Wednesday, April 22, 2009

UAfrika Wakumba Afrika Kusini!

Yaani wadau, hii habari inachekesha kweli! Yaani UAfrika unazidi Afrika Kusini.
Kwa maana yao, kama nchi ina barabara mbovu, rushwa, ujambazi na wezi, ufisadi, chama kimoja kushika hatamu, basi hiyo nchi imezidi uafrika! Maana yao hasa ni kuwa waafrika wameharibu nchi hiyo iliyotawaliwa na makaburu.

Nimesikia watu wakisema ukienda Afrika Kusini ni kama unaenda California. Sijawahi kufika huko lakini nasikia pazuri. Na zamani Zimbabwe palikuwa pazuri kweli.


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Is South Africa about to become more 'African'?

April 22, 2009. South … By Scott Baldauf

Johannesburg – Rising crime, crumbling roads, pernicious corruption, and landslide victories for the ruling party in charge: these are the signs that South Africa – so "First World" at first appearance – is now on the decline.

But the one complaint that seems to top them all here these days is that the country is becoming more "African."

That particular gripe usually comes from well-to-do South Africans – white and black – who are worried about the trajectory of the country once populist leader Jacob Zuma takes power after he wins Wednesday's presidential election, which he is all but certain to do.

It's a statement that conjures the frenzied dysfunction of Nigeria, the brutal despotism of Zimbabwe, the power-madness of Kenyan politicians, and the genocidal civil wars that strike Rwanda and Sudan's Darfur.

Indeed, with Mr. Zuma – a man with a grade-school education, a polygamist, who has definitely tilted his party away from the monied suburbs and toward the black African masses – many South Africans are finally coming to grips with what it means to live on the African continent.

Yet a closer look at the values that South African blacks practice at home, and the expectations they have of their leaders, suggests that some of this pessimism – exemplified by Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio's sour explanation, "This is Africa," in the movie "Blood Diamond" – is a bit overdone. A truly majority-run South Africa may not operate the way a foreigner or European immigrant would expect, but it is also a culture with its own well-defined approach to culture and justice.

The 'ubuntu' spirit
A central concept in southern African cultures is the notion of ubuntu, which literally means "being a human being."

"If you look at ubuntu, that is the way in which people look after those who are vulnerable and weak," says Dumiso Matshazi, a political analyst in Tshwane, as Pretoria is now called. Ubuntu is a collective compassion that holds people together, that won't allow someone to starve or to remain homeless; it is the glue that can hold society together, he adds.

Ubuntu, seen in the many families who take in AIDS orphans, and in voluntary township soup kitchens, has been weakened significantly in recent years, anthropologist Pearl Sithole says, as blacks move from tightly knit rural areas to the cities in search for jobs, and as politically connected Africans use their personal connections to achieve personal wealth.

"The idea of ubuntu survives, but it has been contravened by the current economic consensus," says Ms. Sithole, a researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council in Durban. "But most communities in South Africa are bound by ubuntu, the notion that if your brother dies, you are obliged to engulf his family as your own."

Ubuntu is what South African black voters expect to hear from their leaders at election time – a reassurance that common sense and decency will prevail. Those black politicians who talk in abstract terms of economic growth may reassure white South Africans and educated members of the black middle class, but they leave many African voters cold, Sithole says.

Jacob Zuma's common touch
"People look from a point of view of what a leader can do for them," she says, and while "educated South Africans might appreciate what [former President Thabo Mbeki] has done, you hear people talk of his coldness and his abstract achievements." By comparison, "people like Zuma because he tends to spend time locally. He observes local traditions. He listens. He is sympathetic, and he can say, 'I have gone through the same thing.' "

Many white South Africans see in Zuma the stereotype of the African Big Man politician – a man who uses political power to build up himself and his cronies. But many Zuma supporters say he will be the exact opposite.

Rather than looting the national treasuries and natural resources, in the mode of Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, Uganda's Idi Amin, or Nigeria's Sani Abacha, they say, he will be more keen to ensure that national services like education, hospitals, clean drinking water, and electricity are shared more equitably, especially among the poor.

"The Ndebele people have a saying 'Indla muva yi nkosi,' which means 'the king eats last,' " says Matshazi, referring to an ethnic group living in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Africans expect their kings to share the largesse in a trickle-down fashion, holding massive feasts for the elders of the tribe and making decisions only after the elders have formed a consensus, he says. "An African leader who feeds himself first, like [Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe], would be seen as a useless leader, because he doesn't share."

11 comments:

  1. Shimba ya buhongoApril 24, 2009 2:53 PM

    Did you read the article or it is ajust a question of typing anything? Absolutely nothing is wrong if it means oing far better than the racists. But if the case is a stated then there not only that nothing but everything is wrong. Failure to maintain infrastructure no one even at a gun point can tell me is collect.
    Huwa nikikutana na wabongo wenzangu ma-patriots kama huyo hapo juu utasikia wanahalalisha umaskini wetu, mara ukolono mara nchi ndogo mara Marekani ilichukua kufikia miaka mia mbili kufika hapo ilipo. Almradi hawakubali uzembe na ujinga wetu. Singapore waliopata uhuru baada yetu sasa hivi hawakamatiki. Kwetu utasikia UKOLONI. Tanzania tuna reli iliyojengwa na Mjerumani kama siyeye tusingekuwa na reli. Tukang'oa ile ya Kilosa hadi Mikumi na sasa tunang'oa ile ya Tanga halafu mtu anasema eti bora nchi ambayo iwe "FULLY FLEDGED AFRICAN" ili irudi kwenye ujima. Kwa hali hii lazima Afrika itawaliwe kwa mara ya pili.

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  2. wewe shimba ya buhega bwege kweli, ndo matatizo ya uthomi huo. Maendeleo ya south afrika hayajachangiwa na waafrika weusi, na huyo anony huko juu kabisa alichosema ni kweli. Wewe unadhania utajili ni "materially over builty" kama alivyosema bob marley.
    Racist eeh! asante sana.

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  3. Najua hii article iliandikwa zaidi kwa South Africa lakini nitaihusisha zaidi na Tanzania pia.
    Shimba ya buhongo naungana na wewe 100%, halafu huyo anony wa April 25 12:03pm ni very ignorant, unajua watu kama nyinyi ndio mnafanya waafrica wengi wakimbilie nje na kuchukua uraia huko kwa sababu ya fikra potofu kama zenu. Leo nimesoma article moja kwenye Bongo5(naomba wengi muisome)kuwa uwanja wa Taifa huenda ukafungwa kwasababu serikali imeshindwa kuhudumia mpaka itakapopata mzabuni wa kumkabidhi, hivi ni kipi tutakachoweza kufanya sisi tu wenyewe jamani, this is so sad, achia mambo yote ya racism etc, failure to maintain anything in Tanzania has become acceptable na tunajionea sawa tu, excuses kibao!We have nothing hakuna cha bongo tambarare wala nini, tunaukubali umasikini na kujivunia nao, umasikini nikimaanisha hatuna chetu wenyewe. Huyo annony nae wakwanza oh eti it should be fully fledged African state, uko serious au unataka kuchekesha watu tu? fully fledged Africa ha lol,this is so sad!

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  4. Wewe shimbo buhega kwa uzumbukuku wako, ndo wewe wewe uliyeandika tena na kujiita anony april 25th, 7:10 PM.

    Huyo anony wa kwanza anaujua ukweli na kinachowasumbua nyinyi viingereza ni kudhania kwamba maendeleo ni uzungu. Dawa ni kujenga utamaduni wa kujipenda, uwajibikaji, na adhabu kali kwa wazembe; na wala siyo kukumbatia wazungu wanaokuja kujiita waafrika huku. "hatuwezi kurambaramba matako ya wazungu"; Jomo Kenyatta.

    Kama Kenyatta alishakataza kulamba matako ya wazungu, then nyie na hizo form six zenu za azania; nyie waleteni wazungu tuu.

    Shmbo wa buhogo kwa uelevu wako mdogo wa mambo, nina hakika wewe na huo usomo wako, hujawahi kusoma kitabu chochote cha mwanamapinduzi wa kiafrika. na ndo maana unafikilia hivyo unavyofikili.

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  5. Wewe anony wa April 29, 2:30am, you need to get your facts straight! mimi ndio anony wa April 25,7:10 na wala si kama unavyofikiria, anyways sikulaumu, unakandia elimu za watu wakati wewe mwenyewe hata spelling tu za kiswahili huwezi, eti "unafikilia hivyo unavyofikili" badala ya fikiria hivyo unavyofikiri sasa mwenye elimu ya form six ni nani, unajua mijitu ignorant kama wewe ndio mna guts za kushabikia upumbavu kama huu, inaelekes dhiki zako zinakusumbua sasa hivi, sikulaumu sana maelezo yako yamedhihirisha wewe ni mtu wa status gani, kwa hiyo kama Kenyata amesema hivyo ndio tuukumbatie umasikini na kukubali fikra finyu kama zako. Rudi shule na ujifunze kutafakari kama hujaandika upuuzi, halafu huyo Shimba ya buhongo sio mimi, kama mtu ana courage ya kuandika jina lake mara ya kwanza kwa nini aogope mara ya pili, get your facts straight buddy!!

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  6. lol anony, 10:57
    nimeandika "unavyofikilia" kwa sababu nimezaliwa darisalama, na darisalama hivyo ndivyo tunavyozungumza yakhe. tunasema chula na hatusemi chura.
    tunasema mapela na hatusemi mapera. Nazungumza kiswahili kama lugha ya kwanza, sikujifunza kiswahili shule na wala sijui lugha nyingine ya kibantu isipokuwa kiswahili. Hapo ndo kwenye makosa yangu.

    Sasa naanza kuandika kwa kiingeleza.

    The degree of ineptitude displayed by your incompetence to analyse our past, together with your comformist attitude and craving for acceptance from the old cruel, criminal,colonial imperialistic slavers is what haunt you and the likes you to date. The demons should be exorcised and can only be exorcised by you, to flee you from the bondage, chains and shakles which pin you down to think that Afrika shouls run away from itself and be something else.

    "Is south africa becoming more african?"

    Aaaaaagh!!!! may be I should end up here, the problem is, its quite evident the disparity of our respective capacities to mentally masticate is enormous, and I have learnt to live with the likes of you.
    Enjoy.

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  7. Annony 5:58Am, please stop embarassing yourself, it's obvious you are struggling with this, anyways hongera kwa kujua lugha, can see your effort with big words obviously you have no idea what they mean, guess you are thinking big as well LMFAO, umenikumbusha mbali, maprofessor wetu wa kibongo using big words halafu wakirudi nyumbani wanayatafuta kwenye dictionary! really funny,ndio shida hiyo umeulizwa kitu simple unaanza kuquote kamusi. Haya, mimi nadhani umasikini ndio demons and guys like you habour those demons.

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  8. anony hapo juu mimi siyo professor, na sijawahi hata siku moja kujiweka katika kundi la wanaojua lugha. kaniandikia shemeji yangu hiyo meseji.

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  9. Shimba ya buhongoApril 29, 2009 6:03 AM

    anony wa april 25, 7:10 na kurudi tena April 27 10:57, aasnte sana kwa kurudi nakuweka mambo sawa, sasa huyu shwain anabwatuka tu ati uafrika auafriaka my black ass. Kwa sababu yeye kaandika utumbo wake hapo juu na kaamua kurudi kuutetea badala ya kuja na facts anadhani kila mtu anafanya hivyo Kama nilitumia Shimba ya buhungo mwanzo kwa nini nibadilishe? Kukuogopa mtu ambaye sikufahamu na hunifahamu?
    Huu ndio utumbo ulioandika hapo juu nanukuu, "Maendeleo ya south afrika hayajachangiwa na waafrika weusi, na huyo anony huko juu kabisa alichosema ni kweli. Wewe unadhania utajili ni "materially over builty" kama alivyosema bob marley.
    Racist eeh! asante sana."
    Unachopinga nini? Hao makaburu ndio walioleta hayo maendeleo na waafrika wenye mawazo kama wewe ndio wanaharibu halafu mnasema makaburu ovyo.

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  10. "Hao makaburu ndio walioleta hayo maendeleo na waafrika wenye mawazo kama wewe ndio wanaharibu halafu mnasema makaburu ovyo." Looooh!!!!!

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  11. Naam kweli nakubaliana na wewe shimba ya muhogo, bora wazungu waje watutawale ili watuletee maendeleo.

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