WHAT MADE US FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?


Monday, September 30, 2013

Tales from the Deep South, Part 4 - Such Audacity(continued)

                                                       (CONTINUED)
   As neighbours we were also puzzled by these strange burglaries. There were rumours abound.
  Rumours to the effect that they were an inside job. This backroom tenant is the father of 'M'( of the post Contribution by All to Help Save a Young Life ). After that hacking incident the father had feared for his son's life and had unceremoniously shipped him back home in the Eastern Cape. 'M' would not have taken kindly to this move back home because he had settled down nicely here in Gauteng. He had formed close friendships and was starting to feel at home.
   Now the theory was that 'M' had secretly made his way back to Gauteng and with his friends' help had staged these burglaries. Firstly, to get back at his father for dumping him back home. Secondly, to show his father that he is vulnerable without him around. 'M' may have gotten into trouble once in a while while here in Gauteng, but the fact remains that he was always at home during the day when his father was at work. With him around no burglar would have dared to break in. 
   As an aside, to conclude, it cannot be assumed that because we have an informal settlement nearby we necessarily have more incidents of crime( like break-ins, for example) here in the Deep South. Instances of crime take place everywhere. While living in upmarket Protea North across the bridge - where there is no 'mekhukhu' - our family and many others there experienced break-ins. And these were perpetrated mostly by youngsters who were resident in Protea North itself.

                                     ===========================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                            ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

     

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Tales from the Deep South, Part 4 - Such Audacity

   You would think that the first priority for a thief is not to get caught. A fact that necessarily makes him want to be careful when doing his business; waiting for the right conditions before carrying out his dirty deed, for example.
   Well, that was 'Stealing 101' a few years back it seems. That is if a burglary experienced by a neighbour recently is anything to go by. The burglars in this case were just too brazen. So brazen that a tenant decided to pack his things and leave the Deep South after this burglary.
   In the 'bonded' houses section of the Deep South the yards are very big. The owner of the house sometimes - in order to supplement his income - builds a one room dwelling structure at the back of the main house and lets it out. In this case it was something like a 'mokhukhu'/shack(similar to those found across from us in the informal settlement area). It had a corrugated iron roof but its walls were made of thin pressed wood slabs. 
   A few days ago burglars came to this particular house/yard and broke into the 'mokhukhu'  through a side door while the the tenant was away at work. In the process they stole a TV set. But what made this burglary galling was that it took place in broad daylight with the occupants of the main house still at home. These thieves seemed to have had all the time in the world to take the TV. Because they still took a bottle of coke out of the fridge and drank from it while disconnecting the TV, leaving the half finished bottle in the middle of the room as they left. And during all of this the main house people never saw or heard anything.
   Having your TV stolen in broad daylight while there are people in the yard is devastating enough. But what nearly gave the mokhukhu tenant a heart attack was when the same burglars(we think) came back the very next day to steal his hot plate stove this time, under the same conditions - in broad daylight with people present in the main house who never saw or heard anything. In this second instance the thieves simply removed one of the slabs of the thin pressed wood wall to enter the structure. Gaining an entrance this way is something similar to dismantling a shack basically. It shows unbelievable audacity.
   Needless to say, the tenant was livid. He went so far as to accuse the people in the main house of having a hand in the two burglaries. Something he could not prove of course.
                                            
                                            ( TO BE CONTINUED )                   

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Tales from the Deep South, Part 3 - People of South

   Sometimes it feels like we are in Giyani. There is a lot of Xitsonga speakers here in Protea South, especially across in the informal settlement area. They are by far the largest ethnic group residing in the Deep South.
   As a group the first thing you notice about the Tsonga people - most of whom trace their roots to Giyani( a town in the Limpopo province) - is that they are very musical. Everywhere you go in the Deep South there is Xitsonga music playing. Right now their hottest artist is Ben Mayengani. His 2013 release - 'Jelly na Custard' - is an anthem here. Every 3rd or 4th house around has this album. I love the title track('Jelly na Custard') myself. 
  They are also entrepreneurial. Ninety percent(90%) all fruit and vegetable stands in the Deep South are run by Tsonga people.
  After the Tsonga - in terms of numbers - come Basotho. These are Basotho directly from Lesotho( hae moo), with the heavy Lesotho accent and all that. At times it seems as if the bus from Lesotho stops first here our 'kasi' to offload. Very much like in the old days when our fathers came to the city of gold( Gauteng/ Johannesburg) to work in the mines, Basotho still come to Gauteng in droves to seek a better life.
   Thirdly, it is the other groups like Amazulu, Amaxhosa, Bapeli, etc. There is also a sprinkling here and there of Machaangane from Mozambique, whose language is similar to Xitsonga. Interestingly, this group does not have a problem with being called Mashaangane( unlike the Tsonga). They say this is what their ethnic group is actually called. Mozambique's first post colonial President - Samora Machel - came from their group, they inform us.
   That then, is who we are here in the Deep South, ladies and gentlemen.

                                                    =====================


THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                                       ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?