BLACKMODZ corner!!

Back again

2008-11-10T14:38:00.002+02:00

It has been along time... Shooo!
Do not despair...
We have another home @ www.blackmodz.co.za

Been working on my biz - Give me a shout should you need to hire : Sound, DJ, Live band...

Feels good

Khosi 4 life!

Chiefs 08/09 season

2008-08-08T13:13:00.002+02:00

BlackModz

2007-08-22T10:24:00.000+02:00

	BlackModz SC	2007/08/22 10:20
	inna di ragga flow Now le'me keep it simple Wit Mamponapona me set n example showin' off me polished trix U go lose n blaim dem politix Faya gwan burn dem -Betta make a run Bambacluts, watta bum-bum!

Coach Ertugral Online

2007-08-10T10:08:00.000+02:00

WORK IN PROGRESS

Let me start by thanking you all for turning in such large numbers to all our pre-season matches. From the Limpopo Challenge until the Telkom Charity, it gave me such encouragement to notice that the Amakhosi troupe of supporters is still loyal and faithful to their team. I honestly appreciate your sacrifice and hope that we shall work together to strengthen our family. Our boys do appreciate you at the stands!

Talk about our boys, the Technical Team has been working hard to prepare them for the season ahead. Our immediate assignment has been to use every opportunity including all training sessions, practice matches and the official competitions to critically assess the quality of players in our squad. We have now reached a final stage of recommending stringent changes that have obviously attracted a lot of your responses as expected. I am not surprised because the formidable Arsenal in the British League was also subjected to this kind of reaction after letting one of their prolific marksmen, Thierry Henry to pursue his career in Spain.

It is on such responses that I would really want to thoroughly put matters into perspective to help you gain insight into the mandate I face since taking up the challenge to guide Kaizer Chiefs.

I must state that I do hear and respect your concerns; some of which are truly genuine to encourage whilst others are honestly critical of our undertakings. Be that as it may, I am thankful that at least I am able to account for our decisions based on the diversity of such concerns.

For starters, when I embraced the opportunity to work at Kaizer Chiefs, I understood that my task was a pressure-filled responsibility given the history of success associated with the team. Similarly, I knew the challenges ahead given my past experience with the club and it was for that reason that I set both personal and professional targets for myself. I also understood the urgency with which I needed to apply myself given that the team had minimally met the expectations of the thousands of supporters out there. Like any other business, I had to adopt a business-like approach where clear-cut deliverables were planned, implemented and monitored with precision.

Top on my strategy was to critically analyze the tactical make-up of the players by assessing the various systems of any match given the dynamic and challenging approaches that football has seen in recent times. There was no doubt in my mind that if Kaizer Chiefs were to compete at a higher and effective level, it was important to apply international standards that characterized football today. A closer look would reveal that on average, the style of play required quick, aggressive and a forward moving pace all the time. Obviously this is a style that requires some measure of agility espoused by a determined athleticism needed from young and hungry professionals.

A further observation is that midfielders are well prepared to cover between twelve (12) and fourteen (14) kilometres in a single match activity whilst wingers are expected to do between fifty (50) and seventy (70) sprints in one match. Surely this clearly indicates that football has set international requirements and those that perform maximally with this kind of approach have actually made it despite the size of their countries.

For example, critical followers of British Football would notice that players use a maximum two (2) seconds on the ball within an average ninety (90) minutes of play. This clearly translates into a kind of style that has a bustling tempo, pace and precision. Perhaps this is the reason why many British teams have made it into top-level European competitions and it is therefore not surprising to often find them competing in the finals. For example British teams reached the finals of the UEFA Champions League between 1976 – 1982 in succession, and a had a break that saw them repeat the feat in the 2005 – 2007 seasons.

Looking afar, countries like Holland and Austria have invested in Youth Development Programmes that instil these highly technical international standards quite early. In addition, a country like Argentina has seen their youth win the FIFA Youth World Cup a record six (6) times in the last eight (8) World Youth Cups and an Olympic Gold medal to add to their tally. Furthermore, Austria has introduced a system that offers any Under 21 player a certain type of bonuses from the Federation for featuring in any senior team. With this approach, there is a clear indication that senior teams are becoming younger by drawing these youngsters into their ranks quite early into their chosen careers.

Now let us be honest and ask if there has been a crafted strategy in this country to develop our youngsters in a more organised and properly resourced manner like that I presented above. I am asking this because we are sitting with a wealth of experience and international expertise in Carlos Alberto Parreira our National Coach who is expected to rebuild our football amidst the absence of a youth structure.

Without delving too much into the above, my mission is to at least take Kaizer Chiefs into the same wavelengths of reaching international standards. Obviously this approach might not augur well with some of us but when supported and approached step-by-step, I believe this team can be unbeatable in the future.

In doing so, I know that there would be some criticism as already expressed by some sectors that have mistakenly thought that we have introduced the “off-side” defensive mechanism to our style. The truth is we are playing a pressing game that requires our defence to utilise minimum distance between the midfielders so that we are quick to regroup systemically when we lose the ball. Clearly there can never be any time wasting or mistakes on the ball considering the distance and the speed with which we need to recover.

I therefore would reiterate that I do understand and share your sentiments but the reality is that we cannot escape international standards that have seemingly crept into our sports. I am also not naïve to notice that it would take some measure of patience to work on the current squad, but at the end of the day, I am obliged to meet the stipulations of my business plan.

Thank you once more for your patience and may I invite you to work together to create a winning formula for all of us!

Coach Muhsin Ertugral

Racism is sheer stupidity

2007-08-02T11:50:00.000+02:00

It is now official: all living human beings are of African origin.

Just in case there was anyone out there still doubting it, an authoritative new study by an international team of geneticists has just been published in the prestigious journal Nature, confirming earlier findings that homo sapiens originated in sub-Saharan Africa.

We can now stop arguing whether this is proven science or not, and start talking about the philosophical implications of our African origins.

Let's first look at what we know so far. Scientists specialising on analysing human DNA and scientists investigating the fossil remains of our forebears have separately come to the conclusion that our species, homo sapiens, evolved in sub-Saharan Africa from ancient primate stock about 200 000 years ago.

These beings looked like us, but it took another 100 000 years or so for them to behave like us - to have sophisticated language skills, to practice art, culture and spirituality like we do.

This huge leap in evolution was probably the result of a natural disaster like a massive volcano eruption that caused major climate change, which in turn killed off all but the cleverest and toughest of the humans.

The clever ones...

These clever ones probably lived on our own Cape coast. They were responsible for producing the oldest pieces of art we know of, an engraved ochre tablet and necklaces from Blombos Cave near Stilbaai dated 70 000 years old.

This tiny group of people were also the first people we know of who explored the sea for food - perhaps consuming large amounts of Omega 3 and 6 oils provided additional stimulation to their brains.

Several of the world's top experts have now declared that there is enough evidence to state that the South African coastline was where cultural modernity among human beings started.

Around 70 000 years ago, some of these people whom we can call modern humans left Africa and arrived in the Middle East. From there humans gradually populated the rest of the world.

Those people who left Africa were affected over millennia by climate, diet, environment and natural selection and gradually started showing physical differences.

In regions where there was little sunshine, such as Northern and Western Europe, people struggled to take in enough Vitamin D, a vital vitamin for growth and health that comes mainly from the rays of the sun.

Darker skins need much more sunlight for sufficient Vitamin D, and those people's skins became lighter and lighter. In the areas around the Equator people became darker and darker.

People's physical build also had to adjust. The Inuit, for instance, developed short, compact bodies to cope with the cold. They also learnt how to process animal fat without developing heart disease or blocked arteries, because they ate mostly fat.

The mother continent in every respect

So much for racial classification and racial analysis. The differences between people whose bodies appear different, are utterly superficial and relate only to our abilities to adapt to our environment. Racism is sheer stupidity.

Not only are we all from Africa, but all rational thought, philosophy, art and spirituality started in Africa. Africa is the Mother Continent in every respect.

People who went to live in the Middle East, Asia and Europe had a much tougher life than their cousins who remained in Africa. It never really got cold in Africa and there were always sufficient plants, animals and space.

In the Northern hemisphere it was a different story. This led to the trend to want to live closer together and to organise society better, and that led to the establishment of the first cities. This necessitated the development of technology.

In Africa there was very little need for technology, especially not after the Iron Age. The smelting of iron made very effective arrow heads, axes, spears and knives possible, and that serviced most needs.

The African communities lived in small groups and never saw the need to stay in one place for very long. If the grazing became poor, the game hunted out, when there was a prolonged drought or if a particular region became too populous, they simply moved away. The continent is a very big place.

When we look back, we must conclude that this was not to Africa's long-term benefit. There was never a pressing reason why permanent civilisations had to be established in vast cities, as happened in Europe and Asia, and there was never a need for the development of technology. Why on earth would one develop a technology one has no use for?

When the Europeans "rediscovered" (and later colonised) Africa, they believed this lack of technology meant that Africa was backward, that its people were inherently inferior. We now know that this lack of technology was not a race thing, but it had to do with the environment, culture, lifestyle and history.

All of us, including white racists and black Africanists, need to start figuring out the real deeper meaning of our common African ancestry.

by :Max du Preez

Nelson Mandela - the life

2007-07-18T14:47:00.000+02:00

"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realized. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." -Nelson Mandela, 20 April 1964

A young Mandela in 1937,
at the age of 19.

Mandela's first wife,
Evelyn Mase, married
1943 to 1957.

Mandela as young attorney in his office at Tambo & Mandela, 1952 to 1956.

Mandela and his second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on their wedding day. Married 1958 to 1996.

Mandela, Winnie and their daughter Zindzi.

Mandela and Walter Sisulu on Robben Island, late 1964.

Nelson Mandela released on 11 February 1990 after spending 27 years in prison.

Mandela being greeted by Winnie and Walter Sisulu after his release from prison in 1990.

Mandela and FW de Klerk at Tuynhuis on 4 May 1990, known as the historical "Groote Schuur Minute".

Mandela casting his vote in the first democratic elections in 1994.

Mandela being sworn in as president on 10 May 1994.

Mandela congratulating Francois Pienaar at the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel, married on his 80th birthday in 1998.

Mandela with Thabo Mbeki who succeeded him as president in 1999. Photo taken at Thabo Mbeki's inauguration.

Nelson Mandela with Charlize Theron, who won an Academy Award in 2004.

Mandela scores 89!

2007-07-18T12:10:00.000+02:00

‘An extraordinary person’

Team player

Brazilian soccer legend, Pele, and three-time African player of the year, Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, yesterday delivered a special birthday gift to former president Nelson Mandela.

The players are among 50 past and present international stars taking part in a soccer friendly – 90 Minutes for Mandela – to mark the iconic leader’s 89th birthday today.

A beaming Mandela received an official shirt for the match with his name and the number 89 on the back.

“I am deeply honoured to receive this tribute. But it must always be remembered that I was one of many who fought for freedom from tyranny and racism,” Mandela said.

The match, to be played in Cape Town tonight, will pit an African side against a rest-of-the-world team.“I have met a lot of great personalities in my life, but Nelson Mandela is an extraordinary person. I am really touched and honoured to lead the Rest of the World team in this match. I am a big admirer of what this man has achieved in his life,” Pele said.

Mandela praised world soccer controlling body Fifa for honouring the Makana Football Association, which was formed by political prisoners on Robben Island, where he was incarcerated for 18 of the 27 years he spent in jail.

Mandela used to watch the games from his cell until prison authorities built a wall to cut him off.

Fifa vice president Jack Warner will confer honorary membership on the Makana Association ahead of tonight’s match.

“During the dark years of our incarceration, the association drew together all the prisoners on the island around the beautiful game of soccer.

“In this way it helped uphold the values of tolerance, inclusiveness, reconciliation, non-racialism and peace that are still dear to all of us today,” Mandela said.

Mandela also discussed a number of topics, including the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, during a private meeting with the players and Fifa and local soccer representatives at the Nelson Mandela Foundation offices in Johannesburg.

Beckham - the brand

2007-07-17T15:21:00.001+02:00

Finally it'd been concluded - ol' David will be plying his trade in the US. When the move was first announced, it caused quite a stir of emotions, mostly befuddled, by the then Real Madrid midfielder. Most of knew he was "unhappy at Madrid " and due to leave but the US was the last

league we thought he'd play for. Alas! LA Galaxy. *Who?* Yep. Who? Remember Freddy Adu? *who?* The teenage Ghananian- born and US citizenship-adopted ball wizard who was dubbed the next Pele? (i've lost count how many new Pele's there are now) Well he's been playing in the US since he was like 15, professionally and that's where it has been for a while. Personally i got nothing against the US "peeps" but soccer is not one of their strongholds.

I believe had Freddy applied his skills say in any European league things would have turned for the better. The MLS has stunded the African boy's growth and value. Back to Becks. Honestly the MLS has gotten better but it's not as competitive as say one of the North African leagues. Becks move was purely a monerary one. He'll make more money off the field than on it. This is one oke who got branding down to a tee. He's aware he's got pulling power, commercial sports companies wants to be associated with him.He makes a killing off endorsement deals. Such is a craze : Becks.

The 31-year-old former England captain will sign a five-year deal, reportedly worth £128m after being bought by Madrid from Manchaster United in 2003 for £50m.
The £128m deal is understood to comprise his salary, existing sponsorship contracts, merchandising shirt sales and a share of the club profits! Crazy. Galaxy needs his crowd pulling power. It's a given : full stadia at all Galaxy home games and when playing away - the home fans will want to catch a glimpse of him all this at a price.

I hope his improves the standard and quality of soccer in the US.

For now, we just have to see how many he'll bend into the net.

Muhsin ready for Vodacom Challenge

2007-07-09T11:01:00.000+02:00

Chiefs are ready for Pirates and Tottenham Hotspur in the Vodacom Challenge Coaching Kaizer Chiefs can be a bliss or a nightmare but coach Muhsin Ertrugral who returns as a clever and more street-wise man said he will be in the Vodacom Challenge to make his statement clear.

The reigning champions who walloped both Orlando Pirates and English champions Manchester United last year are looking forward to another intense battle when this term’s edition involve Pirates and Tottenham Hotspur also from England.

With two players already chosen and having gauge who he wants for the next season, the Turkish-born mentor said Chiefs glory days are back with a swagger.

“It is about time that we make our intensions clear. Last season I watched this team struggling and having been part of this big ambitious side, it was really disheartening. But I am here now and we will start with the

Vodacom Challenge. It won’t be easy but I want it badly. The fans want it, and so is the management. So we

have so much to play for”.

“Tottenham are bringing their best team so we must be prepared. It is a national pride that we must win and I urge my players to show what they are made of”.

English Barclays Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur will be going for goals, with super strikers Dimitar Berbatov, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and new signing Darren Bent, included in the 25-member playing squad, that will compete against inaugural title winners Orlando Pirates and defending champions Kaizer Chiefs for the coveted Vodacom Challenge trophy in South Africa in a fortnight.

Barcelona 2 - Sundowns 1

2007-06-21T10:56:00.000+02:00

It was a late, very late Ronnie show as the Brazilian maestro weaved his magic when his team needed a rescue act and fashioned out telling passes that resulted in a goal that helped Barcelona to claw their way back from a goal down to hand a gallant Mamelodi Sundowns a 2-1 beating at a packed Loftus Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Ronaldinho danced the samba and then suddenly switched to the kwassa-kwassa. He wriggled his body much to the amazement of Sundowns players, who stared at his innovative jiving technique and that momentary lapse in concentration cost them dearly as the Brazilian sent in a weighted pass to the unguarded far side of the field.

It found young Mark Crosas unmarked and he had enough time to pick his spot and beat Calvin Marlin with a low shot that sailed to the far corner to clinch the Goodwill Cup they appeared to have lost when the visitors went in arrears as early as the second minute.

Sundowns needed a confidence booster and it couldn’t have come at a better time than the second minute of the match when Josta Dladla’s cross was skipped by Brent Carelse and found a lurking Surprise Moriri, who picked his spot and fired into the net.

The goal seemed to rattle Barcelona and perhaps the altitude hit them as they had only arrived the previous night in South Africa. They even failed to honour a training session at the Loftus venue where hundreds of kids had waited in vain for the Catalans, who were said to have been resting.

Barcelona struggled to settle down to their vaunted passing game and, at times, they slipped on the pitch that is earmarked to host some of the 2010 World Cup matches, while Sundowns blossomed under the watchful eyes of a packed stadium and millions of television viewers around the world.

They also showed the world what South African football was all about as they dished out one of their finest performances and matched the Catalans stride for stride and man for man in a pulsating match that sizzled with excitement as play swung from end to end throughout an evenly balanced game until the final quarter when Barcelona took control.

“Personally I was scared,” admitted Esrom Nyandoro, who surprisingly had a solid game in the holding position where he kept things tight, yet simple.

“But I soon settled down and played my normal game. I am not in top physical condition and although I have been suffering from a thigh injury, I think it held up well enough for me to contribute as much as I could. I feel good and hopefully we gave the people what they wanted.

Kaizer Chiefs announce new head coach

2007-06-21T10:50:00.000+02:00

Kaizer Chiefs’ strategy to rebuild and reclaim its glory kicked off with the acquisition of Muhsin Ertugral, the recently crowned PSL Coach of the 2006-2007 Season.

In a show of seriousness to restore the mighty Amakhosi to its position as a powerhouse of football in the country, the chairman also unveiled former top goal scorer and record holder Fani Madida to join the ranks as assistant coach.

In addition, the club recruited back into its fold Elsa Storm, a no-nonsense international health and fitness coach, who was part of Ertugral’s technical team at Naturena during their successful cup campaigns in the 1999/2000, 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 seasons.

Madida, former Amakhosi striker and the club’s all-time record goal scorer, brings a wealth of experience as a coach given his tenure in professional football.

In a breakthrough announcement at the Amakhosi headquarters in Naturena, the club’s Chairman, Kaizer Motaung expressed delight by welcoming the trio back to Kaizer Chiefs.

In a statement the Chairman said; “I am very excited to welcome Muhsin Ertugral, given his successful history with the club. He will be accompanied by seasoned professionals, Fani Madida and Elsa Storm as part of his technical team.”

An elated Team Manager, Bobby Motaung added; “Two of Amakhosi’s prodigal sons and our daughter are back with the family to catapult us into our winning ways.”

This announcement draws a curtain to the month-long speculation on the status of the team for the 2007/2008 season.

The entire management and supporters of Amakhosi were also on hand to officially welcome coach Ertugral and his crew back to the Kaizer Chiefs family.

Ertugral was visibly elated at the prospect of teaming up with the Glamour Boys once more but warned of the challenges that lay ahead.

“It’s always good to be back home,” he said. “I know what is expected of me. The challenges are great.”

The no-nonsense coach was also clear about what needed to be done to return Amakhosi to their former glory. “We need to bring in that type of aggressive football. And we also need to sort out our defence, because I thought it was unusual for Chiefs to concede as many goals as they did last season.

“We need to play that kind of quick passing football as we did at Ajax. But there is something I will not tolerate. I always here people here talking about ‘expressing yourself’ – that is a word I do not want to hear because we are not on a dancing floor.”

But the coach added that he was not against entertaining football as long as it was to the benefit of the team.

Madida, famously knows as Didiza, in his playing days was also thrilled to be reunited with his former club. “I am happy to be given the opportunity to work in this environment at Chiefs. I will use this opportunity to empower all the players through the experience I gained while playing here.

“I am happy to be here to protect the Chiefs brand so that the team can climb back to where it belongs,” said Madida.

Sundowns vs Barcelona game confirmed

2007-06-12T11:05:00.000+02:00

The worst kept secret in South African soccer was authenticated on Monday when Mamelodi Sundowns sponsors MTN announced that the PSL champions over the past two seasons would be playing celebrated Spanish giants FC Barcelona at Loftus next Wednesday.

Sundowns president Patrice Motsepe had boasted about the impending fixture two weeks ago at a club celebration following the retention of the Premier League title -- revealing in all but name that the Pretoria club had secured a veritable coup by bringing Barcelona to South Africa with former 'World Player of the Year' Ronaldinho and the rest of their conglomerate of international stars like Samuel Eto'o, Leonel Messi and Deco.

And while the MTN release that next week's drawcard would draw "millions of soccer fans to Loftus" went more than a little overboard, there is no doubting the enormity of an occasion that is seen also in the context of the "war" with cellphone rivals Vodacom.

It was only last week that Vodacom-sponsored Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates announced they would be bringing out English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur to compete in next month's pre-season Vodacom Challenge - and the Barcelona gambit is seen as upstaging this initiative.

CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE

What prompted many to doubt Motsepe's declaration is the fact that Barcelona are still at this moment engaged in a desperate, but what now appears forlorn battle to retain Spain's championship title when they play their last La Liga game of the season against relegation-doomed Gimnastic on Sunday.

Barcelona and their great rivals, Real Madrid, currently have the same number of points in the title race, but although Barcelona have a far superior goal-difference, the system used in Spain to decide the championship when teams are level on points is firstly by taking into account head-to-head results between the teams.

And utilising this method instead of that which is practiced in most other countries means that Real Madrid will be champions if they beat Mallorca in a home game on Sunday.

2010 FIFA World Cup™ - Official Emblem

2007-06-05T14:17:00.000+02:00

The 2010 identity is unique, vibrant and dynamic, graphically encapsulating the African continent while more intimately dipping into South Africa's rich and colourful heritage for inspiration.

The graphic figure strikes a resemblance to the earliest rock art paintings for which our country is also famous. This figure is caught in mid-action performing a bicycle kick - a style of play that captures the flair of African football.

The figure is lucid, energetic and indirectly illustrates an inherent passion for the beautiful game. It is kicking a football upwards - an invitation from Africa to other nations of the world to join the game.

The actual ball is a modern representation of a football, suggesting that it belongs to FIFA. And for the first time ever, this ball that has traveled across the globe will touch African soil.

The colourful backdrop behind the figure represents the South African national flag. The ‘swishes' extend upwards, from south to north, reaching out to the world. They embody the energy, diversity and fiery passion of our country, and they symbolise the rise of the rainbow nation.

The typeface is an original creation. It reflects our personality and reinforces the idea that in South Africa we do things uniquely. It is playful, naïve and free-spirited. It is also bold, welcoming and friendly.

The logo is celebratory in nature and energetic in its feel.

(FIFA.com)

Bafana overwhelm Chad in Afcon qualifier

2007-06-04T13:55:00.000+02:00

Bafana Bafana increased their chances of qualification for the 2008 African Cup of Nations with an effortless 4-0 victory against Chad at Durban’s Absa Stadium on Saturday.

The win keeps Bafana in pole position in Group 11 with ten points from four matches while Chad will fly back home worrying about how to fix the wreckage. After four matches they do not have a single point to show for their trouble after losing all their fixtures.

The 4-0 scoreline could have been bigger had Bafana been more business-like on the day. A lot of missed opportunities by the hosts and the inability to land the killer blow with their opponents clearly against the ropes, cost the home team a few goals.

Nevertheless, it was a significant win which keeps the country’s hope for Ghana 2008 well alive. And there were a lot of positives to take from this encounter - notably the defence which held their ground and the midfield which were reasonably efficient on the day.

PENALTY APPEAL TURNED DOWN

The signs were up early in the first half that the visitors would be in for a very uncomfortable afternoon when Bafana’s appeals for a penalty were turned down after a Chad defender had handled while trying to clear the ball on five minutes.

But it didn’t matter as Bafana went about their business of securing the maximum points. Their monopoly in the first ten minutes was almost rewarded with a goal as Sibusiso Zuma’s header went just wide after Elrio van Heerden had delivered a perfect cross from the right. But it was not too long before the locals, who braved the cold weather, could celebrate.

Zuma broke through after a fine build-up but was tripped by the Chad keeper, resulting in a penalty for Bafana on 13 minutes. Greece-based defender Nasief Morries stepped up to put the home team in the lead with a well-taken kick low to the left of the keeper.

German-bound keeper Rowen Fernandez only touched the ball for the fist time on 23 minutes and contributed to Bafana’s second goal. After the goal-kick the ball was played to Delron Buckley on the left and he delivered a low cross to Zuma, who slotted the ball past the Chad keeper.

Up to then it had been one-way traffic for Bafana and the floodgates were flung wide open on 33 minutes with Zuma grabbing his second of the match as he punished sloppy defending by Chad.

Chad indeed provided little resistance, if any at all, and for Bafana it was more like an afternoon stroll in the park. However, instead of returning from the break with guns blazing, they appeared to have forgotten the ammunition in the dressing room and Chad appeared to grow in confidence.

Bafana should have been awarded another penalty on 56 minutes after Zuma was pulled down in the box but the referee allowed play to continue.

Another chance went to waste on 67 minutes. A Chad corner was punched clear by Fernandez and the ball fell to Siyabonga Nomvete who ran half the length of the field with Zuma giving him an option to the right but he opted to go it alone and his effort was saved. Two minutes later, Van Heerden made a solo run, attacking from the right and his cross was fumbled by Chad, allowing Nomvete to sweep home the loose ball.

Overall a good day in the office for Bafana and a record-equaling score and a victory that will keep the coach happy. The 4-0 score bettered Bafana's previous record of 4-1 against Namibia, Gabon and Swaziland. It was also the country's 200th match since returning from international isolation 15 years ago.

Benni can take his ball, we’ll get over it

2007-05-31T10:07:00.000+02:00

One wonders whether Carlos Alberto Parreira, Bafana Bafana’s Brazilian mentor, will understand this, but most South Africans probably will identify with the story.

Years back, as far as one can remember, township urchins used to engage in “four-pal”, “challenge”, “chiallance” or whatever the matches were referred to in different parts of the country.

That was what every normal boy (those were the days before the gender equity political correctness) in the neighbourhood would do growing up. Unlike today, when some youngsters show no interest in the game whatsoever, even from an early age, we had no choice.

There were those who were referred to as dikgomo, inkomo (a cow) because they just could not play the game. The ones we used to say had two left feet and whose brains were not coordinated for the game of billions.

Almost all of this rare species always owned the ball and had to play – otherwise no game. He would easily take his ball home and call his favourite (read tolerant) friend to play in his own yard.

That would be when we would get up to other mischief. Besinga ncqengi... In those games we used to have guys you would regard as football “magicians”.

They could do any trick with the ball (one is trying hard to be modest here by talking of others) and that’s why our generation must be perhaps the last one that believes in skills and flair while the modern ones tell us there is no time for that.

Football is big business. Goals are what matters and that’s it.

Which brings us to the situation we presently find ourselves in.

Bafana Bafana have a big game coming up at the weekend. This is an Afcon 2008 qualifier and it doesn’t matter that Chad are ranked on the other side of 130 on the world standings, it is still very important.

Having said that, how are our preparations coming along? Not many of us know because we are caught up in the same old malaise. We are again victims of Benni McCarthy’s success and goalscoring prowess in his debut season with Blackburn Rovers in the English FA.

That McCarthy is among the best is without question and South Africans are typically happy for him.

But, do we have to forget the bigger picture, all because of his no-show antics? Please!

Back to our street games. We, in Matlaisane Street in Wattville, used to have Sonwabo Khalipa, aka Soweto, who could make the ball talk any language he wanted.

The only problem with Soweto was he couldn’t play comfortably with soccer boots on so he couldn’t feature much in the more organised amateur association games. He was also irabella. He used to be moody and wanted to be pampered (o ne a tefa).

When he couldn’t get his way with us, he would go join the guys in either Mathibedi, Moni or Mamkele streets.

Every time he did so, which was often, his new team would challenge us thinking he would destroy us. But, we were made of sterner stuff and never lost a game against any opponents he played for. He would always rejoin us and tell us how he regretted joining those “cows”.

The reason we always beat teams that Soweto joined was because we always said let him go, asimnqcengi (we don’t beg him).

The other day I heard Parreira say: “I won’t beg Benni.”

If I heard right, I know the guys in Matlaisane Street will agree with him 100 percent.

There should be life after Benni for South African soccer. Let him be and he will make a final decision at some stage. We just hope the country will be there for him!

Sports Indaba: Sello Rabothata

Making BEE Work

2007-05-24T11:52:00.000+02:00

Kaizer Jr dominates at glittering awards

2007-05-22T19:49:00.000+02:00

Amakhosi striker Kaizer Motaung Junior was the kingpin on Monday evening as he picked up five awards as well as three players of the month awards at the Standard Bank sponsored annual Kaizer Chiefs Players’ Awards ceremony held at the luxurious Monte Casino complex in Fourways in Johannesburg.

The young Chiefs striker had been nominated for six of the nine categories and part of his five trophy haul was the coveted prize for player of the season which came with a R75 000 prize money and a new Nissan X-Trail.

The evening kicked off in grand style with The Amakhosi Shakers, the first act up on stage entertaining the crowd with a scintillating dance routine and once the formalities were over the business end of the ceremony began.

First up the players who were the outstanding players of the month through out the season received their prizes, with Siyabonga Nkosi getting the nod for the August player of the month. Rowen Fernandez followed him on to the podium collecting awards for his outstanding performances in September 2006 and January 2007, Kaizer Junior edged out Fernandez in this category as he won the prizes for the December 2006, February 2007 and March 2007 player of the month.

Veteran Chiefs midfielder Thabo Mooki defended the best dressed award which he won at the end of the 2005-2006 award ceremony, when he was once again announced as the best dressed player. Mooki, well known for his dazzling trickery on the field of play, has often been praised for his suave fashion sense.

Fernandez was back up on the podium. The Chiefs goalkeeper collected the Fair Play award and donated his R10 000 cheque to the Red Cross Children’s Fund, the big hearted Fernandez giving thanks for his blessings which earlier in the day saw him sign a lucrative three-year deal with German Bundesliga team Arminia Bielefeld.

Siyabonga Nkosi added the Discovery of the year prize to his August Player of the month award. Kaizer Motaung Junior thereafter began his regular track to the podium collecting his fourth prize of the evening in the goal of the season category for his 85th minute sizzler against Jomo Cosmos back in September last year. With Chiefs trailing 2-1 at the FNB Stadium, Motaung found himself on the edge of the Cosmos penalty area and from some distance out was able to send the ball across goal around the Cosmos keeper and into the net.

Kaizer Jr was back again shortly after that collecting the top goal scorer of the year prize, he was then voted as the players’ player of the year. There was one category where he was nominated but did not win the award instead Serge Djiehoua who ended the season strongly with three goals in his last three league outings, piped Kaizer Junior to the award for the most improved player.

In between the awards ceremony Kaizer Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung took the podium and in his address to the crowd which included a number of politicians and famous sporting personality the likes of Jonty Rhodes and Lucas Radebe.

He said; “The 2006-2007 season might have presented more misfortunes than successes for us; we need to use this experience to rise above what has happened and come back stronger in the new campaigner”. He then called up on the stage chief executive of the Premier Soccer League Trevor Phillips and handed him a special Chairman’s appreciation award. The outgoing CEO was awarded for his outstanding contribution to the development of football in South Africa.

It was left till last but most would have expected him to walk away with the all important Player of the year prize. Kaizer Motaung Jr was able to fend off the challenge of Shaun Bartlett and Rowen Fernandez to add his name on to the celebrated list of Kaizer Chiefs players of the season winners.

In an enigmatic and enthusiastic victory speech the man who came out of his shell during the 2006-2007 finding twelve goals along the way, said of his multiple award winning evening. “Firstly I must thank the All Mighty for giving me the strength to play well all season long, then I must thank Ernst Middendorp for playing me in the beginning part. Thereafter to Kosta Papic for keeping the faith with me and continuing to play me, most importantly to all my team mates as without their help I could not have scored the goals I have and played the way I did without them.”

With that the curtain came down on the 2006-2007 Kaizer Chiefs Players’ Awards ceremony, with the Chiefs first team players going on leave from Tuesday until late in June when The Amakhosi return for their preseason preparations. A number of the Chiefs players will be aiming to have the PSL trophy on display the next time The Amakhosi gather for their annual player of the year awards.

The Chiefs awards may be over but Kaizer Motaung Junior, who swept the table clean on Monday evening, will be hoping he can repeat the performance on Wednesday evening at the PSL Awards ceremony where he has been nominated along with Mamelodi Sundowns duo of Godfrey Sapula and Surprise Moriri for the PSL Player of the season prize.

All the nominees and winners from Monday Nights Awards

1. Best Dressed Award sponsored by Nike:

Nominees:
Shaun Bartlett
Thabo Mooki
Jimmy Tau
Winner: Thabo Mooki

2. Fair Play
Nominees:
Rowen Fernandez
Patrick Mayo
Siyabonga Nkosi
Winner: Rowen Fernandez

3. Amakhosi Magazine Readers Choice Awards
Nominees:
Kaizer Motaung Junior
Jimmy Tau
Shaun Bartlett
Winner: Kaizer Motaung Junior

4. Player’s player of the year
Nominees:
Rowen Fernandez
Patrick Mayo
Kaizer Motaung Junior
Winner: Kaizer Motaung Junior

5. Goal of the year
Nominees:
Serge Djiehoua (Orlando Pirates Vs Kaizer Chiefs 28 – 04 – 07)
Kaizer Motaung Junior (Kaizer Chiefs Vs Jomo Cosmos 13 – 09 – 06)
Derrick Spencer (Lamontville Golden Arrows Vs Kaizer Chiefs 01 – 10 – 06)
Winner: Kaizer Motaung Junior (Kaizer Chiefs Vs Jomo Cosmos 13 – 09 – 06)

6. Top Goal Scorer
Kaizer Motaung Junior

7. Discovery of they year
Nominees:
Itumeleng Khune
Rotson Kilambe
Siyabonga Nkosi
Winner: Siyabonga Nkosi

8. Most Improved Player
Nominees:
Serge Djiehoua
Kaizer Motaung Junior
Derrick Spencer
Winner: Kaizer Motaung Junior

9. Player of the year
Nominees
Kaizer Motaung Junior
Rowen Fernandez
Shaun Bartlett
Winner: Kaizer Motaung Junior

Players of the month winners
August: Siyabonga Nkosi
September: Rowen Fernandez
October: Rotson Kilambe
November: Shaun Bartlett
December: Kaizer Motaung Junior
January: Rowen Fernandez
February: Kaizer Motaung Junior
March: Kaizer Motaung Junior
April: Serge Djiehoua
May: Jimmy Tau

Chairman’s special appreciation award: Trevor Phillips

Standard Bank appreciation award: Entire Kaizer Chiefs first team given Portable DVD Players by Standard Bank

Kosta Papic’s contract is not renewed

2007-05-22T19:17:00.000+02:00

Following a meeting of Kaizer Chiefs Management this morning, the club has decided not to renew the contract of their head coach Kostadin Papic for the time being, whose contract comes to an end on the 04th of June 2007.

Management instead opted to cast its net wide to lure a prospective coach whose immediate responsibility would be to restore the Amakhosi back into its former glory.

Contact with local and foreign coaches has been pursued with a final announcement likely to follow soon.

The South African braai (bbq)

2007-05-22T15:08:00.000+02:00

Chiefs and Pirates share spoils

2007-04-30T15:21:00.000+02:00

Orlando Pirates 1 ( 14. Lekgwathi 63 min) Kaizer Chiefs 1 ( 9. Djiehoua 42 min)

Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
Premier Soccer League
28th April 2007
Kick Off: 15h15
Temperature: 12.4 ° C

Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates played out a 1-1 draw at the Ellis Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon, on reflection the result was a fair one as both teams created the opportunities to have won the game.

Chiefs took the lead close to the end of the first half thanks to some nifty footwork from Serge Djiehoua who tucked away a difficult chance, Pirates were let back into the game in the second half when Lucky Lekgwathi found an equalizer off a Bennett Chenene corner. It was a goal which Chiefs could have prevented, a clash on the line between goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez and Ditheko Mototo allowed the ball to roll over the line and into the net.

The first chance of the afternoon came the way of Chiefs striker David Radebe after just three minutes of play, when Arthur Zwane broke down the right flank after the Chiefs defence had foiled a Pirates attack. Zwane beat his marker and played a cross towards Radebe who jumped through the air and met the ball which passed Francis Chansa, instead of hitting the back of the net Radebe could only find the side netting. A minute on and Benedict Vilakazi spurned the opportunity to give his team the lead, as Patrick Mayo failed to properly clear his line the diminutive Pirates midfielder disposed. Vilakazi tried to bring the ball under control, but was unable to fully control it and from inside the Chiefs six yard area he managed to miss the target as effort on goal flew over Fernandez.

Pirates managed to conjure up a string of decent short passes which culminated with Jabu Mahlangu being set free on the right, Mahlangu wasted no time in knocking a ball towards the far post. Where he found team mate team mate Mulondo Sikhwivhilu lurking the former Blacks player could both direct his header, and headed the ball wide of Rowen Fernandez this action occurred in the 31st minute of play. As half time approached Serge Djiehoua was brought down by Innocent Mdledle on the right flank a few meters into the Pirates half of the field, Chiefs were awarded a free kick and Djiehoua picked himself up and moved towards the Pirates goal. In the mean time Fabian McCarthy lined up to take the free kick and sent a deep searching ball into the Pirates 18 yard area, with Siyabonga Nkosi heading it forward and found Serge Djiehoua who controlled the ball with his chest before turning and hitting the ball on the volley past Francis Chansa to put Chiefs ahead. It was a lead that Chiefs held onto going into the halftime break leading by a goal to nil.

Pirates had most of the possession in the second half and began to look for an equalizer as soon as the game was restarted, Onyekachi Okonkwo did all the hard work and passed a ball down the centre to Manuel Bucuane he was beaten to the ball by Rowen Fernandez who managed to palm it to Fabian McCarthy who cleared the danger. On the hour mark David Obua produced the highlight of the match, when he was the fortunate recipient of a short Arthur Zwane pass. Obua let the ball roll in front of him before sweetly striking the ball with the outside of his boot, the ball flew past Chansa and crashed on the under side of the cross bar. Obua and a number of his teams were the opinion that the ball had crossed the line, but the referee was having none of it and let the game continue.

On sixty three minutes Pirates substitute Bennett Chenene knocked in a corner from the right, which Lucky Lekgwathi headed towards goal at first it looked as though Rowen Fernandez had the ball under control. That was until Ditheko Mototo knocked into Fernandez and some how the ball managed to squeeze between the two Chiefs players who were standing on the line and rolled into the back of the net. With ten minutes to go Rowen Fernandez was called into action when Fabian McCarthy knocked over Excellent Walaza Chenene picked up the lose ball, the referee waved play on and Chenene moved into the danger zone and went for the glory. Fernandez who had ran off his line put his hands in front of his face and managed to block the ball and got rid of the danger.

The game was not as exciting and did not hold the same dramatic twist as was the case when the teams met earlier in the season in December last year, the result was a good one for Pirates it certainly did not do any favours for Chiefs. Who now need to win their remaining two games of the season if they are to qualify and try and launch a successful defence of their SAA Supa8 crown.

Line Up’s:

Orlando Pirates: 44. F. Chansa, 14. L. Lekgwahi, 19. I. Mdeledle, 17. S. Lehlohonolo, 32. L. Thwala, 28. O. Okonkwo, 15. B. Vilakazi, 40. R. Ramudzuli, 11. J. Mahlangu (42. Chenene 56 min), 39. M. Sihhwivhilu, 09. M. Bucuane (8. Walaza 55 min)
Substitutes: 01. A. Phali, 46. T. Coyle, 33. T. Chabalala, 38. B. Cashibe, 42. B. Chenene, 41. J. Merahe, 08. E. Walaza
Coach: Kalambay Mutombo

Kaizer Chiefs: 1. R. Fernandez, 33. D. Mototo, 6. F. McCarthy, 21. P. Mayo, 18. A. Zwane, 13. D. Obua (11. Ngobese 68 min), 8. T. Nengomasha, 28. D. Spencer, 31. D. Radebe ( 25. Schalkwyk 74 min), 9. S. Djiehoua (22. Kilambe 53 min)
Substitutes: 32. I. Khune, 11. E. Ngobese, 25. G. Schalkwyk, 12. T. Mooki, 44. S. Mkhonza, 24. D. Mathebula, 22. R. Kilambe
Coach: Kostadin Papic

Cautions: Orlando Pirates:, Yellow Cards, 19. Innocent Mdledle 41 min Kaizer Chiefs, Yellow Cards, 8. Tinashe Nengomasha 26 min, 28. Derrick Spencer 56 min

Officials:
Referee: Mahlomola Nhlapho
Assistant1: Sandile Dilikane
Assistant 2: Livhuwani Netshion Golwe
4th Official: Baitse Manca

Amakhosi go down to Santos

2007-04-23T18:34:00.000+02:00

Santos 3 ( 11. Scott 12 min, 9.Rodgers 46 min, 7. Chapman 80 min )
Kaizer Chiefs 1 ( 33. Mototo 4 min)
Eastern Province Rugby Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Premier Soccer League
22 April 2007
Kick Off: 15h15
Temperature: 24° C

Kaizer Chiefs lost a league game to Santos for the first time since 1998 as they went down 3-1 to the Capetonians, at Port Elizabeth’s Eastern Province Rugby Stadium. Despite taking an early lead through some quick thinking by Ditheko Mototo who used his head to give Chiefs the advantage in the fourth minute, Santos were able to come back and with goals from Roman Scott, Eleazar Rodgers and a third from Substitute Ryan Chapman the ABSA Cup semi – finalists were able to win the game comfortably.

Chiefs had two set pieces in the fourth minute and attacked the Santos goal with copy cat moves; in the first instance Gerald Sibeko floated a free kick from the left deep towards the Santos back post. Where David Obua was lurking the lanky Obua rose to head the ball across goal towards Shaun Bartlett, whose first time shot was blocked by a Santos player and flew out for a corner. From the ensuing corner Sibeko again played a ball to the back post, where once again he found the head of David Obua who headed the ball down wards as Wayne Roberts came out for the ball Ditheko Mototo dived in and headed the ball over the line to give Chiefs the lead.

Three minutes after that and Chiefs charged up the field quickly after successfully defending a Santos corner, Louis Agyemang set Obua free on the right who instantly sped goal wards and unleashed a powerful shot which was a Santos player managed to deflect away from goal. The rebound though fell to Siyabonga Nkosi lurking on the far side of the Santos penalty area; his shot though failed to find the target and went across the face of goal and wide.

In the twelfth minute Santos broke down a Chiefs attack and launched one of their own down the centre, Romano Scott received a pass along the ground and with justice Fernandez in front of him he knocked the ball under the Chiefs keeper to level matters. Six minutes on and Fernandez was called into action again this time around the Chiefs keeper came out trumps, when he was able to turn away a well timed volley by Thembile Kanono from the edge of the Chiefs 18 yard area.

Eleven minutes before the interval Louis Agyemang managed to fight off the towering figure of Sebastian Bax and sent a ball across the Santos goal where David Obua’s first time shot was blocked. The ball flew in the direction of Derrick Spencer who raced to the ball and hit it first time, Spencer shot flew just wide of Robert’s goal. Three minutes before half time Santos launched another attack Eleazar Rodgers from the left wing inside the Chiefs 18 yard area played a ball to his team mate Kanono lurking on the opposite end. From inside the Chiefs six yard area Kanono could only manage to side foot the ball wide of Rowen Fernandez, to ensure that the teams left the field at half time tied at 1-1.

Chiefs began the second half in the worst possible way conceding a goal from the restart, after Santos got the second half up and running they managed to get the ball to Kanono on the left. In turn he played in team mate Rodgers who did well to control the ball with his chest before shooting firing the ball past Rowen Fernandez and into the roof of the net to put Santos ahead in the game.

Just past the hour mark Santos striker Eleazar Rodgers played his team mate Mogogi Gabonamong into space, within shooting distance of Fernandez goal he let rip goal wards Rowen Fernandez judged the ball well and at full stretch kept the ball out. From that broken Santos attack The Amakhosi launched an attack of their own, Shaun Bartlett sent Serge Djiehoua on his way with a pass that caught Santos napping. Djiehoua in acres of space wasted time in dispatching the ball goal wards, by the time he did take his shot Santos had gotten enough man back and managed to block the danger.

On seventy six minutes Ditheko Mototo came close to leveling the scores when his down header off an Arthur Zwane corner from the left bounced over Wayne Roberts, and went agonizingly close to hitting the target but missed by inches. Santos made sure of the win with nine minutes to go when substitute Ryan Chapman who was hardly on the field for thirty seconds, was the lucky recipient of a short pass and managed to stick the ball past Fernandez.

Siyabonga Nkosi thought that he had found a way back for Chiefs with a superbly taken free kick, from the edge of the area Nkosi floated the ball over the Santos wall and beyond Roberts. Unfortunately for him the referee had ruled that it was and indirect free kick, in injury time Nkosi try his luck with another free kick this time in line with the Santos goal. He was able to again get the better of the wall but not Roberts who pulled off a superb stop as he dived across the length of the goal to push the ball wide.

Refereeing inconsistencies apart The Amakhosi were not at their best during this game and failed to capitalize on the chances that came their way, in addition they lost possession in key areas at important times and were made to pay a heavy price. Kosta Papic will need to ensure that his team win their remaining three games of the seasons, failure to do so could result in Chiefs finishing outside the top eight.

Line Up’s:

Santos: 1. W. Roberts, 23. E. Burton, 2. M. Otieno (13. Hendricks 86 min), 16. W. Arendse, 3. T. R. October, 6. S. Bax, 4. M. Gabonamong, 10. T. Kanono (7. Chapman 79 min), 8. T. Ngomeni, 11. R. Scott (25. Selolwane 73 min), 9. E. Rodgers

Substitutes: 30. J. Barnard, 20. C. Bianchi, 19. O. Hendricks, 25. D. Selolwane, 21. K. Mathopa, 13. J. Hendricks, 7. R. Chapman

Coach: Roger Da Sa

Kaizer Chiefs: 1. R. Fernandez, 2. J. Tau, 6. F. McCarthy, 44. S. Mkhonza, 13. D. Obua (11. Ngobese 71 min), 33. D. Mototo, 10. S. Nkosi, 28. D. Spencer, 27. G. Sibeko (18. Zwane 58 min), 20. L. Agyemang (9. Djiehoua 63 min), 17. S. Bartlett

Substitutes:

32. I. Khune, 24. D. Mathebula, 11. E. Ngobese, 9. S. Djiehoua, 12. T. Mooki, 21. P. Mayo, 18. A. Zwane

Coach: Kosta Papic

Cautions: Santos, Yellow Cards, 10. Thembilie Kanono 37 min Kaizer Chiefs, Yellow Cards, 2. Jimmy Tau 13 min, 27. Gerald Sibeko 17 min, 10. S. Nkosi 38 min, 17. Shaun Bartlett 40 min

Officials:

Referee: Miss D. Mitchell
Assistant 1: Mr. L. Chalambisa
Assistant 2: Mr. L. Bolo
4th Official: Mr. J. Frolick
Match Commissioner: Mr. S. Swart

Flying below the radar

2007-04-11T13:34:00.000+02:00

*sigh* It's been some hectic year and we only on the 4th month. I've been caught up in situations, contemplating on the next move i should be making. Now that we out out the Bermuda triangle, it will most probably be smooove sailing. From early days of Jan 07 i hooked up with this ensemble of session musicians and boy did i have a ball! They mostly played standards, your jazzy grooves mixed with Afro funk, then along came the original boboshanti, BlackModz. I&I wanted to be a rap star but the effort of memorizing 160 bars of rhymes was a tad much to ask so i opted to stick to my daily IT job in Business Intelligence. Meeting these guys was a true eye opener, i mean there i was, graced by the presence of musical graduates, arrangers, composers, producers and most importantly splendid artists. I can't even read a score, let alone tell you if that's a C-sharp or an E-minus but i came with my own value to be added, i was gonna be counted.

Being of a dj-ing background, i was quickly made the "soundguy". yeah. silly, tedious job u may think but it's awesome. I get to tell them i don't like how they sound, me the soundguy. :-)
I'm the ear.I'm the one voice that interrupts rehearsals because the base guitarist is loosing the tempo or the pianist is torturing his solo. I have the authority. Me the SoundGuy. I introduced some reggae flavor and we let the motherfucker burn. Burn i said. Last week we did a corporate gig at MTN and rocked too damn much. me thinks much about this band. We'll go places. Keep ya eyes glued on this corner...pix will come.

One thing i know is that i will make it.whatever it is, i WILL.

OneLove.

Chiefs off to a flyer under Papic

2007-03-12T09:01:00.000+02:00

Kaizer Chiefs 4 (7. Motaung 26 min, 73 min pen & 80 min, 17. Bartlett) Bloemfontein Celtic 0
ABSA Stadium, Durban
Premier Soccer League
10th March 2007
Kick Off: 20h10
Temperature: 24 °C

Kaizer Chiefs made a winning start under new coach Kosta Papic on Saturday evening when they cruised to a comfortable 4 – 0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic, even though the new coach was not on the bench due to technicalities.

He oversaw proceedings from the stands and must have been well pleased with the performance of the team he took over at the start of the week, as Chiefs were rampant and ruthless as they easily saw off Celtic who were expected to give Chiefs a torrid time.

Papic did mention earlier that he would allow his players to freely express themselves, and one of the Chief beneficiaries of the new coaches policies was midfielder Scara Ngobese. As he was able to use the freedom given to him to dazzle the opposition, it was not just Ngobese who brought out his best game on Saturday.

A number of Chiefs big names the likes of David Obua, Shaun Bartlett, Siyabonga Nkosi and Kaizer Motaung Junior who scored his second hat trick of the season all contributed with some big performances, which ensured that Chiefs were able to win at a canter.

Such was Chiefs dominance of the game that they got their first shot at goal inside the first minute, Jimmy Tau was able to send in a cross to Shaun Bartlett who did well to fend of his marker but his volleyed effort went narrowly wide of Walters in the Celtic goal.

Hardly a minute later and with some good work by Ngobese Chiefs were able to carve open another opening, the number eleven ran across the Celtic 18 yard area and set up the on running Obua whose thunderous crack at goal went inches over the Celtic cross bar.

While Chiefs continued to dominate proceedings Celtic did have a sniff at goal in the 23rd minute when Mmethi took a pot shot from distance, Fernandez through a wall of defenders was easily able to pick up the ball.

Chiefs finally made the break through they were looking for on 26 minutes, when Sashi Chalwe’s clearances was blocked by Kaizer Motaung Junior, who after blocking the ball out ran the Zambian and caught up to the ball and neatly knocked it past the oncoming Walters to give Chiefs a well deserved lead.

With half time approaching Chiefs were looking to double their advantage and could have done so, when a Scara Ngobese cross found Shaun Bartlett who did well to control the ball with his chest. Bartlett then volleyed the ball but Walters reacted quickly and blocked the ball, two minutes on and Bartlett did get his ninth goal of the season.

After a neat exchange of passes between Kaizer Junior and Arthur Zwane, the latter sent a pass along the ground into the Celtic penalty area.

As Walters came out to get the ball Shaun Bartlett slid in ahead of him and knocked the ball into the empty net, on the stroke of half time Celtic tried to get back into the game, a long ball was played up towards Mphongoa.

The Lesotho international raced towards the ball, but was beaten to it by Rowen Fernandez who got up and punched the ball away, the first half ended with Chiefs leading 2-0.

Celtic began the second half searching for a way back into the game, and could have been on the score sheet in the 48th minute but for some quick thinking from Rowen Fernandez, Taaibos sent in a cross from the right flank looking for Mphongoa.

Fernandez came out and miss punched the ball which then landed at the feet of John Maduka, Fernandez was able to pick himself up and threw his body in front of Maduka’s pile driver to keep out the Celtic players attempt at goal.

Just past the hour mark and Celtic thought that they had found their way back, Mphongoa galloped past Obua and chipped the ball over Fernandez but could not beat the wood work. As his shot rolled onto Fernandez right hand post, Nzama was able to get to the ball and knocked it away to clear the danger.

Ten minutes later and Chiefs got their third goal, Siyabonga Nkosi was set through on goal but was knocked over by Walters, the referee took his time before eventually pointing to the spot.

Kaizer Motaung Junior stepped up and knocked the ball home with a cheeky penalty, which left Walters stranded to his line and the ball rolled into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.

To give the young Chiefs striker his tenth league goal of the season and Chiefs an unassailable 3-0 lead, eight minutes on with Nkosi once again doing the hard work Kaizer Junior was able to complete his second hat trick of the season.

Nkosi began a run just past the half way line and left a number of Celtic players in his wake, before passing to Kaizer Junior, who collected the ball and shot goal wards, a Celtic defender blocked his initial shot but he was able to get hold of the rebound and turned the ball home to complete his hat trick.

Inside the final five minutes of the match Siyabonga Nkosi was gifted with two opportunities to put one over his old team, but on both occasions Walters was able to come out and block his close range efforts.

Chiefs with a new coach have been able to turn the tide in March with a display and performance that left the huge crowd at the ABSA Stadium cheering for more, The Amakhosi do not have any matches next week.

Co-incidentally their next game will be against Celtic in what will be an exhibition match, played in Port Elizabeth as a fund raiser for the Nelson Mandela Museum.

Kosta Papic though will be pleased to have gotten his Chiefs career off to a winning start, and will welcome the fact that his team will not be in competitive action until the 7th April when they host Black Leopards. As he will be able to use the free time to give them some rest before a busy month of April and will be aiming to finish off the season in second spot.

Line Up’s:

Kaizer Chiefs: 1. R. Fernandez, 2. J. Tau, 4. C. Nzama, 21. P. Mayo, 13. D. Obua, 11. E. Ngobese, 18. A. Zwane (27. Sibeko 77 min), 10. S. Nkosi, 17. S. Bartlett (20. Agyemang 70 min), 7. K. Motaung Jnr

Substitutes: 16. R. Wuest, 28. D. Spencer, 44. S. Mkhonza, 20. L. Agyemang, 9. S. Djiehoua, 27. G. Sibeko, 25. G. Schalkwyk

Bloemfontein Celtic: 30. S. Walters, 12. J. Madidilane (14. Noble 78 min), 2. T. Nthethe, 5. L. Mphongoa, 28. G. Goldstone, 16. S. Chalwe, 18. J. Maduka, 23. N. Sikhakhane, 10. K. Taaibos, 19. P. Mahlatsi, 9. S. Mmethi (26. Solomons 67min)

Substitutes: 31. P. Omony, 21. C. Mubiala, 15. T. Liau, 26. J. Solomons, 14. R. Noble, 4. A. Nteo, 20. B. Tipa

Officials: Referee: Mahlomola Jonas Nhlapho
Assistant 1: Siphiwe Jibiliza
Assistant 2: Geronimo Piedt
4th Official: Zolile Mthetho
Match Commissioner: Robert Pillay

Kaizer Chiefs part ways with coach...-->

2007-03-05T18:48:00.000+02:00

Ernst Middendorp has officially been relieved of his duties with immediate effect as Head Coach of Kaizer Chiefs following the decision of the Clubs’ Management Committee meeting held earlier this day.

The Chairman, Kaizer Motaung convened a meeting with the Coach and Team Manager, Bobby Motaung wherein the matter was concluded.

Whilst the team is searching for a replacement, an official announcement on the whole status of the Technical Team will be made soon.

Usuthu defeat Chiefs

2007-03-05T18:42:00.000+02:00

Kaizer Chiefs 1 (9. Djiehoua 55 min) Amazulu 2 (23. Mzizi 41 & 74 min)
Olympia Park Stadium, Rustenburg
Premier Soccer League
Kick Off: 19h30
Premier Soccer League
Temperature: 32.5 °C

A goal in each half from on loan Chiefs striker Lucky Mzizi helped Amazulu record a much needed 2-1 victory over the Amakhosi, who have had a nightmare of a week against teams from Durban. A few days ago Chiefs were eliminated from the ABSA Cup by Golden Arrows, on Saturday in Rustenburg it was Arrows Durban rivals Amazulu who caused a major upset as they defeated Chiefs in Rustenburg and took three valuable points in their fight against relegation home with them.

Say What?

2007-02-28T11:25:00.000+02:00

A big sigh is all I can sum up my absence, loss of thought, and palisades of obstacles, one just after another, but through it all I AM still standing, full of faith, hope and strangely calming confusion. I of the eternal chant that: “If it is to be then let it be!” I took a lot of blows that shook me to an understanding that some things we are not in control of.

Through my minds eye I try to page through the options and possibilities and some require “immoral” stealth mixed with a stable eye on the prize. I hope and trust that my coordinates are proper for the times we live in allows only One chance, the first one. The next 3-5 months should be a cracker! A bed made, will be slept on. Keep it coming.

How could I change my faith?

We must delve deeper into new wave of Afrikaner siege mentality

2007-02-27T11:43:00.000+02:00

Mondli Makhanya
25 February 2007

Sunday Times Editor, Mondli Makhanya. Picture: James Oatway

I remember attending a Freedom Front congress about 10 years ago and listening to speakers lament the lot of the Afrikaner in the new South Africa.

The words hulle (them) and ons (us) came up a lot during animated speeches about the future of the Afrikaner. Uncertainty reigned in the community, which had lost power after 40 years of rule. Some of the debates taking place within Afrikanerdom were about establishing a system of limited self-rule within the republic.

As part of the pre-election settlement, the ANC had agreed to the setting up of a Volkstaat Council, which would look into the feasibility of such an Afrikaner homeland.

After his inauguration as President, Nelson Mandela had graciously given the Volkstaat Council a generous budget and offices where they could draw maps, use calculators and write their dreams into fancy computers. They travelled widely and studied models of self-governance elsewhere in the world. In the end, they came up with a squiggly, snaking and patchy map of a homeland that stretched from one end of the country to the other.

They handed their report to Mandela, who congratulated them on their diligent work, and then suggested a referendum among Afrikaners on whether they would like to live in such a place.

They have not been heard of since.

One would have thought that this was the end of Afrikaner nationalism, save for a few Boeremag madcaps here and there. Well, that was the case for a while. And then, in the past two years, there has suddenly been a surge in tribal thinking among Afrikaners.

What is bothersome about this wave of mobilisation is that — unlike the Volkstaat types or the Boeremag lunatics — it is quite mainstream. If media coverage and anecdotal tales are anything to go by, there is a strong feeling of victimisation and a sense that it is time to fight back against something.

It leaves me wondering: “What did I miss?” Did something recently happen that resulted in a reduction of the status of Afrikaners? Was there a pronouncement that said Afrikaners were henceforth to be regarded as lesser South Africans than others? Was there an edict that reduced their rights?

If any of these events did happen, then I must apologise for having been fast asleep while a dastardly act was being committed against our fellow citizens.

But this thing happening out there, as with any form of ethnic mobilisation, is cause for concern.

As much as we would like to dismiss the rallying around the Koos de la Rey song as just another passing phenomenon, it is not a cultural fad that will fade away to the fringes of society, like hippiedom and womb-worship.

I have read the lyrics of the song and they are quite ... well ... “struggle” orientated. We have all seen the reaction of the crowds when the song gets played at cultural festivals and at sporting events. It has clearly struck a chord among a generation who feel they have been hard done by in the democratic South Africa.

Why they feel this way is a great mystery to me. The new South Africa has been good for Afrikaners, better than apartheid South Africa in many respects.

Their language is no longer regarded as the language of the oppressor and is jealously protected by those who once took to the streets to reject it.

In both the public and the private sectors it enjoys a status far above that of the other official languages, other than English. It is thriving in the print and electronic media and its literature is in bloom.

In business, Afrikaners have done well. Freed from the bondage of the civil service, they have transformed themselves into great entrepreneurs.

Afrikaner symbols still dominate our urban landscapes and Afrikaner sportsmen are everybody’s heroes nowadays.

One could go on and on.

Ten years after that FF congress, one would have thought that the hulle and ons issues would have been worked out of our system.

But these are just the opinions of a lowly newspaperman. Perhaps wiser counsel would advise better.

I suspect, however, that wiser counsel would probably tell the newspaperman that what is incensing Afrikaners is the removal of Voortrekker and National Party names from street signs and city billboards. To them, this is the ultimate message of defeat.

But this is very odd, as name changes were bound to happen — and the only surprise is that it took so long.

Wiser counsel would also talk of how crime is affecting this community.

Then again, crime is not the exclusive preserve of any one group. And if anyone could lay claim to being the worst victims of the crime wave, it would be the black working class.

Then wise counsel would speak of the encroachment of English into Afrikaans life. Even here Afrikaners are not alone. Speakers of other African languages are equally resentful of the weed-like invasion of English.

Wise counsel would speak then of how employment equity has disadvantaged Afrikaner youths. Well, if you look at the reality on the ground, you will see a lot more black graduates walking the streets, suffering a worse fate than any Afrikaners would suffer.

Appealing to the Afrikaner’s sense of logic, in isolation, is unfortunately not going to help stop this retreat into a laager. We all need to delve deeper into what lies behind this siege mentality. And why now?

Kaizer Jr helps Chiefs beat Wits

2007-02-19T15:01:00.000+02:00

BidVest Wits 0 Kaizer Chiefs (7. Motaung 7 min)
BidVest Stadium, Johannesburg
Premier Soccer League
Kick Off: 15h45
17th February 2007
Temperature: 26 °C

Kaizer Motuang Junior scored his first goal in a month and his eight league goal of the season as Chiefs defeated BidVest Wits in a PSL game played at the BidVest Stadium on Sunday afternoon. In truth the score line is not reflective of the game as Chiefs dominated play and possession and had Wits chasing shadows for most of the game, in the end Kaizer Junior seventh minute strike was enough to hand Chiefs the points.

Wits' idea of playing the game at the compact Bidvest Stadium was to take advantage of the fact that they are used to playing on the smaller field, this plan seemed to have backfired in the first-half as the smaller field seemed to have suited The Amakhosi better. As they ran Wits ragged with some sublime touching passing with Gert Schalkwyk being the puppet master as he strung the midfield together with a number of deft touches. Even though Chiefs controlled most of the play in the opening forty five minutes, Wits did have the first real scoring chance.

When after five minutes Marwan Bantam weaved his way into the Chiefs penalty area an unleashed a pile driver goal wards only to find Fabian McCarthy hot on his heals, as the Chiefs defender slid in to block the shot. Two minutes later and Schalkwyk began to weave his magic after receiving a short pass from Siyabonga Nkosi he exposed the Wits defense, with a pass on their blind side which found Arthur Zwane. Who ran a few yards with the ball and passed the ball back to Schalkwyk who had moved into the Wits 18 yard area, Schalkwyk miscued his first time shot and the ball rolled to Kaizer Junior who needed no second invitation in giving Chiefs the lead.

After twenty seven minutes Chiefs could have doubled their advantage after Kaizer Junior won an aerial dual and flicked the ball towards Schalkwyk, Wits tormentor in Chiefs proceeded to again catch the Wits defense flat footed. As he layed on a pass to Gerald Sibeko who came screeching down the left wing, Sibeko wasted no time upon collecting the ball as he shot goal wards immediately, only to watch on as Wits goalkeeper Josephs was at full stretch to clear away the ball.

On the half hour mark Noah Chivutha sent a corner from the right in towards goal, Rowen Fernandez came out and punched the ball clear; the rebound fell once again to Chivutha who sent in a looping cross to the far post. The ball evaded Fernandez and the Chiefs defense as it flew towards Phil Evans lurking at the back post, had Evans made the slightest of contact with the ball and Wits would have found themselves level. Fortunately enough for Chiefs Evans to could not get to the ball and it sailed out with out giving Chiefs any problems.

Six minutes before the interval Kaizer Motaung Junior could have completed his brace, after some neat short passing between Siyabonga Nkosi and Gert Schalkwyk saw the latter deftly chip the Wits defense. With Kaizer Junior running onto the ball after easily controlling the ball, the Amakhosi striker wasted the chance as he blasted the ball high over Joseph’s goal post. The first half ended with Chiefs leading the students by a goal to nil.

Nine minutes into the second and Chiefs once again bombarded the Wits goal, as Arthur Zwane galloping down the right, played a ball to the head of Kaizer Junior whose attempt at goal was on target again Josephs was called into action and saved the ball on the line.

In the sixty fifth minute former Orlando Pirates striker Phumodzo Manenzhe on as a second half substitute made his way into the Chiefs 18 yard area, and a combination of Rowen Fernandez and Jimmy Tau could not stop his charge. It was left to Fabian McCarthy to push him wide and forced him into taking his shot which went into the side netting.

Chiefs were relentless in their pursuit of goals and had Wits on the back foot for lengthy periods in the second half, and must have thought that they increased their lead with a quarter of an hour to go. Off a Chiefs corner from the right the ball fell invitingly for Patrick Mayo who on hit the ball on the volley, again Josephs came out trumps and elbowed the ball to safety. The final bit of action in the game came in the 88th minute when a ferocious curling Marwan Bantam free kick managed to sail over the Chiefs wall, but Amakhosi keeper Rowen Fernandez made a superb stop to ensure he kept his ninth clean sheet of the season.

Victory for Chiefs over Wits was the kind of tonic Ernst Middendorp was looking for to get his team charged up ahead of their first ABSA Cup Game against Golden Arrows in a week’s time. The Chiefs coaches decision to take his team on a midweek outing to watch the Proteas defeat Pakistan at the Wanderers seemed to have motivated his team, as the put on one of their best performances of the season.

Line Up’s:

BidVest Wits: 1. M. Josephs, 15. N. Chivutha, 21. K. Denge (28. Manenzhe 55 min), 2. P. Evans, 5. R. Gariseb, 25. A. Hendricks, 32. M. Bantam, 23. A. Lobo, 11. Z. Ndhlovu (7. Senokoane 46 min), 19. M. De Jesus, 27. E. Mtsweni (8. Manuel 78 min)

Substitutes: 30. W. Robinson, 9. B. Moleyane, 28. P. Manenzhe, 24. E. Phillips, 8. K. Manuel, 7. B. Senokoane, 13. E. Tinkler

Coach: Boebie Solomons

Kaizer Chiefs: 1. R. Fernandez, 6. F. McCarthy, 2. J. Tau, 21. P. Mayo, 4. C. Nzama, 27. G. Sibeko, 18. A. Zwane (33. Mototo 90+), 25. G. Schalkwyk, 10. S. Nkosi (12. Mooki 75 min), 7. K. Motaung Junior, 28. D. Spencer

Substitutes: 32. I. Khune, 31. D. Radebe, 9. S. Djiehoua, 12. T. Mooki, 24. D. Mathebula, 33. D. Mototo, 11. E. Ngobese

Officials:

Referee: Matthew Dyer
Assistant 1: Toko Malebo
Assistant 2: Reginald Motloung
4th Official: Johnny Du Toit
Match Commissioner: Robert Pillay

Middendorp - 'It's all over for us'

2007-02-12T13:00:00.000+02:00

Embattled Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp has admitted that 'Amakhosi' are officially out of the 2006/07 Castle Premiership title raceThis follows Chiefs' shock 0-1 defeat by Golden Arrows at Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney on Saturday. The loss was 'Amakhosi's second defeat in a row after losing 2-1 to Mamelodi Sundowns last week.

"Let's face facts. We are in no position to challenge for league honours," Middendorp told the Daily Sun.

The German mentor added: "Even if we win the nine remaining league games it will not help us. I hope the boys regain their confidence and turn things around. These are trying times and we need to start winning games."

Middendorp agreed that his charges produced their worst performance ever on Saturday.

He said Zambian international striker Rotson Kilambe and Kaizer Motaung Jnr were unable to convert the numerous chances created by Siyabonga Nkosi.

"I told the players before the match that they could beat Arrows. But I could sense from their looks that their spirit was down. I was hoping that Simphiwe Tshabalala would come and save us but he joined us injured. Shaun Bartlett is also injured. What can I do with these injuries?

A woman of style and moral substance :Adelaide Tambo

2007-02-04T20:01:00.000+02:00

Love and marriage: A picture taken at the wedding of Oliver and Adelaide Tambo, with best man Anton Lembede on Oliver’s right; and Oliver and Adelaide Tambo with Nelson Mandela after their return from exile in 1990. She was widowed on the eve of the country’s coming to democracy when Oliver, having led the ANC in exile for decades, died in 1993 Picture: ©ANC archives

Activist: Adelaide Tambo, centre, in 1990. Five years later she was to take a moral and political stand against the controversial actions of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Picture: Robert Botha

She worked up to 20 hours a day as a nurse to support her family, and still managed to be a mother to young ANC students in London

Adelaide Tambo was a doughty mother who served the struggle for liberation, writes Chris Barron.

Soon after arriving in London in 1960 to join her husband Oliver, who had left South Africa after the Sharpeville massacre to lead the ANC in exile, Adelaide Tambo began house-hunting.

She and her three young children had been hastily put up in an empty barn of a house — “this miserable house”, she called it — in Finchley; it had clearly not been occupied since at least World War Two .

It was early winter and too cold to sleep or bath upstairs. Instead, Adelaide and the children washed in a basin and bedded down on the floor in the lounge, which at least had the advantage of a fireplace. There was so much damp around, however, that when she got the fire going, water would ooze from the walls.

Her need for more suitable accommodation was dire. W ithout Oliver to help her, she scanned the newspapers for advertisements and made calls from the corner telephone booth.

She quickly established that racism was not confined to South Africa.

“In England in those days, where there were empty flats there were notices on the window: ‘To let — no Irish, no blacks, no dogs,’ ” she said 40 years later.

She saw a flat advertised in Golders Green and the agent arranged for someone to show her around.

“I thought it was the answer. I phoned the agent. She hadn’t seen me but had been told I wasn’t white.

“She pushed up the price from £7 to £12 a week.” Adelaide said she still wanted it.

“Are you coloured?” she was asked.

“No,” she replied. “I’m an African.”

The agent persisted. “Are you black?”

“Yes,” said Adelaide. “Very black.”

“Are you black like a West Indian, or have you got more of an olive colour? Can you pass as someone from the Continent?”

“No,” replied Adelaide. “I’m very black.”

“I’m sorry,” said the agent. “I can’t help you.”

Adelaide Tambo was a determined, obstinate, take-no-prisoners kind of person who refused to feel sorry for herself or allow circumstances to get on top of her. She was guided by what she believed was right and never wavered from the direction given by her unerring moral compass.

An example of this was in 1995 when she led 11 members out of the ANC Women’s League because she had moral qualms about the leadership of its president — and her one-time friend — Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Adelaide was 30 when she left South Africa for Swaziland in July 1960, disguised as a Swazi peasant . From there she and the children were taken to Botswana and then flown to Katanga province in the Congo. Katanga leader Moise Tshombe had seceded from Patrice Lumumba’s Congo republic, and as her Dakota landed, it was surrounded by soldiers .

Typically, she was keen to confront them, but the pilot pleaded with her to let him handle the situation. “Anything can happen. You can be shot, bayoneted, stabbed with a knife. Whatever happens, please do not fight back.”

She and the children were placed under arrest until Tshombe decided what to do with them. At 3am she was told she could continue her journey to Ghana.

She’d been told that Oliver would be waiting for her there, but when she arrived she was told he had left for London. When she got to London she was told he had gone to the United Nations in New York.

For the next 30 years she saw very little of him, and even on the rare and hurried occasions he was able to pop in, the constant presence of his entourage and demands on his attention made it virtually impossible for them to be alone as a family.

In a rare fit of anger she told him that he must rather stay at a hotel than at home because his visits were disruptive.

She worked anything from 12 to 20 hours a day as a nurse to support her family, and still managed to be a mother to young ANC students — the future President Thabo Mbeki among them — passing through London, needing to be fed, comforted and advised.

After a Peeping Tom broke into her property while she was on night shift, she decided that her children needed more care than she could give them, and approached the British Defence and Aid Fund for money to send them to expensive boarding schools.

The fund was reluctant, but she insisted. “I was damned if my children would have anything but the best in this country,” she told Oliver’s biographer, Luli Callinicos.

She was equally damned if she would let them be the butt of racial insults.

When her son Dali phoned her in a state after a racial incident at school, she went straight from her night shift to confront the headmaster and didn’t let the matter drop until he had made a public apology at school assembly, with her looking on.

Another incident that demonstrated her sometimes impulsive, derring- do attitude to misfortune was when there was a fire at her home. She immediately knotted some sheets and jumped out of the window. The knots didn’t hold and she fell to the ground, suffering fractures to her legs and hip.

She had to undergo serious surgery and her injuries contributed to the rheumatoid arthritis that plagued her in later life.

By the time she got to England, Adelaide was already a seasoned fighter.

Born in Vereeniging on July 18 1929, she was 10 when she witnessed her frail grandfather being roughly manhandled by white policemen after a riot in which a policeman had been killed.

She vowed then that she would do whatever it took to overthrow apartheid.

At the age of 15 she tried to join the ANC, but was told she was too young. Instead she made herself useful as a courier.

As a 17-year-old schoolgirl at Orlando High in Soweto, she was chosen to be a speaker at the launch of a new branch of the ANC Youth League. Her fellow speaker got an attack of nerves and withdrew, but Adelaide, remembered even at that age as being confident, assertive and determined, made a great impression on the president of the ANCYL, Oliver Tambo.

They met and began a long correspondence that eventually led to them going out together . On their first date Adelaide laid down the ground rules of exactly what Oliver could and couldn’t do with her.

In 1956 they married, but it was touch and go because, a couple of weeks before the wedding, Oliver was arrested along with other ANC leaders on charges of high treason.

After school Adelaide went to a teaching hospital in Pretoria to train as a nurse, and started a branch of the ANCYL at a nursing home.

In 1989, in London, Adelaide was called to the phone; it was Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, saying that Oliver had had a stroke and would be flown to London in mining magnate Tiny Rowland’s jet. She must have an ambulance ready to rush him to hospital, Kaunda said .

Rowland was a great friend of Kaunda’s and through him became a friend of the Tambos. When they returned to South Africa in December 1990, he made them a present of his mansion in Sandhurst, Johannesburg, which is where Adelaide lived until her death. Oliver died in 1993.

Adelaide became a member of the National Assembly in 1994, resigning after her first five-year term.

She continued her life of public service , however, working with the aged and with physically handicapped children — the “differently abled”, as she called them — in Soweto.

She was given the Order of the Baobab in Gold in 2002, and the Order of Simon of Cyrene, the highest order in the Anglican church for distinguished service by lay people.

Adelaide dressed regally — celebrated Derber’s couturier Eric Pugin made her dresses — but never let her huge fame and stature go to her head.

The only thing that went there were the flamboyant headdresses that she loved so much and carried off so easily at charity events where her presence was always considered a great coup by the organisers.

She remained gracious, dignified, warm, friendly, approachable and generous (she seldom allowed visitors, even journalists, to leave her home without a gift) to the end.

Adelaide Tambo died at home on Wednesday evening of a suspected heart attack. She was 77 years old.

Brazilians edge out Chiefs in Loftus thriller

2007-02-04T19:42:00.000+02:00

Mamelodi Sundowns 2 (7. Torrealba 10 min, 8. Chabangu 51 min) Kaizer Chiefs (1. Fernandez 32 min)
Vodacom Loftus Stadium, Tshwane
Premier Soccer League
Kick Off: 15h45
3rd f February 2007
Temperature: 34.0 °C

Kaizer Chiefs lost further ground in the title race as they were defeated by two goals to one by defending PSL Champions Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday afternoon, with Sundowns having three games in hand over The Amakhosi it was a game Chiefs could ill afford to lose.

In what was a very open and attacking game Chiefs perhaps let themselves down and were unable to make the most of a number of goalkeeping errors by Brian Baloyi, and were also unable to make the most of the numerical advantage they held over Sundowns for the final twenty four minutes of the game after Jose Torrealba received his marching orders in the sixty six minutes.

In this high paced high energy game at times it seemed as though the game was being played in fast forward, Sundowns had the first scoring opportunity inside the first two minutes. Rowen Fernandez was able to push away a Lerato Chabangu cross from the left with Jose Torrealba putting the Chiefs keeper under pressure, Fernandez though did well to get to the ball as he pushed it away to safety.

Sundowns took the lead ten minutes in when Michael Manzini blocked a Chiefs clearance from just past the halfway line; the ball flew over the Chiefs defense and invitingly for Godfrey Sapula. The Sundowns midfielder set Jose Torrealba on his way to goal with a neat over head flick, the Venezuelan striker ran onto the passed and knocked the ball past Fernandez to hand Sundowns the advantage.

Nine minutes later and a comedy of errors by Sundowns at the back could have seen Chiefs level, it started when Brian Baloyi in characteristic fashion fluffed a cross and Josta Dladla too could not effectively get rid of the ball. Instead Scara Ngobese was able to take a pot shot at goal which was blocked by a Sundowns defender; Siyabonga Nkosi got hold of the rebounded ball and sent a cross into the danger area which Vuyo Mere knocked towards his own goal.

Brian Baloyi back tracked and got to the ball in time to save his defender from the embarrassment of putting the ball into his own net.

Has the half hour mark approached Scara Ngobese floated a beautiful looking ball towards Kaizer Junior, who did well to control the ball as he skipped past Kannemeyer the Sundowns defender threw out his leg and sent the Motaung crashing to the ground.

The referee duly pointed to the spot and Rowen Fernandez took the ensuing spot kick and sent Brian Baloyi the wrong way, the referee called Fernandez back and the kick had to be retaken as Chiefs midfielder Gerald Sibeko had encroached into the Sundowns 18 yard area. The second time around Fernandez kick was stopped by Baloyi but the Chiefs keeper pounced on the rebound, to ultimately score his first ever goal for Chiefs in open play. Fernandez goal ensured that the first half ended 1-1.

Chiefs had the opportunity to have taken the lead five minutes into the second half, when Brian Baloyi under pressure from David Radebe dropped the ball at the Chiefs striker’s feet. Radebe shot the ball goal wards on this occasion it was Baloyi whose blushes were spared as his defense got back in time to clear the ball off the line, instead of taking the lead Chiefs found themselves a goal down a minute later.

When in the fifty first minute Rowen Fernandez was unable to hold a Josta Dladla shot, and when the Chiefs keeper dropped the ball Lerato Chabangu was on hand to put the ball home from close range to give Sundowns the lead once again.

In the sixty second minute Sundowns could have made certain of the game, Esrom Nyanadoro’s shot come cross from the right flew over the Chiefs defense and knocked the top of Fernandez goal. Four minutes after that Sundowns found themselves a man down when Jose Torrealba said something to referee Ace Ncobo, who wasted no time in producing a red card and sent the Sundowns striker packing.

Chiefs though were unable to take advantage of the fact that they had a man more than the opposition, The Amakhosi’s final chance of the second half fell to substitute Serge Djiehoua in the 84th minute who after playing neat one two with Kaizer Motaung Junior.

Djiehoua collected the return pass and ran towards goal; his close range effort was well stopped by Brian Baloyi who did well to narrow down the angle which gave Djiehoua very few options as he was forced into trying his luck at goal.

With defeat at the hands of Sundowns Chiefs will have to do a lot of soul searching ahead of their next game against Golden Arrows in a week time, The Amakhosi will need no reminding of the fact that they have placed themselves under enormous pressure by dropping more points in the title race.

Ernst Middendorp will be looking to pick up the pieces in the coming week as Chiefs relinquish the top spot in the league, should they want to claim it back their can be no slip us from The Amakhosi from now to the 26th May.

Line Up’s:

Mamelodi Sundowns: 99. B. Baloyi, 14. S. Moriri (89. Apataki 74 min), 3. E. Nyandoro, 30. V. Mere, 10. G. Sapula (21. Carelse 63 min), 66. D. Kannemeyer, 19. B. Mhlongo, 25. M. Manzini, 9. J. Dladla, 7. J. Torrealba, 8. L. Chabangu (2. Ntwagae 88 min)

Substitutes: 28. J. Mabokgwane, 21. B. Carelse, 6. F. Costa, 89. P. Apataki, 13. L. Ndlela, 2. O. Ntwagae, 23. P. Ndlovu

Kaizer Chiefs: Kaizer Chiefs: 1. R. Fernandez, 4. C. Nzama, 2. J. Tau, 21. P. Mayo, 33. D. Mototo (13. Obua 81 min), 27. G. Sibeko (25. Schalkwyk 86 min), 8. T. Nengomasha, 11. E. Ngobese, 10. S. Nkosi, 31. D. Radebe (9. Djiehoua 75 min), 7. K. Motaung Junior

Substitutes: 16. R. Wuest, 18. A. Zwane, 25. G. Schalkwyk, 13. D. Obua, 9. S. Djiehoua 24. D. Mathebula, 6. F. McCarthy

Cards: Mamelodi Sundowns: Red Cards, 7. Jose Torrealba 66 min Kaizer Chiefs: Yellow Cards, 9. Serge Djiehoua 90+

Officials:

Referee: Ace Ncobo
Assistant 1: Luyanda Somi
Assistant 2: Manutse Nayo
4TH Official: Matthew Dyer
Match Commissioner: Jankey Mabitsela

Mototo bags number 500

2007-01-22T12:32:00.001+02:00

On the 10th August 1996 Thabang Lebese’s solitary goal against Jomo Cosmos in The Amakhosi’s first game in the inaugural season of the Premier Soccer League in the 1996-1997 season, opened up Chiefs goal scoring account in the PSL.This is after the NSL(National Soccer League) was dismantled after some 20yrs to form the new PSL.

Eleven seasons later and Chiefs managed to score their 500th PSL goal, against the same opponents that they scored their first PSL goal against back in 1996. As Chiefs went down 2-1 against Cosmos on Sunday most Chiefs fans were more concerned with the fact that their team did not take three points with them back to Johannesburg, and it might have passed them by that Chiefs had reached a historical landmark during the game.

Perhaps only a small number of The Amakhosi faithful in Orkney would have given some thought to the fact that when, Ditheko Mototo managed to find an equalizer in the twenty-fifth minute of Sunday’s game against Cosmos, he also wrote himself into the Chiefs history books scoring PSL goal number 500 for The Amakhosi; it was not just the fans who were not aware of the historical importance of Mototo’s goal.

Speaking after Sunday’s game Mototo who does not often work his way onto the score sheet, was not aware that he just become apart of history.

The Chiefs defender said; “to tell you the truth I really did not know that the goal I scored was Chiefs 500th in the PSL, when we went into the change room at half time a couple of the guys came to me and congratulated and explained to me the importance of the goal”.

Mototo explained further; “I think losing the game took some of the sparkle off the goal, had we won the game it would obviously have felt much better, it does though feel nice to know that you have contributed to the history of this wonderful team”.

Having now notched up their 500th PSL goal Chiefs will now be aiming to get their next 100 PSL goals; on average it has taken The Amakhosi two years to score 100 goals so expect Chiefs to score their 600th PSL Goal sometime in January 2009. Chiefs first opportunity to begin carving out their next 100 goals comes this Saturday when they host Ajax Cape Town, in a league game to be played at Loftus Stadium in Tshwane.

Kaizer Chiefs Milestone PSL Goals

PSL Goal Number One

Thabang Lebese
10th August 1996
Kaizer Chiefs 1 Jomo Cosmos 0

PSL Goal Number 100

Marc Batchelor
25th April 1998
Kaizer Chiefs 2 Moroka Swallows 0
Chiefs second goal in the game was their 100th

PSL Goal Number 200

Emeka Mamale
1st December 1999
Kaizer Chiefs 1 SuperSport United 0

PSL Goal Number 300

Aime Kitenge (own goal)
26th September 2002
Kaizer Chiefs 1 Dynamos 0

PSL Goal Number 400

Emmanuel Ngobese
5th January 2005
Kaizer Chiefs 1 Santos 0
PSL Goal Number 500

Ditheko Mototo
21st January 2007
Jomo Cosmos 2 Kaizer Chiefs 1

Kaizer Chiefs turns 37!!

2007-01-15T13:09:00.000+02:00

As the first week of the New Year comes to an end there has for the past three decades been a good reason for, Kaizer Chiefs fans and players alike to look forward to the culmination of the first week of the year.

The reason for this and the fact that the club and its fans have a second celebration on the back of the New Year's festivities a few days earlier is simple.

The final day of the first week of January or to be precise the 7th January marks the day that Kaizer Chiefs was founded back in 1970, by current club chairman Kaizer Motaung along with the assistance of a number of friends and associates.

Kaizer Motaung founded the club upon his return from the United States of America where he had been playing in the old North American League for the Atlanta Chiefs, whose motif with a few additions eventually became the logo which has adorned the Kaizer Chiefs jersey ever since.

In their short history, Kaizer Chiefs have entered South African Football Folklore as perhaps the most successful team in the country having won more trophies and accolades in its thirty seven year existence, then most teams currently campaigning in the South African professional leagues.

Chiefs finest moment in recent years amongst the many titles and trophies they have amassed over time, has to be when the club was nominated as the 2001 Confederation of African Football Club of the Year.

It was an honour bestowed upon them after Chiefs had won three trophies in the space of three months towards the end of 2001, included in that wonderful run of cup triumphs from September to December 2001 was the club's triumph in the African Cup Winners Cup otherwise known as the Nelson Mandela Cup.

In July 2006 Chiefs scored another coup for South African Football when they managed to defeat English Premier League Giants Manchester United in the Vodacom Challenge, thanks to an inspirational meeting the team had with former South African President Nelson Mandela the day before the final.

Down the years, the club has earned the nickname The Amakhosi which is a translation of the word Chiefs from English to a number of the vernacular African languages.

The team has also been Chiefs off the field in South African football, leading the way with a number of new innovations, and are still the only team in South Africa to have their own monthly magazine.

The club was also the first to broaden its licensing and merchandising programme, and has made available in the market place products such as blankets, towels and shoes to name a few available to their legions of fans to happily display their support for the club.

As Chiefs enter their 37th year in existence, they do so with the knowledge that by the time the club nears its thirty ninth birthday, it will begin playing matches in its very own stadium, to be built in the Mogale Municipality west of the Johannesburg CBD.

Construction of The Amakhosi Stadium which is due to begin soon will see Chiefs become the first soccer team to, both own and operate their own Stadium which is earmarked for completion in December 2008.

While the future looks bright for Chiefs and as those currently in the employment of the club hope to build on Chiefs glittering past, this was filled with many happy walks to the podium to collect the cup at the end of another triumphant Cup or league campaign. They will know that the best wealth the club possess is its millions of fans not just in South Africa but in recent years the club has had a growing legion of supporters across the globe, and it is the fans who will make sure that the club sees many more happy birthdays.

To Kaizer Chiefs from all players and staff to all the fans in South Africa and around the world happy birthday.

Time to stay up

2007-01-15T13:02:00.001+02:00

Update on Kaizer Chiefs' league encounters:

There was always the possibility that the start of the week could turn out to resemble the overcast skies that we have experienced over Johannesburg in recent times.

It could have been a blue Monday for us had we not pushed hard in the second half against Benoni United on Sunday, as we eventually got the goals which won us the points. The reason I say it could have turned out differently is because in the first half of Sunday’s game against Benoni, the visiting team gave as good as they got - as much as we attacked them they threw back at us.

During that first half, we were fortunate that a free-kick Benoni Premier United had after about 30 minutes ricocheted off the cross bar and went out. We too had numerous scoring chances in the opening period but we just could not find the breakthrough.

Having Siyabonga Nkosi back did make a difference for us; he along with Gert Schalkwyk and Kaizer Junior did ask a number of questions of the Benoni defence. In the second half we picked up the tempo and got the goals that we deserved - as a coach when you make a substitution your intention is to bring on players who will make a difference and change the current state of the game.

Thankfully on Sunday a double substitution we made inside the first 10 minutes of the second half helped lift our game, as Arthur Zwane and Scara Ngobese came off the bench and helped give the guys a boost. The pair were involved in the action from the beginning. Scara got us the breakthrough with a well-taken goal, Arthur battled well and he too was able to get in a number of dangerous crosses into the Benoni penalty area.

I think that we improved a lot in the second half of Sunday’s game and we should have continued pressurizing the opposition and should have pressed for more goals.

Having said that,I must add that Siyabonga Nkosi was unfortunate not to have scored from a free-kick late on in the second half. The fact that we are asking questions of the opposition from set pieces, throw-ins and dead balls situations show that we are making a lot of strides in becoming a complete team.

There are a number of issues that occurred prior to and during Sunday’s game which I wish to bring to light. The first thing is I know that it was reported that we started with a 4-5-1 combination against Benoni United. Actually this is not entirely true - I have said this before and I will make it clear again, against Benoni we played using two strikers in a 4-4-2 formation. This is not the first time that Gert Schalkwyk has been used as a second striker; if you can race your mind back to the pre-season one would find that we used him as second striker in a number of pre season matches. It is a position where he has slotted into without any difficulty and as time goes on, and if the need arises, I am certain that we could continue using him as a second striker.

Another issue that I feel needs addressing, is the treatment been meted out by a number of fans towards David Obua. It is very strange for me to see that a year ago Obua could do no wrong and was the darling of all the fans - today after a few indifferent performances he has become public enemy number one.

Obua might not be having the best of times on the field of play but that is no reason for people to shout abuse at him, all players go through good and bad spells. Instead of being abusive to him or any player experiencing a dip in form, we need to help guide them through what can sometimes be a very trying and testing time. My advice is to help the players through their tough times by supporting them and being an extra leg to stand on and be a motivating factor in getting them back to their best once more.

The final issue I would like to raise is the way our team began playing around with the ball after we had scored our second goal on Sunday. I have said it before that I am not one who encourages ‘Tsamaya’ football. I think that dancing on the ball and embarrassing your opponent by doing these crazy tricks is really disrespectful and I do not approve of it. I did raise this with the team on Sunday and I said that it must not happen; I recall a game against Sundowns last season when one of their players toyed around with us.

We did not like it and I told my players at that time that in the same way that we did not like being messed around with; we should not do it in matches when we are dominating proceedings. Instead I would prefer for our team to press home the advantage and go for more goals, we need goals because there could come a time when goal difference could work against us.

When that does happen we will then run back and think about the time when we should have scored goals instead we preferred to behave like the Harlem Globetrotters and put up an exhibition instead of scoring goals.

Anyway I think I have said a lot today and will communicate with you later in the week closer to our game against Jomo Cosmos on Saturday, which is scheduled to be played in Durban on Saturday afternoon.

Amakhosi for Life

Ernst Middendorp
Kaizer Chiefs Head Coach

A new car: your worst investment

2007-01-10T14:30:00.000+02:00

YOUR car is going down in value by thousands a month!

The chances are good that it dropped by 20% as you drove it off the showroom floor!

A car is the second biggest outlay most people make. It is a consumer durable, not an investment – but because it can impoverish over the long term, it could be called the worst investment.

Depreciation is the dirty word that the motor industry and the media seldom mention.

The table plots the one, two and three-year depreciation of a random sample of 23 cars. They range in price from the Nissan 1 400 at R70 000 to the Porsche Cayenne at R1,4m. The table compares the prices of these vehicles when they were new to their present trade-in value. (Click here to view the table)

The worst example, the Jeep Cherokee Laredo V8 plummeted 38% in value from R382 000 to R237 500 in a year. That was R12 000 per month.

The best, ironically, the Porsche Cayenne, fell by only 11,9%. It doesn’t sound like much in percentage terms but in rands the drop was R175 000 – R14 500 a month!

One third of the sample depreciated by more than 30% in the first year. Less than a third fell in value by less than 20%.

The depreciation over two and three years is shown in columns three and six. It is, expressed in percentage decline per annum. The table shows that depreciation in years two and three starts to level off. Many cars these days can last 20 years.

This sample represents less than 10% of the cars available on the SA market. One cannot make judgments about any particular brand - but it does confirm that depreciation, though often unseen, makes fuel costs look trivial.

According to the latest vehicle statistics released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), more than 200 000 new cars have been sold since January.

Tony Twine, director and senior economist at Econometrix, describes the life cycle of a car: “During the first year, the value of the car decreases at a steep rate. For the next four years, the car depreciates at a more gentle, slower pace, with a further step down in value in the sixth year. Beyond this, the value of the rate of depreciation flattens out.”

Borrowing money to purchase a depreciating asset is the worst “investment” you can make. Sages say: “Buy things that appreciate and pay for the use of the things that depreciate.”

“A car is not an investment; you use it and then discard it”, says Piet Viljoen of

Regarding Capital Management (RE:CM).

He says the definition of an investment is a security of principal, with the potential of growth and this does not apply to a car, explains Viljoen.

“Each person will do what they want to maximise their own value or utility”, says Viljoen.

A new car usually involves allocating a large amount of money into a diminishing asset.

Opportunity cost must be taken into account. Deciding to buy a luxury model now can detract significantly from one’s wealth in later life.

“If a person prefers to buy a fancy car as opposed to investing a portion, they must realise they will fall behind in the wealth accumulation stakes”, adds Viljoen.

People should think more carefully about the objectives of having a car, reckons Twine.

“They are swept along by the emotion of a brand new car and don’t take into account what the car is going to be used for,” warns Twine.

Twine advises leasing if the car is to be used purely as a means of transport. “This will decrease the costs of owning the use of a car, rather than the vehicle itself”.

Up to now, leasing has been restricted to companies and professionals who use their vehicles to generate income. The new Consumer Credit Bill, which is likely to come into effect in 2007, will allow for private leasing.

After owning the car for six years, the car will be worth around 20% of its original value, excluding VAT, adds Twine. A brand new car worth R500 000 will be worth about R100 000 after six years, if you are lucky.

“To avoid the early rapid depreciation of a new vehicle, rather buy a second-hand car,” advises Twine.

Let’s look at the numbers: instead of spending R500 000 on a new car, one could buy a three-year-old model of the same type for R300 000 and invest the balance.

The cost of ownership of the new car is R400 000 during the period. Meanwhile the R300 000 car after seven years will be worth R60 000, so the depreciation cost will be R240 000. At only 4,2% a year after tax, a R200 000 money market investment would have grown over six years to R256 000. The second-hand car owner is thus ahead by R16 000 while the new car owner is down by R400 000. Had the second hand car buyer put the money into the JSE, the relative situation would have been far better.

Some makes and models depreciate faster and this all depends on market forces, says a statistician who monitors car values.

“If the market likes it, will depreciate more slowly,” he reckons.

He adds that the technology race is over and the reliability of a particular is no longer a factor. Whether a car holds its value depends more on what car the public would like to be seen in. Reputation of the brand is critical.

Lower-priced vehicles suffer less depreciation because a larger number of prospective second hand buyers can afford them, says Twine.

Twine says the rate of increase of new car prices in the future determines how fast a particular make and model will depreciate.

He maintains that “the higher car inflation is, the greater the residual value and the lower the depreciation”.

Other factors do affect the rate of depreciation, he adds. “Historically, the slowest depreciation of vehicles hangs around the 1800cc engine size, manual transmissions and diesel engines”.

Sources: recommended retail price figures from Car Magazine editions from 2003-2005. Trade values from TransUnion Mead & McGrouther Auto dealers Guide.

New Year Resolutions : Weigh(t) Options

2007-01-09T15:24:00.000+02:00

The slimming products industry boasts wonderful sales figures in January as the recent festive gluttony and New Year's resolutions have thousands seeking a short-cut to fat shedding.

But Cape Town dietician Maya Snijders-Naumann says the industry "sells the idea to millions of overweight people that you can solve a problem without solving it - no responsibility for your actions, no work".

Last week in a pharmacy I overheard a woman tell an assistant that she was "desperate" to lose weight and then ask whether a certain weight-loss product worked.

"Yes," the assistant replied, with certainty.

In another pharmacy I asked an assistant which product among the many on sale was the most effective and he singled out one without any hesitation.

These were sales assistants, not pharmacists, offering apparently authoritative advice to consumers who've been socialised to regard a pharmacy as a credible source of medical wisdom.

"Nobody manning a shop floor should be giving dietary advice," says Professor Tessa van der Merwe, who heads the country's first specialised centre for obesity in Pretoria, and chairs the SA Society for the Study of Obesity.

"Obesity is a medical condition, not a cosmetic issue."

For Van der Merwe, the problem is deadly serious.

"People make a huge mistake believing that 'herbal' remedies are harmless. If they take more than the recommended dose - which many do - the 'herbs' can have catastrophic interactions with drugs for high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions - exactly the diseases that obese people develop and are likely to be medicated for."

Many of the ingredients in weight loss products have been found to aid weight loss, Van der Merwe says, but in massive concentrations.

"In order to sell their products at a reasonable price, the manufacturers use the active ingredients in concentrations so minute as to make them totally ineffective."

And here's the really sobering news: "Of the few products that have been found to be effective for weight loss in controlled studies, the effect never lasts more than four weeks because the body becomes tolerant to the ingredients, and the greatest result of all the studies was a loss of just over 1kg."

nAmong the many products currently on sale are a number of USN (Ultimate Sports Nutrition) products which were the subject of Advertising Standards Authority rulings last November. They include:

USN Leanfast snack bar: Complainant Dr Harris Steinman said the words "leanfast" and "low calorie nutrition snack" implied that it would aid weight loss when it actually contains 1996,4kJ per 100g - almost the same as a slab of full cream chocolate.

In response, USN undertook to amend the words "low calorie" but said "Leanfast" was the name of the product and did not imply slimming or weight loss. Unsurprisingly, the ASA disagreed.

The company has until February to rid the shelves of the current Leanfast bars.

USN Phedra-Cut Stimulant-Free: Dr Steinman contended that the product's claims on its website - "burns fat for energy", "helps control carb storage", "advanced appetite control" and "increases metabolic rate" required substantiation. The company offered to change the claims.

Once upon 2007

2007-01-02T09:25:00.000+02:00

Change with change before change changes you, forcefully. The new year is here and with it we hope that it brings wealth, health, wisdom, growth, love, peace and unity. As usual, people make resolutions they can't keep. Me not falling for that trap, again.

To all those that have seen the new year :Give Tanx!
Let's keep rocking!

Hustle Simmons & Blood Diamonds

2006-12-27T10:38:00.000+02:00

I watched Russell Simmons on CNN the other day and saw what many may have considered a strange sight. He was on there basically slamming the new movie ' Blood Diamonds' and demanding that its parent company Warner Brothers be responsible with what they put out there because it could unduly influence the public.

When I heard that, I said to myself, I will forever quote Russell whenever I engage some of these industry types about the type of material they are releasing to the public. After all if a big time music mogul like Simmons is calling for restraint and balance because he see the potential for undue effect, then its time for the industry to clean itself up. After all, who would know better?

But pushing that aside, this is not what that's about. In this CNN interview Russell said its important that all of us know our history. It is with that sentiment in mind, that I found it strange to hear Simmons defending the diamond trade in South Africa and Botswana, which were the two countries he recently visited on a 'fact-finding' mission.

Please note that the horrific bloodshed and genocide of the early 90s which the movie 'Blood Diamonds' focuses on took place in countries like Sierra Leone and Angola. In my opinion those conflict zones should've been included in any sort of fact finding mission. By only going to Botswana and South Africa and defending their diamond trade Simmons by default wound up defending the De Beers Company which for years had a worldwide monopoly and brutally ruled the diamond business in those two countries.
For folks who aren't old enough to remember, De Beers was set up by a colonizer named Cecil Rhodes (yes the same Cecil Rhodes who the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship is named after). He took over what we now call Zimbabwe and called it Rhodesia. His De Beers diamond company was and will forever be in many people's minds associated with the brutal Apartheid regime of South Africa.

I recall as a kid hearing all sorts of horror stories about how the Black majority population in South Africa were forced to work in diamond mines in subhuman conditions for pennies a day by the De Beers owners with the military backing and blessings of the white Apartheid government. Many Blacks were killed or crippled by cruel De Beer bosses and Afrikaner police when they went on strike to demand better work conditions. It was more then troubling to see how these workers were forced to mine diamonds off their own land and have these colonizers sell them all over the world thus making both the De Beers company and the White South African government rich and powerful.

It's interesting to note that we didn't call those South African diamonds 'blood diamonds' back in the 80s when many of us in the Hip Hop generation first became aware of all the atrocities, but in many ways they really were. The blood of Black south Africans were on many of those De Beer stones.

If that wasn't bad enough, De Beer had a nasty practice of keeping diamonds off the market so they could artificially raise prices and create an illusion of scarcity. This practice was highlighted in the 'Blood Diamonds' movie.

The brutality of Apartheid along with the horrors of the diamond trade was what motivated many of us as young college to become involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement where we demanded that our universities and other US businesses divest any and all funds from South African businesses.

Many compared 'Apartheid' with the 'Holocaust' because of how harshly whites treated the Black majority. Sadly we had in people in power like then president Ronald Reagan, Senator Dick Cheney, and later President George Bush Sr. along with Israel all staunchly supporting this white terrorist Apartheid government every step of the way.
They refused to go along with and vetoed every single UN proposed sanction. They called then incarcerated Nelson Mandela and his organization the African National Congress (ANC), terrorists who were to be feared. There was even a point where right-wing knuckleheads in this country advocated that we actually purchase South African diamonds as a way to oppose the ANC because they were getting help from Fidel Castro and communist organizations. Remember the folks in power who guarded our beloved Democracy here in the US were doing very little to end Apartheid. This is the 'history', as Russell Simmons pointed out, we should always remember and never downplay or conveniently overlook.

Now during his CNN interview Simmons noted that he understood De Beers had a bad history, but times have changed and that this once notorious diamond company had also changed for the better. Simmons noted that up to 80% of De Beers diamond profits now go back to South Africans and that the money generated from diamond sales now allow Africans an opportunity to get a stronger economic foothold.

As I listened to him run all this down, I kept saying to myself 'Fuck That! De Beers shouldn't own any of those diamond mines. In the backdrop of all the brutality that occurred over the years, there should be NO splitting of any profits. It should be a full 100% controlled and owned by Africans. Hearing Simmons somehow defend the diamond trade while including De Beer company representatives at his press conference in NY last week, would be like Jewish leaders inviting the representatives of a company once owned Adolf Hitler to a meeting where they explain how and why it make sense to split profits with a company with a people that built a business around them being slaughter and their natural resources stolen.

I know in South Africa, they have this 'Truth and Reconciliation' thing jumping off where a lot of the atrocities of the past have been overlooked and forgiven. But for many of us here in the US there was no truth and reconciliation process. Many of us have vivid memories where we emotionally bled and emphasized with the plight of our South African brethren. The memory of De Beers being a stalwart of the White Apartheid regime is still firmly etched in many of our minds.
The money that De Beers and others have sunk into launching today's PR campaign to counteract the overriding message of the movie 'Blood Diamonds' was never used to by them to go around the world, apologize and try and make right the role they played in keeping the Apartheid regime running. In fact, the folks from De Beers hanging with Russell and explaining that things are now somehow different is the first time many of us have heard from them since the Apartheid days 15-20 years ago.

Heck, I don't even recall seeing or hearing any mass media PR campaigns from this company when all that horrific bloodshed and genocide was taking place in Sierra Leone. De Beers wasn't running around showing up on BET or CNN back in the early 90s explaining that they had nothing to do with Blood Diamond conflict in that region.

With respect to Russell Simmons, he said that on his fact finding mission he was asked by leaders of Botswana and South Africa to come back and deliver a message about the 'real facts' surrounding diamonds. First he pointed out that he went to the diamond minds in Botswana and everything he witnesses seemed up to speed and that there were no abuses taking place.

Next, he pointed out that blood diamonds are only 1% of the diamonds being purchased worldwide He also noted that the diamonds we buy today go and directly help Africans. He then cited Nelson Mandela as one of the leaders who asked him to pass this message along to counteract the message many would be getting in the movie 'Blood Diamonds'.

Now a couple of things need to be kept in mind. A good friend and fellow writer Nida Khan of the Source raised the question at Russell's press conference if he would've really been exposed to the harsh conditions and unsavory behavior that still goes on in many of these diamond minds? Would the governments of Botswana or South Africa really show such a high profile figure with media access the dirt that goes on behind the scenes and off camera?

The second thing to keep in mind, if Russell is delivering a message from Nelson Mandela, why didn't Mandela himself, a Noble Peace Prize winner who is admired and recognized all around the world, issue his own statement and hold his own press conference? No disrespect to Russell, but why speak for a guy like Mandela on such a volatile subject? Now perhaps I missed something, but I searched Google, Yahoo and a number of South African newspapers. I couldn't find anything about Mandela speaking on this issue. I did see a couple of articles with Noble laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu coming out against the Botswanian government and De Beers sister company bushing the Bushmen off their native land In fact as I am writing this I'm going to do one last search. I

Thus far I checked the following papers in South Africa

http://www.bday.co.za/
Business Day (Johannesburg)

http://www.mg.co.za/
Mail and Guardian (Johannesburg)

http://www.suntimes.co.za/
Sun Times (Johannesburg)

http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/
Sunday Independent (Johannesburg)
In all these papers I did not see one mention of Nelson Mandela talking about how us buying diamond encrusted pieces from Jacob the Jeweler or any other diamond dealer here in the US was somehow going to be saving Africans. Folks are welcome to do the search themselves. I'm not perfect, so maybe I overlooked something.

Most of the articles I read spoke about the connection and partial ownership De Beers has with the main diamond company in Botswana called Debswana. Many of the articles focused on how the Bushmen in Botswana have been tricked and forced to get off their native land so De Beers and everyone else can mine diamonds. Most importantly many of the articles focused on how the average person in Africa is not seeing the benefits of all those diamond sales. The whole scenario reminds me of how we been tricked into going along with the lottery. Everybody buys lottery tickets to help get much needed money to improve our school systems however, public schools from NY to Cali are still in shambles.

In the Capetown Daily News I did come across an interesting story that talks about how the United States state department is making all sorts of moves to counter the message of Blood Diamonds. They feel the movie can have adverse effect on the economy. It's a story I haven't seen here in local papers out here in Cali.

As I read the story I could only shake my head because when it comes to the people in power they are all too familiar with how influential pop culture can be. They understand the power of image and lyrics and all that. They clearly understand that this stuff is 'not just entertainment' as many would like to believe. So it's not just Russell running around defending the diamond industry it's our own government. Go figure. I guess some things never change. It's the same government that defended De Beers during Apartheid. It's the same Government defending De Beers now that movie 'Blood Diamonds' is out. Here's that article.

http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3580999

The only positive article I saw regarding how diamonds are somehow helping out Africans was in South Africa's Business Day newspaper. It's an opinion piece that was published in August 2006. I saw no other articles supporting this claim or remotely touching upon this in recent months and weeks leading up to and now that 'Blood Diamonds' is out. We should also note the recent so called studies that some are citing about the benefits of the diamond trade are financed by the diamond industry.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A252341

One thing Russell did say on CNN which I agree with is that Hollywood and many others had never given a damn about Blood Diamonds. He rhetorically asked where were all the movies and films when genocide was taking place in the early 90s? It's a good question that many will have to wrestle with. That would include then President Bill Clinton, The NAACP and dozens of other organizations and churches.

Sadly many of us within Hip Hop around the time of all this bloodshed had suddenly abandoned our leather African Medallions and started blinging out with platinum and diamonds. This would include some of the artists that Russell himself worked with. If you recall, when all this slaughter was going on in Sierra Leone, many of us were watching Biggie and 2Pac videos talking about how jiggy we were. We all have to own up to our collective silence and ignorance on one of Africa's most devastating periods.

But with all that being said, the debate is being raised now and it's important that we both understand history and the politics of the day. One thing that I find especially troubling is that while De Beers is launching an all out PR campaign and Russell is telling us to go buy diamonds to support Africa, I still have yet to go to a diamond district in NY, LA or here in the Bay Area and see some cats from Botswana or Black South Africans selling me some diamonds wholesale in store they own 100%.
I see commercials everyday from diamond retailers like Zales, Tiffanys and 'Paul from the Diamond Center', but I never see us Black folks doing the selling.

It seems like when half the rap community goes out to purchase diamond encrusted grillz to make their mouths look like 'disco balls', they are usually purchased from fellow rap star Paul Wall. Is the money he's charging for all those 30 thousand dollar plus grillz going to help Africans build a clinic to fight AIDs in Botswana? Is Lil Wayne, Nelly, Jermaine Dupri and other grill wearers sporting those gaudy mouth pieces with the intent of helping impoverished Africans?

I can't call it, but stuff don't seem right. As for me I'm not buying any diamonds, especially if they're from De Beers or any other company connected to them. If we really wanna help out Africa how about making sure the debts they incurred from first world nations when they got rid of colonizers is forgiven and forever erased. How about us demanding that they be allowed to use generic drugs to fight the scorch of HIV and Aids and not be caught up in some super rich drug company lobbying our government to put the screws to Africa because they violated some unfair trade agreement. How about we look at the insidious ways in which countries like Belgium manipulated things to help cause some of the wars that led to genocide over diamonds. Lets bring those people to justice.

Anyway in 2007 I'd rather buy some damn property before I buy diamonds. If you're really about blinging hold a land deed not a stupid diamond chain.

Something to think about…

Davey D

sourced from http://mrellington.blogspot.com

Godfather of Soul' James Brown dies

2006-12-26T10:13:00.000+02:00

'Godfather of Soul' James Brown dies December 25, 2006

Atlanta - Singer James Brown, the self-proclaimed "Godfather of Soul," who billed himself as the hardest working man in show business, has died at age 73, CNN reported on Monday.

Brown had been admitted to Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta over the weekend for treatment of severe pneumonia, his agent, Super Frank, told CNN.

The singer, also known as "Mr Dynamite" is credited with bringing the word "funk" into mainstream musical vernacular and influencing a new generation of black music that spawned rap and hip-hop.

Brown's hit "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)" became a civil rights anthem during the turbulent 1960s and he performed the song at Richard Nixon's inaugural in 1968 - an act that temporarily hurt his popularity among young blacks.

He had more than 119 charting singles and recorded over 50 albums, was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and received a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 1992.

Even Nelson Madiba Mandela is Chiefs fan!

2006-12-23T11:46:00.000+02:00

Meet Kaizer Chiefs' most valuable fan: MADIBA!

Five in a row but Bartlett looking for more

2006-12-23T11:18:00.000+02:00

Kaizer Chiefs striker Shaun Bartlett headed off on his summer holidays a happy man as he closed out his first six months with Chiefs in style, as he scored what was the match clinching goal on Wednesday evening as Chiefs rounded off their fixtures for the first half of the 2006 – 2007 season with a 3-2 victory over Santos.

In what has been a remarkable climb for The Amakhosi, which has seen them ascend the PSL table as PSL fixtures for 2006 drew to a close, has been all the more special for Shaun Bartlett, who has found the back of the net on six occasions in his last five league games for Chiefs.

Bartlett’s recent goal flood which included an injury time equalizer against Chiefs arch rivals Orlando Pirates on the 9th of December, in what was the last Soweto Derby to be played at the FNB Stadium in its current form, has seen the former Bafana Bafana hit man score in five consecutive Premier Soccer League games for Chiefs - a feat previously unmatched by any Chiefs players in the eleven seasons of the PSL.

The former Charlton Athletic striker who is currently Chiefs top scorer in the league with seven goals, and by finding his way onto the score sheet in five consecutive games, Bartlett has matched and bettered the achievements of the likes of Collins Mbesuma and the speedy Siyabonga Nkosi, after coming in for much criticism earlier in the season.

When Chiefs were finding the going tough, Bartlett has shrugged off the sceptics and critics and has come into his own recently, and would have preferred to have continued playing matches, and says that although the Christmas break is a welcome one, it has perhaps come at the wrong time.

“At the moment I am happy with the way things are going, obviously I need to keep up the hard work as well as continue to find the goals when we return, for me it would have been a good thing if we did not have this break. The only reason I say that is because not just myself but as a team we got some good momentum going, if we continued playing another couple of games I am confident we could have won them and kept up the pressure on the log leaders” added Bartlett.

Even though he might have preferred the training ground to the beach as the team were hitting the high notes, the Chiefs striker is welcoming the time off and says that he and his team-mates, will have their work cut for them when they resume their league programme on the 6th January.

“From a football point of view continuing with matches would have been advantageous to our league ambitions given our recent form, on the other side this break does give us the opportunity to spend time with our families. When we return next week from the holidays we going to have to work extra hard, once the new year comes in we have a very tough schedule and we need to be well prepared for the five games we have in January” added Bartlett.

Having over come a barrage of criticism from the media in his first six months at Chiefs, Shaun is looking towards making the second half of his first full season with Chiefs just as memorable and successful as the last six weeks of 2006 were, wherein he scored six goals in five games. In just six months as a Chiefs player he has earned himself a place in the history books.

Shaun Bartlett’s six goals in five consecutive PSL matches in 2006 – 2007

1. 11th November 2006: Scores a 90th minute penalty as Chiefs defeat Moroka Swallows 2-0 in a match played behind close doors.

2. 25th November 2006: Opens the scoring in the fifteenth minute for The Amakhosi as Chiefs defeat Black Leopards 3- 1 in Thoyandou.

3. 9th December 2006: The most memorable of them all, scores an injury time header against Orlando Pirates with Chiefs a goal down at the time, as his injury time heroics steal Chiefs a point.

4. 17th December 2006: Scores Chiefs sixth goal in a six one drubbing of Maritzburg United, with a delightful header after meeting David Obua’s pin point cross.

5. 20th December 2006: Opens the scoring against Santos in Chiefs final game of 2006

6. 20th December 2006: Heads in Chiefs third and goal against Santos and his seventh of the 2006 – 2007 season so far

It's not the size of the gift that counts..

2006-12-22T15:13:00.000+02:00

It's sometimes hard to remember the real reason for Christmas when you look around the garishly decorated shopping centres, or rush around like mad on Christmas Eve looking for that last-minute gift.

Despite the over-eating and the frenzied tearing off of wrapping paper, the traditions of Christmas are deeply rooted in Christianity.

December 25 is the day Christ was born. The gifts we dutifully buy stem from the gifts given by the three wise men to Christ when he was born: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The legend of Santa Clause stems from Saint Nicholas, who lived in the fourth century and came to be known for generous gifts.

St Nicholas Day is still celebrated in Germany and some other European countries on December 6, the day of the good saint's death.

One story concerning Saint Nicholas tells how he helped the three daughters of a nobleman who had become so poor that his daughters had no dowries and could not marry.

On three successive nights, Saint Nicholas went to the nobleman's home and dropped a bag of gold down the chimney. Add some reindeer from Lapland, change the lean Saint Nicholas into a fat, jolly gentleman in a red-and-white snowsuit, garble the name a bit and you have Santa Clause (or Father Christmas as he is called in South Africa).

Although the origins of Christmas are quite clear, countries and people around the world have adapted their own traditions to the holiday.

However you spend this festive season, may it be good, peaceful and filled with laughter.

And remember, it's not the size of the gift that counts, it's the thought behind it.- Staff Reporter

This article was originally published on page 9 of Pretoria News on December 22, 2006

Tis the season

2006-12-22T10:54:00.000+02:00

Well the season to be merry is finally here! With just two weekends till then end of 2006, one can safely say that : IT has been great. Not all that we wanted came our way but most of what we need, we were able to get. Funny enough, most of us will still fall into the same trap, be it overspending, over drinking, overeating, all things in excess. Yep! Tis the season to be merry.

Be safe, tell your family members how much u love them (even if u don't mean it). I've realized that even the toughest cookies crumble when there's an exceptionally inviting emotional pass made at them.They start to open up and all mooshy on u and then bang! Ya'll are buddies.

For me, all i need is some skunk anansie and 25yr old pot-stilled fine whiskey bottle and Voila! Merry goes around! 2007 is here. Let's pick up where we left off and take off in a huff!

All the best!
One Love, the one and only : BLACKMODZ

Kaizer Chiefs Eye Candi

2006-12-18T10:38:00.001+02:00

"Dub vaults: The South African Connection. Part II"

2006-12-18T09:42:00.000+02:00

Artist: Various

Album: Dub vaults: The South African Connection. Part II
Genre: Dub/broken beat

This is one album I looked forward to since Part 1 was released a while ago. Like in the movies, sequels are usually a pain in the butt (ear in this case) to do as there’s already a hype, legacy, a standard to follow and exceed expectations while at it. With Rui from the 340ml fame being the compiler it was bound to be quite interesting. If you are a fan of big dub riddims from LKJ (Linton Kwesi Johnson), Lee Perry, King Tubby, Burning Spear, Midnite, Abyssinians then this disc is one for the serious kollektahz!. It boasts some of the gifted artists that our beloved South Africa can offer and had at least 10 previously unreleased tracks.

From listening big tunes like Morafe’s “Pon di road” to the ever impressive lyrical genius and prowess of Levi Pon di Mic, to Richard Tha IIIrd, I found myself in deep in the land of wicked drums and bass, reverb effects, thrown-in snatches of lyrical content. Thanks to the creative efforts from Veli Shabangu, Ben Amato, DubMasta China, Zaki Ibrahim, Mr. Mo, Sub-Saharan Dub Committee, etc, this compilation does confirm that we are a country of quality, the sooner we learn that, the sooner we earn for that! I bet you the live performances of the above mentioned artists should rock ones boat. Mo Faya unto dem Dub Selectahz!

Final Word: ‘Nuff to play it twice!
Rating: 3/5

By: BlackModz

Capital punishment as Chiefs hit Maritzburg for six

2006-12-18T09:39:00.000+02:00

Posted on 17 December 2006 - 18:20

Kaizer Chiefs 6 (7. Motaung 24 min, 39 min, 61 min, 9. Djiehoua 68 min, 25. Schalkwyk 84 min, 17. Bartlett 89min)
Maritzburg United 1 (26. Ndlovu 22 min)
Vodacom Loftus Stadium, Tshwane
Premier Soccer League
Kick Off: 15h45
Weather: 30 °C

Kaizer Motaung Junior doubled his goal tally for the season as he scored a hat trick as The Amakhosi ran riot, in a 6-1 victory over Maritzburg United at their new temporary home at Vodacom Loftus in Tshwane Sunday afternoon.

Motaung took his goal count to six for the season with all three of his goals coming inside the opposition six yard area. Additional strikes from second half substitutes Serge Djiehoua and Gert Schalkwyk, along with a Shaun Bartlett headed goal at the end of regulation time, allowed Chiefs to record their best result under Ernst Middendorp.

Although the score line after ninety minutes was reflective of Chiefs dominance in the game, there was a time in the game when Chiefs had found themselves in an awkward position, this after twenty minutes when Maritzburg United’s Sandile Ndlovu evaded a challenge from Fabian McCarthy on the edge of the Chiefs penalty area and Ndlovu teed up a shot and drilled the ball past Fernandez who had no chance of stopping the ball.

Maritzburg’s joy was short lived as Chiefs were level two minutes later as Siyabonga Nkosi, who had been Chiefs live wire in the midfield, stormed down the right wing and turned in a cross along the ground. The intended recipient of which was Kaizer Motaung Junior, who fought off the Maritzburg United defenders and sent the ball across the line, to bring Chiefs level.

From then onwards there was no looking back for Chiefs as the Amakhosi found their second goal as the first half began to wind down. Captain Fabian McCarthy picked up the loose ball off a corner and played a neat pass to Obua and the Ugandan international lifted his head to see Kaizer Motaung Junior unmarked in the penalty area. He sent in a cross to the Chiefs striker who slotted the ball past a diving Bogunovic to give Chiefs a 2-1 lead.

Maritzburg United, though did have the opportunity to have gone into the break on a level footing and were really unfortunate not to have equalized in the forty second minute when Sandile Ndlovu headed against the Chiefs upright off a Graham King cross with Rowen Fernandez well beaten.

Before it all got worse for Maritzburg, they had one more opportunity to draw level as Sandile Ndlovu made Rowen Fernandez work hard as he unleashed a ferocious shot from a free kick from some distance away. Just after the hour mark and Kaizer Motaung completed his hat trick; the first from a Chiefs player this season, as he bundled the ball over the line after collecting a pass from Ditheko Mototo.

Soon after completing his hat trick Motaung and another of Chiefs star performers on Sunday Siyabonga Nkosi, made way for Serge Djiehoua and Thabo Mooki. Mooki’s entry into the game as a second half substitute saw the Chiefs midfielder equal Neil Tovey’s record of 364 appearances for The Amakhosi.

Mooki and his fellow second half substitute Djiehoua were soon into the action as the former sent in a corner from the left on sixty eight minutes, a mere three minutes after they had come on to the field of play. Djiehoua met Mooki’s headed with deadly precision as he headed home at the near post, to score his first goal for Chiefs since September 2005.

With the game over as a contest, Chiefs were content with holding onto possession and toying around with the opposition, with all their possession and dominance it was inevitable that Chiefs would score more goals.

They duly arrived as The Amakhosi scored two more goals in the last ten minutes of the game, first Gert Schalkwyk popped up to score with a half volley with four minutes left on the clock. This after Shaun Bartlett had played him in with a delicate chip – pass which was lined up perfectly for him, all he needed to do was get it pass the Maritzburg keeper which he did to score Chiefs fifth goal of the game. On the stroke of time David Obua supplied the cross and Shaun Bartlett headed home to score his fifth goal of the season and his fourth in consecutive games.

This is surely a result which would please coach Ernst Middendorp as well as send out a message to all comers that Chiefs are well in the Championship race, after collecting their 13th point from a possible fifteen. With recent league wins against Moroka Swallows, Black Leopards and now Maritzburg United, things are definitely looking up for Chiefs as these were teams who The Amakhosi had initially had tough outings against when Ernst Middendorp took over the reigns of coach at the start of last season.

After Sunday’s emphatic win it looks as though Chiefs have fitted in well into their new albeit temporary home at Loftus, with one more game for 2006 left for Chiefs on Wednesday evening Ernst Middendorp will expect nothing less then victory against Santos as Chiefs round out their fixtures for 2006.

Starting Line Up’s:

Kaizer Chiefs: 1. R. Fernandez, 2. J. Tau, 6. F. McCarthy, 44. S. Mkhonza, 33. D. Mototo (25. Schalkwyk 75 min), 10. S. Nkosi (12. Mooki 65 min), 13. D. Obua, 27. G. Sibeko, 8. T. Nengomasha, 7. K. Motaung Jnr (9. Djiehoua 65 min), 17. S. Bartlett
Substitutes: 16. E. Baron, 21. P. Mayo, 4. C. Nzama, 12. T. Mooki, 25. G. Schalkwyk, 9. S. Djiehoua, 31. D. Radebe
Coach: Ernst Middendorp

Maritzburg United: 1. D. Bogunovic, 21. O. Bhasera, 22. J. Motale, 4. N. Ngema, 27. I. Winstanley, 8. C. Masuku (17. Wiltwer 63 min), 15. S. Siphika, 16. L. Pule (10. Lekoelea 75 min), 18. G. King, 19. W. Qalanta (12. Zimba 46 min), 26. S. Ndlovu
Substitutes: 66. C. Makhanya, 3. T. Rooi, 24. T. Mashego, 12. C. Zimba, 17. E. Wiltwer, 10. S. Lekoelea, 33. K. Musasa
Coach: Kosta Papic

Cautions: Yellow Cards, Maritzburg United: 22. Japie Motale 3 min, 4. Nkhosinathi Ngema 87 min Yellow Cards, Kaizer Chiefs: 12. Thabo Mooki 83 min

3rd League win in a row!

2006-12-07T09:48:00.000+02:00

Amakhosi breeze past Usuthu

Kaizer Chiefs handed in one of their best performances of the season thus far, when they beat AmaZulu 2-0 in a Castle Premiership fixture at Chatsworth Stadium on Wednesday night.

Kaizer Motaung Jnr and David Radebe scored for the visitors, who looked like a well-oiled machine as they ran the hosts ragged.

Motaung Jnr opened the scoring the 17th minute when his glancing header from Ditheko Mototo’s left flank cross found the corner of the net.

AmaZulu wasted one of their few clear-cut chances in the 28th minute when Effort Sithole sent his shot from inside the area well over the crossbar.

The hosts threatened again four minutes later when Shoes Moshoeu put Dumisani Ngwenya clear, but with just Chiefs keeper Rowen Fernandez to beat, the striker put his effort wide of goal.

Chiefs were denied from extending their lead in the 40th minute, when Usuthu keeper Kemoko Camara produced a superb point-blank save to stop Gerald Sibeko’s header from hitting the back of the net, and the half ended at 1-0.

The Amakhosi dominated the second half from the offset and doubled their lead in the 58th minute when Radebe scored with a good left-footed finish following the Usuthu’s failure to clear a long throw-in by Simphiwe Mkhonza.

The hosts almost pulled one back in the 90th minute when Fernandez produced a good save to deny Thando Ngwabeni’s long range effort from finding the net.

9th December is the big derby against Orlando Pirates, a must win to keep our title aspirations alive... Till Then. KHOSI 4 LIFE

Too legit to quit!

2006-11-30T16:53:00.000+02:00

I find it hard sometimes to understand the thinking of man. We are full of potential yet lack that killer effort that makes the difference. For sometime now, i have been pondering on the next move i should be making, the kind of decision that will most definitely make or break the bank. I find myself analyzing things to the N-th degree, which is logically in my nature, but recently it has gotten to a stage where i find corners in a circle, deeply hidden in the circumference.

Wow. Great thoughts. The times we live in are of paramount importance as we are writing the most interesting part of our South African history. We all want to be there, to stand and be counted, to lift our voices and sing (whatever the victory song). We have to be there. We got to be there. It's too legit to quit. It's the crest of a wave that entices man to think way outside the norm.
To break the mental boundaries. To take that step. I for one want to be there. The past weekend was a revelation to me, i saw lives that were being lived. Yes. Lived to the fullest.
I hope our people can realize that these opportunities are there for the taking. They are there to be exploited. They are there to be mined.

I 'm going for mine. I hope you'll go for yours.
I can't stop now.
I wont stop now.
I come too far to break down now
It's the showdown - take a bow
It's the shakedown - take a leaf of my life book
Plant, sow and reap the rewards
Not really doing it for the awards
But my ish is on point like darts
as i sink my teeth in the bite
Rise up!

Silly Twista : BlackModz does House!

2006-11-08T12:04:00.000+02:00

In a rare but occasional occurance, the BlackModz dishes out a Silly Twista : House music mix. The selection is thumping to say the least, from Alcazar, Madonna, 2Unlimited, Harley&Muscle, Armand van Heerden, The Deep, Durban's Finest, Dj Fresh, dj Mbuso, Vetkook vs Mahoota!!!!
This is one for the summer house jams. Enjoy.. To download,go to: http://rapidshare.com/files/2469192/SillyTwista.zip.html

Mo' Faya in the dance halls.

1 Down, 2 to go : Telkom Cup

2006-10-29T11:34:00.000+02:00

Bidvest Wits 1 (25. Hendricks 38 min) Kaizer Chiefs 2 (22. Kilambe 83 min, 100 min) 28th October 2006 Johannesburg Stadium, Johannesburg Telkom Cup, Round Of 16 Kick Off: 16h45 Temperature: 27° C

Chiefs came spectacularly from a goal down to defeat Wits University 2-1 at the Johannesburg Stadium, as they followed up their SAA Supa8 Cup title from a week ago by advancing to the ¼ Finals of the Telkom Cup.

It was Chiefs hero from a week ago Rotson Kilambe who once again provided Chiefs with the winning edge, as he scored a brace and collected the man of the match award and the ten thousand rands that came with it. The victory was made sweeter for Coach Ernst Middendorp as he celebrated his 48th birthday on Saturday, and will have additional cause for celebration on Saturday evening.

Poetic Justice

2006-10-25T12:07:00.000+02:00

I known this woman for about 8 months and never did it cross my mind that she writes perfectly like the way ink dries on paper. Enjoy the poetic motion.

I Am A River
by Marcia Nonkululeko Tladi (South Africa)

I am a river

Mine is the nature of a river
My roots are in the high mountains
My destination the wide open seas
I am born of a natural spring
Without perversion or malice
They call it naivety, I will learn
Morning suns greet me and
I see the 15 moons of Uranus
Go over and under the Earth
Like lights on a Ferris wheel *
Yet my vision is two-dimensional
And innocent perceptions
Of a flat and square world, I acquire
Everyday I learn to flow -
Not fluently at first
Returning to my beginnings every nightfall
Long-anticipating the rains that will be my rite of passage

Mine is the nature of a river
When the summer rains pour profusely
I will swell at the breasts
I will break my banks in joyous ululations
While I make my descent
In fast furious currents from majestic hills
Taking with me every lesson in sight
Good or Forsaken
For I do not discriminate between sand, gravel or soil
And only later will I learn clear distinctions
Between good and evil

Mine is the nature of a river
I hail from dizzy heights and think myself infallible
But I soon learn that not all waters will put out the fire
And that not every course run yields results desired
And that my speed cannot be solely determined by my own will
So when the mountain softens its slope
I learn a gentler flow
When the route forks
I learn to listen for dangers ahead
For my sight is but of two dimensions yet
And I still harbour no bias to my lessons;
I barely discriminate between sand and soil

Mine is the nature of a river
As lessons learnt yield wisdom
My channels getting wider
I near my destination
And I question and I question
Why I have learnt to sift through the soils
If my journey should end so abruptly
Surely these lessons I should have learnt at the mountaintop
No answers forthcoming,
I let the anger go with all the silt I carry
And make a free fall into the sea

I am a river
One of many in the sea
Tomorrow I make a glorious ascent
To the blue skies above
I shall look down upon the earth and
Learn of horizons that make it round
And learn why the waters don’t spill out of the seas
And when I have my three-dimensional sight
I will explode in uncontainable jubilation
Onto the earth its mountains its soil
I will taste all that I wish of natural splendour
And I will fill rivers on mountains
And laugh secretly
As they make their eventful fall to their destination
For nature does have a sense of humour

I am a river
Pure of nature
Immortal and Pure

*** end ***
The © Copyright to this poem is owned by the author.

Temptation
by Marcia Nonkululeko Tladi (South Africa)

It nibbles at my ear lobes
And whispers sweet nothings
To the tone of promises
Its tact is composed
Nothing hurried about it
Take your time
It seems to say
Take your time but
Show some urgency
It may not be there forever
You know
Someone else will take it
It says to me

It pacifies my lips
Soft sucking
Never fulsome
Tell me when you want me stop
It says to me
But I’m uncertain
Though not far at all from
Giving in
To the lushness
Of its touch
Voluptuously sensual
In its strokes

I lie in bed with temptation
Uncomfortably close to it
This time
My inhibitions fast escaping me
Leaving me alone
With this devil of a feeling
That lures me so cleverly
In the darkness
Further into the dark

It lures me so cleverly
Until someone hits the light switch

*** end ***
The © Copyright to this poem is owned by the author.

Lebo Mathosa

2006-10-23T10:48:00.000+02:00

It's a sad morning in South Africa as we lost one of the best artists the country had. Lebo Mathosa. The Toyota Prado she ws travelling in lost control and smashed a tree, talking her valuable life instantly. Heres' more about the one tipped to take over the late Brenda Fassie's throne as the no nonsense diva. Sadly it's left untouched.

Lebo Mathosa is one of the hottest female singers in South Africa. Her professional dance act, sexy look and unique sound, which is a fusion of R&B, African music, dance and funk, has set new standards in the local music industry.
Lebo shot to fame in 1994 as front vocalist and dancer for the multi-Platinum success story, Boom Shaka. In 2000 she launched her solo career with her debut single Intro, a track that features on her debut solo album Dream. Four weeks after the launch of Dream, the album went Gold and in 2001 Lebo won Best Dance Album for Dream, Best Dance Single for Intro and Best Female Vocalist at the coveted South African Music Awards.
In 2001 Lebo performed at the South African edition of the North Sea Jazz Festival in Cape Town, the Celebrate South Africa concert in London's Trafalgar Square, on tour in Malaysia and Singapore and for the Malaysian queen. Back home she performed to over 16 000 people at Nelson Mandela's 85th birthday bash, to thousands of fans on Youth Day and Heritage Day. In 2002 Lebo performed at an Aids benefit concert in Botswana and Swaziland, for the showing of The Vagina Monologues and on tour in the United States.
Most of her performances have been broadcast nationally and internationally. She has shared the stage with world class musicians and recorded tracks with local and international artists, including with Keith Sweat on his Africa only album release. Lebo is known for her acting and singing roles in top South African television shows Generations, Backstage and Muvhango. She won the 2001 Style Best Dressed Woman of the Year Award and was nominated by FHM Magazine as one of Africa's sexiest women. Lebo has been on the cover of almost every local magazine and is regularly in the society pages of South African newspapers.
In addition to her live performances, she is sought after to perform at corporate launches and high profile private events. She owns the publishing rights for all of her albums and her deal with local record company Bula Records, has her with one album left to produce by the end of 2002.
RIP Lebo.

Cup Victory

2006-10-23T09:50:00.000+02:00

In what was a match of two halves, the Mighty Amakhosi managed to put one past the "hoodoo" team, the so called cup kings, Supersport United FC on Saturday night to clinch their very first Supa 8 cup (previously known as BP top 8) in Durban. Scara Ngobese performed like a possesed man, running mazes through the United defence. In his trail he left three defenders chasing shadows as he pushed through left side of the 18 area before laying a cross for Rotson "Big Animal" Kilambe to slot home from an acute angle after Dennis Onyango parried the cross in his path. The solitary goal was all the Amakhosi needed to lift the cup, their second major, in six months.

Now next up is the league... Hmmm!

more of this at Kaizer Chiefs site...

Jay Z in .ZA

2006-10-16T14:02:00.000+02:00

“Now can I get an encore, do you want more
Cookin raw with the Brooklyn boy
So for one last time I need y'all to roar…”

With opening lines like these for a verse, one can understand why Jay Z is touted as the lyrical genius. His word play comes second to none of the other known words-smiths. His final leg tour with Rihanna, the Caribbean songstress, staged at the Dome in Northgate Jozi was one not to be missed. Our own Kabelo of TKZee fame was billed as the local supporting act and he did not disappoint. He delivered are spirited performance including hits from his latest offering and had the crowd in a grooving mood. Next up was Rihanna who made sure her presence was felt through her wicked dancing moves while belting out chart toppers like “ ‘Pon de replay”, SOS and finished off with a Bob Marley classic, Redemption Song that got hundreds of souls in the Dome singing along. Mo’ Faya! We thought. The mood dulled as there was silence for about 30mins while awaiting the show stopper of the night, Jigga.

Between the silence and going to the Heineken stand, I met a quite a lot of interesting aspects about the crowd in attendance. There were a large number of teen followers who most surprisingly were accompanied by their parents and or elders who couldn’t keep up with the demands of marauding through the dense crowd in search of a better view of the US hip hop mogul whom was eagerly awaited for with baited breath. It wouldn’t have taken a 6yr old whiz kid to realize that this was a hip hop concert. Fans came though in their enterprising regalia, blings of note, all things baggy and most notably all things beautiful. For the eligible bachelors, this was the perfect hunting ground. We all fell prey to Sean Carter’s, aka Hova, bite as his tour dj, Green Lantern, exqusitley introduced H to Izzo with a remarkable offering of supreme turntablism. Wicked scratches and beat cuts was the order of the day. Moment of truth. Enter Jay Z. From his first song, he had the crowd eating out of his palm. One great thing was that the show was about reaching the people- no dancers were present as part of his stage act. His sidekick, Memphis Bleek was on site to add jam to the doughnut while performing massive crowd favorites like: “Girls, Girls, Girls”, “Big Pimpin”, 99 problems” and all time classics like “ Hard Knock Life”. The screams could shatter ones ear drums but one had to endure it as this was a performance of high regard. Jigga made the stage his, connected well with his fans and kept them truly entertained. During his amazing set he paid tribute to hip hop’s most beloved sons and daughters from Tupac, Biggie, Aaliyah, Left Eye, Jay Master Jay, Easy E, etc to the crowds’ delight. The organizers did a splendid job, from security to the sound-all was great. The show was success and Jigga, personally, said the Jozi crowd was the best he’s seen.

In an orderly fashion, after the last beat dropped, the fans headed home after an experience I believe they’ll remember for moments to come. These words truly reflect the essence and the charisma that is H.O.V.A!

“Who you know fresher than Hov'? Riddle me that
The rest of y'all know where I'm lyrically at
Can't none of y'all mirror me back?

I came, I saw, I conquered
From record sales, to sold out concerts
So if you want this encore
I need you to scream, 'til your lungs get sore!!”

Our Greatest FEAR!

2006-10-16T10:12:00.000+02:00

Our Greatest Fear

by:Marianne Williamson from her book "A Return to Love"

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,
but that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Shrug the Slump!

2006-10-15T17:25:00.002+02:00

Well, after the much anticipated and widely publicised "big giants" match, all i got after 90 boring, non-enterprising minutes was questions rather than 3 points!!! I'm talking about Saturdays Premier Soccer League game between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns. The game never, at any point, lived up to expectation. One amazingly buffling thing i saw was Scara Ngobese's game on the day. If i recall properly, he never made a forward pass in the opposition's half and direction.

Then there's the mostly / frequenly ineffective and mostly expensive Sean Bartlett. I'm not gonna be harsh on our 36yr old prolific striker but simply put the guy is not carrying his weight. No ball marking. No runs. If there's no Authur Zwane to pin those crosses so does that mean Bartlett can't score? I just hope that we get to rectify what's not working in "our" TEAM. We have a great squad assembled and they have the potential to win the championship.

After a 0-0 draw, i hope our next game against Supersport will bring us the Cup. Till then, Khosi 4 life!

Out about Newtown

2006-10-09T13:46:00.000+02:00

Once again, the BlackModz went out on Thursday nyte to the ever impressive Ragga Nytes @ Horror Cafe` in Newtown, Dowtown Jozi! Here's the evidence...

All races united under the THREE colours. RASTA KNOWS LOVE NOT WAR!!!

For dem dat were there, dem who witnessed one of the hottest ragga / dancehall sessions the duo of Admiral & JahSeed delivered, it was a blast.RRRRAAA! I know of two 1st timers who came to Horror and as expected, dem got Hooked!Massive Reskpek to Andy and JahSeed. Wicked riddims!

Anthony B-

2006-09-11T15:31:00.000+02:00

BMSS brings you one of me favourites Ragga / Dancehall artists. Dis one isa man called :Anthony B, born Keith Blair is the living personification of Afrikan consciousness in Reggae. His single "Nah vote again" was a major factor in making the Jamaican elections of Thursday, December 18 1997, the most peaceful one since the insidious cancer of gun violence was introduced in West and Central Kingston, prior to the elections of 1967. Like his hero, Peter Tosh, the most revolutionary of the Wailing Wailers, he is an uncompromising Pan Afrikanist, in the tradition of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jamaica's first national hero and the founder and leader of the largest Afrikan organization ever, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and Afrikan Communities League, U.N.I.A. and A.C.L.

The traditional route of most Afrikan singers is via the church and Anthony B is no exception. Growing up in Clarks Town in the parish of Trelawny (a parish noted for the heroic Afrikan freedom fighters, the Maroons, who defeated the English military), his Revivalist grandmother and Seventh Day Adventist mother, immersed him in the singing, call and response and clapping mechanics of rural Jamaica. In this rural environment that Afrikan culture is best found and preserved in Jamaica, not Kingston nor urban St. Andrew. Like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, The Maytals, Justin Hinds & The Dominoes, Twinkle Brothers, the Clarendonians and countless other Jamaican Stars, Anthony B honed his vocal skills in the church and school choirs and then entered the secular world. His deejaying debut was on the local sound system Shaggy Hi-Power. Moving to Portmore in the parish of St. Catharine in 1988, the musically keen teen hooked up with other aspiring teenage deejays, Determine, Mega Banton, Ricky General and Terror Fabulous on Lovers Choice Sound. Other Portmore acts that he knew or flexed with were Little Devon, Agony Polish, Cobra, Baby Wayne, Grindsman, Ronnie Thwaites, Professor Nuts and others. He steadfastly refused to deejay girl lyrics when they were ruling the roost in the early nineties.

Patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait. In combination with Little Devon (the Half Pint sound-a-like singer) he made his debut single "The living is hard" on the Wizard label in 1993. Anthony B tried King Jammys, Black Scorpio and other studio producers after but none saw fit to help plant musical corn of the budding genius. Undeterred he was looking for a break at Black Scorpio studio one day when Little Devon introduced him to Afrocentric producer of Garnett "Mama Africa" Silk fame, Richard "Bello" Bell of Star Trail Label fame. The rest is history or blackstory !

Recordings and releases followed quickly and his first hit was "Repentance time". The bigger hits "Fire pon Rome", "Rumour" and "Raid di barn" followed in quick pursuit and his landmark debut album Real Revolutionary was released to popular acclaim in 1996. Late 1997 his second worldwide album "Universal Struggle" was released and again excellence is consistent. The album is one of the best in Reggae for 1997 and 1998. Lyrically, thematically and rhythmically versatile, the album encapsulates Afrikan consciousness and the Peter Tosh-like deliveries and clarity of vocals are indelibly present throughout.

He was the most devastating deejay at Reggae Summits 1997, at Catherine Hall in Montage Bay, Jamaica - a consummate performer. Anthony B, indeed another Reggae king in full musical swing !! Y father use to make it up as a drink in Jamaica.

Source: "Jet Star Reggae News", Issue 4. (Jan. 1998) Writer: Mango

I got a spring in my step!

2006-09-01T10:14:00.000+02:00

Yep! it's here! Spring. Don't u just love it when u know the year is over in just 3 months! That's what i'm celebrating. It just means that we are on the final quarter of the year. Have u achieved anything, yet? Better make haste! To celebate all this spring bruhaha, here's some pix :

Political Notebook

2006-09-01T09:33:00.000+02:00

This is sourced from Sowetan.co.za...

Talkshow diva Oprah Winfrey is a woman of incredible stature who has achieved amazing things.

These achievements include being the recipient of the 2004 UN Association of America’s Global Humanity Award. She is also the first black person to make it into Business Week’s top 50 list of the most generous philanthropists in the US. She has given an estimated R1,8billion to charity.

People who watch her shows will remember how she showers her mixed-race studio audiences with incredible gifts, including cars and expensive jewellery.

Many will also recall how Winfrey expelled international designer Tommy Hilfiger from her show. This was after Hilfiger had confirmed the racist remarks he had made about him not wanting African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews and Asians to wear his clothes.

Despite all this, in South Africa Winfrey has been branded a racist by some whites.

Her sin? Her decision to give 150 poor black girls an opportunity to get the kind of education that would equip them to achieve more in the future.

Without such an opportunity, trapped in the cycle of poverty these girls would most probably drop out of school before matric, and so become trapped in the poverty cycle.

This opportunity comes in the form of a R400million leadership academy for girls currently being constructed in Meyerton. The school will be opened in January with an enrolment of 150 girls aged between 11 and 15, They will be from grade 7 to grade 8. Upon completion in 2011, the school will admit 450 girls from grade 7 to 12.

Last week Winfrey came to South Africa and confirmed the admission of the first 73 girls. The next 77 will be announced soon.

Upon hearing that her daughter was admitted, one of the mothers called Winfrey an angel.

This angel’s other sin was the decision not to open the school open to children from rich families . Her target is girls from families with an income of less than R65000 a year.

In factSome of her rich critics argue that she should have allowed them to pay for their children because they can afford to do so.

By making the school exclusive to the disadvantaged girls she was discriminating, they argued.

It is common knowledge that most of the poor people in this country are black. This is so because they were the victims of a racist system that deprived black people were deprived of any opportunities for self-development.

Winfrey has said that she can actually relate to the girls’ experiences because she is also from a poor background – as a black person growing up as a black person in the racist US.America.

So what makes her racist for having decided that she would would use her wealth to ensure that these girls do not suffer the hardships that she went through?

One can only assume that those opposed to her initiative continue to harbour negative feelings about black people getting opportunities for self- improvement. Maybe they are the racists, not Winfrey.

For me a racist is someone who believes that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

I don’t believe Winfrey shares this belief.

So What now?

2006-08-31T12:40:00.000+02:00

It took me a while to get composure, be in the right frame of mind and be willing to post something new.I've been working on disperate issues, juggling ideas,thoughts,emotions and relatively,time. It seems more often than rare, that time is forever one's enemy. During the last 3 weeks i was invited by a friend to join their new company and offer my insight and knowledge in order to add value to "our" service offering. From the outside this bunch of people looked "professional" and "as if" they know what they wanted to do. I went in with both heart, mind, soul to try and become an asset to this new born company. The current project that made them to invite me was mouthwatering to say the least and i had a history in the related industry.

So, i made efforts to arrange all components required to get this project off the ground and do it successfully. I was befuddled to realise that i was working with a bunch of chance-takers (don't get me wrong, i love proactive people who take their chances well) but these guys hardly had a plan. A simple f*cking plan. There was no direction, no uniformity, no idea of what the f*ck they were doing. I was sold a dead duck! F*ck! I was brought in (the company) by lies and deceit. I was told that half the ground work has been done but believe me when i say : Nuttin' of that sort was there! I put my reputation on the line, made promises to people, interacted with credible entities only find out that my people are far from being credible. There was a lot of wrongs that there could never be rights. I say this because people need to learn to be professional and efficient in what ever "business" dealings they engage in.

I have since retracted my services from the "Looney bunch" and told them where to stick it..
I hope this is a lesson learned (to them). U can't f*ck with greatness if you are not close to it or have to particular formal approach. In the words of Tupac "Plan, Plot, Strategize" muthaf*ckerz!

Now-back to my old self... Spring has sprung and hope with it, brings some "light". Enjoy whatever that u do and do it well. Nuff said.

BlackModz Saund System

2006-08-31T10:06:00.000+02:00

In this post yours trully delivers a classic "BlackModz Saund System" ragga / dancehall session. The riddim selexion ranges from Sizzla Kalonji, Capleton, Bushman, Luciano, Damien Marley, Red Rat, Buju Banton, Beenie Man,Tanya Stephens, Sean Paul, Marlon Asha. This is one mix thats sure to get you skankin' it easy! There will be more to come to come for now enjoy dis one.

To dload go to : http://rapidshare.de/files/31407672/daJamaican.zip.html

If u get stuck let me know but I and I trust that you can overcome.

Mo' Faya!

Test Marketing

2006-08-30T14:21:00.000+02:00

one

As the curtains keep closing

2006-08-24T15:36:00.000+02:00

It's with rather sad emotions that i jot down this post. I got a call from one of my family friends that one of the young women we went to school ( like middle & high school) with passed away a few weeks ago and due to the belated news I and I could not attend the funeral. One thing that prompted me to write about this is that this is the 3rd close friend of mine (from back then) who passed away due to AIDS and this comes in a time when they are just getting into their "prime". These people are the kind of students one would envy (back then) as they were "famous", could get any guy/girl they wanted, in short they were the "it". Even though they were more "active" than others (like us,commoners) they were my friends and their lives have been cut short.

This is having a crippling effect on the economy. There's a missing age group,these are the people who we call economically active.Their market capitalisation value always an upward trend.Visionary, Innovative, Insightful, Incredible people we lose.For a mother who raised his son,gave him the best education money can but only for him to be killed by Sex? Seems pretty hush and stupid but that's reality,how a moment's pleasure can be the death of man.

These curtains keep closing,one by one, drape by drape. I hope we learn from our fallen friends,lovers,families,enemies,most cherished,most hated. Let's get our priorities straight. Life's too short. If u are currently between 23-27, this is the time to make all your money,by 30 u must be able to retire. Can't be working by 50,No f*cking way!Not even working for yourself, no! Rather let the money work for me!

So, R.I.P to all that hath fallen. Hope all is well. For those left behind this is the time to mend your ways and be true to what is true to you.

Here a few kind words, Irie Still!

Farewell To My Friend
by Doug Boren
Monday, September 29, 2003

..

The swirling snow, upon the wind,
As I say farewell to my friend…

Soothes my heart in some small way,
And I hardly feel the cold this day.

It must have been a day such as this,
Maybe it was snow, maybe the mist…

When you were born so long ago…
But now it’s goodbye, amidst the snow.

A strong man, a gentle man, you have ever been,
In our brief encounter, you became my friend.

For it seems I have always known you somehow,
Though the years were denied us, giving only the now.

Would that we had laughed, and shared those times,
But fate denied us living in those climes.

You were a dancer, and smiler, too,
Oh, how I wish I had seen that from you.

Your flowing white hair, so clean and bright,
Stirred the hearts of thy ladies both day and night.

I think of you so long ago,
Flying over distant lands…you are my hero.

Strange, it seems, I can see your youth,
And I can see your spirit, and that’s the truth.

You worked so very hard all your life,
To provide for your children, and lovely wife.

Such sacrifice and giving, day by day,
You were a man, who would never sway.

Your daughter often played at your feet,
Her innocence, and love, ever so sweet.

Though you fought your slumber, she received your smile,
Yes, my friend, you always went the extra mile.

Hard work, devotion, and purpose, too,
These describe just a bit of you.

Thy son is such a serious man,
Sensitive, and righteous, he makes his stand.

He is a lot like you, I perceive,
In his caring, and strength, I do believe.

And of your wife, what can I say,
On this, her most torturous day…

Your love was shared always, and true ,
And she has always been in love with only you.

A lifetime you spent, through good times and bad,
But you were the only love that she ever had.

And with the passing of the years,
You were as One with her, through laughter and tears.

You can be proud of your life’s success…
As a husband, and father, you were the best.

I have stroked your face, and held your hand,
Caressed your brow, with my trembling hand.

I feel that you knew my feelings for you,
Even though each other, we hardly knew.

I remember the times that our eyes would meet,
And somehow our spirits then would greet.

I have known a part of you, my new found friend,
And I thank God I was with you towards the end.

But it is not really the end, I know,
For our beginning is just starting to grow.

For we have made a bond, you and me,
That shall last through all eternity.

I promised you that I would care for your wife,
As well as your daughter, all my life.

You needn’t worry about them at all, ever.
For I shall be with them, and forsake them never.

Jim, you are my friend, and father too,
And I have come to love you, yes, it’s true .

You gave me purpose, in many ways,
Not just for you, but your ladies, till the end of my days.

I thank you, Sir, for touching my life,
And thereby bonding me, to your daughter and wife.

And so on this mid winter’s day, with snow gently falling,
And the swirling wind that seems to be calling…

Not just farewell, but a beckoning, too,
Through our love and memories, we will always have you.

For you have not gone, but simply returned,
Unto your Heavenly Father, for Whom we all yearn.

Amongst the angels, you now reside,
Standing there, without a trace of pride.

And the happiest thought that I would say,
Is the certitude of our reunion, some unknown day.

Farewell, my friend, who touched me deep,
Within God’s arms thou dost sleep.

I love you, I miss you, my special friend…
I bid thee farewell, until we meet again.

Who dem Rastas?

2006-08-23T19:07:00.000+02:00

In 1930 in Ethiopia, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords with the throne-name Haile Selassie the First and a new chapter in the struggle, one with religious connotations, was opened. God was finally real and the Christian doctrine was no longer the monopoly of white missionaries with headquarters in Rome. The bible was studied and any reference to Ethiopia took on added significance.

Ethiopia, being attacked by Italy at the start of the second world war galvanized interest and concern in the struggle of good over evil. During this period, the Ethiopian World Federation was formed in the United States of America under the guidance of the Emperor Haile Selassie the First, to unite the support for the restoration of Ethiopia's sovereignty. After the war, and the defeat of Italy, the Emperor showed his appreciation by donating land at Shashamane, to anyone of African descent in the west who wanted to return to the mother-land. Time, however, was creating Africans with various aspirations. New generations were producing new societies of Africans in the West.

Independent nations were beginning to form and black majority rule was imminent. In Jamaica, the reverence of Emperor Haile Selassie continued to create distinguishable movements, such as Nyabinghi, the Ethiopian National Congress or Bobo dreads, the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

The Twelve Tribes of Israel, founded by the Prophet Gad, has added another dimension in the liberation movement, to include liberation for all races through the teaching of the bible, and the acceptance of Jesus Christ. Membership is not limited, but inclusive. By identifying the spiritual sons of Jacob and finding truth for oneself through reading the bible "a chapter a day", man can find salvation. The divine lineage continues through the Ethiopian Monarchy, the seed of David, of which it is said, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from beneath his feet, until Shiloh comes and unto Him will be the gathering of the people."

To Rastafarians, Selassie was much more than just a political leader; Rasta theology centered on the divinity of Selassie as a living manifestation of Jah, the all-knowing and all-loving God. To Rastafarians, the story told by the Old Testament pertains to black Africans who descend from Abraham and Jacob. But white Christians altered this fact to keep Africans in a substandard position. Rastafarians refer to this oppression as "Babylon", with obvious references to a state of slavery and cultural tyranny that all blacks must overcome. To greater represent the truth, Rasta rejects the Bible used by most Christians, opting instead for a "black man's Bible" known as the Holy Piby.

Rastafarians have developed a unique language and outward appearance, best exemplified by the dreadlock Hairstyle. Rastafarians also have placed a high value on smoking marijuana (ganja), which is used for meditation and to reflect completely on the word of Jah. Rasta has never been strictly defined, but it continues to exist it pockets all over the world, though mainly in Jamaica. The demise and common man's death of Haile Selassie in 1974 discouraged some believers, and Rastafarians have never been liked by the authorities due to its endorsement of marijuana and its excitation of violence. Nevertheless, Rastafarians continue to follow the word of Jah: "ever-loving, ever-fearful, ever-sure as Selassie

I the First." Rasta World Day Without sense.

IT JUST HIT ME!,like now...

2006-08-15T13:44:00.000+02:00

Yep!It just hit me..the truth... a truly blinding realisation of the "actual" occurence / situation. In life you (yes u) must be the driver to go and find the hidden treasure (what ever your fancy is). To quote Desiderata : " You are the child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars - You have the right to be here"

To quote Brand New Heavies : " You are the universe and there's nothing you can't do! If you can concieve it then you can achieve it, that's why i believe in you and you believe in me"

To sit and wait for the earth to spin / orbit till it stops on your name is irresponsibly,stupid. I'm actually gatvol of people who sit, literally, on their fat bums and wait for ish to be done for them. It doesnt really take much to do something. Last night i had 5 seconds to make a decision and whichever choice i make it had it's own repercussions. I made the wrong one and an hour later i was paying for it with my happiness in exchange for some momentary sadness. The moral of the story is that i believe i was proactive enough to make the decision. I didn't wait for someone to come and make it for me. As black and white the options were - i knew there's always the aftermath.

Now to all bummers who sit and wait for me and the rest of the working, get-up-and-get-my-own-sh*t type of people - I just suggest you wake up and smell the f*cking rotten eggs since the smell of coffee obviously didn't do the trick! Get up! Get up! To quote a great man HS : " Move, jou fokken njaahh!"

Time ticks
With my ideas my brain itches
Time talks
Know where u going, get yo own clocks
Not time for procrastination
We need deep monetary penetration
Some wicked sensation
Wake up my BLACK nation....

I'm actually very proud of all the knowledge and talents GOD has given me and try to embrace it in its truest form. I suggest you do the same. Maintain. Up yo game!
I always tell people worth telling that it's very unfair to wake up and come to work 300 times in a year and only get paid 12 times. Be your own boss. Get paid major 300 times! If thats not enough you can add the weekends and pump it upto 352!
We as blacks sometimes excersize not judgement, none what so ever..(i hold it till next time)

The nic is calling-i guess ya'll are saved by the smoke...

Laters!

The Wedding Anniversary

10th Anniversary Resources

OFFENSIVE SOCCER FORMATIONS

2006-08-14T11:44:00.000+02:00

In this post we deal with Soccer Formations. I hope most of our "professional" coaches in the PSL can learn a thing or two as most of our teams play like a Sunday League team, with no one issuing constructive instructions or even advising them on formations or structural play.

I hope the info below will aide some of our rather technically inferior teams. Enjoy!

Strategies: Offense

Formations
Many factors can influence what formation you employ against an opponent. Perhaps the most utilized formation is the 4-4-2 formation, listed from back to front as Defenders, Midfielders and Forwards. You will need to consider several factors in determining which formation to use.

Your opponents offensive strength.
Your opponents defensive strength.
Your teams offensive strength.
Your teams defensive strength.
The size of the field, or pitch in England. A large field may require you to play a direct style of soccer, utilizing long passes down the field, whereas a small field may require a more controlled, possession style of play.
The score of the game. You may choose to protect a lead, or need to generate more offense.
The weather conditions. A wet sloppy field may require that you play the ball more in the air than normal or add an extra defensemen in case a player slips and falls, leaving the ball-handler unmarked

4-4-2 Formation: 4 defenders, 4 midfielders,and 2 forwards. Very effective if you have two strong forwards that can outmaneuver and outrun the defense.

If you are playing a very strong offensive team, the 4 midfielders allow you more opportunities to tackle the ball and clear to your goal while the 4 defensemen give you greater defensive capabilities.

4-2-4 Formation: 4 defenders, 2 midfielders and 4 forwards. The 2 midfielders will assist on both offense and defense. These should be excellent all around players with good durability.

On offense, they will generally assume ‘wing’ positions, keeping the ball in their offensive zone should an attempt be made to clear the ball. On defense, they will drop down in a position to accept clearing passes and move the ball downfield to the forwards.

3-4-3 Formation: 3 defenders, 4 midfielders and 3 forwards. Utilized mostly when you are behind in a game and need to create more scoring opportunities.

In lieu of pulling a defensive player, you could also bring up a midfielder into a 3-3-4 formation.

I picked these ones as they (according to me) prove to be more offensive of the whole pack.
Happy Footballing!

When thugs cry- The DJ spins some more!!!!

2006-08-08T14:33:00.000+02:00

More visuals from the BlackModz SaundSystem.Mo' Faya!

Mo' Visual Kandy

2006-08-07T13:25:00.000+02:00

Santa in the Hizza!(rather making a dash for it!)

Pix are taken from my numerous wonderings around the country...Geniet!

The Use of Computers to Support Oppression / Apartheid

2006-08-07T11:46:00.000+02:00

The Use of Computers to Support Oppression

Computer technology enabled the government to organize and enforce such an atrocious system of segregation and control.

More than any other single technological advancement, the computer fostered the concentration of administrative power in the hands of Africa's white elite. [NAR82]

Despite the U.N. arms embargoes, American computers were in widespread use throughout South Africa. The United States was the largest supplier of computers used in South Africa. American computers were in use in virtually every governmental agency, the police system, and the military, all of which contributed to the control system known as apartheid. Computer technology did not merely support the system of oppression, rather the entire country was utterly dependent upon it. As the managing director of the South African subsidiary of Burroughs Corporations said,

We are entirely dependent on the U.S. The economy would grind to a halt without access to the computer technology of the West. No bank could function; the government couldn't collect its money and couldn't account for it; business couldn't operate; payrolls could not be paid. Retail and wholesale marketing and related services would be disrupted. [NAR82]

The extensive history of the export of American computer technology began in 1952 with an order for the first "electric tabulator" to IBM-South Africa. Three years later, the streamlining of the hated pass system resulted in an automated population register implemented on foreign computers. 1970 found South Africa with an estimated four hundred computers -- a value of about one hundred million dollars. The number of computers continued to grow, totaling more than forty five hundred in 1982. In 1977, only the U.S. and Britain spent more on computer technology than South Africa as a percentage of gross national product, while in 1980, 75% of the computers in South Africa were purchased from American corporations. South Africa continued to import a large number of computers despite an attempt by the government to promote domestic production. Local products accounted for less than 5% of South African computer equipment sales in 1988. Many of these sales occured despite restrictions in U.S. law.

American corporation IBM was the largest computer supplier in South Africa throughout the years of apartheid. In 1978 alone, IBM's South African sales jumped 250%; total annual sales amounted to approximately three hundred million dollars in 1982. Not only did IBM contribute tremendous computing power to the South African apartheid system, but of the fifteen hundred South African workers employed by IBM in 1982, less than 20% were classified as coloured, black or Asian. IBM continually asserted that the applications of their computers were not used to abridge human rights, despite acknowledgment that the uses to which their computers were put could not be known in all cases. In fact, the South African Parliament made it illegal for companies to report the uses of their computers. Although IBM officially divested from South Africa in 1987, their products continued to be distributed by Information Services Group.

We will first consider the sale of computers to the South African government, followed by an investigation of sales to the police, then to the military. The number of computers used by the government is not to be underestimated: the government absorbed 41% of all South African computer sales in 1986. Even if thesesales were made to "non-repressive" agencies, or sold for supposedly "non-repressive" purposes, the technology contributed to the repressive system for two reasons. First, the computers were often used for purposes other than the expressed intentions. Second, the government was extremely highly centralized and tightly controlled in order to protect the "sovereignty" of the country.

The significance of the role of U.S. computers in S.A. [was] not restricted to their use by repressive agencies of the government. [Leo80]

It is likely that the tool which made the most crucial contribution to the system of apartheid was the computerized population register. The Plural Affairs Department maintained the passbook system on the more than twenty five million Africans defined as black. These records were all kept electronically on British-made ICL hardware. The Department of the Interior maintained the "Book of Life" files on the other seven million citizens classified as non-blacks using an IBM hardware system. The passbook records included data on "racial classification", name, sex, date of birth, residence, photo, marital status, drivers license, dates of departure from and return to the country, place of work or study, and fingerprints. One South African described the population register at work as,

Computers flashing out reference numbers, photocopies relayed by telephone, perhaps even instant transmission of fingerprints-all to keep track of members of the population. Sounds like George Orwell's 1984, doesn't it? Well it's South Africa's way of modernizing and streamlining its pass and influx control system. [NAR82]

The main purpose of the population registry was administration of the influx control system, a system which channeled needed black workers into the labor force to be exploited, and confined others to the desolate homelands. The passbooks, which every black person was automatically given at the age of sixteen, coupled with the computer database, guaranteed one's instant identification and one's history of government opposition. If these passbooks were properly endorsed, the owner had the right to work or live in "white areas", and lack of these endorsements or failure to produce the passbook resulted in arrest and jail. Many were detained for months at a time without a trial and their families were not given notification of their whereabouts.

The Bantu boards were the local branches of the minority government for the black townships, which ran the housing for black workers, known as the hostel system, as well as the Bantu tax system. It also administered a complicated system of permits and controls which governed the movement of blacks. This system broke down the structure of the African family, as the workers were prohibited from living with their families. Rent and taxes were significantly higher for blacks than for whites in other districts, leaving the workers with very little on which to subsist. This system is little different from organized slavery. Virtually all the computers used in the Bantu Boards were of foreign origin. In 1982, the East Rand Bantu Administration Board, a board located near Johannesburg, rented computers for which they paid R228,000 per year, a sum totaling over one fourth of what it spent on housing for blacks in an average year. These computers were used for financial matters and registered blacks for the labor allocation system.

The Department of Justice used imported computer equipment , which implicitly sanctioned police violence and torture against opponents of apartheid, both black and white. The Department of Prisons held political prisoners without trial, and used an IBM computer for "financial" purposes. The Department of Prisons used two Data General Nova computers. The Department of Labor controlled the terms and conditions of work under apartheid, i.e., no black worker could supervise a white worker, black trade unions were not recognized, and most strikes were illegal. Computer equipment was also used in the Department of the Prime Minister, the South African Reserve Bank, South Africa's electrical utility, and the Treasury Department. The South African police made active use of the population registry. In 1982, they examined 179,285 fingerprints stored in the population registry, making 13,024 positive identifications. Eight hundred and fifty thousand queries were made at display screens.

Using remote terminal links, police operators at regional centers around the country [had] immediate access to a secret criminal data bank which stores details about anyone on the government's wanted list. [Slo90]

This gave the police remarkable power over political opposition. The population registry was not the only computerized resource the police had to aid in controlling the citizens. Foreign products such as X-ray machines to check personal possessions, passbook fingerprinting equipment, and communications logging recorders were all available to the South African police. Electronic sensing equipment, infrared alarm systems, and photo identifications systems were on the market as well. Their use in repressing the citizens is obvious. IBM even marketed a "Law Enforcement System" software package, but later denied that it had developed or marketed it when IBM realized the product might jeopardize sales at home. Philips marketed an "Access Control System" which registers who enters a building where and when. Seemingly innocuous software could be applied to disastrous ends. For example, a city planning software package available in the 1980's helped the police to design black townships with the goal of allowing maximum police access and control in cases of revolt.

Given the mission of the private police industry, its allegiance with Pretoria's police, military and other state departments, and given the complete lack of procedural rights and safeguards for non-whites, it would be naive to assume that U.S. security and surveillance gear sold in S.A. is not used as a tool of repression. [NAR82]

As the largest arm of the government, the bulk of the computer equipment purchased by the state undoubtedly found its way into the various military branches despite the fact that the military was the express target of the U.N. sanctions. The military utilized advanced equipment not only in its invasion and occupation of Namibia, but also in the Total War against its people. The South African Defense Force had six major computing centers; these computers were used to analyze battlefield data, guide weapons, transport equipment, and send notices to draftees. Computers were used at the Silvermine naval database to monitor naval movements around the coast of South Africa, in the Air Force's early-warning radar system, and in satellite communications. A majority, if not all, of the components of these systems were of foreign origin.

One reason for the military's dependence on computers was the severe personnel shortage, since only whites were drafted. The ratio of front-line soldiers to support troops was 1:1.3; the norm is at least 1:3. Computers enabled the support of the front lines, and were also integral to many weapons used on the front lines.

The speed of modern warfare necessitates support and help from several staff officers. It is impossible to keep up with a lean mobile force unless you use a computer. [Slo90]

IBM lost no time in providing the military with all the computers it needed. These and other foreign computers were routed around the sanctions by exporting to the Armaments Development Production Corporations (ARMSCOR), the government-owned company responsible for the development and acquisition of arms. The U.S. exported computers to ARMSCOR, under the pretense that they would be used for "inventory maintenance" purposes.

Who the F*ck is J, Edgar Hoover?

2006-08-07T11:35:00.000+02:00

J. Edgar Hoover

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Hoover in 1961

John Edgar Hoover KBE (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its present form and its director from May 10, 1924, until his death in 1972. Hoover was appointed acting director of the FBI by President Calvin Coolidge to reform and clean up the bureau, which was considered a haven for corruption. During his tenure, Hoover attained extraordinary power and unusual discretionary authority, while also feuding with many adversaries. It is because of Hoover that, since his tenure, FBI directors have been limited to ten-year terms.

Hoover is credited with creating an effective law enforcement organization but has frequently been accused of exceeding and abusing his authority in blackmailing notable public figures and engaging in unwarranted political persecution. Hoover's COINTELPRO program allowed FBI agents to disrupt organizations such as the Black Panther Party, Martin Luther King Jr.'s SCLC, and the Ku Klux Klan using methods including infiltration, legal harassment, violence, and murder (Fred Hampton, Zayd Shakur, and Mark Clark). Hoover habitually fired FBI agents, either randomly or by singling out those who "looked stupid like truck drivers" or had "pointy heads." He was also notorious for relocating agents who had displeased him, such as Melvin Purvis, to career-ending jobs in cities with little need for an FBI presence. Despite this, Hoover was also known to be a supporter of civil rights and liberties on several occasions, most notably for his vocal opposition to the mass internment of Japanese-Americans that took place during World War II.

Visual Kandy...

2006-08-07T10:31:00.000+02:00

Easily Said than Done

2006-08-07T09:59:00.000+02:00

After a long self-imposed ban, i've returned to middle earth a better being.I've been faced with countless challenges that warrants oneself to do some high-end introspection. One thing definate is that we can't always be the pleaser... There comes a time when whatever emotion we emit needs to be reciprocated.It's within this parable that i, most often than not, find myself puzzled. How hard can it be to make a choice that wont come back and bite you in the bum? Keepin' mum won't ensure the pleasure of the warmth of the sun! Will you make a run ?

There's really not an approved and certified logic that one can apply. It's the uncertainty, i guess, that makes it more interesting and moreso, exciting.What we see and believe is not always the rigt thing BUT in absence of right can we surely say only wrong exists? If we never crossed paths with "wrong" then what we perceive as right, even though it's wrong, is justifiably ....right. Right?

Is it possible to base ones opinions on the unknown? Can we really plan for what we know nothing of? So, in the absence of knowledge, what is left or there? I bliv what's there is the knowledge of the absence of knowledge.(still with me?)

All we can rely on is US. We CAN forge ahead and become succesful and wonderful beings. We can survive. We WILL survive.

Let it marinade.

So What now?

2006-05-18T11:02:00.000+02:00

The truth about ALiENs

2006-04-10T22:21:00.000+02:00

Hello. I wanted to take this opportunity to talk to you about the aliens. It's true. Aliens have actually come to our planet, they have settled here, and they are living among us, unseen.
Look down at your keyboard, at your hands. Especially, notice the smallest finger on your hands. No! Don't stare! Just kind of...glance.

Notice how your pinky finger is noticably shorter than the others, and how much weaker it is than the others? It's almost like it really shouldn't be there. The truth is...it shouldn'tbe there.

Sometime in the past-- I don't know when-- aliens from somewhere else, albeit very small aliens, decided to colonize our planet. Sometime, somehow, they infiltrated our homes, and attached themselves to some of our normally four-fingered (well, with 3 fingers and a thumb) hands. Notice I said "some" of our hands. There is no way that they could arrive in sufficient numbers to attach to each one of us. So, with their advanced knowledge of biology, they cloned "dummy" pinkies for the other hands. One can easily tell the "dummy" pinkies, via a series of tests--most of which involve repeated forceful testing with a 10 lb sledghammer--but I cannot divulge those details here. To do so could cause a wholesale panic, untold carnage, and millions--no,billions, of crushed fingers. After all, no one said that everyone who uses the internet is intelligent. I don't say it, that's for sure.

They (the aliens) come from a planet that is somewhat darker than ours, and they long for the moist, darkened caves of their home. That is why, when you are driving, and stuck in traffic, you constantly see them darting for cover. It only looks like those other folks are picking their noses. But I, and now, you know the truth. It is the aliens running for whatever shelter they can find. The moist darkness that they call home.

I call these aliens "phalangoids". Some time ago, another man, of Asian descent, happened to be in a situation where a new life-form was discovered. He made two astute observations. One was that if you discover a new creature you have to name it. The other was that a name with "oids" on the end was a good one. Not long after making these observations, he met his death; due, in fact, to one of the new creatures dragging him screaming through a hole in the floor. So, "phalangoids" is what the aliens are.

Oh, sure, you might say that other creatures have 5 digits on their extremities. And, there is the fossil record. BAH! They've falsified the fossil record, killing untold thousands of creatures and burying them in stone with their amazing alien technology. What about radioactive dating with trace elements? BAH! I say again, BAH!, and, BAH! (no offence to any sheep out there). This same technology allows them to plant radioactive trace elements within the stone to make them seem like they are billions of years old. But they aren't. And, as far as the supposed relationships to other creatures are concerned...they cloned these creatures with an extra digit to further hide evidence of their arrival.

Since they have infiltrated all strata of our population; they control the media, science, AND religion. They are constantly communicating with each other, right under our noses. Now, with the advent of the internet (their invention), they communicate with alarming ease. Think of all those typos you make while you are emailing, or instant messaging, playing MST3K's "Caption This", or "chatting" online. Those aren't typos.

Those are communications in their encrypted alien text.

Certain skeptics might be wondering if this is true, how can I be typing this now? A childhood injury to my hand, where I was cut deeply, evidently weakened the control one of my host aliens has over me. This allows me the freedom of thought to investigate these matters.

Certain other skeptics have asked-and it is a good question-how I could know some of this information. All of us are familiar with the "pins and needles" sensation of one of our limbs "falling asleep". This can happen from lack of circulation, or, from irritation or maybe damage to the nerves in the limb. When I injured my hand, evidently I damaged some of the nerves. So, sometimes my pinky gets that "prickly feeling" of falling asleep. This happens occasionally. This is not uncommon. Limbs fall asleep all the time. But, my pinky talks in its sleep.

So, now you also know the truth. I reckon that this public exposure of their secret efforts was as good an event as any to open my new web domain. Now that I've told you about their amazing technological advancement, you can guess what else they're capable of. So, of course, you must be asking the question: "If they have this much power, why didn't they just invade Earth and take over everything?"

In answer, I can only say this:

How the hell should I know? I'm not a damn alien!

Artistik Visual Candy

2006-03-17T09:40:00.000+02:00

Well, due to a lot of work,yes i do Well, due to a lot of work,yes i dowork(sometimes) i have been unable to post anything in the last few days but brace your self coz, I'm back with candy for your eyes.During my numerous wonderings in my beloved country i have taken snaps of particular interest and am willing to showcase them.Like it or not :It's ART.

Enjoy!

Technical Aspect

2006-03-14T15:07:00.000+02:00

It seems that all our lives revolves around machines simplifying what could still(in some cases must) be done by us,the human race. Yes, the technically technical machines do help, ease the load of human intervention, save time which is indeed money(lost of it) and to some extent take away our jobs. I find it very pleasing when these applications seamlessly put us in touch with our loved ones,they close that distance in a matter on rings...

I consider myself,well,technically astute and what interests me most is the "Middleware" or to be politically correct, the API (Application Program[ing] Interface). This is one,in my opinion, most imperative component of our technology stack.Layman's terms:

Take 2 cellphones. Cell-A makes the call to Cell-B,what transpires after u press the green (dial) button,the API kicks in.The reason they call it middleware is that it sits between the "Hardware"(our case, cellphones).The Cell-A's API will execute scripts that inter alia,checks if you have money,where u calling from,who you want to call and so forth,all this happens against a Server/Host(in our case, the big-mean monsterous super computer that holds everyones details,cell details that is. The mean monster,if happy of the conditions met, will route your call to Cell-B and (CLI)caller line identification come into place,simply put, tells Cell-B that Cell-A is calling.

When this technology fails, our worlds tend to grind backwards.We are over-dependent on them that without it, the results are cataclysmic!

I just had my fair share of technicall-irregularities today and was in a not so tech-friendly mood. I believe i was fine before i knew how it works,now that it doesnt want to work(mostly often) when i know how it works,pisses me off.

for now, i need to have a drag of my siggy,which by the way were made by machines with API in 'em.

Laters

Eternal Link

2006-03-09T10:30:00.000+02:00

Funny how we meet people and for ages to come they still have an impact in our lives, even when you haven't seen or spoken to them in many moons. For instance take my friend Ras Tafari, we haven't spoken or seen each other for ages but when my phone rang this morning and it was Ras on the other end, i knew today is a good day indeed. Around 08H45 this morning i got a call from Lazzara Leecher to inform me that my asset is ready for the taking,splendid! i thought to myself. What a great start to the day,to add more vodka to the magharita, Ras called as if the universe was on my dial. This is one of the very few people that i shared my life with and with their influence shaped the kind of person i am today. The eternal link i have with Ras Tafari is one that can't be quantified in any monetary terms, it's like we were made to meet and be friends.

A lot has come and gone between us but one thing that remains constant is our understanding of each other and our trully blessed friendship.If i ever had to choose a friend again, Ras would the one.1Love Ras,keep the fire burning..Babylon mus' gwan down.Irie still.

Missy Elliot in South Africa

2006-03-08T16:51:00.000+02:00

As per promise made, below are the pix of Missy when she came thru to club WhooZoo in Midrand,Jozi. It was a normal tuesday night, the club packed with a crowd of +300 strong crunlzillas.She came,we saw and it was all over and back to work for some of us who left at 05H30 in the mo'. Honestly she's not your prolifc rapper in terms of verse delivery but she compensates that with her dancers, hard-hitting club beats and he personna which i recently don't hold in the highest regard since checking out her "Road to Stardom with Missy" reality show. She got it right on one of her songs that she's a b***ch!,Anywhoo,enjoy the pix. "

Once Upon A POET!

2006-03-08T15:56:00.000+02:00

here's a lil sumin' i wrote 3-4 yrs ago, it was actually a hiphop track and i cut it short to make a poem.. and the other one i just felt like taking ish of my chest,yes,we do get high and say strange thingz..enjoy!

Life Could Never Be Another Jail

Life could never be another jail
Leaving me sad and pale
Wish I could rewind the days
Change the decision I made
I'm caught up in a situation
Contemplating on the next move
I should be making
Need to change course in my direction
Escape this sick repetition
Life could never be another jail
Got a thousand things to say In love triangles
Peeps are left dazed in tangles
Leave space for when things dismantles
As it aint roses and gloom
When emptiness fills the room
Free your dome Needless to say
We craft our own ways
Our thoughts determines how we play
As Life could never be another jail.

Someday

Someday i know it'll end
all the pain,suffering,the struggle
but today i need to make ammends
Someday it'll burst,my bubble
with eyes wide open i wait
eagerly hoping i wont be late
Someday all this will turn
to joy,success,love,oneness with
the universe,provoke me to write
a verse my thoughts i'll disperse
Someday comes after some days
here today gone tomorrow
leaving me in sorrow
Maybe someday is just another day
Today is the day to enjoy life
Accept the food on my platter
But it needs to get better
Empty soul full of hope
Darkness cant rule my life
All will be revealed....someday

Friday Nyte- 03-03-2006

2006-03-08T14:21:00.000+02:00

on friday i went to some live hiphop gig at Baseline,Newtown and it was off the hinges. There were live perfomances from Bongo Maffin and HipHop Pantsula.Man!! did they rok!

Well see pix below.Enjoy. Watch out for my Missy Elliot pix when she was down here in Jozi,South Africa....

It was a night to remember as we experienced the making of our own "the Roots" band in Mzansi.(South Africa).a 9 piece band was on fire with at least 6 women,my favourite,BigMama was stringing the Base guitar.mother!!!

It's ALIVE !!!

2006-03-07T20:17:00.000+02:00

Well, it was definately about time to get my thoughts dispersed online.. my woman has been nagging me to get it up and running.Well,there it is! This is one cyber-mental space where the only rules are : there aint no rules and he who abides by the rules,is some fool.

For now i'm gonna light up and think of outta space technologies that might not be beneficial to us.

ps:by the way...it's good to be alive