INTERPRET DURBAN

Nomfundo Mgabadeli

Interpret Durban is a contest for the creative mind that runs through the whole of September, the main event is usually at the end of the month which brings together an award ceremony, exhibition of some of the works and stellar performances from some of Durban’s musical acts such as Fruit and Veggies and Coals of Juniper. This year the event will be held on the 29^th of September at the Bat Centre with a whopping R160 000 worth of prizes. 

The theme for this year is “ENTER DURBAN” where you are asked to consider the city “from a tourist’s perspective as someone approaching Durban with fresh eyes” and the categories are video, photography and t-shirt design (which is by invite only). Entries do close today on the 25^th of September, so if you haven’t entered yet, now would be a good time.

The event is offering a free shuttle service to and from the Bat Centre on the night of the main event. The shuttle will begin the route from 6pm, starting at the KZNSA and making its way to “Cube” on Innes Rd and after it heads to the Bat Centre where passengers will be dropped off on the Esplanade and guided through the tunnel under the train tracks by INTERPRET DURBAN personnel. The shuttle will then go back around to KZNSA and start its rounds again.

Hope to see you there!

Commissioner Zulu on heritage, culture and the media

Nomfundo Mgabadeli

Professor Nogwaja Shadrack Zulu visited the Journalism department yesterday for a thought provoking talk on culture, language and the media. He is part of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural Religious and Linguistic Communities and a lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In the beginning of his speech he spoke about the current state of the media.

Commissioner Zulu listening to comments from the audience 

“There are papers that I buy that are interested in headlines, there’s an act that’s developing, and we are reading these tabloids with big personalities. Some of the stories about the farm people who are working in farms that are still oppressed by these farmers, nobody talks about them, nobody, it doesn’t exist in the media.”

He preached about the importance of a person’s right to privacy and dignity referring to the revealing now defaced painting of President Jacob Zuma and the current case on the topless pictures of the Dutchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton. He emphasised the need for a balance in our democracy and a responsibility to each citizen not to abuse the rights enshrined in our constitution.

On the topic of language, he didn’t believe indigenous languages are facing any form of threat or challenge by virtue of the first newspaper being written in an African language and the first English newspaper being written by a native South African and the arrival of John Dube with his paper, iLanga laseNatal. But he did note the colonisation of South Africa has played a role in how we view and perceive our language and heritage.

He concluded by stating the need for people to understand that South Africa does not have one culture, instead it is a diverse country with different heritage, religions, colours and cultures. And not just in South Africa but Africa as a whole.

“We are connected, we are one because we are South Africans, we are the same and we are all human.”



A Fierce Epidemic

By Nicole Hodnett                             





Dominic Thorburn "Break the Silence"

Silkscreen print 418 x 598mm

Dominic Thorburn "Break the Silence" 

Silkscreen print 418 x 598mm

It happened as she laid wide awake at night.Thoughts souring in and out her conscience as she starts to tear up.If only her boyfriend loved her enough to tell her the truth about his status ,if only he loved her enough to use protectection


'If only'

Hiv/Aids has grown to be a fierce academic in the republic of South Africa and if the youth of today fails to be educated enough the future of this beautiful country will be in dire strait.

Statistics of Hiv/Aids are getting fierce, impulsive comments are being thrown at our youth, policemen are pulling the trigger without a second thought and corruption in government is ever so fierce. We ought to fear for the future of this beautiful country.

 It all stems from apartheid. Like the devil in disguise the mind-set of our forefathers still stays etched within the depths of our psyche. Reasons for so much corruption amongst South African citizens today stems from 1 thing, poverty.

Today’s democracy comes with severe responsibility, especially with the youth of today. More and more young people are getting hit with the stigma of Hiv/Aids.

Based on statistics, sample of 32,225 women attending 1,424 antenatal clinics across all nine provinces, the South African Department of Health study estimates that 30.2% of pregnant women (aged 15-49) were living with Hiv in 2010.

South Africa has one of the fastest expanding epidemics in the world.

In our real stories gallery (www.realstoriesgallery.com),an organisation endeavouring to educate society about the Hiv/Aids epidemic that has instated a partnership programme with Art for Humanity.

I spoke to Isabella Malgas, 81, who had a lot to say about the youth of today and during her time.

‘We couldn’t even kiss our boyfriends without going to confession first, everything today is tainted including the food’, she said.

Art for Humanity initiated the Break the Silence Hiv/Aids print in 2000 to instil a greater sense of social morality within the consciousness of our society.

A break the silence artist, Dominic Thorburn expresses the responsibility of halting the horrific Hiv/Aids pandemic and needs to be communally shouldered through emphatic, coordinated and unified national intervention.

 

The Department of Colored Opportunity
By Nicole Hodnett

A man of 16 waits to complete his arithmetic exam for his apprenticeship. He has a heart of gold and the intelligence that had the potential to exceed boundaries. He has one thing in mind when completing it,

‘I am doing this for my family’

According to South African history, South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the 17^th century .English of the Dutch descendants (known as the Boers and Afrikaners) resulted in the Dutch establishing the new colonies of Orange Free and Transvaal.

With the enactment of Apartheid laws in 1948, racial discrimination was institutionalized. Race laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of ‘white jobs only’. In 1950, the Population act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of four categories, black, white, Indian and coloured.

According to South African History, long before the inception of apartheid ‘Coloured ‘people in South Africa occupied this precarious position between white and black South Africans. This position was intensified during Apartheid by the creation of a separate identity, reinforced by the various apartheid laws that strived to keep racial groups apart. Some of these laws included the Mixed Marriages act, immorality act and the Group areas act.

As a journalist of the arts I get inspired by everything I witness whether its good or bad. I still take it as an experience and inspiration for my future articles. My inspiration for choosing to be a journalist was an inspiration from my parents and everything they went through to get to where they are today. Apartheid was a true struggle.

I spoke to that man that was once 16 years old as he sits in his home.

“If I lived in your age of generation, I would of definitely went to University, but coloured men were limited with what they wanted to study’, he said.

Back in the day opportunities were limited for the person of colour. Nowadays with Democracy in our grasp, the world is our oyster.

A man of 60 waits at his daughters PhD graduation at the University of Cape Town .He has a heart of Gold and the intelligence that he passed down to his children. Even though opportunity was restricted for him during apartheid he always had this in mind,

‘I am doing this for my family.

His name is Stanley Hodnett and He is my father. I love you daddy!!!

 

 

Alleged Defiance of the Unmoved Miners

By Sphe Masondo

Tomorrow a memorial service will be held for more than 46 dead mine workers of Lonmin platinum mine in Rustenburg.

An eyewitnesses account published in the Sunday Times dated  August 19^th ,2012 highlights how 3000 miners ,who were defiant and “unmoved” had gathered at the koppie  which they had adopted as a gathering area demanding to see management “we want management to come talk to us ,’ thy demanded. Therefore the question is how did this demand urn into what has been labelled as the “bloodiest day in post –apartheid SA”? Which side to take whose action should be condoned and whose should be condemned?

According to an extract from the Sunday Times, the police had used all available alternatives before using live ammunition, in a section that reads “at 4 pm water cannons were used but this didn’t deter most workers. Then came the tear gas...then the first shots were heard.

On the frontline a large number of miners were walking and crouching along the pathway and moving from the koppie. This may have been a distraction, as a mob of workers, armed with rocks and bricks were seen heading towards the police –crouching low I the bushes like warriors in the middle of a war. It was then that the police opened fire-rubber bullets at first .then several shots of live ammunition were heard.

 Then for barely three minutes, all hell broke loose as what sounded like firecrackers that reverberated all around, with police firing their automatic weapons and pistols. When he dust settled blood soaked bodies lay on the ground”, these were dead mine workers who only wanted management to speak to them.

Looking at these circumstances its beyond obvious that people were robbed of rights and died fighting against an injustice. AFHs new project seeks to educate and promote human rights education in South Africa. It stated in its aims that: “in light of the many social injustices facing South Africa 15 years into our democracy” AFH seeks to embark on an Art and Poetry project whereby we wish to inspire all south Africans with a new realisation of the value and significance to us all of this very important document ‘the South African Bill of Rights.

Therefore believing that there is a way through art and poetry that we can unpack the social ills facing our south African society such as this of Lonmin mine workers who died whilst fighting social and economic problems which were leaving them in poverty through low salaries, deprivation which sets a struggle to the future wellbeing of all those the Bill of rights is meant to protect. South Africa has a young constitutional democracy that needs not only to be protected at all times but also needs to be continuously brought to the attention of all South Africans.

 The following observations illustrate the social, cultural and economic threats to our Bill of Rights.  South Africans comprise a divided society in terms of racial relations, economically between extreme poverty on the one hand and extreme wealth on the other. AFH bridges Human Rights and the Arts advocacy and educational objectives by making visible the ethical values as contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through the visual arts and the creative articulation as in poetry.

Therefore without choosing sides lets tackle these issues head with all possible avenues if the politicians and society weak, let’s make art and poetry be the platform that we can use to communicate these flaws in order to make sure that our Bill of Rights does not become undermined by those in power.

A Biblical Chapter

By Nicole Hodnett

I remember the story from Exodus. Where people in Egypt were enslaved, babies were killed and the cost of human dignity meant nothing to those in power.

According to an article by Ariela Pelaia, it happened at the end of the biblical book of Genesis. Joseph brings his family to Egypt. Over the following centuries, the descendants of Joseph’s family (the Hebrews) became so numerous that when a new king comes into power he fears what might happen if the Hebrew decides to rise against the Egyptians. He decides that the best way is to enslave them (exodus 1).According to tradition, these enslaved Hebrew people are the ancestors of the modern day Jews.

According to The Abolition project, slavery refers to a condition in which individuals are owned by others, who control where they live, work and do in their daily lives.

To be a slave is to be owned by another person. A slave is a human being classed as property and who is forced to work for nothing.

Although slavery nowadays is illegal in every country, it still exists according to BBC-ethics guide. There are likely more slaves now than there were victims of the Atlantic slave trade.

The last country to abolish slavery was the African state of Mauritania, where a 1981 presidential decree abolished the practice; however, criminal laws were passed to enforce the ban.

According to South African history, many South Africans are the descendants of slaves brought to the Cape Colony from 1653 until 1822.

It is a popular misconception that slavery in South Africa was mild compared to America and the European colonies in the Far East. This was not so, and punishments meted out could be very harsh.

The Universal declaration of Human rights state all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. These are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

A Permanent Stain

 By Nicole Hodnett

Deep within the depths of our human psyche, apartheid still stays etched within us. No matter how much we strive to look pass our differences; there is some narrow person that stays stuck back in that horrid time.

Apartheid was a system of legal racial separation which dominated the Republic of South Africa from 1948 until 1993.According to Wise Geek, mechanisms of apartheid were set in way before 1948, and South Africa continues to deal with the repercussions .Under Apartheid various races were separated into different regions.

According to an article by Heidi Burgess, stereotypes are generalizations or assumptions that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group based on an image(often wrong)about what  people in that group are like.

The other day I had an interesting conversation with my 81 year old grandmother about the stereotypes back in the day.

‘The old government was preferable to the new one as I feel the rife corruption in the midst of today’s people”, she said.

Will the after effects of Apartheid ever leave us? It seems like we will forever have to hide, run away from the fact that God made us in His own beautiful image and likeness. If the “white” man was superior, God would have made the entire world “white”.

After 1994 when South Africa turned Democratic, people had the freedom to explore the barrier of mixing with other race groups resulting in interracial relationships and marriages.

According to an article by Nadia Kareem, it’s also important to examine your motives for entering such a union.

According to a dictionary meaning, the meaning of tainted is to affect with decay or spoil.

I work for a Human Rights organisation. Art for Humanity stands for all things democratic; we touch base on what affects us in this ‘ever tainted” society.

Dialogue Artist-Kim Berman

I think of Kim Berman in her Art in the Dialogue project and how she shows a representation of what racism is all about.

We break silences on what couldn’t be broken back in the old days of Apartheid when our forefathers would get locked up in their fight for freedom of expression.

It started in the first grade when my teacher called me to the front of the class for news week.

"I would cringe".

 My name is Nicole Bernadette Hodnett and I am quiet. Many establish that through my inability to communicate at times. Whenever people get together I do my best to escape the situation, it used to be very overwhelming for me. I always stood in the shadows of my outspoken sisters. I am the youngest of five and today I describe myself as an outspoken and very irritating person at the best of times. My grade one teacher often describes me as a late bloomer in life.

Nicole Hodnett

It is believed by humankind that we are put on this Earth for a purpose and our purpose alone we shall serve. When we were born our parents looked at us through fresh eyes unaware of the future that awaits us being it good or murderous.

It all started in that legendary Garden of Eden where Adam given strict instructions by God not to touch the forbidden fruit, still went ahead defiant and ate that apple and influencing Eve to taste it too.

 It symbolises that yesterday, today and tomorrow will be forever tainted by influence.

Back in the day apartheid separated the different races and put us according to category. We got arrested when associated with a colour higher than us.

These days we meant to be free, have the ability to allow the apartheid era to leave us.

Last year I attended my oldest sister’s graduation. I felt proud of her and planned to focus all my holiday bonding with such a great mind like her. She always taught to see out my box and explore the world with an open mind.

An aunt of mine, my sister Godmother came to my father and started making all kinds of accusations about my relationship. I was told to leave him immediately or I will embarrass my family.

Is this all through colour? Is our South Africa still so caught up on racism?

It’s been two years on and we still very much together. It pains me that I could never have an open relationship with my mother when it comes to the person I have chosen to be within my years of study I was taught to be non-biased when it comes to judging a situation. I thank God I don’t see colour when it comes to other people. God made us in his own image and likeness, once we appreciate the beauty of humanity is the day apartheid will truly leave us.

Nelson Mandela

Through the conquering of my curves in life I aspire to be a journalist that inspires and changes the lives of people with my words. I thank my mother for teaching me the values of being careful in this world and my aunt helping me to develop a thick skin when it comes to criticism. I am glamorous through my drive to be different and that’s the best thing in life a person could ever be.

I look up to Nelson Mandela for his fight against the struggles of Apartheid and showing people that we have the potential as a rainbow nation.

 I feel it the duty of our ancestors not to pass the ills of the past to the generation where we are supposed to be born free.