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16th January 2006 — post on PDU website
Just glancing at the weekend newspapers, the blood boils and the sighs erupt. Will nothing ever change for the better? And yet have things ever been so extraordinary? A gorilla won a TV reality show in Poland. Now we're talking!
A few bytes:
The SA Blood Transfusion Services have banned gay men from donating blood because of their lifestyle. Hello 1983? Where have you all been for the last few decades? The fact that HIV is primarily a heterosexual minefield in South Africa doesn't seem to have penetrated into the minds of those who should know better. But to make it worse, some gay groups — and if that was ever a sad description - have decided to protest this by sending their members in to donate blood without telling the truth about their lifestyle. Arseholes! Delightfully the SABTS has retorted by saying: 'we will therefore test all the blood for HIV and as we have the contact barcodes, all donors who are infected will be so advised and informed!' Don't say they don't care.
Then our Deputy-President flies off in an official plane for a holiday in the Arabian desert. Outraged comments from starved opposition parties who desperately need a hook to hang their small hats on. Madame Comrade made things worse by admitting that the holiday was also a business fact-finding mission to study cranes. Hey? The Sunday Times have awarded Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka the title of 'Mampara of the Week' not for wasting taxpayers money or telling a fib, but for taking her kids into a desert for their holiday. No man sis sissi!!!
Which brings us to the issue de jour: our municipal election on 1 March. The apathy barometer has soared into the deep-red. The general feeling seems to be flaccid boredom and a case of 'who cares'. Very simple: if we don't care, we will get what we deserve. A strong committed municipal team leads to strong focused provincial government, which demands honest professional rulers on a national level. The country is bleeding from every municipal orifice. If we don't care, it will get worse. So if you don't vote on 1 March, don't moan. The chilling fact that the choices are dire, shouldn't divert us from the slogan: in a true democracy the people must lead and government can follow.
Vuku'zenzile! (Or as translated: 'get up and do something!')
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