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/ 4 September 2007
The matric exam season is upon us. And once again it is the fate of black children that hangs precariously in the balance; it is they who will be hardest hit by the interruption in classes earlier this year during the public-service strike. More worrying, however, is the silence of their parents on the matters that affect their children.
It is the best and the worst of times for club soccer. Having scored an unprecedented billion-rand-plus for television rights, the game’s top division, the Premier Soccer League, is finally getting close to its commercial worth. But it is the worst of times for the minor league sides in the feeder Mvela Golden League.
It is generally agreed that South Africa’s violent present can be traced back to its violent past. Then, logically, given our intolerant and dictatorial history, we should be an intolerant and dictatorial people today. So it comes as no surprise that we have a president who is not exactly famous for tolerating views different than his own. He is not alone. He is a man of his times — past and present.
With the start of the new football season, talk will be about new coaches, players, coaching techniques and fitness levels, and how commercialisation of the game is widening inequality among the clubs. Little will be said about the role of luck. But, if in doubt about this aspect of the game, ask the one man whose name and fortune — or misfortune — best tell the story.
President Thabo Mbeki does not have to give reasons for firing his ministers, according to spokesperson Mukoni Ratitshanga. Presumably neither does he have to let the rest of the public in when wearing his ANC hat and getting rid of party officials. For if he was bound to explain himself, he would have to say why a senior minister such as Mosoiua Lekota continues to serve in his cabinet when he failed to declare his directorship of a winery and shares he had in a petroleum distribution company.
I wonder if Ntambi Ravele, the outgoing Premier Soccer League marketing chief, is aware of the number of times she has said that ”leadership is not about whether one is a man or a woman, but about what he or she can deliver”. If it is not a personal mantra, it should be. It’s certainly firmly embedded in her psyche.
For two of Soweto’s great footballing institutions, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, the coaching succession debate is over. Chiefs have chosen Muhsin Ertugral, with whom they won seven trophies. Pirates have given Bibey Mutombo another term in office, despite him being one of the least-loved coaches to have coached the Orlando side in all their 70 years.
It had to be Ghana, didn’t it? Fifty years after that country won independence, and with it ushered in hopes for a united Africa, Accra played host this week to yet another debate about African unity. At least we can take heart that this latest confab focused on the form such unity should take, rather than whether it is necessary.
It was going to be a trip down memory lane. At least that’s what I thought as I prepared to try out the vaunted Soweto Business Express. Soon after arriving at Ikhwezi station in Mofolo, I discovered that the world had changed a bit since igado/ibomba was the transport of choice, writes Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya .
Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya meets legendary South African jazz drummer Makhaya Ntshoko and his quintet.