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Barbara

Who's land is SA anyway?

 Thoughts and facts on the landgrabbing trends in South Africa

POSTED BY: PRAAG FEBRUARY 2, 2016

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I AM disagreeably surprised that Business Day saw fit to publish the article by Thando Mgqolozana that called for the occupation of land by force (Land grab the only way to restore justice, January 20). In most countries, dispossessing the legal owner by force is a criminal offence and calling for people to do so, incitement to commit a crime.

His reasoning also shows an ignorance of history, civilisation and economics. Humans originated in Africa and gradually spread out over the globe. One wave of humanity followed another and the first occupiers were soon pushed off their land, killed or enslaved by subsequent waves, this process continuing until well into the 20th century. Mgqolozana seems to assume that land was never forcibly acquired in Africa until the whites arrived. Since the advent of the first humans, there has been a history of forced occupation of land.

The original occupiers, the San, and later the Khoikhoi, began to lose their old hunting and grazing grounds through the influx of African farmers from the north that probably started in 300-500 AD and continued well after the first Europeans arrived at the Cape in the 17th century.

If the Europeans had not arrived, this black African invasion would have reached the Cape.

The question of who today is the rightful owner of land anywhere is extremely difficult to answer and there is probably no universal “right” answer. At first sight, we may consider the land should be returned to its previous occupier. However, as the previous occupiers almost certainly acquired the land themselves forcibly at some stage, do they really have a better claim than the current owners? And at what point do we stop the clock and say that those in possession have good title for the future?

As far as farm land is concerned, the result of land grabbing would surely be that the new owners would have neither the skills nor the finance to work the land economically, causing a severe shortage of food, as in Zimbabwe.

Dr John FW Morgan

Sipplingen, Germany

Understand each other already!

Hi already again, my dear friends.

Since I have concluded (for the time being) my 'historical research' on the subject South Africa, I came to the fresh opinion that if we all want to have better lives in this magnificent country, we MUST aim to achieve mutual understanding and the ideal would be tolerance. This is my new quest for the famous zero defect.
Mutual understanding in 2015 is very far away from most of us. It is rather a case of total denial, or even condemnation. I am referring to the important stuff here: Culture, tradition, religion and inbred ways of seeing and doing things. We all have them, but especially in Africa, they could not be more different from each other.

I personally know a lot of highly educated, South African born and bred white women, and I got their honest attitude in a mini-opinion poll.

 Before I go on I want to point out the link to the Wikipedia - encyclopedia on the right sidebar. You can ask questions in the search bar and the link will lead you to the respective page. For example 'tokolosh', or 'sangoma' or 'racism' or 'apartheid' etc.pp

Back to my opinion-poll:
Let's take one of the most important aspects in African daily life: the 'tokolosh'. He is a small ape like creature with an evil mind and everybody is scared of him. Certain things really displease him and one of many result in not putting the head end of your bed against the wall (you might squash him!)and putting your whole bed on top of bricks, again not to squash him. In the European culture he might be called a 'polter-geist', poltering around in cupboards etc. and never being really seen. Here, millions hear and see the tokoloshe every day.
When I came here I, for the life of mine, could not understand why my pillows ended up on the floor behind my bed each night. The      rural housekeeper of mine (Emily) seems to have liked me a lot and always pulled the whole bed off the wall to protect me from the          'tokolosh'. It takes time and especially the curiosity to find out these things.
Anyway, one of my white ladies, when I asked her about all this, claimed from her heart: The tokolosh is long dead! Hahahaha! Another, being queried about 'sangomas', said: That is a long dead tradition. Sangomas are so-called traditional healers who's craft is entirely based on ancestor worship.
These days they advertise themselves on social media, in family magazines and most importantly by word of mouth. Plus: they keep on making thousands and thousands of people happy and better!! Most African babies have colorful string bracelets on their little

arms, given to the family by their sangoma, to protect them.

It's complicated! But it is all totally undeniable and partly understandable. And -if you set your mind to it - it is acceptable. In this case I can only say: poor thousands of white missionaries, who did not get it quite right.....

So I will from now on not dwell on the negatives any more, but highlight the abyss in a way, that hopefully will bring about understanding and tolerance. I realize that I have taken upon me a mammoth task, but it's more than worth a try,and for most white people (not all!) a novel way to try and get peace with each other.

Here is a short video clip concerning the reality young sangomas of today:

http://mg.co.za/multimedia/2014-06-02-sangomas-of-the-21st-century#.VYkmnp5ZylY.gmai


Greetings,
Barbara

The "Truth" about South Africa

From here.....

Dear friends,

today I want to share a short result of my quest to find out what lead to today's frazzled politics in South Africa.

                                                        

                                                            To here....

I came here in 1982 and did not have any quests except from enjoying the solitude on a Free State farm, the beautiful nature, weather and freedom from having to comply to social norms. It was the time of apartheid, yes, but I was a guest and did not question, nor was interested in politics. Then there were some bombs, talks of civil war and then the start of democracy. All that was fine with me. I was growing herbs and pumpkins, having found profound happiness. Democracy could only lead to a better life for all, I thought. Well, that did not happen and I started to ask myself how is it, that the Europeans who allegedly had messed everything up, got to be here at all. Before the Africans from North Africa and the Europeans from North of the Equator fell into today's South Africa, it was a real and pure paradise, albeit with it's own savage cruelties. And a couple of years ago I started looking for the truth about South Africa. To my surprise I found out:

 There is no truth about South Africa 

Tons of books have well be written about this elusive truth, thousands of blogs and websites claim to have found it and are discussing it with great passion. That alone proves the non-existence of one truth. There are in fact millions of truths about my new home country. The more I researched, the more "truths" turned up. I would assume that this goes for the whole world, but here many truths are dramatic, violent and, yes, barbaric. The mine worker deep underground must of course perceive the truth different from a rural tribe, and the city dweller's truth is different from a historian's. A collective truth is impossible to find.

This time of wondering and searching was a nervous time and I want it to come to an end and go back to only the flowers, birds and bees colonizing my mind.

However, to illustrate the conglomerate of  'honest personal opinions' I want to cite 2 authors, whom we all know. 1. The creator of the famous 'Sherlock Holmes', Sir Arthur Canon Doyle's description of the 'Boers';  and Rudyard Kipling's  (of Jungle book fame) poem

Canon Doyle was a hugely prolific writer and for some reason volunteered as a field doctor in the Boer Wars 1899-1902. He even came up with a whole book about the Boer Wars. The first chapter starts with a rather hilarious description of what he decided makes the Boer tick:

"Take a community of Dutchmen of the type of those who defended themselves for fifty years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world. Intermix with them a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots who gave up home and fortune and left their country for ever at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The product must obviously be one of the most rugged, virile, unconquerable races ever seen upon earth. Take this formidable people and train them for seven generations in constant warfare against savage men and ferocious beasts, in circumstances under which no weakling could survive, place them so that they acquire exceptional skill with weapons and in horsemanship, give them a country which is eminently suited to the tactics of the huntsman, the marksman, and the rider. Then, finally, put a finer temper upon their military qualities by a dour fatalistic Old Testament religion and an ardent and consuming patriotism. Combine all these qualities and all these impulses in one individual, and you have the modern Boer—, the most formidable antagonist who ever crossed the path of Imperial Britain. Our military history has largely consisted in our conflicts with France, but Napoleon and all his veterans have never treated us so roughly as these hard-bitten farmers with their ancient theology and their inconveniently modern rifles."

As far as the Africans were concerned in this, they did not even have the smallest chance of successfully defending the country they thought was theirs. (It was not, they were immigrants too). They were the vast majority in numbers, but they could not use the animals like elephants, rhino, hippos etc. as horses, they had no firearms and there was no African unity (identity). 
This solves my most important question as to how could so few Europeans get their feet into Southern Africa for good. Now, after another century+ the 'for good' part is not all that certain anymore. 
Rudyard Kipling touches the 'why was and is unity (between black and white) nearly impossible' in the following poem:

The Stranger
The Stranger within my gate,
He may be true or kind,
But he does not talk my talk—
I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,
But not the soul behind.

The men of my own stock,
They may do ill or well,
But they tell the lies I am wonted to,
They are used to the lies I tell;
And we do not need interpreters
When we go to buy or sell.

The Stranger within my gates,
He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control—
What reasons sway his mood;
Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
Shall repossess his blood.

The men of my own stock,
Bitter bad they may be,
But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
And see the things I see;
And whatever I think of them and their likes
They think of the likes of me.

This was my father's belief
And this is also mine:
Let the corn be all one sheaf—
And the grapes be all one vine,
Ere our children's teeth are set on edge
By bitter bread and wine.

No, this conclusion of my findings does not exclude that there will be solutions in the future. Miracles happen!


To here:  2015        

 
As far as the present is concerned: it is once again a jungle out there. And I rest my case.
However, nobody can stop me from dreaming my own peaceful and beautiful 

SOUTH AFRICAN DREAM

Greetings from Yours Truly,

Barbara

Did you know South Africa like this?

See the wonderful sides of South Africa:

10 Interesting Facts About South Africa You Never Knew

1. Table Mountain in Cape Town has been identified as one of the oldest mountains in the world.

2. Table Mountain itself is noted to have over 1500 different species of plant life which is more than England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland combined.

3. South Africa has the longest stretching wine route in the world.

4. The Palace of the Lost City hotel is the biggest theme resort hotel in the entire world and is the largest building project undertaken in the southern hemisphere.

5. The Karoo area is home to some of the greatest dinosaur fossil remains. 

6. South Africa has the most luxurious train in the entire world, called the Rovos Rail.

7. South Africa is home to the highest commercial bungy jump in the world, called Bloukrans Bridge Bungy (216 meters)

8. South Africa is the only manufacturer of the Mercedes Benz C Class right hand drive cars.

9. The only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace prize winners is in Vilakazi Street, Soweto, South Africa. (Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

10. Three of the five fastest land animals in the world live in South Africa: the Cheetah, the Wildebeest, and the Lion.

GREETINGS,

BARBARA

Wildlife Crime / Mail and Guardian

 African elephants in front of Kilimanjaro Photograph: Juniors Bildarchiv/Alamy

Tuesday 23 December 2014 09.00 GMT

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Why are African leaders silent on wildlife crime? Every day in Africa nearly 100 elephants are killed for their ivory. But African leaders seem oblivious to the implications of the plunder. I am embarrassed, as an African, by their silence. The cries and shouts to bring attention to this unfolding tragedy are from prominent westerners such as Prince William andHillary Clinton, not from our own leaders.

Reports from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cities) show that 80% of ivory seizures occur in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, my country. The amount of illegal ivory in Kenya, mostly en route to China, has come as a surprise to many Kenyans, who were for decades fed the narrative of a wildlife-friendly country with zero tolerance for offenders.

Earlier this year, United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon stated that “the environmental, economic and social consequences of wildlife crime are profound”. He emphasised that it threatens peace and security in a number of countries where organised crime, insurgency and terrorism are often closely linked. This should be more directly understood in Kenya, where hundreds have died in attacks like the one in Westgate Mall in Nairobi.

Kenya’s public services aren’t taking such reports seriously enough. The country’s wildlife agencies have been found to be untrustworthy. And the charges againstKenyan “most wanted” wildlife criminal Feisal Mohamed Ali only carry a minimum sentence of $16,000, despite his alleged involvement in a range of criminal activities.

For conservationists and those on the frontline against poaching official figures are difficult to confirm because of the lack of transparency in the collection of the data. Furthermore, although ivory seizures are occasionally reported, the disposal of the stockpile, unlike the public destruction of illicit drugs and weapons, takes place away from public scrutiny.

The effect of the illegal ivory trade is being felt across Africa. In just one park in Tanzania, Selous, 67% of the elephants (pdf) were slaughtered over a four-year period. Ongoing surveys and reports are revealing the near annihilation of elephants in Democratic Republic of the Congo and the South Sudan.

In Uganda, a recent audit revealed that 1.3 tons of ivory was missing from the national stockpile; while a report by (pdf) the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) in Tanzania revealed the China connection in ivory trafficking. It was reported, but unconfirmed, that during a recent visit by Chinese dignitaries’ local ivory prices went up by 100%. The Chinese government denies this.

Meanwhile, horrific news has just emerged that in Zimbabwe, 34 baby elephants have been kidnapped from their families to be sold into a life of slavery in zoos and circuses in China and the United Arab Emirates. Some of the babies have already died from the emotional trauma while in their holding cells.

Incredibly, African leaders have been silent on all this despite the many opportunities at regional meetings to address the alarming rise in the use of militias to slaughter elephants. The loss to Africa and the cost to our development runs in the billions of dollars. How could such an important issue not be a major agenda item at African regional political meetings?

Apart from Prince William’s and Hillary Clinton’s leadership on this issue, western governments have yet to deliver on promises to fund elephant conservation in Africa. These leaders could do much more by marshalling political support, supporting good indigenous organisations and forging mentoring partnerships. It is in everyone’s interest to prevent these species from going extinct. They are our global heritage.

This does not let African leaders off the hook. They recently addressed the Ebola crisis by recognising the threat and seeking help, and the assistance began to flow immediately. Why can’t they do the same with this crisis?

Kenya’s first lady, Margaret Kenyatta is one of the most vocal African leaders on the subject. As patron of the Hand Off Our Elephants campaign she has broken traditional roles to become the first First Lady in Africa to champion an animal cause. But other leaders are silent. Why?

What is seen by many as a genocide of elephants is not getting attention because it is viewed as “just a conservation concern”. But this is much more than that, this is a political and economic issue that is driven by the unbalanced relationship with Africa’s fastest-growing development partner, China.

I believe it will take a complete transformation of hearts and minds for African leaders to wake up and take charge to end the slaughter of our magnificent elephants. Our leaders must employ their collective bargaining power to say no to the demand for ivory in China. It will take enormous courage and pride in our natural resources, something that African leaders do have in abundance. This paradigm shift must be driven by demand from African people themselves. Until this happens, the only winners in this game will continue to be the ivory dealers.

Paula Kahumbu is the chief executive of Wildlife Direct. Follow @paulakahumbu on Twitter.

CALLING YOUR ATTENTION ON OUR AFRICAN WILDLIFE CRISIS AND CRIME ONCE AGAIN,

Barbara

Let's make South Africa, the whole continent and the whole world a better place in 2015. For that I wish us all health, wealth, contentment and peace.

What happened to 'My African Dream"

What happened to the “South African Dream”?

Between 1982, the year of my immigration from Germany to South Africa, and now (2014) there were countless changes to my personal “South African Dream”.
Sure, the African countryside remained the same, the one that is the content of a global longing and love of Africa. However, the people changed and the things they changed about Africa were not very beneficial.
Tourist agencies are selling South Africa in colorful brochures of all the options visitors can enjoy: the magnificent, spectacular nature, the Two Oceans, fine dining and wining, The Garden Route, Table Mountain, the Big Five (fenced in parks and on the verge to be only big 4 or 3…), Game Hunting, super exclusive accommodation, health spas, the works.
I don’t say they are lying! It’s all here indeed. But to remain in business they leave out too many other realities that might befall the happy traveler Even the slight possibility of an Ebola infection had significant amounts of holiday bookings being cancelled.
South Africa is, at least above the sweet seeming Cape region, a land of roughness and savageries.
A never ending war started +- 500 years ago. Until then the land was inhabited for tens of thousands of years by only a small number of the indigenous San People (later Khoi San, later called bushmen). Overpopulation and drought in North Africa caused the South wards inland migration of mainly the Nguni, Zulu and Bantu tribes.
The fighting and blood shedding began then. Inter-tribal fighting for land and cattle were the main reasons and very probably a sort of tribal racism.
The arrival of the European settlers, which happened more or less at the same time in history, did not improve the situation at all. Between them they started diminishing the numbers of bushmen, the wild and domestic animals and –last not least- each other. It was war out and out. A war fuelled by greed, greed, greed for land, slaves, cattle, superiority and gold.
The foundation of Apartheid was, as far as I am concerned, a war strategy, to win and overcome, similar to Shaka Zulu’s innovative warrior formations. Apartheid was not a god idea, but similar misguided tactics happened all around the world. However, South Africa was the global favorite culprit and boogey man of crimes against humanity and our white people are shouldered with an in-erasable stigma and for probably generations to come.
The war is going on. From an actual battlefield it has shifted to inter communal disagreements. Increasing poverty, unemployment and resulting violent crime fuel the aggression and anger and the active hate of people from neighboring countries, who come looking for jobs.

So how on earth did it happen that we are all still here? I think that the good people with positive thoughts and intentions are in a majority to the baddies. It's a soul thing. I hope it is, because that would give me real hope for the future of our children: black, brown, beige, white, yellow. (Any color left out is not meant as discrimination....)

Our government is divided not only on the basis of politics, nepotism greed and corruption, but remarkably also by tribal ship. (It is so divided, that riot police has to be deployed into Parliament!!!)  Massive civil street fights are caused by tribal differences. The tribal consciousness goes so deep, that many refuse to speak the other’s language. (In this context one might dare to mention the fact, that many white Afrikaaners and vice versa white Englishmen (sometimes presumably) don’t speak each other’s languages. The latter fact would be another article on the Boer- Wars, which I will write when I feel very brave one day!!
What I wanted to say in this article AS WELL is, that since I arrived here, the country’s population’s lot did not improve under the new government. Statistics show the contrary.

As to the subject of ‘racism’, which I carefully avoided up to here, but which is very much alive and kicking like everywhere else in the world 2014, I am sharing a public facebook post, which caught my attention this morning:



Daniel Lötter (facebook)
Yesterday at 9:25am
(Daniel) Mommy, they’re calling me a racist again!
White South Africans are so used to it. Anything you say or do which is not immediately approved of, wham-bam-boom – ta-daa! Racist!
As if racism is an exclusively white thing. Wait, we’ll get back to this one.
White people have now developed two slightly amusing habits as a result of their very existence being automatically linked to racism. In the first place you get the advance-apology: “I am not a racist, but….” and what follows on that introduction.
The other is the very meaningful gesture which all white South Africans understand by now. The tapping of the right forefinger on the left forearm or the right cheek to indicate skin-colour. For example: “Do you know who was appointed as the new manager?” “No, but I heard….” (combined with the tapping to indicate that it was an affirmative action, BEE appointment of a black candidate not necessarily based on skill, qualification and merit. Go ask Eskom, SAA, Post office etc if you don’t understand exactly what I mean.)
It is quite tedious, to be honest. In particular the misaprehension amongst South Africans of colour that being called a racist is a huge insult to a white person. It is not. No longer anyway. It has become a joke now, in particular when even innocent student fun is used as examples of racism. That is clutching at straws to prove a point for which no evidence exists. It is really somewhat pathetic, come to think of it.
Way back in 1994 (and some of us have moved on, you know) the majority of South Africans of all colours were somewhat excited of what awaited them. They were fed with all the good news, all the positives, all the prospects. They started feeling like someone who had chocolate cake for breakfast, cupcakes for lunch and fudge for supper.
The transition of 1994 was a difficult one for white South Africans. A way of life, an entire system of beliefs of 300 years had to make a complete u-turn and that meant emotional and psychological sacrifices. To hear, on top of that, the constant refrain of: Racist! Racist! and the tiresome and non-sensible kickback to Apartheid! Apartheid! year in and year out had two effects in the long run.
1)Some people, after being called “racist” over and over again for two decades and more, started to believe that. They crawled into their little corners and apologised and apologised and did everything possible to prove the accusation wrong. They are people like Conrad Koch, the boy who plays with a doll’s behind, and a handful of other libtards.
2)The majority, however, got to the point of saying: “No matter what I do, no matter how often I try to prove you guys wrong – you believe I am a racist. Nothing I can do about that.” Shrugged their shoulders and carried on.
You see, the black South African, in thoughtlessly repeating a word of which he never contemplated the true meaning, automatically links this word to an appearance. Because a person is white, he is a racist. If he could now become black, for argument’s sake, he won’t be a racist anymore even if he is who he is or does what he does. Even the very liberal white person is racist. And yet the young black male believes that showing off his white girlfriend would show that he is no racist. I have heard so often lately: “I date a white girl” that pure mathematics regarding the demographics of the country would show that, if every claim is to be believed, every white woman between the age of 16 and 60 in South Africa must be engaged to three black men! Back in 1994 many white people would say: “I’m no racist, I have black friends!”. Those days are long gone, so the guys still using their white girl friend as evidence of them not being racist – you are again 2 decades behind in development. You just can’t get it right, can you?
This is much like the scenario where you find the most homophobic guys tumbling out of their closets at one stage or the other. Demonise and project your own struggle to hide your own feelings of guilt – easy to understand: Black people scream “Racist” at every white person they see in the hope that everybody will turn on that person and not see the real racist standing right there! You turn into what you hate the most. You are a racist yourself. And after 20 years, the mask is now slipping.
20 years ago when I was 20 years younger, it would have mattered. Now I exist only as a racist in your mind. Nothing I can do about it. And because you have got to live with the ghosts in your mind, not I, I can do nothing more than pity you. It is your choice to live with that which you have created in your own imagination. It matters absolutely nothing to me.
So you regard me as a racist? I doubt whether I really take note of it, and frankly, it doesn’t even bother me any more. Don’t waste your time in thinking that you might hurt me with the accusation. I have liberated myself from feeling guilty about what happens in your mind. I have taken that weapon from your hands and I have left you behind as a screaming, shouting, bitter noisemaker…That is my personal liberation and there is NOTHING you can do about it.

Should the guys and girls in the yellow boxes not be at least a little bit concerned?

WhenI was still living and growing up in Germany, South Africa was rather far from our focus and I remember clearly that nobody really knew anything much about Africa. That changed for me, when my sister got married to a South African in the year 65. Through today's corespondence with "old" friends I understand, that there is still a vast emptiness in respect of "What do I know about South Africa?" or much rather "What do I want to know about South Africa?"

This blog is for those who are curious about what the hell, aside from socker, is happening in mynew home country.

Many friendly greetings and I can confirm that one can survive on the "dark continent", we have Christmas PLUS many other strange culture customs. However, it would easier for the heart to survive, if you should be deaf, dumb and preferably blind.

Tot siens, tsamaya hantle, good bye, hamba gashle, auf wiedersehen, aurevoir, aw yeah!

Always yours,

Barbara

Free e-book

Hello everybody,
today I have a present for you. It is a free amazon.com e-book on the subject:
"Make Money Blogging".

To read it on your PC or tablet you can download the free kindle reader application on the left sidebar, or download it directly from the page of amazon.com.

There are lots of other e-books you can choose on the subject. While this one of today comes free of charge, there are others at no costs at all and also some very reasonably priced ones.

Have fun,
Barbara

                                                                     

The dreamy world of semi-precious stones

Dear friends,
A very happy and peaceful Sunday I wish for all of you.
The more you get in touch with the potential healing with "stones", the happier, healthier and more and more peaceful you will become. I promise!

Please check out this link to the "Workings of semi precious stones." It will take you to a book which further enlarges on the healing powers of chrystals, minerals and other semi precious stones. More links will be provided when I have broken through to the 'linking business'. Being alone here on the farm prevents me from consulting any geeks for help. So I have worked myself through so far. I have several semi-precious stones for perseverance next to my laptop....
Here I would like to show you a part (medium sized for jewelry making)of the result of my years of collecting beautiful specimens, most of them of African origin.

Amethyst and clear Chrystal clusters - breathtaking piece

Oopsie poepsie what? Holy Cow!

Sometimes I can't help it! Making fun at everyone, including myself of course.

  Semi-precious stone Mandala, Turquoise, Jasper. Rose Quartz

CHAKRA Necklace

Impressions

I very sincerely hope that you are 'tantalized' enough to come back to view other pieces from my workshop which are looking for the right person to be able to carry them off. They are bold and beautiful pieces of jewelry that will enhance almost any outfit and definitely 'conversation pieces'

 For today I once again leave you with your dreams and creative devices.

Barbara