A Free Trip Around South Africa in 30 Days

South Africa. Our breathtakingly beautiful country is predicted to contribute R424.5bn toward the economy this year. Just to be looked at in awe and amazement.

Last year 3.5 million tourists flocked from all over the world to see Table Mountain, Robben Island, the Kruger National Park, and Durban’s Golden Mile amongst other places. And this year that figure is forecasted to rise by 3%. It may not seem like much but if our Tourism sector steadily grows, the World Travel & Tourism Council claims that by 2028 travel and tourism will create 2.1 million jobs.

But the FeesMustFall protests have amounted to over R300-million in 2017 as a result of damage to property. I don’t know if there will be anything left to see in ten years time.

I had just pressed the publish button for Domestic Violence and then protests broke out in Parkwood. And as usual, things became violent. So I decided to have a look at what has been happening around the country over the past month. 

Ek sien fokkol beauty nie but it is breathtaking.

Cry, My Beloved Country.

Domestic Violence

Our constitution states that each individual has the right to adequate housing. Of course and naturally this is one of your essential rights as a human being. Now please note the word ‘adequate’ because slatting up a hokkie on an open piece of field next to a freeway is NOT adequate.

And when the ‘boere’ stieks uit and breaks it down, you want to break down the whole area. An area you wanted to come live in not too long ago. Like that possessive burk that cuts up your clothes because you broke up with him. If I can’t, nobody can.

That unhealthy sense of entitlement just makes my bors warm.

In the past few weeks, the country has experienced sporadic outbursts of protest action; some of which were too close for comfort. I could hear the gunshots and commotion at Strandfontein Road/Pelican Park  but the Mitchell’s Plain/Siqalo protest particularly had me by the ovaries.

And it has led me to come to a sad realisation: where there are shacks, there is chaos.

Personally, I don’t believe in protesting. I don’t feel that it yields the desired result. But this is a democracy en ons is supposed to saam staan and it too, like housing, is a right.

But why should one man’s stance trample another man’s rights? Or rather why should one man's right infringe on another's?

Why are we starting out with looting and vandalising? Why are we blocking roads in an attempt to make life miserable for all? Why are we breaking down what our fellow brothers and sisters have built up? Aren’t we all in this struggle together? Shouldn’t we all be marching to Parliament instead because our fight is with Government?

Government, who has promised but not delivered.

And how great that Siqalo ‘residents’ have been promised homes now. But what impression does this leave the rest of us? That the only way to get the Governments attention is to burn down the place?

Is South Africa just prone to violence? Did we honestly think that after the rule of Apartheid is no longer that the violence too would end? Isn't that violence what got us here in the first place?

Do we still engage in violent protesting because it might bring forth change?

And what has changed? Our patience and understanding towards each other? The lack of tolerance we have with one another?

For years our people have fought.

They are still fighting.

And now they have turned on each other.



[Here is a free Guide to Protesting Lawfully from Right2Know]

Taxi.Duh.Me

eHowzit

People in Cape Town all drive the same: KAK 

The traffic department should consider incorporating cell phones into the license test. Nowadays people drive clutch in, foot on the petrol and eyes on the screen. Los die Candy Crush en die Whatsapp status tot by die huis. You’re supposed to stop when the mannetjie is green – and for that, you need to look up. I've almost been knocked over thrice in the past two months. Ry lekker man.

Cape Town is the most congested city in the country – you can’t afford to drive kak – and this is only aggravated each time drones of mense flood to take a taxi because the trains are disrupted. (which is every other day.)You leave two hours before your call center shift in an attempt to avoid traffic only to add to it.


What do you get when you cross an outdated train with cable theft?

“The 16:45 train from Cape Town to Fish Hoek has been cancelled.” And a happy tikkop.


And that’s how I stopped using Metrofail in 2016. But that’s also when the kak started:
Because now I was stuck with ‘Driver of the Year’ en sy gaatjie. The ‘Liffmans’ of the public transport system; exploiting your desperation to get to work. 

The only form of pubic transport we have left since trains are becoming a rarity and the bus strike continues. You see all the loyal bus riders waiting for taxis each morning, dikbek, cause you know you and this twenty other people standing here are all going to sit in the same van.

Today your clip card gets you a seat on the back of an old chair or a piece of chip board covered in cloth – or

“… staan gou net hie, dai ma klim hie voor uit”


The epitome of uitgevriet. 

I don’t know what makes me more naar about taking a taxi; the amalgamation of feet, sweat and mosag, the yaart music or the fact that I won’t get anywhere in a timely fashion. Because more often than not, they make you late; Drive 2 meters, reverse 3 meters and stop for five minutes. Repeat.

Scott Hanselman

Now, I've had my fair share of rolling gaatjies and drivers alike. We've had disagreements about fares, I have tossed out a few kussies myself and we have argued about why my daughter has to sit on my lap AND pay because the traffic cop is behind us.


Recently,I started to indulge in the Golden Arrow experience. With no unnecessary stopping, reversing, laptops and sometimes air conditioning, the bus for us has become my preferred mode of transport from Wynberg to Cape Town.

F.Y.I - For those who don’t know: It’s a BUS, not Century City’s food court. Vat jou piesang skille en jou hoenne biene saam jou, Kanallah.

***

The word Taxidermy is derived from the Greek words 'Taxis' and 'derma'

Taxis mean ‘to move’, and derma means ‘skin’

And taxi gaartjies have a way of getting under my skin, by not moving. Especially when I am mounted on a laptop, looking life like but dead inside. Thinking, 'I knew I shouldn't have taken this taxi. Duh, me.'