Zuma may take fifth wife

Top notch guy!

Barely-educated, currently on charges of corruption, prior charges of rape and his little dance number is all about bringing him his machine gun. He really must be a nice guy; it must be my ‘European vision’ clouding my judgement (according to a previous post’s comments.) Maybe he’s collecting wives – has them in little glass display cabinets with date acquired stickers on the front – or else he could well be a Mormon.

Jacob Zuma, president of the African National Congress (ANC), may take a fifth wife, just weeks after tying the knot with a fourth, a media report said on Sunday. Zuma (65) married 33-year-old Nompumelelo Ntuli, the mother of two of his children, in early January. [From Zuma may take fifth wife]

R200m statue of King Shaka for KwaZulu-Natal

R200m statue of King Shaka for KwaZulu-Natal: “A 106m statue of King Shaka Zulu ka Senzangakhona will be built on the banks of Thukela River north of Durban, the Weekender newspaper reported on Saturday. The statue would cost R200-million to build and was expected to be 13m higher than the Statue of Liberty in New York. KwaZulu-Natal premier Sbu Ndebele suggested that the statue would become a tourist destination like the Statue of Liberty.”

(Via Mail & Guardian Online.)

You’d think that in a country with hugely pressing issues – like crushing poverty, social inequality, outrageously low pay for teachers, the police and other basic services and massive looming infrastructure disasters with the supply of clean water and electricity – that the government [any sane person or organisation; ed. 19/02] wouldn’t waste money of stuff like this.

Govt to speed up land redistribution

Govt to speed up land redistribution: “The government intends acquiring five million hectares of land next year in an effort to have 30% of agricultural land in the hands of black farmers by 2014, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana said in Cape Town on Thursday. Currently, black farmers own 4,7% of farm land, she told a press briefing.”

(Via Mail & Guardian Online.)

More Creepy Crawlies

It is 11pm and I was just about to turn off my computer when one of the cats got my attention with all the noise he was making. Turns out he’s playing with this big, really creepy looking bug. Now one of the joys of living in South Africa is the cornucopia of wildlife which this country enjoys and this holds true for bug-dom as well. I love macro work and I love getting the camera up close and personal with these chitinous segmented denizens of the microscopic however there are times when too close is well … just too damn close.

I still shudder to recall waking one night with two “Parktown Prawns” (as they are known locally; Libanasidus vittatus) crawling on me. As if that weren’t bad enough, perhaps I should mention the one was crawling on my face. I went from horizontal and blissfully asleep to vertical with enough adrenaline to kill a small elephant in about 1 nanosecond.

Now this “cute” little fella comes scooting along under my chair to escape the cat. Guess who will be checking under his pillow tonight?

Any entomology genii out there? Identification would be most helpful.

Stitching Photos Together in Photoshop

I’ve had a great time today stitching panoramas together in Photoshop. The functionality can be found under file > Automate > Photomerge and you load a whole bunch of separate images together and out pops the composite or panorama. It works flawlessly (so far) and seems much better than ptGui; software I tried out for doing similar composites.

Here is the result of 3 photos which have lurked in my photo-library since 2006 as 3 separate images, now brought to life as I had originally intended. This tree is a good couple of centuries old due to the thickness of the trunk. Standing next to it was a truly awe-inspiring moment.

And my bonsai are no more

I must say I feel rather gutted today; Mike came and took all my trees away with him. Mike is a really nice guy (good) who loves plants (better) and is a specialist in orchids and bonsai (best) but my trees were like pets are to other people – I loved them and tended them, looked after them, fed them and kept them warm in winter and medicated them when they got sick but they can’t come with me. It wasn’t for lack of trying, I contacted the Australian quarantine facilities and other bonsai specialists but the Aussies are paranoid about anything living (bar you) entering the country and the plants would have had to spend months in hydroponics quarantine for astronomical amounts of money and time. So I have packed up all my tools and know I can start all over again but 10 years of growing and tending my own trees is hard to replace.

So I waved good-bye to Mike after wishing him farewell and good luck and watched him drive away with his car bristling with green and the promise of a photo or two in years to come; bravely fighting back a lump in my throat and a strange moisture which had settled over my vision.

New Years Eve and New Blogs

It’s new year’s eve; a time when family comes together including the less than savoury members of it; you know exactly who I’m talking about as every family has them. Whether it is an uncle who drinks a little too much and gets very loud and obnoxious or a sister in law who thrives on stress and tension and will do anything she can to make sure every family event has an ‘atmosphere’ these are the skeletons in the closet who come out to play at special occasions and whom we try our best to ignore the rest of them time.

I have found a wonderful new blog called ‘Local Girls Day in Pictures‘ and it is a breath of fresh air in the slightly pretentious veil of pseudo-identities the internet allows you to create. Caroline Clifford shares with us her day to day life including all the nutters she gets to associate with in a beautiful free-flow picture format very unlike my blog which often just contains big chunks of text; +1 to her.

The old adage ‘you can choose your friends but not your family’ is so true. Tonight as I raise my glass of champagne at midnight I’ll think of all of you doing likewise; friends, family and nutters included.

Happy New Year and may 2008 bring all you could wish for.

New Year, Blogs, Reviews

Winding up the Kruger Park, Days 3 and 4

this is the continuation of this story.

Day three started early with the face-wash and the shuffle to the campfire for coffee and rusks. We discussed the morning’s walk with Steve and soon we were all bundled into the vehicle about to set out to the starting point for our walk. The air at 5:50am is quite chilly and we were all bundled up against the open air-conditioning that we so enjoyed the previous day. Arriving at the spot saw us wasting no time in donning our packs and heading off into the bush.The days walking was far more pleasant than Day 2 with us mostly following game trails and no ankle breaking rocks and not too many shin-snagging thorn bushes. The first big game we happened upon was a lone giraffe who had heard this troop of city slickers from a mile off and regarded us with a bemused long lashed expression that only a giraffe can give. Whenever we got too close for his liking he simply loped off a short distance turned around and fixed us with his interested look.

It was while playing bush tag with the giraffe that great excitement ensued, the ranger and Chris had seen lion a short way off but they were alert to our presence and disappeared into the bush. So perfectly camouflaged is the king of the animals that in all reality he could have been hiding a few meters away and we’d have missed him. We hot-footed in the general direction of the sighting but could only find a few tracks, confirmation of his fleeting presence.Retracing our steps we carried on along the game path and came across two rhino males fast asleep and oblivious to us. We were downwind of them so they were unable to smell us and even at 80 meters the decidedly myopic rhino would probably not see us. Of little comfort however was the bush, little more than a shrub actually, which provided us some shelter from being seen by a few tons of armored animal. Steve had reassuringly told us that morning that should we be told to climb a tree we should forthwith and without haste reconnect with the simian aspects of our heredity and scoot up as fast as we were able; great advise in a landscape with few trees able to support the weight of nine terrified men. So it was with much heart thumping when Steve whistled out loud and Mr. Rhino leapt to his feet and whirled to look at us; actually I got the impression he was squinting and couldn’t really see us but still.

Adrenaline levels upped a little when the rhino started pawing the ground and giving every indication of a morning charge in our general direction – they really are very very big up close and personal and I was left with no doubt that being run over by an angry rhino would be the comparison equivalent of me standing on a mulberry – very squishy, red and with lots of leaking juices. Eventually Able made some nasal-guttural noises which the rhino took offence to and the two of them thundered off in the opposite direction.

We then made for the riverine area and passed a few lone bull elephants. I quickly stepped off the path and was able to take this picture of a dry tree stump before the group realised I had wandered off with my camera again and the march was called to a halt while I fiddled with my exposure – I was really feeling self conscious about this by now. I love the textures and colours of this shot.

As we approached the river, Steve and Able would stop from time to time to survey the bush ahead for signs of game and danger.

The walk along the river was very interesting from a plant biodiversity point of view and it is incredible how much life packs in next to the little pockets of water. We came across a bleached skull which really highlighted for me how the bush, however beautiful and wonderful to visit, is actually a harsh environment where animals are fighting a constant battle for their survival. The protrusions from the horns are made by a boring [not as in yawn] moth that makes tiny holes in the horn and lays it’s eggs. The larvae are one of the two animals able to digest the chitin in the horn and the structures are formed from their chitinous excrement as they fight their way out. The other animal able to digest chitin is the crocodile; able to process hooves and horns and all manner of sharp poky bits that would otherwise interrupt the digestion of a fine meal.

The last photo in this morning set is that of the majestic and very funny coloured Fever Tree. Early settlers in South Africa would make camp in the refreshing coolness of riverine areas such as the one we found ourselves in; these areas are home to the Fever Trees. The other critter that really likes pools of river water in these parts is the Anopheles mosquito which carries the dreaded blood parasite which causes malaria. The settlers fell foul to the mozzies but never made the connection to the malaria and their heinous malady was blamed instead on the sick looking trees. The Fever Trees are covered in a fine greenish-yellow powder which brushes off like pollen; Steve told us that it was this powder that was blamed for the ‘fevers’. One more bit of tree trivia is that the fever tree has a very interesting way of excreting toxins. It will pick a low lying limb and somehow funnel all toxins to that limb. The branch then turns black, withers and dies and the rest of the tree flourishes. If you look at a larger version of the picture below by clicking on it you will easily be able to see the black limbs.

We returned to the vehicle and made our way back to camp for a sumptuous brunch of egg, bacon, sausage, toast, oven corn bread and cold beer.

After lunch the horns were out as the Marketos brothers battled it out for supremacy of the chess board. They and they alone have somehow managed to turn chess into a spectator sport.

At 3pm the drum called us out of our post-prandial lethargy and we were off again, this time to another riverine area where we were to have the most invigorating and terrifying experience of our trip.The walk was progressing beautifully, the air off the water was cool however I was a little concerned that due to the density of the bush growing near the river you could quite literally walk slap bang into an elephant. However these little niggles did not diminish the scenic beauty of the surrounds and I was able to take some lovely tree pictures – the picture below is a rock fig, perfectly adapted with flattened roots to cling to its rocky perch.

Now before I describe the incident that followed let me tell you about Steve. Steve was a very knowledgeable ranger who’s unflappable demeanor was a source of great calm to seven skittish city boys. He had been in a lot of interesting and dangerous situations which he described with humour to us around the camp fire. Steve had seen action, Steve knew what to do in any situation.Hence when the bush to our left literally erupted and I looked up to see unflappable Steve sprinting towards us, cocking the monster rifle and yelling for us to run I could have quite happily wet myself. I am pleased to say that this undignified event did not occur and the nine of us took to some pretty nifty high-speed sprinting. I dare say you would be hard pressed to find a trained athlete able to outpace our adrenaline soaked sprint for life. As the bull hippo got to the top of the bank where we had been standing moments before it paused and turned intent I’m sure of a little of the afore-mentioned mulberry squishing – thankfully Steve took this time to chamber a round in the rifle and the metallic sound of metal caused him to reconsider and rush off in the opposite direction.

When the rushing of blood in the brain had died down somewhat there was the definite joviality and back-slapping that can only come when manly-men have had a brush with big angry animals and the distinct possibility of grievous mortal harm. We continued on along the river in a somewhat less blase’ manner and the top spot directly behind the rangers, the coveted position for game spotting was now somewhat vacant with a lot of good-mannered ‘Please you go firsts …”.

A short time later we happened upon three even bigger hippo in a pool ahead, our path meandered directly past the pool and the big male made it quite clear that he was low on mulberry-fun and stood his ground, fixing us with a glare that dared us to attempt to come any closer. We took a collaborative decision that we’d had quite enough of near death experiences for one day and cut across the river circling back round to the vehicle.

We then drove to a wonderful sundowner spot where we could soak up the setting sun across a vista as far as the eye could see. Anthon and I took our tripods along and had a great time snapping the wonderful sunsets.

On the drive back to camp we did some night time game spotting and were lucky enough to see a hyena, a civet, a serval and two huge porcupines. We also drove past and then stopped and watched a lone bull elephant peacefully eating not more than 10 meters from the car.The evening after dinner was spent around the camp fire once more with some port and a smattering of pure malt whisky. As the conversation died away once more the sound of the fire became a mesmerizing focus to the blackness beyond and all sorts of night creatures going about their business. We drifted off to bed.

I was up early the next morning to take some pictures of the sunrise and after breakfast we were taken back to Skukuza and said sad farewells to our guides.

We took a slow meandering drive out of the park and I was able to take these last few pictures.

The Kruger Walk provides memories that will last me a lifetime, it is a special time in a special place with special people. I’d recommend it to anyone over the canned-game experiences so often touted as an authentic bush experience.It was incredible!

Technorati Tags: South Africa , Kruger Park , Nature , Bush , Bushveld , Trees , Animals , Wildlife , Photography , Elephant , Hippopotamus , Hippo , Sunset , Water , Campfire

Unwinding in the Kruger Park, Days 1 and 2

The last two years running I have been fortunate enough to do a 3 day walking trail in the Kruger National Park and find the time to step away from cell phones, meetings, traffic and the rat-race in general. These walks provide me much opportunity for friendship, enjoyment, introspection and re-connecting with nature and my place within it. The Kruger Park is an immense wildlife sanctuary in South Africa where game roams free and wild and the natural order prevails; it is roughly the size of Wales and covers nearly 19,000 square kilometers. We drove up to Kruger on Wednesday and entered through the Malelane gate near the bottom of the park. From there we took a slow 2 hour drive up to Skukuza camp where we were to meet the rangers who were to take us the final leg of our journey into the private wilderness areas to Metsie Metsie and our bush camp for the next few days.

The rangers, Steve and Abel, arrived with a big open top Nissan and loaded all our belongings into a trailer and we set out for a scenic one and a half hour drive to Metsie Metsie. A short distance into the wilderness area, where the general public is not allowed, we happened upon this herd of buffalo next to the road. On the whole they were pretty chilled and watched us cautiously, kicking up clouds of dust as they jostled around. There were two buffalo that amused me no end as seen in the picture below, the one on the left just looked old and grumpy and fixed us with a drop-dead Walter Mathau stare while the one on the right was more content with chewing his cud and seemed content to watch the car full of excited pink primates.

We also saw giraffe, elephant and the ever pervasive Impala.

We arrived at our bush-camp which consisted of 4 A-frame sleeping huts raised off the floor away from night-prowlers, snakes and scorpions; a thatched boma where we would eat our main meals, a camp fire area, a kitchen unit with fridge to keep the beers cool, ablution facilities and a bird/game hide overlooking a river and game trail.

As we were driving in through the gates we all noticed one lone hut nearest the gate and quite isolated from the rest of the camp and for some reason this was nicknamed broke-back hut to much hilarity. As the car stopped there was a mad dash by all to not end up being the two sleeping in broke-back hut and thus Chris and I found ourselves carrying out stuff out to ‘broke-back’; this ended up being a theme of much ragging and good humour for the remainder of the stay. After unpacking we settled in around the fire and watched the sun float gently down to the horizon; dinner was served and we retired back to the campfire. I am always over-awed by how loud almost total silence can be; The only sounds after the banter had died down was the pop and crackle of the wood as it was consumed in a quiet roar of heat, the occasional call of nearby hyena and the splintering of trees as the great lone bull elephants foraged in the darkness. The orange flicker of the flames becomes your entire universe, the stresses and importance of modern life suddenly seem a million miles away. Bruce Bryden said it best in his wonderful book A Game Ranger Remembers:

“Imagine you’re sitting somewhere in the Kruger National Park a little after nightfall, and enjoy the stories. Everybody knows that the best ones are told around a campfire, when the world is bounded by the flickering edges of the fire’s light and you sit on a rickety folding chair, wriggling toes that are sore from a day’s walking, your well-worn jersey keeping the cold away from your sweated-out body, a can of ice-cold beer sending frissons down your face as you roll it against your forehead. That’s when the good tales come creeping out, while the night creatures sing their unforgettable accompaniment from somewhere out in the great darkness that falls so swiftly over Africa when each day’s sun has set.”

The next morning we were woken at 5:30 by the banging of an African drum and Abel bringing a wash basin with hot water to the front of each hut. After a quick face wash we all met round the camp-fire as the first light of day painted the sky in beautiful gradients of colour; A cup of coffee and a rusk and then we set offon our first mornings walk.

The walk took us up alongside a mostly dry river, small pools of water had collected in little pools where wither the clay soil permitted excellent water retention or where natural springs fed the pools. Bounded on both sides by rock walls we followed the river’s contour up to the big pools where hippo had taken sanctuary from the dryness of winter. The river bed itself was fascinating in it’s rock formations and plant life; the wonderful diversity of rocks made me wish that I’d taken Geology as a subject in university.

In due course our guides brought us to a halt and said that we were getting to the hippos and we should proceed quietly and in single file. We saw the pool from a distance and had circumvent the pool to a viewing point above and the the back of a pool, where a sheer rock wall provided us a safe vantage point to view these magnificent animals. The pool itself was muddy and covered in a frothy scum, the hippos seemed perfectly happy and would break the surface of the scum to look at us, wave their tiny ears and then plunge with much exaggeration and puffing back beneath the water.

After about half an hour of watching the hippo we set out again and we were immediately greeted by a beautiful green pool so out of character with the rest of the surroundings as to be startling; the green colour was due to an algae growing in the water. The water between the algae looked clean, more so than the muddy grime of the hippo pool and it was this that that our guide said lured many animals to drink at pools like this and then ultimately perish. The algae apparently causes the water to become toxic, a death-sentence to any person or animal drinking from it.

A steep and intense climb out of the river and up the side of the mountain brought us breathless and pouring perspiration to our morning breakfast spot. Breakfast was at about 9am and consisted of provita, cheese, dried fruit, cold boerewors (spiced sausage) and fruit juice. It was a nice little spot in the shade with a view.

The rest of the walk was in the fierce heat of the day, the sun was relentless and the terrain quite difficult ranging in extremes from ankle-breaking rocks to soft river sand. Walking along the river we came to an enormous boulder sitting like a giant in the middle of nowhere; Paul didn’t pass up an opportunity for a little climbing practice.

An interesting bit of bug-lore belonged to the communal web spiders that bind leaves together to make their dwellings. Hundreds to thousands of these little spiders then live inside these structures safe from the fierce heat of day and emerge to hunt in the evening. Steve told us that small birds sometimes get caught in the webs and fall foul to a thousand tiny bites.

By 11:30 we were all thankful to be back at the vehicle for a short drive back to camp; Steve put the windscreen of the vehicle down which provided wonderful cooling air for our ride home. On our return to camp we were fortunate in having two elephant coming to drink near the hide. We sat and watched them, sipping cold beer and cool drinks, until lunch was served. The one elephant seemed in a jolly mood and let loose with all 40kg’s of erect elephant penis. We watched in awed silence as he proceeded to waggle it around and scratch his belly with it.

After a feast of a brunch we all retired to a sleepy siesta out of the sweltering heat. The drum went at 3:30pm and it was time to head out again. After another short drive we came to a watering hole with a large reservoir about 100m to the left of it. Elephants started emerging silently from the bush to drink. Elephants are apparently quite fussy about the quality of their water and the larger ones would poke their trunks over the top of the reservoir, fill them with nice clean water and squirt it into their mouths. We were quite unprepared for the size of the elephant herd coming to drink and they numbered anywhere from 50 – 80 elephants. There were a number of babies in the herd and the females accompanied them down to the water where they drank and then wallowed in the mud.

One of the babies was very curious about a lone crocodile at the far side of the watering hole and crept round for a better look. He tried on a number of times to get close to the croc but each time his ear-flapping nerve failed him and he was forced to retreat. It all came to a head when on the final attempt he got too close and the croc opened his cavernous maw; this proved too much for the baby ellie who made a hasty retreat back to the safety of the herd.

I was fortunate enough to have my tripod with me and was able to take a number of really nice sunset pictures and capture the slow unhurried return of the now-satiated elephants back to the sanctuary of the bush.

We returned to camp after the sun had fully set and given sway to the silent blackness of night. We had a wonderful dinner and retired to the warmth and comfort of the campfire where we sat initially sipping port,talking and joking and then slowly conversation ebbed away and a peaceful stillness settled over us as we watched the flames and the majestic stars in their full splendor turned slowly overhead. Dennis had brought his telescope with him and earlier we were lucky enough to see the binary stars of Alpha Centauri and Jupiter and 4 of its moons. We all soon drifted off to bed, foot sore and weary but looking forward to another day of adventure. (days 3 and 4 to follow ..\)

Technorati Tags: South Africa , Kruger Park , Nature , Bush , Bushveld , Trees , Animals , Wildlife , Photography , Elephant , Spiders , Hippopotamus , Hippo , Sunset , Water , Campfire , Watering Hole

My favourite tree, again…

Here is another HDR of my favourite tree providing a nice sunlit contrast to the sunset picture I took the other evening. I’m not sure why the bark seems to come alive with a warm glow but I love the effect.

ISO 200, f/10, 20mm

A Walk in the Park

One of my all time favourite blogs is Bev Wigney’s ‘Burning Silo‘, a self proclaimed virtual space where nature meets photography and this sounds like a marvelous idea to me. One of the amazing things about Burning Silo is how Bev manages to come up with incredible macros day after day, after a tromp about the farm she emerges with marvelous things to show us.

I managed to get out and about with my little boy today; everyone has been down with some pretty nasty flu so we’re all suffering from advanced stages of cabin fever and in danger of getting out the kitchen knives. There is a nice park and dam quite close to where I live and so the two of us headed out for a little nature infusion this afternoon. I took my camera along in the hopes of shooting some Bev-like pictures but it seems all the critters are hidden away from the winter cold and I had to content myself with a few nice pictures of the park and some rather fat and well fed ducks; not really up to par I’m afraid.

The walk however was divine; a highveld combination of warm sun, chilly air and the most unbelievably blue sky. A few stragglers were braving the cold and were sprawled out on the lawns with picnic attire; children zoot past you on scooters or plastic push bikes followed by bemused looking parents and the briskness of the air added bounce to the steps of many of the excited and slobbery pooches.

The walk has a sad moment to it though. On the way round the dam we happened upon two children and their carers. These little boys had survived being burned alive and their skin looked like run candle wax. Most of their features has been melted away and they still had bandages on parts of their body. They were most likely survivors of the winter fires that rampage through the informal settlements (a nice name for squatter camps) that abound throughout South Africa. Often a spilled paraffin lamp is the start of these blazes that can eat through an entire camp in a night taking many victims along the way. Despite the overwhelming odds that face these two little kids in life they were managing to enjoy a little nature and some sunlight and stood together by the waters edge, as kids do everywhere, throwing pebbles into the water.

I will keep trying to find those elusive many-legged critters in the interim and content myself with some of the wonderful macro photography on Flickr; I am looking to get myself a macro lens in the near future so that will help my cause greatly – the salesman assures me it will make an eyebrow look like a broomstick.

I’d like to close by sharing a wonderful quote I found today:

“The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking.”
- Brooks Atkinson (1894-1984)

Technorati Tags: Flickr, Nature, Photography, Photo, Scenery

Back after a hiatus

Well I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus of late, getting all the disconnected threads of my life neatly back in order. I took a jaunt back to blogger and did a whole lot of tech stuff which was fun but ultimately not very satisfying (and the community there are just not as cool and interactive as the wordpress lot).

The main problem I had with my blog was that the content was too disparate, too much stuff about too many topics to satisfy the need for a blog-theme. So I’m starting again and keeping it simple, concentrating on the things that really interest me: atheism and belief, photography and general life musings.If that’s what gets your wheels turning in the morning then perhaps we have something. It’s a new day and I’m pleased to be writing again.

The picture above is a 3 exposure HDR taken of my favourite tree in my garden, an African acacia that towers over our house and is able to grab the last rays of sunlight. Taken with a Nikon D80, f/10 1/50s ISO 200 autobracketing, exposures 2ev apart.

Home Affairs Hell

I had to shake my head in dismay listening to the esteemed Mapisa- Ngakula tell etv news that people at home affairs wouldn’t be fired for gross incompetence as it wasn’t a nice thing to do; nice to have that level of job security! … really and it’s a sure fire way of motivating the hoards of current hopelessly incompetent employees to take their jobs seriously … right!

I tried recently to get passports for my wife, son and myself. It took close to six months.

I had to re-visit the grubby hole that is the Randburg home-affairs 3 times because their machine apparently couldn’t read my fingerprints – in case you missed it that was 3 times of standing in queues, being accosted by the pushy hoards at the gates wanting to watch my car and sell me photographs and all sorts of other un-identified things and putting up with completely disinterested clerks who on numerous occasions tried to tell me there was problems with the system so that the problem didn’t need to be rectified on their shift.

Eventually it took me phoning the minister’s office to get the cell phone number of a senior official at Randburg (don’t try the landline – it never gets answered) and pester him daily to follow up on my passport for things to happen.

I recall with sadness a very nice Indian gentleman standing in the queue with a vacant expression on his face; he had been waiting for over a year for his passport.

Way to go Ngakula, thanks for the quality customer service … keep on rewarding incompetence and build another government department to be proud of.

Home Affairs; An African Tale

A recent experience with the department of home affairs left me tearing out what little hair I have left with frustration. We’ve all seen the news reports of the levels of corruption and incompetence rife in the department of home affairs. We’ve heard the esteemed Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula tell us that no jobs would be lost due to gross incompetence because firing someone who couldn’t do their job wasn’t very nice (http://markofinsanity.tumblr.com/post/128713). However all this was merely academic until I needed to check if my passport was ready. I thought it would be a traumatic event so I made notes as I went; here is the full transcript and timestamp as the events unfolded:

How to get information on your passport; African style

Started the process at 12:12

I used the number listed on my passport slip to phone Randburg Home Affairs.

• 12:12 – phoned Randburg, engaged
• 12:13 – phoned, Randburg engaged

Then I went to the home affairs website, and yip the number was correct, phoned for a 3^rd time – number engaged. Went back to the website and looked up the central Pretoria number.

12:15 – called Pretoria, I was placed immediately on hold and then a very rude man listened to half my request before cutting me off and transferring me to a number that just rang and then cut off.

• 12:18 phoned Randburg, fax tone
• 12:19 Phoned Pretoria number again; put on hold for 10 minutes; phone put down.
• 12:28 Phoned Randburg; got through and into an automated queuing system that terminated in a phone ringing and then cutting off.
• 12:29 Phoned Randburg, different option in the queuing system, rang, cut off.
• 12:30 Phoned Randburg, different option in the queuing system, rang, cut off.
• 12:32 Phoned Randburg, different option in the queuing system, rang, cut off at 12:34.
• 12:34 Phoned Randburg, different option in the queuing system, rang, cut off at 12:37.
• 12:38 Phoned Randburg, different option in the queuing system, rang, cut off at 12:39.
• 12:39 Phoned Randburg, different option in the queuing system, rang, cut off at 12:40.
• 12:40 Phoned Randburg, option to wait for an operator, rang, cut off at 12:42.
• 12:42 Phoned Randburg, option to wait for an operator, rang, cut off at 12:43.
• 12.44 phoned Pretoria – phone was picked up and immediately put down/cut off
• 12.45 phoned Pretoria – phone was picked up and immediately put down/cut off

12.47 Back to the website looking for another number

12:47 Got hold of a Mr. Raynold Ndema, Gave me 2 numbers to try

12:48 Got hold of Happy, gave me a number to call

12:50 Got hold of Cosana – he didn’t know how I came to be at his extension as he was in budget control but gave me 4 numbers to try.

12.53 Got hold of Tebogo – disinterested in my request and cut me off saying she was still busy on the other line and then proceeded to chat and laugh in the background for 6 minutes. Caught her checking the line to see if I was still there; I was. Turned out she was the right person; I’d obviously just caught her in the middle of a social session.

13:01 Was informed that one passport was already at Randburg, the other passport hadn’t been attended to and my passport had a smudge on the fingerprints and I had to go back to home affairs to have more fingerprints taken.

Date of passport application: 28 December 2006
Date of this ordeal: 14 March 2007
Number of phone calls from the cell phone number on my application: 0

In the end I had to drive back to home affairs to take more fingerprints. I met a very nice Indian gentleman with a vacant expression in his eyes – the date of his passport application was January 2006; he had been back and forth between Randburg and Pretoria ever since trying to track down his passport.

I was promised that someone would get back to me with information about my application. That was last week and I’m still waiting.

Magic in the Forests of Knysna

Well I am back from a slew of leave, first to the coast and then on a team-build/getaway to Phantom Forest eco-reserve in Knysna.

Phantom Forest has been show-cased on Top Billing as a premier and tranquil respite from the incessant pace of modern life. Built into the forest in an eco-friendly way, the lodge proudly has little impact on the wildlife and ecology of the surrounding wilderness. It boasts a number of impressive chalets linked by walkways, and stunning boma, cocktail and viewing lounge and pools in which to escape the heat of the day.

The rooms are made of wood and the furnishings and décor is exemplarily. Each room has a frontal expanse of glass so the wilderness is never very far from the comfort of your room.

Day one saw us arrive from Johannesburg and dine at the famous Knysna oyster company, a sumptuous feast of oysters, tiger prawns and good wine. After a brief walk around the waterfront area we made our way to Phantom Forest and checked in. A relaxing dip in a stunning mosaic pool left us refreshed and ready to tackle the 5 course dinner in the boma. Coffee and drinks followed dinner on the deck around a roaring log fire and then to bed ready for the next day.

On day two we started the morning early with coffee on the deck and high fives from the simian visitors from the trees. A mammoth breakfast only the most gluttonous or starved could hope to do justice to set the tone for an hour drive to the Tsitsikama forest and the canopy tree-top tour.

Nothing can quite prepare you for the joy and beauty of zip-lining for 2 hours through one of the most beautiful forests in the world; gliding from tree to tree 30m above the ground – the air full of the noise of birds and the smell of water and moss. As the trees are protected, the landing platforms use an ingenious system of rubber stoppers and tension to keep themselves aloft. If you are in the area on holiday then this is a must – I will never again drive through this part of the country without visiting the trees. (Photo’s coming soon)

After lunch we stopped briefly at the Storm’s river bungee – the highest bridge bungee in the world. With over 200m of free fall it is a sight to behold. One of our party was ever hopeful for a rush of adrenaline but there was quite a queue ahead of those ready to throw themselves into the void.

We returned in the afternoon to Phantom Forest to freshen up and made our way down to the Knysna pier where a huge catamaran awaited to take us on a sunset cruise through the Knysna heads. Drinks and snacks were served and the boat set out. The weather was calm and the skipper was able to take us through the heads and briefly out to sea. The Knysna heads are the some of the world’s most dangerous waters and any boat traversing the heads are immediately un-insurable.

After the cruise we returned to the lodge where a breathtaking Moroccan 6 course dinner awaited us at the stunning themed chutzpah room. The food at Phantom Forest is out of this world, my wife and I love dining out (and we do regularly) but the food here was amongst the best I have ever tasted. To have, in one weekend, the best fillet streak and the best line fish is truly astonishing.

Day 3 saw our time at Phantom Forest sadly come to an end. We were collected by Seal Adventures and whisked off in four by fours to the reserve on the Knysna western head. There we did quad biking and the infamous abseil. The abseil is one of the highest commercial abseils in the world and was one of the most amazing experiences ever. To stand on a granite cliff, nothing behind or below you but a seemingly endless void and far below the waves pounding into the jagged knife-edge rocks was a high that will stay with you for many years to come.

From the abseil we returned to the airport and then home.

Thanks to all concerned in the planning and the paying of this unforgettable weekend getaway.

To say it was awesome would be an understatement.

The Coming Storm

Flickr kudos: Blood & Bullets,
originally uploaded by denmar.

The Coming Storm

The tired echoing rantings
Of a country gone mad
Screams of cracked asphalt
And peeling paint;
Smeared with the clumsy grafitti
Of blood, sweat and cum.
The cordite clouds gather
There is a restless moving;
A seething discontent
Awaiting the breaking
Of the lightning-raped
Clouds

(c) Stuart Forsyth

Jacob Zuma Moral Degeneration Handbook

SA Crime Stats

SA Ministers ‘hold stake in Gautrain consortium’

Cosatu was outraged by reports that two Cabinet ministers and National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete have shares in the consortium that is building the high-speed Gautrain , a spokesperson said on Sunday. “The reports reinforced the belief expressed in Cosatu’s recent congress that a worryingly growing number of ANC and government leaders had a personal self-enrichment culture,” said the Congress of SA Trade Unions’ spokesperson Patrick Craven. He was responding to a report in the Sunday Times that Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Education Minister Naledi Pandor were part of the shareholding structure of the Bombela Consortium which won the R23-billion bid.

Link

surprise….surprise….

SA: Main Barrier For Rape Survivors is the Criminal Justice System itself.

Penny Dladla (not her real name), a rape survivor from Mandeni, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, spoke about her problems with the police.

“When you go to the police, they don’t want to help you and act irritated. It makes you feel uncomfortable. Even the female investigators are rude to you – they question you like you are lying.” The woman spoke of how difficult it was getting information contained in case files from investigators. “To add stress to rape survivors who go through the courts, prosecutors also discourage them from pursuing their cases by telling them that their cases are weak.”

The activists and community members marched in solidarity with “the 51 500 women whose rape cases each year – although reported to the police – are ignored and forgotten,” said Mthathi. The group marched to the regional court in Eshowe, where a long list of their demands was handed over to a magistrate. Top of the list was a demand for justice for survivors of rape, and zero tolerance for all forms of violence against women.

Women demanded that the police and justice system increase the number of rapists arrested and charged.

An immediate end to police intimidation and incompetence, including the “losing” of dockets, was listed. Access to post-exposure prophylactics at health-care facilities, especially rural ones, and better psycho-social support for rape survivors was also emphasised. According to TAC statistics from 2005, more than 55 000 rapes were reported to the police. “We know that rape and sexual violence in general is a much bigger problem than SAPS statistics suggest. We know that most incidents of rape go unreported,” said Mthathi.

Of the more than 55 000 rape cases reported in 2005, only 7 percent of cases were successfully prosecuted. “This is an injustice. It sends a message to communities that rape is not a serious crime and that the survivors of rape, who are usually women, do not matter. “Why does this happen? Because families, communities, social and governance institutions believe that sexual violence is not an issue of pressing concern, and do not speak out against it.” Mthathi said that one of the main barriers for rape survivors’ access to justice was the criminal justice system itself.

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