POEM

POISONED MARCH
(for tebogo)

tebza mtwana, taller than the tallest man

shot to the galaxy like a shooting star

leaving a trail like tracer bullets
you were too fast for the autobahn
running faster than the fastest automobile
crashed & spilled your brains in a russian roulette
died for no cause but the lust in the loins
i'm tired of funerals comrade that's why i'm not there

tebza ngwana, faster than the autobahn
on the day of your funeral i keep a low profile
i stand back & watch the procession
take a sip of red wine like a fish in a pond
your funeral was serene they tell me
observers are unanimous that it was dignified
buried like a 'true' soldier some say you were
others lamented your passing i spit on your grave

tebza mtwana, more treacherous than a million marbles
spilled on that corridor on that load-shedding night
you were too fast for the autobahn
soldiers don't gallavant fatigues down on the battlefield
neither do they inject poison on homeland missions
they wear flack vest to mitigate the impact
but tebza you infected with motive reinfected yourself
on the morning you died we started taking stock

from the beginning to the end you were on a poisoned march

REVIEW

Book: Traces of My Thoughts
Author: Ezrom Maromo wa Sekgobela
Reviewer: Goodenough Mashego
Rating: 8/10

The Voices of Africa film project two years ago unveiled a buried truth that has always dodged this province; that there are very consistent and conscious poets hidden behind the rising sun. Poets such as Cebisile Hlambo, Naledi Dlamini, Selby Mogane, the late Olgivit Gumede and Lucky Khoza. They carried this province's flag higher during the 21 episodes screened on SABC1.

Two years later another truth surfaces; there are poets with their own books in the province. The latest revelation is Ezrom Maromo wa Sekgobela whose poetry collection Traces of My Thoughts has just been unleashed. It's a portable 54 pages long interrogation of society and self by this prolific 34-years old-wordsmith, which comes to your in black and red. The glossy covered book, dedicated to so many people including '... the people of Mpumalanga Province' is made up of four chapters and thirty two poems.

On the chapter of Silent Thoughts I liked the poem In Foreign Lands which comes handy in our current socio-political dispensation. "in foreign lands/ we died clinch-fisted in protest/'we shall overcome'/ a conviction held till we transcended/ into the silent world of the dead'. It's relevant at a time when the memories of those who never saw the sought-after liberation have to be appeased by those who made it through. At a time when our loyalities are twisted and we are focused on material accumulation than creating marbles of rememberance.

Taiwa is a poem dedicated to the late jazz pianist Moses Taiwa Molelekwa. Sekgobela first published it in Sowetan-Sundayworld where it made such an impact that today the lines, 'Taiwa! I am incessantly haunted by the idea of how it would have been like had I known you' still ring gorier. 'Taiwa' it appears is also the name of one of his sons.

The two more chapters are Tears of Love and Inspiration of Nature which is where this Marketing Manager at the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) pays homage to the province, its natural resources and its diverse people. Here you find poems like Mpumalanga My Home, The Long Tailed Widow, Bridal Veil Waterfalls, The Caracal Attack, Lydenburg Heads and two others.

From this Mashishing native who now lives in Nelspruit Traces of my Thoughts is a book every Mpumalanga resident should aspire to own. 'Your cushioned womb begot luminaries and visionaries/ Dikwankwetla Bo Makwetla, Phosa, Masekela, Chikapa, Sekoto/ your children innumerable warm hearted and humble/ emulating your maternal love and embrace', he writes.

Not only because it's one of few coming out of poets from this province but also because its relevance to the daily reality of this population is gory.

I said to Sekgobela that this province deserves its own poetry Festival to celebrate its bards, he said we should discuss it with Arts and Culture. For now, his brilliantly written book should be available at Exclusive Books with a glittering cover designed by Nicholas P Hauser. I don't give 10 out of 10 to any book, and it's no different with this one.

CRITIQUE

Hip-Hop is Dead
The Official Obituary

'My man gave his mommy coke/ so she don't hit the streets all crazy for a smoke/ damn nigga/ could you picture/ you supplying your own mom/ so she don't have to bone for dime' - Rest of My Life (Street Disciple)

That was Nas before he told us to 'Google Earth Nas I got flats in other continents'. Yeah, while it should be one of the trickiest assignments to give free dust to your parent so she dodges an HIV infected dick, it should equally be noted that Nas was misleading the hip-hop heads when he claimed on Jigga's song Success from the American Gangster album that he's got worldwide cribs.

The point behind this post; what has happened to the conscious rapper as we knew it? Today Swizzbeat's # one rapper The Sundance Kid Cassidy freestyles about being 'in the presidential getting lewinsky' and then goes on to brag that 'that's why my verse is retarded'.

I'm old school. I come from the era of Tupac and Biggie and I'm used to RAP (rythm and poetry). That's even when you had naughty lines like 'how does it feel deep in the placenta/ cold as the pole in the winter' it still felt intelligent. Now, the 14-year old Nas who wanted to kidnap the president's wife on Illmatic is no more.

Losing Nas, who on any DJ Prem or Pete Rock beat would be so conscious you'll feel he was telling the truth when he declared that 'on the cross with Jesus Christ was a thug nigga', is like losing Tupac and Biggie once again.

Now, these days we've got 50Cent and Jiggaman to torture us (sorry AfroSliq). Jigga always chopping Biggie everytime he opens his 'fat lips'. The latest being what R.Kelly chopped about 'the number after the dot on the Range'. Jigga then perfects the plagiary and says, 'the only thing changed is tail number on the flight'. Truly, while bemoaning the death of rap I didn't want to entertain serial murderers 50Cent and Dr Dre.

I'll give The Game (The Documentary) some points for attempting to sound authentic. But with the demise of Snoop Doggy Dogg (Pound), Def Squad, Ja Rule, DMX, LL Cool J, Coolio, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Yo-Yo, EPMD, Heavy D, Thug Life, Junior Mafia, Mobb Deep, Master P, Da Brat, Kriss Kross, Flipmode Squad, Outlawz, Terror Squad, Wu Tang Clan, Queen Pen etc we can now buy a tombstone and start jotting obituaries to such a beautiful artform, especially with jokers like TI and Lil Wayne heavy in thegame and Nas, the last Messiah having gone pop.

NEWS

Bullard Bit the Proverbial Bullet

That annoying white rapper named Marshal Matthers, otherwise known to fans as EMINEM had a naughty song titled Without Me with a touching chorus that had these lines 'Now this looks like a job for me/ So everybody, just follow me/ Cause we need a little, controversy/ Cause it feels so empty, without me/ I said this looks like a job for me/ So everybody, just follow me/ Cause we need a little, controversy/ Cause it feels so empty, without me'. They might sound like cheap rap lyrics sung by a rapper who confesses to his adoration for drugs but these lines came ringing in my head this week when I noticed that David Bullard (the man bloggers loved to hate) is no longer a part of Sunday Times newspaper.

With his quick wit a, bow tie and a cigar one couldn't help but notice that there was an empty space where Bullard used to perch his creative arse. However I guess at Avusa that's exactly what happens when you glorify colonialism and later plead 'tongue in cheek'

For the life of me I don't see how anyone could justify the gibberish that old Bullard wrote in the name of controversy. To insinuate that colonialism, which came with slavery and human rights abuses, including mass rapes, plus stolen land and so many innocent blood shed was the best thing to happen to the native tribes? No ways.

Maybe if what Bullard was saying was that whites were indeed settlers in this country as there were primitive native tribes engaged in ethnic cleansing before Jan Van Riebeek and his band of thugs landed here, for sure he would have been near-accurate.

But to insinuate that cellphones came with whites to civilize natives living in one-story thatched huts while both black and whites in South Africa waited for cellphones until 1993 is grossly racist. Whites didn't have cellphones until the darkies had them to. Some natives I know even had cellphones before some whites I know. To say the natives would be walking above the land unaware of the mineral wealth below until the Chinese come is tantamont to Indophobia and insult on the intelligence of Afrikans.

Yeah, he might be right that he was given the boot for political expediency or for his criticizing of Avusa but with perceptions like his, who would be surprised there are still so many whites (Skielik, UFS, Barend Strijdom etc) who think they are the best thing to happen to blacks since creation and who believe they are God's gift to Afrika.

So we say goodriddance to Bullard. Read the full article HERE and be the judge.

YAH

Definition of Humans

It's just that baboons are not too overly ambitious, otherwise they'd be bonking humans if they believed a little bit in themselves. That's so because humans are so mentally retarded they don't need any seriousl convincing to drop their pants. Give a baboon a gold necklace, a blood diamond ring, a Mini Cooper S, a bundle of Zim dollar dosh and two ecstacy pills and you'll soon catch it in an orgy with the pageant Queen and her First Princess.

That's how cheap humans have become since dosh became the currency of choice. Broke chicks just dress up and go to clubs though they heard the Jermaine Dupri saying 'if I buy you a drink I'm going home with you'.

Afrosliqdiva posted about a skank whose hair was recently ruffled by a Naija-ass-dick after a quick shag. Two years ago there was a cellphone shot video of a Witbank skank taking a 12-inch unwrapped Naija dick for a mere R2000 (even AIDS is tagged higher).

If you thought homo sapiens won't bonk apes in cars for a bottle of Sarita, just go to any club on any given Friday or Saturday night. No wonder AIDS is so serious we bury so many humans every weekend, because baboons can have HIV but they won't die from AIDS.

OPINION

Black is Bond

There was a story I knew about a brother who wanted to realise Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's Rainbow nation ideal by copulating with a Caucasian chick. When the girl with a rich Scottish ancestry not only soaked in 500 year of quality whisky distillation turned down his advances he quipped, 'that's because I'm Black right'.

Of course, why else would a white chick turn down a Black guy if it isn't because he's Black and might pack a placenta rattling 17-inch pipi. Nonsense. Sense when you define Black in economic terms of deprived, denied and broke as a church mouse.

Okay, let's park it for now.

A good friend of mine told me with good authority that darkies and boers (Afrikaners) are very similar that's why they can't stand each other. 'You've got a better chance of bonking an Afrikaner than an English'. He said that boers are equally promiscous from an early age, have multiple abortions and die of AIDS at the same ratio as darkies. 'No wonder when they made Daily Sun for us they also made Die Son for them because we've got equal shit to dish'. He said, 'find them at Tekkies (University of Pretoria), the darkies there shag boer chicks like nobody's business'. He told me of this other dude I know who's boning a chick in the same bloodline of Dr Hendriek Verwoed, some grand or great-granddaughter. I gasped, 'wow, the good doctor must be turning restlessly in his grave because not only did this darkie, raised to see the green pastures but never to walk on them just walking, but he's trampling on the seed as well'.

Let's unpark that issue again and pay the toll.

Black is not a colour but a currency. Black is the depth of one's pocket. Obviously white chicks can't shag a broke darkie while we've seen paid darkies in the entertainment and sports industries from Nelspruit through Melville to Cape Town bonking larnies like crazy. Some darkies as unflattering as a '65 Impala.

Now, people like Mike Stofile, Lebo M and FBJ want to cash in the bond and raise capital. What Lebo M said is true but did he have to wait to be seated at the back to raise it? How long he been aware of racism in the theatre industry?

Okay, it's time to cash the bond and convert it into money before it's too late. If you are Black, hold on to your Blackness, it will be worth something someday. Or trying cashing it now since it's a voucher and see how much you can make. If still in doubt about the power of Black, ask the Black Diamonds and those who run around seeking AA Patronage.

OPINION

A case for the DALAI LAMA & the people of PALESTINE

I am the last person to condemn China for the way it treats the people of Tibet given that the Dalai Lama and his bunch of freedom fighters, who would be called terrorists in modern language were abandoned by the United States Central Intelligence Agency to the mercy of China in the early stages of their liberation struggle. Today, them getting their homeland back is as remote as that of the Palestinians getting their stolen land again.

Here are two scenarios one needs to understand. In Palestine, Britain had the power to decide the fate of the region when it finally withdrew its mandate there in the 19th century. And what do the English do? They abandon the Palestinians at the mercy of the Jewish Butcher Squads some led by people who are today celebrated in Israel as heroes.

The same was done by the CIA when it abandoned the people of Tibet at the mercy of China. Now, China wants to host the Olympic Games and the issue of Tibet comes up again. Some European countries are threatening to boycott the opening ceremony inorder to register their dissatisfaction with how China treats Tibetans (who are not Chinese). Indeed China is doing a lot of shit, if I may call that. It then accuses the Dalai Lama of instigating the current wave of monk uprisings in Lhasa which might spread to other provinces.

The poor Dalai Lama is exiled in India where he's heading a government in exile. It's a government which's de facto monk ministers are gradually dying and a chance of the youth taking over the struggle seems fading. Not with MIXIT, YouTube, MTV and Google preoccupying them when it's not Playstation 4 or Nintendo.

And now the world cries for Tibet and wants to show their anger by extinguishing the Olympic Flame in Greece where when the Olympics were held even wars were paused for the sake of the games. They don't succeed in extinguishing it in Greece then they move to London where the same attempt fails. And it moved to San Francisco where people protested by letting their statements glare at the top of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I should say I'm impressed with the intenational patriotism portrayed by the whole world. I am inpressed with George W Bush calling for a boycott of the opening ceremony, including the European Union suggesting it. I am impressed with Thabo Mbeki saying Africa is succeeding while Robert Mugabe is in the process of stealing elections. Damn I'm impressed with all the people with fire extinguishers who are trying to blow off the flame and I wish them success at one of the continents. But my question is; if the Olympic Games were going to be hosted by Israel, would we hear the same rhetoric coming from world leaders and human rights activists. Would we see loads of people attempting the Olympic Flame before its final destination at Tel Aviv. Think about it, because I did.

OPINION

Guilty of being BLACK? K@£&%R please!

You know these days I decided I was just going to relax and let holy cows graze in peace. Some few weeks ago I posted my lambast of the Forum for Black Journalists saying my bone with it was that it was out to create exclusive boxes for non-empowered darkie scribes when what they should be doing is to advocate on behalf of young black journalists who are exploited everyday without any of the top dogs who form the elite body raising a finger to question it.

One of my favourite media personalities is Lizeka Mda who I have followed from her days at Tribute magazine through to Sawubona and now at City Press. I love her to bits I must confess. She wrote quite a telling article over in The Media magazine questioning the morality and loyalty of these race-based bodies given that she used to chair FBJ. She said she would be the last to stop a journalist from joining but raised a question of why South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) was quick to defend Sunday Times when government (Essop Pahad) threatened to starve advertising but was not there when South African Communist Party honcho Blade Nzimande threatened to mobilize for the boycott of City Press.

Quite interesting heh? And now the Human Rights Commission says that the racial constitution of FBJ goes against the spirit of the country's Constitution and what does the FBJ do? It retaliates by playing the race card and retorting that it has 'been found guilty of being black'. Enlightened Americans would have said 'Nigga please' but I respect my elders and would say 'please Bra Abbey not in our race'

I know of many junior journalists in outlying places like Polokwane and Nelspruit who are exploited daily by big media houses without FBJ or any of the bodies in the black lobby raising a finger to question it. The same bodies that FBJ says it's going to summon to a meeting to counter the ruling of the HRC.

* On another note to me it's like Mike Stofile (brother to the Minister of Sports) saying that there's no place for a black person in South African rugby after losing a presidential contest to Coloured Oregon Hoskins. When did the black brother notice this fact? Why didn't he say it all those five years when he was deputising for Hoskins and getting paid non-black figures? Black shouldn't be such a cheap capital that people like Abbey who holds a cushy job at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (a parastatal) can use to buy publicity whenever it suits them. Black is an issue that should be tackled from an economic platform, not some cheap off-the record briefing with the next president of the Republic.

COMMENT

Why SOWETAN-SUNDAYWORLD Sucks!

I have a friend in the media whose favourite first line is 'it gives me great pleasure'. Well, that's when he's been given an opportunity to charm his way at corporate functions attended by those phly sistas you only find at Fourways and at expensive penthouses overlooking Nelson Mandela Square. I wanted to start this post by using exactly the same words but I realised that they might not be appropriate.

See, many months ago I predicted the death of Ymagazine in this blog and even wrote its obituary, given that it was edited by folks who did not know the first thing about a deadline and a byline. I complained that poets do not make for better editors by merely being able to wordplay. You need someone who understands information management, multi-tasking and a one gig database made up of freelance writers and creatives scattered at all corners of the country. Not someone with a circle of friends as small as Senyaka's figures. I was harshly treated by friends of some of the guys I called to order. Some said I did not understand anything about publishing that is why I was publishing a free blog. Some, notably with better knowledge than I did informed me that Ymagazine has always been edited by names sourced from Yfm, not professionals. I sighed 'yeah' because I finally understood why I lost touch with such a beautiful brand that I wrote beautiful pieces for when it was still lively.

Months later Kabomo Vilakazi is gone and in his place there's former Hype editor Fungayi Kanyuchi who I believe will do good work given the excellent job he did at the only Hip-Hop magazine which also has recently gone to the dogs since hip-hop producer Mizi took over. I saw the first issue of Y he edited and I'm like 'yeah, not that bad' and I'm more like Jigga when I say 'he's okay but he's not real'. Obviously it won't be an easy task to unsink the Titanic.

However my point behind this post is not to dis Y or whoever is editing it but to look at some of these media that is aimed at darkies and ask an important question; does anybody care about the reader? I'll start with the editor of Sowetan uncle Thabo Leshilo who recently traded blows with former acting editor of Sowetan-Sundayworld Sandile Memela. I don't want to believe Sandile when he says only people who are not too black (meaning in their views and not confrontationally) are given the editorship since all they'll articulate are their master's voices and nothing that rocks the boat. But I should mention that since Leshilo took over the standard has deteriorated rapidly.

For the sake of this post I am not going to mention a long list of errors that I think shows that the makers of Sowetan do not care about the readers but I will just pick a few things I observed last week. Look, good things first; I should be the first to acknowledge that the arts pages of the newspaper have become alive since Edward Tsumele returned, which is something former Sundayworld editor Abdul Milazi did so well to kill. The pages were always about him and his discredited poetry awards from America which were not worth the fake zinc they were made of.

But even Tsumele alone can not revive a patient who is receiving pounding from different sides. Last week Thursday's Sowetan led with the story about Orlando Pirates on the back cover. There was even a picture of Orlando Pirates' Innocent Mdledle. While one was relishing the story and perusing through to read more stories I was confronted by the same story, same picture and everything verbatim. One story repeated twice to fill space heh? One guy alleged that it is the mistake of the graphic people who might have repeated the story by mistake. I nodded (point taken) but soon protested that the buck stops with the editor. The buck stops with Leshilo. If the layout guy messed up and used that space to repeat the same story what story was supposed to go there and why didn't the editor notice it?

How come the editor didn't see it when as journalists we are advised to stick in the newsroom until the proofs come so we can proofread and complain. Didn't someone proofreading the pages see that the story has been repeated? Maybe they did, but for an editorial team bent on sleaze they don't give a damn. They never fail when it comes to churning out bad commentary about celebrities and other people they don't like but they fail at the most basic rule of journalism.

Someone might argue that celebrities deserve all the publicity they can get but when innocent folks who are just hustlers get their names dragged in the mud in the Sowetan brand for economic expediency, then you know something is wrong. When such a newspaper obsessed with 'righteousness' commits a cardinal sin like repeating stories, you know they are not concerned about quality but the quantity of gossip.

I'm not stopping here; Then I flipped Sundayworld over this weekend to check out what's up. I haven't been reading the junk for some time since I figured there's not enough content management since Leshilo came aboard. When I read through it, which I must confess was painful (similar to extracting a tooth minus anaesthetic) given that there actually was nothing to read worth my Sunday afternoon I was 'not' surprised when I came to a page where they wrote a story about Joe Mafela. All I could see was the faded picture of Mafela. It was only after carefully looking that I realised that the layout people messed up again. They used black ink on a black background and as a Grade One learner will tell you 'I can't see shit Sir'. How on earth does anyone use black ink on black background and how on earth does the proof go past the editor and the proofreaders?

And again what was that thing about people needing to answer a question about whether the ANC Youth League has elected thugs to positions of power. How does anybody expect readers to answer a question when the ANCYL has not even elected its new executive? Does someone as SowetanSundayworld think the ANC is made up of stupid folks that you can pre-empt their voting patterns; that they'll elect thugs to their ranks while all the nation knows was that there was a Julius Malema and Saki Mofokeng and none of them had criminal convictions?

Okay, again I should mention that they never get it wrong on the gossip pages and the sleaze ones. The colour co-ordination is up to scratch and when they write shit about a celebrity they always make sure that they call them on their cellphone and don't find them. For me this means one thing; the junk is more obsessed with bullshit than sense.

Putting bonking people on covers and captioning them as Siphiwe Mtshalis, defaming poets by calling them plagiarists, following celebrities when they go to pee, but for one thing, being newspapers and churning out good content for the benefit of the readers every day, including weekends. I tried hard not to believe what Memela said about Leshilo's questionable credentials, but some of the mistakes are so glaring they either mean the editor and his team do not give a damn about the readers (which is the market they sell to media buyers) or they just don't know what's going on. Same as the bunch that did Bl!nk and Y. Maybe Leshilo should pack and go or close shop, because there's no way they are going to beat Daily Sun, which is what they are trying to become every time they stand infront of a mirror and pretend to be at Wish for a Star.

* On this note Kasiekulture would like to take this time to welcome to the fold the new baby Blaque, edited by none other than prolific poet Kojo Baffoe and targetted at the market that Bl!nk dropped at the finishing line - the black man with cash to burn.