The choices we make

In September 2008 24 we witnessed the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki after long quarrels within the ANC party just months before the elections. Later in 9 May 2009 Jacobo Zuma took office as the new President of South Africa. Despite numerous corruption allegations against him he was still elected to become President. All the charges against him were all dropped. One moment you are accused for countless corruption charges the next moment you are the President of a nation.

It did not stop there for Mosholozi who thinks have not been running all smooth for this cabinet. There have been complains on almost every department of his cabinet mostly corruption. The story that hit the headline was the renovations of his private home Nkandla which is amounted to have cost R250 million. The minister of Public works came to Zuma's defense claiming that it was measures that had to be taken as part of the security upgrade. Now why should they upgrade his private house, he is still president who has three state houses with top class security. Even Nelson Mandela did not get such treatment while he was president, he only got security upgrade after he left the office same as Thabo Mbeki.  What makes the current president different? No valuable explanation was given up until today and they choose to keep the report top secret.

Once again the president name became talk of the town when the Guptas family landed their private jet at Waterkloof Air force base. The Guptas are a very rich family which is known for their close relationship with the Zuma family. If I was to land my plane at Waterkloof I am not sure if I will come out alive or if I will go free with just a slap on a hand beside I have no relations with Zuma. The ANC went on to do an enquiry in the matter and only 4 people came out of the report as being responsible for the landing of the Guptas jet the president's name was not there. He then went public to say that people should stop name dropping, that people must stop using his name to get what they want. Well I think he did a good thing by addressing that but to whom exactly. If I go to Waterkloof and tell them that I am Jacob Zuma's friend and I want to land my plane here, they will never take me serious i might even get arrested or beaten up. I think there is more to the story that 'Namedropping".

Just when we though our country was maybe getting better our economy drops drastically where now it is doubtful that international companies might invest in South Africa. With the rate that our economy is going right now we are the people who are going to suffer not the one sitting at the parliament no us the one's who got them where they are the one's voting for them we are the one's who will be having less to spend while they continue living their fancy lives. Then our president was asked about the economic situation what was his response he laughed I mean our economy is going to a downfall and the president laughs at that. It can only be made by a person who does not even have a grade 2 report a person who hires Angie Motsega a person clueless about education a person who can't even speak to proper English to become minister of Education. It does not end there during the parliament debate two grown people maybe old enough to be my father or grandfather make jokes about Lindiwe Mazibuku's weight and fashion taste. There is a debate about the country's economy and you come out to make jokes about someone now how foolish can that be. Well they should have looked at some members of the ANC first before making comments about Lindiwe Mazibuko's fashion taste or weigh only the real recognize real.
"Now that’s a story of my country"

FINALLY ITS OVER!!!

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When you could have asked me 2 months ago if Arsenal will secure a champions league place for next season, I would have said no. To be honest throughout the season Arsenal have not been a best team at all, with the departure of Robin van Persie  to Manchester United in the begging of the season, made things worse for the team that have been loosing their key players to their rivals in the past seasons. Their failure to secure a player of RVP’s caliber meant that Arsenal had no true goal scorer this season and had to depend on the player they had at their disposal.

The beginning of the season was not sailing that smooth for them, as they saw mixed results on the path to challenge for the league title and with no time they saw themselves fall behind the pack. Things got better to worse when they were knocked out of one of their potential silverware by a third division team Bradford city in the capital cup, meant that our only chance for silverware was the FA cup and Champions league. But we were also knocked out of FA cup by Blackburn who know play their trade in the championship. We were later knocked out by Bayern Munich in the champions’ league despite our 2-0 win at Allianz Arena, as they managed to go through to the next stage with 3-2 aggregate.

Arsene wenger hugs Lukas Podolski after there 1-0 victory
at Newcastle www.3news.co.nz                                   

One positive thing we took out of the second league game against Bayern is that we have never lost a game after that. The last time we lost a game in FA was our loss to our North London rival Tottenham Spurs and after that we went on to a record of 10 games without a loss. We managed to close the 8 points gap Spurs had on us and went on to secure a berth in the champions’ league. Yes we have not yet qualified but one thing about Arsenal is that they have never failed to make it to the group stages once they have reached this stage. Yesterday was a very hectic day for both Arsenal and Spurs fans as both team looked to secure a place in the next season champions’ league. Once again it was Laurent Koscienly who came to our rescue with his second half close range volley from a free-kick, just like last season he was again our hero as his header secured us a third place finish. Gareth Bale went on to score a thunderous goal in the dying minutes of the game but there was nothing they could do as Arsenal had to loss for them to finish off on 4^th place.

The 4^th place has been much of silverware for Arsenal in the past season but I believe that now it’s even much bigger than this. Arsenal are on a good financial state coming to the next season and Arśene Wenger is expected to spend big in the transfer window this off-season. With Arsenal expected to make some big signings the champion’s league is the best way to attract top quality players. The odds are on Arśene Wenger’s side as he is expected to dominate more especially in FA as he is now the longest serving manager after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. We will have to wait and see how Arsenal will turn up next season.



Arsenal players celebrating after scoring a goal                           
www.wallhud.com                                                              

 



IT MUST HURT

On Wednesday Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson announced his retirement from football after a long 27 years as manager of Manchester United. During his stay he won a whopping 33 cups including 13 League tittles and 2 Champions League. It is no doubt that he is one of the most successful managers in English football if not the rest of the world. It was a sad moment for all the football lovers to hear that one of the most passionate managers of football is retiring.  But it must be really hurting for Arsen Wenger.

Arsen Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson two of the longest serving mangers at FA

They are both the longest serving managers in the Barclays Premier League, with Arsen coming behind Sir Alex with 17 years as Arsenal manager. Since the arrival of Arsen Wenger at FA they became rivals, as we all know how big the game between Arsenal and Manchester can get, and the rivalry got worse with  the capture of Robin Van Persie to Man U. The reason why I say it must be hurting to Arsen Wenger its because he has been living under the shadow of Sir Alex in the past 6 years, as Sir Alex have been winning everything while Arsenal have been on drought. Man u have been winning silverware and at the same time dominating Arsenal and Arsen Wenger will never get his revenge on Sir Alex.  But on the other hand its time for him to redeem himself and Arsenal as it is expected that he dominate FA now that he will be the longest serving manger come next season.

We are going to miss you Sir Alex and also wish you all the best with the future.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME

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There is nothing that comes close to the love I have for soccer. My best teams are Kaizer Chiefs, Arsenal and my national team Bafana Bafana. All this teams have been performing badly in the past years and at the moment its only Chiefs that looks like they have turned the Conner as they stand a chance to clinch a double this season, while Arsenal has went down to 8 seasons without any silverware and Bafana Bafana failed to make impact in the Orange Africa Cups of Nations which was held on home soil, to make it worse they are in trouble of failing to qualify for 2014 World cup which will be held at Brazil.

Amazingly I still stand behind my teams despite the poor run. I believe that everyone has his/her dark day and the sun will shine again for these teams. My mostly concerns are with Arsenal, they have turned into everyone's playground lately. They are slowly loosing the gripe as one of the top four teams of England. We have fallen behind Manchester United. We are living under their shadow as they keep on winning silverware while we can't even win the Capital Cup. The thought of doing a guard of Honor for one of our biggest rivals at our very own stadium, it was like putting a knife straight in my heart I barely looked at the TV it was painful.

Every time I go to sleep I pray for my family, friends and my teams, more especially them Arsenal. What should it take for them to realise that they have fallen so behind many teams in Europe? How many seasons should we keep up with this pain inside us as Arsenal loving fans? We the fans are the ones that feel the most pain getting behind the teams each and every game each and every season and still end up celebrating nothing but a spot for Champions league and not even make it to the semifinals.

What happened to the invincible Arsenal? Yes we have been a development for so many teams but it’s not like we do not have the money to replace the players that we have sold in the past. We are even on to of Chelsea as one of the richest teams in the world. But you will never see Arsenal spending more that 30 million on players of which Chelsea can spend on one player. I want to see back the Arsenal I know the Arsenal that made me love this tea. Yes it can't be the same but with the right quality of players it can even be much better that the invincible Arsenal. It time we get our status back as one of the biggest clubs, it time we make a statement again. But that will not come if we continue buying quantity instead of quality players.  I hope that Stan Kroenke will get to read this because the pride of Arsenal is bigger than him, it’s bigger than all of us and we must fight hard to get our pride back.

IS SPAIN ERA COMING TO AN END?



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In one stage England football used to dominate Europe. It is still the best league in the world but La Liga have been taking all the glory in the past years, with the best two players Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo playing their trade of football there. In the past 4 years Barcelona have won the Champions League two time, Inter Milan one and Chelsea last season. After the draw of the champions league semifinal we did not know what to expect in the final a German derby, Spain derby or Spain vs German. At the moment we are more likely to see a German derby in the final which will be held at Wembly on the 25 of May 2013.

On Tuesday 23 April 2013 we saw Bayern Munich do what teams from all Conner's of Europe could not do, beating Barcelona by a convincing 4-0.  It was my first time seeing a team that can match Barcelona with ball possession. Barcelona was outplayed form the first whistle. It is hard to believe that Barcelona had one shot on target.  Most of Barca fans went on to blame the coach on his decision to play Messi as claims say that he was not fit. But Barcelona is not a one man team they have proven it in there last two league games. I think Bayern had prepared well for the game as they outplayed Barca in very position and they want the cup more than Barca who has been winning everything in the past 5 years.

To rub salt on Spain pain Borussia Dortmund inflected pain in the hearts of Madrid fans and Spain football lovers when they thrashed Real Madrid 4-1 at home on Wednesday 24 April 2013. One would have thought that Real Madrid would step up for Spain reputation but they were victims to Robert Lewandowski as he wrote history by being the first player to bang in 4 goals in the semifinal stage. We must not forget that it was not the first time these teams meet in this season champions league, as they were drawn in the same group and Dortmund beat them on the home game and draw their away game at Spain.

Realistic both Barcelona and Madrid are out of the competition but in football there is no therefore, miracles happen but it will take more than a miracle for them to pull this one through. One would now ask if the power has shifted to the Germans. We must not forget that the German national team has always been in the thick of things even though they choke when it is important. In 2008 they went to Euro final lost to Spain. They went on to represent their country in South Africa world cup 2010 and they finished 3rd and last year Euro they were knocked out in the semifinal by Italy. One think I like about this team even though they always go down when it is important is that the bulk of their players played in all the competition  mentioned above and most of them are playing for both Bayern and Dortmund. By next week all the teams will know their destination but we must not shy away to the fact that both German teams has their one leg in the final and for Barca and Madrid they have a mountain to climb.



PROTECT THE RAPE VICTIMS

 South Africa is well-known country for its era of apartheid and freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Steve Biko, and Chris Honey just to mention few. This people fought bravely for a better living for all South African citizens. But recently South Africa is known for its high rate of crime mostly rape. We are turning into a capital of rape. There are approximately 3 600 cases of rape reported everyday in our country, which means per year there is more than 1 million cases of rape.

What is the government doing about this? For me they are not doing enough a real outcry broke after the rape of the young Anenn Booysen who was gang raped and brutally murdered. Not a year has past and we again witness a brutal rape of Thandeka Madonsela who was mutilated and left for death. Most rape cases never make it to court and we will get excuses that there is less evidence to convict the rapists or the docket is missing. And this is a burden for all the rape victims who are denied the justice they deserve.

South Africa rape has escalated so much that even babies and grannies are rapped now. You find a 2 month baby rapped or a 98 granny rapped. Do you think this people deserve a chance to live with the community? Rape sentence in our country is 15 years of which i think its a slap on a wrist, all rapists deserve life sentence without parole, they deserve to rot in jail. Because in most cases some of the rapist go back for there victims after serving their sentence or attack other victims, so it’s crystal clear that they are not fit to live in a society. We should do everything to protect our rape victims no one asked for it and we do not know the pain they go through, so it is so easy for us to judge. I personally believe in an eye for an eye. If you rape a baby or granny then death penalty and life sentence fro those who rape teenagers and young women. This might be the solution to this entire epidemic

IS HE THE RIGHT MAN TO HEAD US

Its been almost 20 years since the first democratic election whereby we saw the first black president to rule the country Nelson Mandela. I was four years by then and everyone was so happy as he promised us equality, job opportunities, houses etc. Yes some of their promises were delivered he did a great job fighting for democracy and as a president.  As the number of unemployment decreased, houses were build, people started to see each as equals unlike during apartheid.

Nelson Mandela term came to an end and Thabo Mbeki was elected to become our president who ran for two term. He did not do that bad but also not that good. The famous story to remember about him is how he handled the HIV/AIDS issue which many feel he did not know how to approach this epidemic issue. Thabo Mbeki did not finish his second term was he was forced to resign by the ANC and the current president  Jacob Zuma.

When we talk of Jacob Zuma we are talking about a guy who was accused of rape charges. Who was accused pf corruption and resulting form his financial adviser. The charges were dropped in 2009 which resulted in political fuels. Jacob Zuma did not receive any formal education and he is our president. He is also know for practising polygamy and he has over 20 kids.

 The most recent outrage from the country and opposition parties come when it was reported that Jacob has renovated his Nkandla property with 250million. i mean who renovates a how with that kind of money even if its security precaution for the president. Mandela our first black president the world icon did not receive such a treatment. These is an insult to the people of Nkandla leaving around the president's house, it is an insult to all the tax payers, to all those who are facing the social issues from unemployment, houses and poverty.  We were promised a better life but it look like a better life is for those in power only.

I believe that Zuma has not delivered on his promises, but some members of the ANC saw it important to elect him to run for the presidency in the coming election. If he failed to deliver his promises in the first term how will he do it in the second term. The only thing i know of that Jacob Zuma did is the renovation to his private house and I believe that it is exactly what he is going to do again in his second time. ANC should have elected another leader. If they do not get their acts together they will loose more supporters except me.