Wednesday 9 April 2008

Take that, you naughty bunch!

So the other week I had a bit of a rant about this business with the FBJ holding a get-together that specifically excluded whites. It's not that I disagree with the idea of having a mutually exclusive forum, but I just felt that all things considered, and in a very South African context, excluding a specific race group from a gathering was very poor form. Especially when the guest speaker was the infamous Jacob Zuma (who is most likely already working on his inauguration speech as the country's new president. Scary.)

Anyway, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has since found the FBJ's exclusion of people on the basis of race unacceptable. Unjustified. Unconstitutional. Well, yeah... (I kinda thought that was a no-brainer.) The SAHRC have further suggested that the FBJ rethink their policies and in the meantime, behave themselves (i.e. not have any more get-togethers that exclude anyone.)

However, they haven't done much about Jon Qwelane's name-calling antics. Oh well, baby steps. (Speaking of Jon Qwelane though, what a very special person he is. I find his columns on News 24 very... moving[?]. Anyway...)

As a result, poor Abbey Makoe (chairperson of the FBJ) is a very unhappy camper. According to the Mail & Guardian (online), he's said "The FBJ hereby wishes to state that the conclusion arrived by the SAHRC represents nothing more than a judicial ambush." Shame, sounds to me like someone needs a big boy box of Gary Player tissues.

Anyway, that's just a bit of an update on that whole thing. Seeing as I'm on the whole 'state of affairs' trail, I'll wrap up with a pic someone sent me recently. What with the petrol price sky-rocketing, it's one of those pics that make you laugh... and then make you think.

Hmmm...



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