She was right - 6 Apr'09

She was right
exclaims my dad
to mom and me
his eyes a-twinkle

She was right
City Councillor of old
the feisty Jane Gool
long before careerists
made it into our body politic

She was right
group areas will remain
long after it is gone
from our statute books

She was right
us and them loom
often larger than life
and the classifications
on government forms

She was right
as the ruling party
points our befrocked critic
in the direction of
former apartheid group areas

She was right
as were others warning
against two-staged solutions
to South Africa’s problems

She was right
tribalists now side by side
with careerists and cronyists
neo-revolutionary nationalists
minds still balkanized

She was right
then says my dad

She is right
still
don’t you think

My brow furrowed at our ruling party puffing out its chest in the name of itself, Friday 03 April 2009 onwards.

Did you behave (any differently thereafter) - 30 Mar 2009

Did you give up
an hour for earth
or was it just
business as usual

(none of that save
the dolphins, the whales,
going green planting a tree
hippy kind of stuff)

Did you give up
an hour for earth
with your lights off

And did you behave
any differently thereafter
asks a talking head
from our provider
(laughingly described)

(is life still the same old
programme at your school
the morning transport to work
whatever energy-form it takes)

An hour for earth
was all that was asked
on Saturday past
for today and tomorrow

Are you behaving
any differently right now
for tomorrow
and the day after

Not for any talking head
so-called service provider
or petty political electioneer
but for you

2 hours for earth, done on 28 March 2009, pessimism aside, penned after guffawing at an Eskom talking head on my black and white radio.

I is back (I sigh) - 7 march '09

I is back, I sigh
the culture of I-speak
for I-self, me first
accruing personal I-kudos

I is back, I sigh
in the form of
the demi-god, leader-goat
who speaks for I-self

I is back, I sigh
the individual inside
of the collective
(is I African, Western)

I is back, I sigh
speaking personally
for everyone else
in their name

I is back, I sigh
the eyesore and the id
of the personality
and the cult thereof
is on the campaign trail

I sigh

I sigh at my morning radio, Saturday morning, March 9 2009, from which the I-voice of our anti-apartheid cleric I-speaks in the name of something apparently new.

Never say never - 7 Mar 2009

Never say never
whether you are
in politics or in love
whichever comes first

Never say never
whether you are
a loyal member
of whoever pays you

Never say never
whether you have
congress tattooed
next to your DNA

Never say never
whatever deal
you have bartered
at the public expense

Never say never
here now, over
onto another list
by the morning

Never say never
freedom fighter yesterday
over to tomorrow’s lure
of a portfolio or two

Never say never
as you promise yourself
to the highest bidder
in the name of the people

Correction Services Portfolio Committee hack and ANC MP Dennis Bloem does some verbal gymnastics explaining his change of political blood type, on my afternoon radio, Friday 6 March 2009.

You don’t need to go (to Oxford University)
(24 Jan '09)

You don’t need to go
to Oxford University
(an Equal Opportunities employer
you will be pleased to know)
to put bread on the table

You don’t need to go
to Oxford University
to know that says he
Julius Malema our defender
to students who lend him their ears

(In fact you don’t even
have to go and study
to protect the revolution)

You don’t need to go
to Oxford University
to be a security guard
to defend the ruling party
(from its very own self)

You don’t need to go
to any other place
because the people
will teach you
(about the political economy)

The people will teach you
as they have done Zuma
right here on the ground
(where the grass is much
greener in a BEE-kind-of-way)

Right here on the ground
you can be the bodyguards
(with blue lights a-flashing)

You don’t need to go
to Oxford University
just go vote for the revolution
it will set you free

Who can resist shooting off, what with ANC Youth League’s loudspeaker, Julius Malema, shooting off from the foot which is in the mouth, this time at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Bellville Campus (“Students must fight to defend Zuma”, Cape Times, Friday January 23 2009).

24 Jan '09 - They travel at night

They travel at night
in fast cars (windows tinted)
on foot, probably in dark
clothing, these ‘dark forces’
our Youth League loudspeaker
Julius Malema asserts

They travel at night
perhaps its cheaper
even safer somewhat
from the goings-on
the wheeling and dealing
done in the light of day

They travel at night
is his conspiracy theory
equalled only by that
of certain other comrades
who too shoot from their
revolutionary hips

They travel at night
as do the fairies and
the hobgoblins and
all the imperialist-contras
born in the USA

They travel at night
and perhaps one day
might carry off our Julius
whilst his student shock-troupes
are out voting feet-first

Yes, they travel at night
do our dark forces

do the Yengeni shuffle
do the Zuma shuffle
do the Manto shuffle
shuffle shuffle shuffle
do the Julius Malema
rattle your jewellery
(go and shuffle off)

Who can resist shooting off, what with ANC Youth League’s loudspeaker, Julius Malema, shooting off from the foot which is in the mouth (“ANC will not change law to protect Zuma”, Cape Argus, Friday January 16 2009).

Many more Cuba - 12 Jan 09

Many more Cuba
and its example since
there are no longer
any Chés, Mandelas,
Bikos or Sobukwes
to inspire selflessness

Many more Cuba
resigned we seem with
the not-so-free enterprise of
the price-fixing life
of World Bank-poverty
and the oxymoron
of service delivery

Many more Cuba
what with Cuba’s health
and education systems
and their altruism
towards us and others

Many more Cuba
its detractors want
multi-party politicians
and multi-party elections

(this will amply show
the multifariousness of
our collective poverty
in the ideas category)

Many more Cuba
as they celebrate 50
stymied as we all are
by imperialisms-past
and its daily presence

Cuba – the country of beards
we beards looked to the model
we enthused over now forgotten
too conveniently

Many more to Cuba

The Cuban Revolution has outlasted many an American presidential dynasty (says comrade unemployed welder and non-beard Richard Meyer, echoing Raul Castro). Cuba is still alive and well, and so is Fidel. Penned the morning of Saturday, January 10 2008.