Academic Life

Im not sure how many of my readers can relate to this but either way its one of those problems that any student experinces during an intenses study schedule!

Today i am writing Law of Criminal procedure, if your a law student you will know how much work this and you dont go to bed by choice after just browsing through the test scope. UWC is very lucky to have a Lecturer like Mr Mujuzi who is a renounced writer in this module in particular, his knowledge is so extensive i realy like how he articulates his work to his students. However his work is too much, i dont know if he had it bad in his time but it seems like he is giving payback when he  sets his papers. the way he wants one to remember the sections of the Criminal Procedure Act is obsured. The last time i studied this intensley was in matric during my mid term exams and its totaly not fun...ok that time life was a bit unorthodox for me than any normal child! I went to school from 7:30 the morning when it only started at 8:30 and i left at 6pm where as school only ended 14:15. This was everyday and every week had to be in school from monday untill saterday then church on sunday, everything compulsory, this is not the moral of the story though!

As if writing Crim Proc today at 17:00 is not enough to ruin my weekend, im also writing Constitutional Law tomorrow morning another major module, life is a hard knock for law students.I just wnat to highlight how much tense and obsured things get to get people telling me im neglecting them and not helping them with whatever which i am sure they are capable of doing themselves. This venting exlcudes my beautiful girl friend though ha ha ha. I realy cant take dependant people as if they have no self respect for their capabilities.

So to you i want to say that me saying NO to you is not me bieng selfish but me empowering you to take initiative.

Love you on that OvO xO tip!

My Heroes

These are the men that sustain my chain of thoughts and i want to share them with the world!


I am for truth, no matter to who it is told.
I am for justice, no matter for who it is.
-Malcolm X


Black Consciousness is an attitude of the mind and a way of life, the most positive call to emanate from the black world for a long time.
-Steve Biko


All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.
- Ghandi


I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
-Madiba

South African haunted by its ghosts!

My first blog, ok! I am excited to share my opinions with the world and i hope i will correlate very well.


The issue of racism has once again been front page news in recent weeks. Its damaging manifestation is a reminder that it is one issue we cannot afford to wish away.It is obvious to most South Africans that racism remains a key challenge to our democracy. As such, as a society we owe it to ourselves to engage with this issue with truthfulness and openness. Inequalities created and institutionalized by apartheid are still prevalent 18 years into the new dispensation. Coupled with attitudinal shift, combating these inequalities in all their manifestations would be one way of addressing this challenge rather than waiting till we are shocked by a demeaning act such as statements made by Jessica Leandra, Darren Scott, Steve Hofmeyer, Ken Sinclair to name a few.


What we cannot overemphasise is the fact that we cannot undo the legacy of a unique system such as apartheid overnight. It is our responsibility to continuously strive towards reconciliation, transformation and nationhood as South Africans black and white. After all, nation states are political constructs and therefore have to be consistently moulded through social engineering. It is dangerous to our democracy for anyone in this society to hold the view that racism is a given. Since time immemorial all justifications advanced by apologists of this prejudice have been proven untrue. That notwithstanding, some people in our society are still prone to racism and this psychic problem is what we have to address.

As a country, we have to confront and truthfully engage with issues of social justice. Identity politics in which challenges such as racism, clannism, ethnicity and the like become pronounced find fertile ground in a society faced by scandalous socio-economic differentiations such as South Africa. Efforts towards integration in our society need not be hampered by those among us who subscribe to racism and its attendant virulence. Nowhere provides a better point of departure than our institutions of learning for these are meant to be spaces for proper socialisation and character formation in our society.  We are alert to the fact that many people in South Africa, not least young people, will continue grappling with integration much as we strive to overcome the apartheid legacy.

The constitution must provide recourse to those aggrieved as a result of racism much as it may be sometimes difficult for the law to define an offence as having been purely racial. Equality courts are a promising step towards that direction. However, sensitisation needs to be carried out so as to alert people to their existence and role in arbitrating prejudice related offences. Consistent denunciation of racism by top government leadership as well as other leaders in different spheres of our society would be important in promoting coexistence, especially to young growing minds. Racism is a scourge that humiliates both the perpetrator as well as the victim and so we need to guard ourselves against it lest we lose our dignity.

Regards

A. Mjokozeli