Nonqaba said ...

Movie extras are like the Queen of England. They are not amused. Nobody has ever heard her say, “I’m not amused”  but that’s another story. Movie extras want a new designation. They want to redefine themselves like the rest of the world. Waiters are now called servers. Hotel cleaners are room attendants. Nurses are medical practitioners. Divorced people now call themselves FF , finally free. Drunk drivers are called ‘impaired drivers’ from pairing alcohol and driving, I suppose. Movie extras want to be called ‘essential support’ because movies need people moving about in street, coffee shop, wedding, synagogue, market, bookstore, or restaurant scenes. They do, because movies are not one-woman Broadway plays. Movie extras feel that ‘extra’ puts them in jeopardy. It means something you can do without, something superfluous you can cut out when you edit the movie. They don’t mind that when the director says ACTION, he is calling them as a group and not one person, like the

Lying is a-ma-nga  in Zulu. I should not be teaching you this because of where the language isi-Zulu is coming from. Accusing somebody of lying was regarded as rude, uncouth and showed bad upbringing. Don’t even think of accusing elders of lying. That’s a no no! Kids are taught not to say somebody is lying but they do it nonetheless when they are playing on their own, away from parents. U- na-ma-nga u-Linda  (Linda is lying). You are supposed to say Linda made a mistake.  There was some misunderstanding that gave the impression that Linda is lying. Most industrialists lie about how they mine gold, platinum and other mineral resources. They claim operations won't harm the environment and people’s health. They get away with it because of today, which is getting a job. Bleeding nature resulting in a tsunami , is tomorrow and who cares? Some politicians have elevated lying to an art form, especially on Twitter because they type how they really feel, without thinking about

Newcomers must understand two things about Canadian elections: l  Federal elections, where Canadians vote for the bigger picture, which will choose the Prime Minister from the party that wins the election. l  Provincial elections, call them mini elections, where voters decide who will govern the different provinces where they live: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, etc. Some newcomers voted in their countries before coming to Canada.  Others never, ever, because their countries are dictatorships or based on the king is the law tradition. I voted for the first time in Canada because South Africa did not allow my grandparents, parents and myself to vote. It is in this context that political parties in Manitoba should conduct voter registration drives before the September 10 provincial elections. They should, because newcomers who are qualified to vote have other priorities in mind. l  They are unemployed or underemployed. l  Their parents hav

Buy is the-nga  in Zulu. Anything can be bought, including human beings. There are fake employment agencies in Africa and Europe, which are nothing but the stock exchange for buying and selling girls. Girls trust recruiters because they are from their country, speak the same language.   Other girls ‘fall in love’ with strangers online and fly out to marry them, only to find that the marriage is selling their bodies. It won’t stop as long as girls believe that life abroad is better than in their countries. Political votes can be bought either blatantly or camouflaged, like in countries with a long history of so-called ‘democracy’.  Money doesn’t have to change hands. It’s a matter of, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Get South African currency from the bank. Market women prefer cash.   Tourists globally are disappointed.  They want to buy things made by local people only to find that most tourist hubs now sell handicrafts and clothes from China, like the Howick Fall

Trees also have tenants, something property developers don’t highlight in their ads enticing us to buy condominiums off-plan (before they are built). Their selling point is that we can use condos as homes or make money by renting them out. Condos come from different sources. Developers might buy old office buildings, libraries with no readers because they have gone online, old factories or repossessed houses. They have money to hire armies of electricians, carpenters, roofers, landscape designers, electronic surveillance companies and other professionals necessary to transform old buildings into new money.  Plastic trees for the lobby are included in the budget. Plain old land is the other source of condo development but it should be cleared for construction which means cutting trees, excavation of stubborn rocks or stabilizing swampy land. Birds and animals that used to live in trees run for their lives but trees themselves are uprooted, chopped off and catered away to some

I’m always hungry something that used to bug mama. She swore that I had uninvited guests: worms that ate my food leaving my stomach empty once again.   Mama would fix the problem with herbs because Africa is blessed with forests, pharmacies that don’t require prescriptions for herbs curing every sickness. I eat because I’m alive. That is why I would like to see food in movies.   Unfortunately, Hollywood doesn’t do food, beautiful well-laid tables with gleaming cutlery and rainbow place settings yes, but no food.  I think it is in the contract of those electricity pole actresses with the clause, no food in   the script . Remaining thin is the only way they can keep getting work. I cannot imagine a world without food.  Maybe it has everything to do with mama once again, who swore her child (me) would never go hungry, ‘ as long as I’m still alive.’ That is what she said. You better believe it. Being a mother is incredible, isn’t it? Living in Toronto exposed me to world cin

Ntokozo Mbambo, South African gospel musician. Her name means happiness. Be happy is -thaba  in Zulu.   Happiness is the ideal, because it is such a rare commodity. We get by, shuffle along, living one day at a time, even people with bottomless bank accounts like Oprah and the Queen of England. Being unhappy is the essence of life. We should be grateful because perpetually happy people end up  behind bars in mental institutions.   “She can’t stop smiling doctor.” Parents are happy when a child is born. That is why you find thousands of kids called happiness in South Africa. Thaba-ni  = name for boys  meaning many people should be happy. Ba-thabi-le  = name for girls  meaning they are happy. Happiness is also tied to ambition. Politicians for example. They are driven by sheer ambition to be the Canadian Prime Minister or U.S. President. It is worse in Africa, where they cling to power until violence topples them. Anyway, when political parties win elections they say: si-thab

We also teach isi-Zulu , a South African language on this blog. Wish is fi-sa  in Zulu. Americans have a wish for next year’s election. No. Make it 2 wishes. They wish Donald Trump wins. They wish Donald Trump loses. Wishing is not practical. Working on something is more productive, like getting more Americans registered to vote and reminding them that one missing vote can make a wish come true or kill it. In colleges, students cannot work in coffee shops, electronic stores or party 24/7 then wish they can pass exams. Life is about fences that block wishes. Having said that, the reality is that people wish all the time. That is why Sifiso  is a popular boy’s name in southern Africa. Girls wish they can be Meghan Markle and marry a British prince. Daughters-in-law wish their mothers-in-law would relax the culture a bit, and allow them to wear what Canadian women wear. Women in some parts of the world wish they can give birth to sons, because the dowry system makes prepar