"GOODBYE TO A FALLEN HERO"

This is what was said by a very emotional fellow brethen of the Zion Christian Church at the funeral service of Ephraim Mashishi."if it was not for this man who is lying in this casket today, we would have all been dead.he save our lives he is a hero", said an emotional George.

Ephraim Mashishi was not just a brother, a son,father and a husband;to many he was a man of honour and loved serving the Lord and going to church.He died on Monday morning after he and a mass of ZCC worshippers coming from a church prayer(kosha)when they were blasted with a hand grenade by a soldier of the South African Defence force. Sakkie Mashishi said that "the worshippers were on their way home when they rebuked a man driving a blue golf of reckless driving and after hitting one of the fellow brethens with his car".It is said that the driver of the golf returned and blasted the worshippers with the greande.

"Ephraim was helping the man who was hit by the car when we called out his name to alert him of the grenade that was thrown to them, that is when he turned and caught the grenade with his hand and it blasted while he held it",said Peter Galane , who is a cousin of the family. Ephraim was the sole breadwinner of the family and now his death leaves a great gap as to who will feed the family for he leaves behind his wife and children who are all very young.

The funeral was attended by influencial figures of the tshwane Metro municipality, Father Simangaliso Mkhatshwa, also attended the funeral and send through his condolensces to the family saying that an this incident is surely one that should never happen again in the country, for hand grenades are a weapon of war and should not be carried around in a democratic South Africa".

Thabo Mbeki Lecture

I've avoided places that would take me back.
I've taken long streets just so i could forget.

To FORGET MEMORIES of:
PURE HAPPINESS&JOY
OF PURE LOVE
AND FRIENSHIP.

Moments of MADNESS,trips to SECURITY LAND.
I AVOIDED such places so that I do not...
THINK OF YOU!
I avoid such BUILDING,
STREET CORNERS,SEATS just so I do not
have to deal with the GREAT LOSS IN MY LIFE...

I see all these PLACES and
my HEART SINKS IN DEEP and MY EYES TEAR UP.
MY LUNGS TAKE A DEEP BREATHE...

I see this TOWN
and i REMEBER WE.

.

I BLINKED

....Life gets hard and really complicated at times

yet i would love to believe that i have always been a warrior

im never one to fall and not stand up to dust my knees...

little did i know,that someday,id reach points in my life when i would just sit...stare into space and my tears would brace my face...



I BLINKED......and it was all gone when i opened my eyes....



I lost the only woman who really ever truly understood me,the one woman that i know kept my secrets,and even where she lays today...

she still holds them...

I miss her, i miss her every single minute that goes by....

so much dat at times,i stare at photographs and long for beautiful yesterdays that could never be....



I BLINKED......and it was all gone when i opened my eyes....



I lost the only man that i ever truly loved...a man that made me a saint

I had a distinct glow when i was with him,for i had never been sooooo happy in my life

I miss him,and i just wish he knew exactly how it feels to miss a man sooooo dearly

let alone,love a man to points of no returns....



I BLINKED.....and it was all gone when i opened my eyes....



I lost that connection with my one and only first lady,she understood me,we used to share everything....

Yet someday i woke up,and that spark between us had faded

I miss her,even when she is right beside me....

I pray we will find a way someday,back to each others hearts....



I BLINKED....and it was all gone when i opened my eyes....



I lost the truest meaning of love

I lost the feel of sheer happiness

I lost all the joy i ever knew

.....I even lost ME in the midst of it all



I BLINKED.....and it was all gone,as though im not human,i have no feelings...

ISOLATED LOVE

Nobody told me that gvng you, myself would be so bad . Nobdy said it would be ths hard! I gave my soul. I gave you the key to my heart. I gave you my Temple...where only you and God dwell! Does that mean anythng to you? Did it mean anythng to you! Nobody said getting over you will cause me so much tears,dull days and laziness. Nobody told me that after us breaking up you will just move on with your life and forget about me just like that! But i remember you saying DUST! Is this what you meant by DUST? that to you it would be like a puff of smoke and a autums day where il be left covered wit smoke nd dry leaves. You couldv told me and we wouldn hav done all this. You couldv neva dated. I wouldv neva love you. Nobody told me that at the end i would loose myself and be left with sceptic wounds. NOBODY. but the hilarious thng is: EVERYBODY was there to tell me that you love me and i should be with you! Everybody was there with their fart. And now nobody is here! Not You not Everyone!
.

Robben Island a Luxury Prison...

The South African educational curriculum history teaches our youth that Robben Island was the cruellest of all apartheid prisons in the country not only is this taught to South Africans but foreigners too who are interested in South African Politics.

Political icons such as the former president of South Africa Dr Nelson Mandela,the late Goven Mbeki and many other unrecognised freedom fighters were imprisoned at the Island during the 80s and it seems they had it good. A Beautiful scenery of the Table Mountain, the deep blue seas and most of one of the best structured prisons in South Africa.

The prison was divide into three catergories A,B and C, this was a way to distinguish how good the prisoners are and each group had its benefits. This was not the only thing Sipho Nkosi an ex prisoner from the Robben Island said, we had the joys of educating ourselves whilst in prison hence Nelson Mandela was a qualified Lawyer when he was released from prison.

Compared to many other prisons in the country such as the former Johannesburg prison which is now known as the Constitutional hill, Robben Island had proper prison cells with more than one blanket, a division between the toilets and the kitchen and a study hall whilst at the Johannesburg prison “we had the toilet and prison at the same place”, says Thabo Mokoena who is a tour guide at the prison.

This is rather a disturbing as to how we portray the prison to our society and tourists or those who are just interested in South African history.
What does this say about our history as a country and the manner in which we document our history? One of the students from the Tshwane University of Technology exclaimed “what is history really teaching our youth?”, “Robben Island was just a luxurious prison”, she said. Though all of these might be true the island had hard conditions in contrary with the natural beauty it has.

The limestone caves and the torture of the special branch police got to the prisoners.

Journalism Students Hit the Mother City

This is what journalism students were saying to eachother when they we embarking on an educational trip to Cape Town.

This was a long anticipated trip for two years now. It has been the only conversation they could agree on when they spoke to eachother almost like the only language they understood since they were in first year. “ When we were in first year all we could say about the trip was the planning for it and now that it is here all we can say is we are not just leaving but we are going”, said Alice Mminele a second year journalism student.

This trip has become a tradition within the Journalism Department at the University to take our students on this educational trip as part of their training, said Fannie Groenewald one of their Lectures. The department has been doing this for almost ten years now and it has been a great success for both the students and the department. The trip entails the visit to the most visited tourist attraction sight, the Beautiful Robben Island, Media 24 and a two day trip to Parliament. This will definitely be a great experience for the students especially for those who have not been to Cape Town before.

The students gathered at the Tshwane North campus where they all embarked on a journey to the Mother City. They left Tshwane at 14:00pm on a Friday afternoon and arrived in Cape Town on a Saturday morning. Some say that on the way they had bus troubles and fro others it was a long joy ride for they sang, danced played youthful games and many more. It was almost like a team building exercise for some of us for we spoke to those we hardly spoke to and broken relationships were mended. It was a blissful trip indeed.

As they arrived in Cape Town they were booked in at the Cascades, a well conducive self catering apartment building with intense security and privacy.
They were given time to recuperate from the long trip. All they wanted to do was go to the beach as they had already seen the view of the Table Mountain.
The next morning they embarked on a journey to the Robben Island and went to the Media 24 the following day.

The trip to Robben Island was somewhat emotional for others and for some a waste of time and a lie to them. “Why should we cry if the prison looked so luxurious”, said Boniswa Somana. The trip to Media 24 was a learning experience especially when the students were being taught the about the basics that goes into magazine producing. Their last trip was to Parliament, “this is where we learnt about the two houses of parliament and oh for me that I want to work in parliament, it would be very interesting”, said Mpendulo Ndlovu.
After all these educational experience all that was left to do was for the students to enjoy the city and its aura. They were all exposed to the night life of the Mother city. Clubs of the Mother City at Long Street and house party in their respect rooms.