Nonqaba said ...

Canada, like South Africa is stolen land. That's the truth. The Queen of England knows it. Canada is observing the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, to recognize wrongs done to original owners of this land. God created China for the Chinese, Japan for the Japanese, Europe for Europeans, Africa for black people and Canada and the Pacific for indigenous people, history collectively calls Indians. The correct path is to remove ‘truth’ and just call it a reconciliation day, because the truth is determined by those in power, the Canadian government in this case. That is why they wrote history books that say Europeans came to Canada to ‘civilize the savages’, when the truth is that they were starving in Europe and lived under feudal conditions called ‘royalty.’ They didn’t own land and had no servants. The truth is that previous governments wanted the land, which belonged to the  Anishinaabe,  Canada’s indigenous people. They had to be removed from it through Jesus Christ

Online pic. Education went digital many moons ago. Kids look down upon teachers because they have more followers than teachers, the prime minister or the Pope. That does not change the fact that education, or learning is hands-on, human to human. Kids in Europe, Canada, U.S. and Australia look forward to their first car. In fact they demand it from parents, as if it’s necessary like the air we breathe.   Digital superiority over parents deceives kids that they don’t need them for anything. It’s all online. That’s all they need to pass the learner driver’s test. Parents should ignore the bravado and take them for a walk. No car. Just ten toes around the block. Cars on the right, zoom by while cars on the left wait patiently. Why dad? This is so boring. Because of road signs Einstein. The road is a jungle. All the beasts want to zoom by. They are in a hurry to go somewhere not important. Stop signs, one-way streets, speed limits are all part of the jungle. Drivers are conceited bastards

Monday is Umsombuluko in Zulu, which means the opening of the week. We know about the Lunar Calendar in China and Hindu Calendar in India, but there are many more we are not aware of.   Ama-Zulu, the nation whose umbilical cord is buried south of the country known as South Africa, have their own days of the week. ZULU ENGLISH Umsombuluko Monday. Lwe-sibili. Tuesday, which means second day of the week. Lwe-sithathu. Wednesday, third day of the week. Lwe-sine. Thursday, fourth day of the week. Lwe-sihlanu. Friday, fifth day of the week. U-mgqibelo. Saturday. Isonto. Sunday. We don’t like Monday, because it’s back to work, to reality after a lazy weekend. That’s why someone coined the term ‘blue Monday’. Monday is Umsombuluko  in Zulu. It means the re-opening of something, slowly unfolding, like a bud opening into a flower. It’s amazing when toddlers do that, showing their potential. Once everything is open on Monday, the Zulu calendar starts counting the days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursda

Leftovers are a statement of wealth. They mean we have more than enough to eat, because we have money to buy extra. Because we have more food, we put more on plates. We don’t finish it so it ends up in containers we store in refrigerators. Worse still, we throw the food in the thrash can under the sink. This blog was triggered by the government. They called about some survey and they had questions about food.  Have I ever felt that I didn’t have enough money to buy food? Another question was about not buying healthy food due to money shortage. I understand the first question because there are millions out there who can’t even afford one meal a day. They rely on water but water hurts if the stomach is empty. They either don’t have the money to buy food or the harvest has failed. Farmers grow crops to sell and also to eat. That’s why there’s no food if there’s a drought. I don’t understand the second question about having no money to buy healthy food. That is usually a personal choice. W

Photo credit. Online image. Sell language is short and clear, written in big letters. Prison language is  small letters, they call fine print. Prison language is long, a document actually, which can have 30 sections and 15 sub-sections. Own your own home! Instant million dollars! Boost your online business! Be a top model! No interest for 12 months! Win Trip to Mauritius! Subscribe to our free newsletter! Get your free Twitter/Instagram/FB/YouTube account! First of all, it’s easy to spot sell language. Free . That’s right. Free is the operating word, so if you see it, run for your life. There’s a catch. Secondly, sell language doesn’t need a lawyer or a tech geek. Maybe we should think of the word free as the bait that leads to prison language. It kicks in once the fish has been caught. We enjoy the free things until we get the bill: ‘ Due to repeated mortgage payment lapses, we have exercised foreclosure.’ What is foreclosure? Ask a lawyer. By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.      

Jenica Atwin carried Green Party votes with her when she defected to Liberals. Is that democracy or fraud? Tradition cannot be forever because it germinated at certain times, in certain circumstances. When the music changes, the dance changes, says the African proverb. Unfortunately, it doesn’t change in former British colonies like Canada that practise rusty political traditions like floor crossing. What is floor crossing? An example. I went to the market to buy oranges. I like them because they are sweet. Someone was selling lemons. He tried to convince me to buy them, even gave me a recipe for lemonade. I said no. I don’t like lemons, they are bitter. I bought oranges and went home. I later tried to peel them only to discover that he sold me lemons. There is a tendency to regard anything British, anything related to the Queen of England as sacrosanct, holy or god-like. Because of that, floor crossing in Canada is not regarded as what it is: fraud, cheating, false advertising, swindl

Online pic: Canada 2021 election television debate. There is a garden of issues that makes us vote for A and not B. Jobs for example. If candidate B says he will shut down all coal mines, miners won’t vote for him. If he says he’ll increase taxes for the rich that close factories and move them off-shore, billionaires won’t vote for him. Some voters don’t care about a political party’s platform. The leader decides their vote. They might vote for him because he’s a man’s man, doesn’t take nonsense from those ‘communists’ and puts women in their place. What voters want from a leader is purely subjective. Voters and their families know why they won’t vote for a particular party although they like its stand on most issues. It’s something that is not discussed outside the home, and the media knows it’s out of bounds. Election television debates are a relic but they are a good example of how we vote for  leaders’ faces and not what they stand for. A leader might do well in the election debate

Photo credit: online pic. We avoid meeting the homeless on the street. How do we know they are homeless? They push carts they nicked from the grocery store, although we’ve also stolen grocery carts ourselves. That’s why in Canada, if you push it so many meters away from the store, it locks. I’m going nowhere, it says. How do you know they’re homeless? Their clothes are in tatters. But, you also wear cut-up (distressed jeans) that cost $90. That’s different. It is fashion and it’s trending. It’s not distressed as in homeless. We avoid the homeless because they have a tendency to come close and ask for change, and they don’t smell of a German cologne, French after shave or perfume named after a singer. We move away and press the mask on the nose to ward off the repulsive smell. But the real reason we avoid them is anger. We don’t know how they allowed themselves to hit rock bottom. It can never happen to me, we shrug, open our designer bags and fish out our android phones. Me? Homeless?

Online pic: traditional dance which lifts up the leg and pounds it on the floor. Celebrate is gida in Zulu, but a large part of it, is dancing. I wanted to say gida is dancing but that would be too restrictive. It might limit the imagination to line dancing, slow dancing or nightclub dancing. Gi-da is celebrate because it is an outcome. Some party won the election and they celebrate. It involves food, drink and dancing. It’s the whole package. Gi-da in Zulu comes from the form of traditional dancing called ukugida . Men lift up their legs and there’s a hard sound when they plant them on the ground. In the olden days, people dressed up in their finery to attend special celebrations. The highlight was when men demonstrated their artistry in ukugida . Celebrations differ from culture to culture obviously and they all involve dancing. It could be weddings, graduations, birthdays, national holidays, religious ceremonies etc. Gi-da . You say the first part like gild, the second like dove. U-

Kawhi Leonard. He's so quiet, his second name should be Thula, the quiet one. Shut up is thula in Zulu. Thula ni , which means many people should keep quiet is also a popular boy’s name. Maybe there was a family misunderstanding when he was born. The family is hoping his birth will bring peace, people will shut up and reconcile. Please note that - ni at the end is plural, many people. Kawhi Leonard, who plays for LA Clippers, an NBA team should have a second name: Thula . He’s so quiet, a breath of fresh air. Thu-la-ni  can also be used in politics. During elections, polls interview a few people over the phone, then publish blanket statements about winners and losers. Polls are outdated measurements that have been replaced by social media, Twitter in particular. Anyway, when the underdog party wins, it tells pollsters, thu-la-ni  (shut up).  Death is inevitable but we still cry when a loved one passes on, to the next life. Friends and neighbors come to the house to console the grie

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes Benz Formula 1 racing driver with many victories. Privilege and class all over the world, come from parents, who got it from grandparents who got it from great grandparents. The British class system with the Queen as the head is the definitive example. That’s why Britain has something called ‘working class’ because they worked for men who owned land and people in Wales, Ireland, Africa, Canada, U.S. Caribbean and throughout the British Empire. The working class was told education can elevate them to some sort of privilege and wealth, despite their accents that instantly define their class, when they open their mouths. Pygmalion  the book, has been made into a thousand plays and movies. The working class is getting even by acquiring privilege and wealth through sports and entertainment, thanks to television. The internet and its tentacles is a recent thing, but has quadrupled the fame. The new class is nurtured by men and women who make a tidy profit using their