we need the integrity, concern and togetherness to fight it. The solution lies in a united society that realise protecting its youth, is growing their own communities. For the fight against HIV/AIDS to be successful we need a whole sphere of society. We’ll need churches, Schools, stockvels, funeral societies, charities organizations, government and business, households, taverns and shebeens. In each of these places you’re bound to find a flock of young people, female and male. It will be simpler if massages of education, campaigns, guidance and mentorships about HIV/AIDS as well as other chronic illnesses are resumed and spread from there. We must vigorously challenge this epidemic and i believe together we can defeat HIV\AIDS.

Defeated and Deflated. Is this what Solomon Mahlangu Fought

“If they spill my blood, maybe it will give birth to other Solomon’s”

Still remember who spoke this lethal words and why did he say this words? Was the situation conducive enough for him to speak them..?

These words came to me when i was reminiscing about the continued scourge of poverty and inequality engulfing our country. The spilled blood of this astute freedom fighter who wrecked havoc to the previous apartheid regime clearly hasn’t birthed the right calibre of Solomon’s that he, Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu envisaged at his death.

South Africa continues to be a land of inequality and the spiralling of high of unemployment will put Solomon Mahlangu to shame if he was still alive. I doubt this is what he sacrificed his soul and caused his family agony for. Solomon Mahlangu did not fight and die for this country to be where it is now. He envisaged a prosperous country in which its citizen lived in peace, with equal access to opportunities, land and jobs.

I am using Solomon Mahlangu because his fighting consciousness was awaken and rose after he witnessed the 1976 Soweto uprising, where students from Soweto townships revolted against the apartheid government after its imposition of Afrikaans on them.

Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was at the time, a young boy playing soccer at an open field near his four roomed house, according to his elder brother, Lucas Mahlangu. I doubt today Mahlangu would be excited to see the extend of violence against men, women and children so rife and perpetuated by the very same people he fought to liberate. Day after day we are bombarded with multiple deaths, rape, Assaults and kidnappings of partners by their partners, parents and trusted confidante. Our society has amassed victims and perpetrators of multiple acts of violence and abuse, yet we do nothing about the situation. We no longer have conscious society where a child is raised by the village. We claim to have attained freedom and think democracy is our beacon of hope when we witness violence on a daily base yet we remain silent and pretend it doesn’t exist.

Youngsters do not wish to emulate the likes of Solomon Mahlangu because society has relegated these freedom icons to mere celebratory dates on our calendas. They are at loggerheads with their schools, parents and governments because violence, and inequality continue to harbor over, this youngsters are exposed to high level of violence and intolerance which makes them believe its the way of life. As the government commemorates the 16 days of Activism for No violence against men, women and children, let us be reminded of the sacrifices that Solomon Mahlangu, Mondy Motloung and others made to all of us. It wasn’t sacrifices to see partners, parents, families and governments to continue abusing and violating others.

Let young people remember that, heros such as Mahlangu did not wish for things to be like this now, but be reminded as he (Mahlangu) puts it blindly before he was hanged “aluta continua”

The is no messiah who is still to come, the struggle to liberate the country has not ended and as we commemorate days of such nobleness as 16 days of Activism let us remember that you are the touch bearer, a light that shines in the dark and a compass that provides direction. Your fight is not yours alone and what you’re fighting for now is to benefit generations to come after you. Instigating violence and abuse is not a good fight if you’re the perpetrator or victim, but you can contribute to the fight to end it, just as Solomon Mahlangu fought to end apartheid.

Glorifying gangsters, violence, drugs and partying should not be your modus operandi; yours should be to crush it down from its head going down, breaking it into pieces and bury it beneath the soil.

“My blood will nourish the trees that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people i love them and they must continue the fight. A luta continua” said Solomon Mahlangu.