So the brooohaaaa this week was about U2 and Bono, first he managed to piss off black people with roadie hiring practices and the Steve Hofmeyer got the “Moer in” (pissed off for those English and Ex pat readers) because of his statements regards the song “Kill the Boer” Below is what caused Steve Hofmeyer to throw his U2 tickets in the Jukskei river and start many a South African to get pissed of with Bono.
“Johannesburg - Irish pop singer Bono caused a stir in South Africa on Sunday after expressing support for the singing of an anti-apartheid struggle song that includes the lyrics "shoot the farmer". The song has been at the centre of a politically charged controversy in South Africa, where the firebrand leader of the ruling party's youth league is locked in a legal battle with a white lobby group over whether the song should be banned as hate speech. The U2 front man, who is in Johannesburg ahead of a Sunday night concert for the band's 360 Degrees Tour, said in an interview with South Africa's Sunday Times that struggle music like the "shoot the farmer" song has a place.
"I was a kid and I'd sing songs I remember my uncles singing... rebel songs about the early days of the Irish Republican Army," he said, proceeding to sing a song whose lyrics spoke of carrying guns and readying them for action. "We sang this and it's fair to say it's folk music... as this was the struggle of some people that sang it over some time," he told the newspaper. But the rocker went on to say such songs shouldn't be sung in the wrong context. "Would you want to sing that in a certain community? It's pretty dumb," he said. "It's about where and when you sing those songs. There's a rule for that kind of music."
Talk radio and the internet burst into discussion on Sunday morning of whether the comments amounted to support for Julius Malema outspoken leader of the ruling African National Congress's youth league, or for Afriforum, the Afrikaner lobby group seeking to have Malema banned from singing the song at rallies. "That's hate speech. They don't know our history at all," said one caller to Talk Radio 702. "He did not condone the singing of 'Shoot the Boer' in public," said a comment on the Times' web site.
Afriforum has taken Malema to court for publicly singing the song, which includes the lyrics "Awudubele (i)bhulu" -- "shoot the Boer" in Zulu. "Boer" is itself Afrikaans, the language descended from South Africa's Dutch colonizers, and translates as "farmer". But Afriforum argued in an affidavit that the song's meaning was much broader. "The word 'Boer', in this context, is a derogatory word referring to farmers, whites and to Afrikaners in particular," it said. Malema's singing of the song generated heated debate last year in the wake of the murder of Eugene Terreblanche a white separatist leader who was allegedly hacked to death by two black workers on his farm. Violence on farms is a divisive issue in South Africa, where a series of racially charged rural murders, with both black and white victims, have made headlines since the end of white-minority rule in 1994. Bono, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his activism on behalf of developing countries, has long been involved in South African politics. U2 were part of the group Artists United Against Apartheid that raised more than $1 million for the fight against the white-minority regime in the 1980s, releasing a song that called for artists to boycott apartheid South Africa.
It would seem that Steve “got a kid in every dorp” Hofmeyer used this as a Publicity stunt to promote that the violence against farmers is serious, and he is right over 3000 have been killed since 1994, this to me is targeting a section of the population and it needs to stop. You would think that the government would want to stop these killings due to the fact that farmers produce the countries food……………. I have never liked U2 think that Bono cant sing and is a pretentious twat…………………….Am I being unreasonable?
Flew to East London this week, as I was walking past the gift shop it struck me that they were selling items wit other countries flags or names on, who would come to SA to buy a teddy bear with a Spanish flag on it at 5 times the price you can get anywhere else? I flew Scare Link, a 36 seater with 2 prop engines, I sat in seat 3C a window seat right next to the propeller, I have flown on this type of plane before and its cramped, if you take hand luggage you have to put it on the floor and sit with your feet on it, not very comfortable. It was also incredibly noisy I thought that they would be handing out earplugs with the muffin and juice they throw to you for breakfast. It was so loud that I could not hear the Captains announcements, so if he had of said the plane is going to crash I would not have known…………….Being unreasonable?
Have to say I am very Happy that we live in PE because East London and surrounds is a real dump with a capital D, don’t know why anyone would actually choose to live there. It has changed because when Tania and I lived there in early 90’s it was so much nicer. On Thursday I was at a game farm about 40kms from EL were 6 of us from NOSA put on a SHE REP day for ESKOM. Have to say I am not a huge wildlife fan but was pretty cool to see 2 Hippo’s as well as Lions and other wildlife without having to drive for miles and miles.
So other Arab countries like Lybia and Bahrain are experiencing upheaval………..Now isn’t that a F%$^#%^ing surprise, who would have seen that coming…..”Yes I am being facetious”. I am sure Gaddafi and his family as well as the royal family of Bahrain are not going to go quietly and a number of lives will be lost. Just imagine if Muslim extremists take over all of the oil rich Middle Eastern countries………to put it bluntly we are F%$#ed..................... but maybe I am jut being unreasonable?.
In SA a mini revolution in Ermelo (that’s in SA for all non South Africans and ex-pats who may have forgotten) took place with the local community rampaging and destroying property because the ANC controlled council are not living up to promises and an African gent has warned the ANC that upheavals like those in the Middle East will occur in SA if they don’t pull the finger out of their asses. They are apparently not happy with this. (I will post the letter on a separate Blog)
The ANC in Gauteng are pissed off with the Minister of Transport regards new Toll roads in Gauteng that will see users pay 66c per km, Cosatu are planning a march and a protest ad like 1995 and 2010 World cups I can see white and black South Africans standing shoulder to shoulder on this on. As many of you know I always defend South Africa, but have to be honest feel that the Whities now also need to start making our voices heard, we supply most of the tax money and it gets wasted on Shit. I hope that the municipal election that will take place this year will give the ANC a good shock, The local authorities are spending R17 000 000 on trying to register voters (mainly ANC) as they are scared that they will lose the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality………..Voter Registration is the Independent electoral commissions job, not the local municipalities. Anyway good to see the ANC squabbling amongst each other, means that not all is well in the land of ANC.
I am sure certain individual/s will see this as me now not loving SA and conformation that a move to greener pastures is justified. Let me put your minds at ease. I believe that I have to say something as I do love this country and unlike many others who have pissed off I am not jumping on a plane and heading for the first white run country that I can find. Its all good and well to complain that something does not work but running away and not staying to try and actually fix it is just running away…Taking the chicken run as they used to call it in the 80’s. I think that I need to become more involved with the politics of this country, who knows I could run for office. One thing for sure is I would look into why it costs us R16.99 for 6 mince pies in December and two months later only 6. 99, don’t tell me that ingredients have come down in price to be able to charge that much less………We got ripped off by the shops that’s why. I would also look into why we are paying so much for petrol, nearly half is the road fund to be able to fix roads but a) they don’t get done and b) when a road does get upgraded they put Frikken toll gates on it. Mark my words by the end of March we could be paying nearly R10 .00 per liter of petrol which will see food etc rise in price which in turn puts pressure on inflation that will see to increases in the interest rate …etc etc. Ok so what world I stand for to get elected by the community……Here are a few.
Salary cap for politicians, No fancy cars for politicians, Corrupt politicians fired and jailed, Farmers protected better, Schools for all of our children and those teachers that are crap to be fired (like the 3 teachers that allowed 59 children to be stuffed in a single taxi this week that was driven by an unlicensed and drunk taxi driver, they should be fired..........or am i being unreasonable?), price cap on fuel (especially the fuel we get from SASOL)., Better use of the money for roads, Better treatment of Dr’s and Nurses (we only trained 7000 nurses in SA last year and the Eastern Cape alone has a shortage of 26 000 trained nurses), Trade schools and apprenticeships re-established, Men who abuse women and anyone who abuse children will be severely punished, Expats who in no way contribute to the economy of this country will be not allowed to vote in general elections this will also apply to prisoners and tax dodgers, Companies that price fix and collude to get the consumer to pay more will be see the board being charged and jailed, I will campaign to reintroduce the death penalty, Littering will be severely punished. Trade union powers will be severely curtailed as will those of taxi drivers and their associations. Health and safety in the workplace will be closely monitored by a well trained and motivated department of labour. Etc etc so how many of you will vote for me or am I being unreasonable with these items ?
This weekend was the start of Super 15 Rugby, with 2 South African games Cheetahs Vs Sharks and Lions Vs Bulls, was really looking forward to watch the 2 games (especially Sharks Vs Cheetahs) with Ryan who supports the Sharks but without a local pub to watch as well as well as my Rugby partner. Ryan he had arranged to go camping at ADDO elephant park with his wife’s cousin, “also a Ryan” from the States………………I mean its his wife’s cousin and with such an important weekend of rugby and cricket surely she should take him camping…………….or am I just being unreasonable ?
Also after the Sharks beating the Cheetahs 24 – 9 (which Ryan watched by the way, while camping……………….Nice one boet) . I have decided that I will be supporting any team that plays them from now on, even Aussie and New Zealand teams, hell even the Bulls, why? Well because they are like Man U fans, conceited and full of shit……………….Unreasonable perhaps?
This was also the weekend that the 2011 ICC Cricket world cup started with the first game being won by India who beat Bangladesh. The Protea’s play West Indies next week and while I have been disappointed to many times in the past I will be backing them all the way and hopefully we can shed the “Chocker label” and bring the trophy home.
It would seem that Doug (my ex –pat brother in law) is not going to supply the info he so wanted to share with all 3 of you about how great it is in London/England and why as South African they should benefit from not living here but still think they are South African so I will just have to go ahead and finish a couple of articles that I have written about ex-pats and publish them on the Blog. Hopefully I will be able to keep the spoon stirring levels below Defcon 4.
Talking about brother in laws, I have another called Gavin who lives in Gauteng( JHB for all those non South Africans and ex-pats). He competed in the Horse of the year competition this weekend (no not just him, he had a horse as well) and he came 8th and 3rd in two disciplines which if you take into account that he had not ridden a horse until 2 years ago is pretty Awesome, well done Gavin another example of how hard work and dedication (sticking to the task at hand) can bring rewards. . My dad also competed this week, but for his second show he decided to ride two horses (no not at the same time) and he did not do as well as he would have liked, but that’s how it goes, when you work with animals anything can go wrong.
This weekend was pretty chilled, had a great afternoon body boarding caught some awesome waves, have to say by far the best session I have had riding waves in PE, even managed a little turning in the wave action. Was really lekker (That mean nice for non South Africans and ex pats who may have forgotten)
Well that’s about it for this week
CIAO
SPAD
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