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• To label BC racist is to deprive black people of their anchor

I am free from the burden of demanding special treatment normally reserved for very important people (VIP), some of whom possess no weight of significance to add to any cause that is worthy to live or die for.

Being ordinary though does not mean one needs not be grounded or be without manifest flashes of specialty in them.

Everyone is special from the moment they are born. Some are born with a name. Others inherit the name.

And yet others, with no name to inherit, grow to defy all odds to create a good name for themselves. It is the story of life in which children grow to accept or aspire for higher stations than the names their parents bequeathed upon them.

Having died too early for me to know what it means to have a father, the burden of his name, Ntsomi Ngwenya, fell on my mother's shoulders to elevate.

Though she had nothing by which to be distinguished as a VIP, my mother waged a determined struggle simply to be somebody.

Rooted in that struggle is the source of the contentment of my soul that makes me to be comfortable under my own skin without loss of a sense of being somebody.

To cope with her meagre income, my mother always excluded a suit from a set of things when buying me clothes, arguing that having one will rob me of the freedom to play as a child too soon. She hated takkies and read "thuggish image" in them.

The freedom to play as a child saw me grow into adulthood never to be in a suit, tie and cuff links. While the takkies she hated are today part of my wardrobe, her comfort is that I have never been behind prison bars as a tsotsi.

Once, when she was fetched from work by police in order for me to surrender for arrest, the reason had nothing to do with being a tsotsi.

Some of my mother's teachings have shaped the heart of a rebel that I am to even dare to differ with her, when justified, without the guilt feeling of being anti-mothers, women or girls.

Here is another thought worth writing home about. Never build your name from your possessions. Let everything you own through the sweat of your honest labour enjoy the navigating stamp of your good name.

What makes former president Nelson Mandela powerful was his refusal to stay in power longer than he could. Those who cannot see their names outside political office never dream of leaving.

To reinstate sanity back to the corridors of power, the boys and girls that make a living from politics would do well to remember the lessons their good mothers taught them.

In the sway, the purpose of holding political office would be crystal clear. It is to serve and not to reduce citizens into hopelessservitude.

Ethical leadership not only makes ordinary people worldwide to imagine themselves being the source of the political will that sets the pace of their countries' development. People also see themselves as the VIPs that matter in the affairs of their states.

Presidents that negate this free spirit of nations ultimately get exposed to be the tsotsis who shamelessly live off the loot of victims.

And no normal mother would brook the nonsense of a tsotsi being at the helm of any country.

Is it not true that the rule of the oppressors is prescribed by the endurance of the oppressed? Look at Cairo.

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Tue May 21 08:33:05 SAST 2013 ::

Feb 1, 2011

Mpjayalenyora

But we have a 'tsotsi' as a president...an acquitted 'panty robber' at that and our mothers have been generally supportive of this character.
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Feb 2, 2011

Chris

QUOTE OF THE CENTURY, MAYBE EVEN THE MILLENIUM

Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic.

Someone over there has it figured out. We have a lot of work to do.

"The danger to South Africa is not Jacob Zuma but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.

It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a Zuma presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Zuma, who is a mere symptom of what ails South Africa.

Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.

The Republic can survive a Jacob Zuma, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their President.



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Feb 2, 2011

mmittah

Well put Chris, goverment is suppose to work and report to the people, not the other way round. It is the people of a countries duty to hold goverment responsible, from education to corruption.
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Feb 2, 2011

Bhubezi

@ Oupa Ngwenya.
Really enjoy reading your pieces.
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Feb 3, 2011

Harenyobaneng

Well said! May this country continue to produce sober minded individuals such as you, Sir.
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Feb 4, 2011

Bullytjies

@Chris I have to say with a sorry heart that you are 100% correct its scary.
@ Oupa Ngwenya will follow your pieces from now onwards...
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Feb 4, 2011

Pantsula

You know what's even scarrier.... he is working himself into a 2nd term. Why??? Otherwise beautiful article Oupa. Tell it like it is!!
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Feb 7, 2011

FactorAnalyst

Well observed Oupa. Politicians with double powers, political power and economic powers are drunk with this double gin of dose!
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