we interrupt this journey for breaking local news...

Hi, while we have been blissfully meandering through the countryside, real life has been happening in a big way, so I thought we'd have a short news flash before getting back to our travels.

In an amazing turn of events, we ended up in Court today. Those of you who have been around a while may remember the incident in which we apprehended a burglar, and I got stabbed in the process. It was 18 months ago, and we had given up all hope of seeing justice done. In fact we were told he had been released on R200 bail, despite the fact that he was wanted for armed robbery as well. Then all of a sudden a cop arrived the other day with a subpoena, and said they had opposed bail, because there were multiple charges against the guy. Today we went to give evidence against him.

waiting for justice

We arrived at 08.45am and only left after 12 noon, having wasted the entire morning sitting on hideously uncomfortable benches while everyone in the court farted around and tried to find all the people involved in the trial. When I see the level of chaos and time wasting that goes on, even in a cut and dried case like this one, I begin to see even more clearly why crime is our new National Sport.... so few people are willing to press charges because it is such a monumental pain having to testify, but Mr Farty and I were determined not to let this b@$&@*d get away with it!

Maybe the wheels of Justice grind slowly, but they are still grinding, and hopefully this case will result in a habitual criminal staying off the streets for a while.

Outside the courthouse, relieved that it is all over.

It was quite nerve wracking giving testimony, being cross examined by the defense lawyer, and seeing the man who stabbed me in the dock. So my nerves were already a bit frayed when we went straight from the court to the post Office so Mr F could collect a parcel. I sat in the car waiting for him.

All at once I saw a movement next to the car, and looked up to see a man with his finger on the trigger of a semi automatic firearm, which was pointing straight at my face. I thought I was being hijacked for a moment, but then he moved on and I realised he was patrolling the street to see if it was safe for the Cash-in-transit van which was parked outside one of the 3 autobanks in the street. To say I got a fright and was unimpressed is putting it mildly!

This isn't the greatest picture, because the street was crowded, and you don't want to get too close to a trigger happy adrenalin junkie and stick a camera in his face (even though he clearly did not have any problem about sticking a rifle in mine...grrrrrrrr)

Here you see the bullet proof armoured van double parked until the man with the rifle confirms that it is all clear. I am not without sympathy for them, because they have become fair game for ruthless gangs who specialise in cash-in-transit heists, and some very bloody robberies take place on a regular basis, especially around Johannesburg. So they are justifiably cautious. But I hate the fact that, as a peace loving member of the public, I cannot be in a public street without being in danger of being shot by some jumpy, trigger happy security guy! There are many reports of innocent bystanders (recently a 2 year old toddler) being gunned down in the crossfire.

Anyway, on a happier note, Suzy asked after our grandson Ethan, so I thought I'd include a photo of his latest antics.

Three years old and already a pro with a computer mouse. Kids are amazing!

My art exhibition looms just around the corner.... so in between all this excitement, and preparing for the builder, I am frantically trying to complete a few more paintings. Will post some of the new ones when I come up for air again.

Anyone in PE who sees this and is interested is very welcome to attend the opening, take this as your personal invitation.

The ESCOM power story is settling into a routine, and while the 'powers that (don't) be' scurry around finding short, medium and long term solutions to the crisis, the general public has already accepted the inevitable. No amount of ranting or complaining is going to change the fact that "load shedding" is with us for the forseeable future.

We were in darkness again for 2 hours a couple of nights back. So we have been stocking up on ESCOM-free items (see Mr Farty's latest post), and now are pretty self sufficient. I found that the batteries in my radio had melted together and leaked acid all over, it is so long since it has been looked at as anything other than an electrical appliance. So that is all cleaned and sorted, with new batteries. We have a good supply of vanilla scented candles, and lots of matches. I got paraffin for the lamps, and Mr Farty had fun in a Boy's-toys shop getting rechargeable flourescent camping lights and a new gas cylinder (ours were bought 31 years ago in Zimbabwe, and are too rusty to trust any more.) We already have a gas light and cooker top and grill. I bought a mini oven/grill, so that I don't have to heat the whole huge oven just to cook something little for the 2 of us. We try to remember to keep cameras, cell phones etc regularly charged. And we work on laptops so that if the power goes off without warning, we won't keep crashing the system and losing work. We try to remember to switch the geyser off as soon as we have showered, and because we have had an insulation blanket fitted to the geyser, it stays warm for a couple of days. I would love to fit a solar powered geyser, but they are still a bit pricey, so it will have to wait. The extensions to the outside room which will finally give me a proper studio to work in are beginning on Friday...YAY. So life is about to get really messy and chaotic (soooo.... basically nothing new then!) and at the moment I need to budget for that, these things never end up costing what you are quoted for. We are not the only ones gearing up for it, this sign was spotted outside Fruit and Veg City this week.

And finally, I was commissioned by Vanilla Magazine, from Singapore, to produce a portrait of a PE lady they are featuring in the March edition. YAY! They liked the photos on the PE Daily Photo blog and made contact. So tomorrow afternoon, I am off to meet Boniswa, and hopefully get a decent portrait of her.

Wow, after all this, I think we need to do more travelling, so we will continue on our country drive soon!

It's a South African Soapie....

But unfortunately, it's for real.....

I am referring to the intruiging (and I use the word very consciously) state of SA politics right now. In fact a political columnist in yesterdays paper, quoting from Wiston Churchill, described it as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma".

This may be so, but one thing is extremely transparent, and that is the corrupt self serving nature of a frighteningly large percentage of our top politicians and civil 'servants' (a phrase which was clearly not fully explained to them in their job descriptions... they are meant to be serving the public, not themselves!!!)

So.... to the script for our home grown South African Soapie in several rivetting installments!

The players:

• Jackie Selebi, until yesterday, head of Interpol and our National Police Chief. He was arrested yesterday on charges of corruption, fraud, racketeering and defeating the ends of Justice.


• Gerrie Nel, a senior official of the Scorpions elite crime fighting unit, who has been leading the investigation into Selebi, but was suddenly arrested by a large group of armed Police last week on graft charges, without the knowledge of the National Prosecuting Authority who usually have to sanction such actions. After Selebi's arrest, he was released because the NPA (to whom the Scorpions report) could find no evidence to charge him. (The Scorpions were set up to investigate fraud and corruption, under the NPA, and are an independent body from the Police, their arch rivals.) But it was noticed that the people getting stung the most were, in fact, our top politicians and Parliamentarians. Since then there have been all sorts of manouevers to get the Scorpions back under the control of the police (in the light of Selebi's activities, and the attempts by the Thabo Mbeki faction of Government ...I still need to explain that.... to protect him, and thus themselves, this makes sense!)

OK, detour: before I get to the other players, I need to explain about Zuma and Mbeki. Gee this script writing is harder than I expected, given the fact that I didn't even have to make any of this stuff up!!!

Our State President is Thabo Mbeki. But the President of the ruling party, the ANC , is his arch rival Jacob Zuma. The ANC leads the country, but Mbeki is still President, got it?

Now Zuma is himself due in court later this year on charges of fraud and corruption. This should not worry him too much as he is familiar with the inside of a court room, having faced rape charges last year. (Did I mention that he was the head of the Moral Re-armament Movement at the time?) And since his supporters have already claimed that the courts will run with blood if he is convicted, it is anyone's guess how that little sub-plot will play out.

Mbeki is being accused of using the courts to get his arch rival Zuma out of the picture so that he can stand for another term in office. This is despite the fact that our constitution only allows for a maximum of 2 terms. Ho hum. Anyway, while using the courts against one's rivals, it is problematic when they are also going after one's friends.

Hence we have our Health Minister, who fast tracked herself for an organ donation last year in order to receive a new liver, but was so drunk while in hospital that she created havok with the other patients, and who, it was revealed at this time, was previously convicted of theft from a hospital in Botswana, but who has been protected by Mbeki and remains in office.

By the way, lest you think this business of having convicted criminals 'people who have been framed' as political buddies is limited to the Mbeki camp, let me hasten to re-assure you that we are an equal opportunity nation, and Jacob Zuma has Tony Yengeni, an ex Parliamentarian who is out on parole for fraud, and Winnie Mandela, convicted of being implicated in the murder of a child, on his new ANC leadership committee, so it is a well balanced juggling act.....in fact references to circus acts seems rather apt here!)

And this brings us back to Selebi, another of Mbeki's cronies, because if ever there was an intricate juggling act, it is the one going on right now in an attempt to protect Selebi from prosecution.

So back to the list of players in our little Soapie....

• Glenn Agliotti, convicted drug smuggler, who has been charged with the murder of billionaire mining magnate Brett Kebble. He also happens to be a 'close associate' of Jackie Selebi, who has stood by their friendship despite the doubt this cast on him as head of the Police. However, as is the way with such 'friendships', Agliotti was not so loyal, and in exchange for spilling the beans on Selebi, he has been offered a plea bargain on the murder charge.
  


• Vusi Pikoli... Director of Public prosecutions, (NPA) who was recently suspended by President Mbeki, the only justification given being "an irretrievable breakdown in relations between Pikoli and the Minister of Justice." Pikoli was leading the investigation against Selebi.
  


• Moketedi Mpshe, deputy head of NPA, who replaced the suspended Pikoli. A decision was taken by the NPA on December 16th as to whether or not there was enough evidence to prosecute Selebi, but it was not announced because "The Minister of Justice needs to read the report first."

CUE MUSIC: "the Theme from the Pink Panther".... because from this point the whole Selebi investigation becomes a total farce!!!

• Brigitte Mbandla, the aforementioned Justice Minister (she of irretrievable breakdown in relations fame, and, you guessed it, a close confidant of Thabo Mbeki!!) Clearly a VERY slow reader, because by the end of the first week in January not a word had been uttered, and South Africa waited with bated breath the hear THE DECISION. Then her spokesperson issued a report, saying that all the NPA had to do was inform her, but she was not responsible for announcing the decision, thus putting the hot potato back in the trembling hands of the NPA's stand-in head.

The Plot:

Well it is hard to know where to start, but for this episode, let's start with the fact that in September, Gerri Nel obtained an arrest warrant for Jackie Selebi, and also a search warrant was obtained on September 14th from the Johannesburg High Court. However, as soon as news of this leaked, Pikoli was fired by Mbeki.

Mpshe took over from him and cancelled the arrest warrant against Selebi, but the deputy judge president who issued the search warrant was not prepared to withdraw it, so Mpshe announced they would not be acting on it. This was obviously turned around between then, and the decision being made on 16th December to go ahead and prosecute Selebi, despite the fact that we had to wait until this week to be informed of the decision.

In the meantime, Jacob Juma was also charged with multiple counts of fraud and corruption, a day or so after he was elected as the new leader of the ANC. Despite being the de-facto leader of the country (the president must take his leadership cues from the ruling party, which actually rules the country) he will be going to court on 14th August. Note that when Juma was under investigation and first charged last year, Mbeki fired him from his post as Deputy president without hesitation. Now that Selebi has been charged, Mbeki has put him on "extended leave" which means that he still holds the position of top cop, and us taxpayers will be paying handsomely for his R&R until he is tried and convicted!

Stay tuned for the next thrilling installment......... I'm amazed that Hollywood hasn't picked up on this, here is a ready made story they could have used during the screen-writer's strike!

And think of the potential for sequels, as it is slowly revealed what Selebi and the Health Minister have on Mbeki which would make him willing to jump through such improbable hoops to protect them, making a complete mockery of the image he has worked so hard to build in the international community.

However, all sarcasm and lightheartedness aside, one has to spare a thought for the thousands who died in this country in the struggle for a free and fair democracy, and wonder what they must be thinking of these leaders who are abusing their hard won positions of power to play their own little political self-enrichment games. It saddens me to think of the sacrifes made by Nelson Mandela and so many others being trampled on in this way!

bloggers against abuse day

Hi, well the big day has dawned, and today is bloggers against abuse day. if you want to find out more, click on the icon on my sidebar. I have been putting ideas together, but have been really ill for the past 4 days, (suspected glandular fever) and to be honest, my brain is like cotton wool, I just do not have what it takes to pull it all together. So I may have a go at a later stage, and in the meantime I will give you links to a couple of websites dealing with child abuse in South Africa, which is very prevalent.
the first is on the south african police site.
and the second is training for teachers to know what to look out for and how to deal with it.
sorry, that's it for now, back to bed!

Voyeurism?

I seldom watch day-time TV. Years ago when I was a young mom grappling with 2 littlies, running a smallholding (growing veggies, fixing fences, milking my cow, making jam, butter etc) and simultaneously running a pottery studio, it wasn't an issue anyway, I barely had time to BREATHE, never mind watch TV!

But at the time, I met the middle aged wife of one of Max's colleagues who was very obviously bored, lonely and depressed, and she had got into the habit of mooching around in her dressing gown, watching whatever rubbish was served up on TV all day long.

I felt sorry for her, (especially as South Africa only had 1 TV channel in those days, now we have 4 if you are not on satellite, and even now it is often hard to find anything worth watching!) but I really took it to heart, I never wanted to end up like that.

So it became a sort of unwritten rule chez-farty that the TV did not get turned on during the day, and even now all these years later, it still usually applies. Exceptions are when one of us is sick in bed, and needing mindless entertainment to pass the time, and when expectant daughters-in-law are staying! (In this situation, all rules fly out of the window, we egg each other on wickedly to eat copious quantities of chocolate and gawp at daytime TV to our hearts content!)

I have obviously glimpsed trailers for the odd soapie over the years, and jeered in a superior way at their inane mindlessness, not to mention acting which is so bad that it is comedic. I have often speculated about what motivates otherwise intelligent people to sit enthralled by these shows, and decided it was probably some form of voyeurism and escapism.
However, it was all very clearly hammed up fiction, so, though mindless, it was probably harmless.

The new trend in programmes is way more disturbing, because it now revolves around the real lives of real people being dissected on National Television. The popularity of shows like Jerry Springer and Rikki Lake just blows my mind! In these, there is not even an attempt at altruistic motives such as public awareness of issues or actually attempting to help (as in the case of DR Phil or Oprah.) It is plain straight forward salacious entertainment, and clearly destructive to both participants and viewers.

And it says some frightening things about our society,

1. that such dysfunctional interpersonal dynamics are common,
2. that people have so little dignity or sense of self worth that they subject themselves willingly to become objects of public scrutiny and entertainment,
3. that hopefully more functional individuals find it all entertaining rather than repugnant, and feed the whole sick thing by watching such programmes!

For me an all time low is the sordid one that has been on our TV on Sundays recently, called “The Batchelor.” The whole concept of 25 women being available to throw themselves at 1 man, who gets to screw around with them literally and figuratively, until he rejects all but one, and then in some sort of magical way is suddenly supposed to transform into a faithful loyal guy who would make a good husband to her….it just boggles the mind!

I mentioned Dr Phil and Oprah. They, at least, have the noble stated intention of helping, or shedding light on social issues. But I must admit, I have often wondered lately if it is all as altruistic as it appears. How much do they need to stretch their personal integrity at times, to show things which go beyond what is needed to help the people, or inform us, but which add spice and make “good TV”?

I have been trying to put a label on the way I sometimes feel when watching these shows, and I think the closest word that I can get to is ‘defiled’. There is often good and useful content, but I am also seeing stuff that does go on in many homes, but am I any the richer in my heart for seeing it? Do we need to constantly be exposed to the seamy, sad, dishonest, aggressive or sordid, to be aware that it exists? Will it eventually tarnish or desensitize us to the point where we are no longer shocked or saddened by these things? Will we become so numb that they become ‘normal’ to us?

I often feel as if I am crossing a personal boundary too, I suppose I could describe it as that guilty feeling one would get while peeping through a keyhole and spying on someone, whilst knowing it was reprehensible to do so.

If seeing other people’s real-life pain and trials as entertaining is becoming the norm in society, why on earth are we shocked and surprised when crime rises, kids run wild, and people have forgotten how to respect themselves or others!

So, I guess, there was some merit in that unwritten rule, and I am glad I have not seen more daytime TV over the years. I may be ignorant about many facts that have been revealed, but I am relieved that I still find it all offensive enough that I can only stomach it in small quantities!

here ends the rant.... have a nice day!