FREE STATE NEWS (June 2010 editions)

FREE STATE NEWS (June 2010 editions)

This web page(s) regularly focuses on the leading Free State (South Africa) newspaper – Free State News – the first regular newspaper to be orchestrated fully by black people in the Free State province (the paper celebrated its 10th year anniversary last year). The paper has been published on a weekly basis since 1999. Regular items like “Feature of the week” have appeared here over the years.


Free State News crew

Publisher

Moses Vinger

Confidential Secretary/Manager

Maki Mohapi aka “Madam Maki” “H.C”

Editor

Kaya M

News Editor

Omoseye Bolaji

News Desk
S. Botsime

Contributors

David Mofokeng
Piet Motaung

Office Assistant

Gavin Ignitius

Lay-out artist

Tumisang Takang

Contact number:
051 447 1655



JUNE 25 – JULY 2 2010

FEATURE OF THE WEEK: “Horrific end for alleged crook” By R Khotseng (Page 2)

Reproduced below:

Horrific end for alleged crook

By R Khotseng

A brutally beaten-up male lay naked in the chilly winter morning hours on Monday this week (21 June 2010) in Malaykamp- Bochabela. Free State News learnt that a group of drivers had earlier accused him of stealing cellphones belonging to one of their colleagues.

But the grim fact was that at about five o’clock in the morning, the gruesome sight of the young man savagely beaten up was evident to people in the area. The victim had been set upon with stones, irons, baseball bats and other weapons that caused terrible head injuries as blood bled unstoppably. Free State News gathered that the victim is only known as “Mapoo”

According to Mrs Lungi Mogabe, whose cousin’s brother was also allegedly hunted down by the beaters: “It seems as if “Mapoo”, his brother and their friend boarded a taxi somewhere and when it reached Action filling station, Mapoo grabbed the driver by the neck whilst another pointed him with a gun and the other managed to take the cell phones. The driver lost control and the car hit something like a pole”

It was gathered that after this incident, about five drivers started hunting for culprits from night hours until the following morning. The brother of “Mapoo” said: “Drivers arrived at our place and beat up the suspect and when I interviewed them, they chased me with dangerous weapons. Afterwards they drove me to Lungi’s brother but never get hold of me…” So the drivers started their merciless torture of “Mapoo”

Mr Motsie Makosholo who witnessed the beating said he tried to intervene but the angry drivers ignored him. Mrs Mamiki Mogabe said, “They arrived with three cars but suddenly, I saw about seven cars; others joined the beating, afterwards they told me that wherever they found my son they’ll do to him what they did to Mapoo”

Thereafter police and ambulance were called but in the meantime the Municipality police arrived and accelerated matters with the ambulance arriving. By press time, Free State News understands the guy beaten up had died of his injuries. Police confirmed the incident:

JUNE 18 – JUNE 24 2010

FEATURE OF THE WEEK: “Rain could not put dampener on fun” By Lebohang Masisi (Back page)

Reproduced below:

Rain could not put dampener on fun

It was a merry day as the World Cup started last weekend; a day of fun for millions of South Africans; a day never seen before in the proud history of this country, as Bafana Bafana met Mexico in the very first game of the World Cup finals.

The city of Roses joined the fun and celebrations which started from the very beginning of the day. Men, women and children dressed in national colours, holding flags; lovely ladies with faces painted specially to mark the occasion going up and down. The vuvuzelas of course were in a special category of their own.

Weather- wise the day went on well, till ironically when the big game was about to start. Then the downpour started and went on for hours until the night. But it did nothing to stop the excitement. Many people who had gathered at Hoffman Square were to be disappointed as the big screen they had come to expect in the last few days was no longer there. As the rain fell down word went around that the big screen was at the Rocklands Sports centre.

So groups of us made our way to the Sports Centre and we were in no way disappointed. Large numbers of football followers whipped into great excitement were already there, witnessing the Opening ceremony and the big moment - the game itself. Everybody wanted a Bafana victory but we knew it would not be easy against such a top team like Mexico. In fact Mexico could have scored quite a number of goals in the first half alone.

But in the second half Bafana showed what they were capable of, and what fantastic celebrations as Siphiwe Tshabalala scored the first goal of the tournament. We all went mad and hoped the national side would add more goals, but it was not to be. On such occasions there are "villains" and many of the fans were not happy with the misses of Teko Modise. They forgot that his brilliant through ball set up the first goal for Bafana Bafana

And also poor Katlego Mphela missed a wonderful late chance to put us ahead - another instance of how things change in football; the goal-scoring hero against Denmark failing to send us into wild jubilations against Mexico. But it was still a very commendable performance by the national team and with France drawing 0-0 with Uruguay in the second match we were still very much on course.

Through it all the celebrations went on, reverberating throughout. It was wonderful witnessing it all and chatting with national icons like Thomas Kwenaite (of Supersport fame) who witnessed it all. And as fans trooped back home in the darkness, still in fine spirits, ululating, not giving a damn about the rain, we all felt that Bafana owed the millions of fans a good outing during this World Cup. Sadly of course, Bafana Bafana lost 3-0 to Uruguay on Wednesday night.
- Lebohang Masisi

Also:

Parallax Snaps

With Hector Kunene

Keeping shock absorbers within a place of reach

I have often come to realize that that there is a crucial role that a shock absorber plays in a car in order for it to absorb shock when it finds itself in a bump and hump situation. At a point of coalition or at an unexpected combustion or friction – shock absorbers play a role of absorbing any shock that is experienced at that time and they prevent a car from vibration that could bring harm even to the driver.

These needs to be changed regularly for good journeys and servicing the car can cost you much but the more the car is serviced the longer it lasts and you are bound to have faith in the car as a result long distances are trustworthy at any given time due to well timed services. I was intrigued when I came across a situation and was highly inspired by the shock absorbers in such a way that I even contemplated on writing on it. Well that’s me; I am simply inspired by anything really both big and small and have adopted an attitude to learn from all genres in all spheres. You will never know who can teach you a thing or two as a result we need not to despise the beginning of small things but instead we need to embrace them and challenge ourselves with humility to go down and learn from ant sized situations.

Well I perceive that you know where we are going by now! As human beings it is imperative to have our human shock absorbers. Many people have suffered unnecessary defeats due to lack of human shock absorbers. Even today many people are unable to handle shock because they are never prepared for it. Yes, shock can cause a stir but it should not result to death. Many others have died a premature death or suffer permanent disability due to shock that could have been prevented.

What am I saying? Let us be able to take shock as it comes and handle it with the absorbers that must be renewed regularly. We are fortunate enough to receive an indication of symptoms even before we are sick and that is the time we need to consult with the doctor to prevent a situation from worsening. Who goes to the doctor between a doctor and a patient? If you thought it is patient then think again as both needs to be treated for their different physical challenges. We need to avoid a premature death or permanent disability by having human shock absorbers. You must be able to take shock no matter what kind it may be. We are designed to manage both giving and receiving in a same altitude. As the saying goes “ prevention is better than cure” but I put it on the table that if you lack knowledge how would you even know what to prevent and preventing from what?

Some of the things look small and we normally take them for granted and yet they are major as small as they are. We fail to understand and estimate the time of growth as we do not always look ahead and see the final object or result of a small looking object. Whatever it is, it may look small but take life binoculars and observe carefully to get a clear picture of what it is that looks small with a naked eye. Oops my page is done! Oh well, till next time folks!


JUNE 11 – JUNE 17 2010

FEATURE OF THE WEEK: “THE GLOBAL MAGIC BEGINS!” By R Khotseng (Front page; contd on back page)

Reproduced below:

Ke nako! The great day has arrived. The World Cup kicks off today, as Bafana Bafana meet Mexico. What excitement throughout the country, from President Zuma to everybody out there! There are high expectations indeed!

Millions are holding their hearts in the hand for Bafana Bafana to triumph over Mexico. As hosts we must at least reach the knockout stage. But our national coach Carlos Parreira has the confidence in South Africans and players in particular when he says that with passionate support and the intimidating noise of the vuvuzela in the 95,000 seater soccer city, a positive result should be achieved against Mexico. This is expected to set in motion a momentum towards the knockout stages – and beyond!

On the other hand, the Mexican squad consists of experienced and a mixture of the former Under-17 world champions of 2005. Those include Andrian Aldrete, Efrain Juarez, Hector Morena and Carlos Vela. Mexico has young players and their coach Javier Aquirre says they are the best generation in Mexican history. They are led by a golden duo, Grovani Dos Santos and Carlos Vela (of Arsenal). In this generation Javier Hernandez is regarded as the best striker.

Coach Javier Aquirre’s experience of leading Mexico dates back to the 1986 World Cup quarter final as a player when playing West Germany, he has a good record as a coach. In 2002 he took the team to the finals -and out of 17 matches he only suffered two defeats. However Bafana’s advantage is that Mexico’ s veteran playmaker Guauhtemoc Blanco has generally looked out of form since medical staff reported him to be 10kg overweight.

The Mexican coach will pin hopes on Adolfo Bautista. Another good news for Bafana is that Mexico’ s best striker Andres Guardado recently has been plagued by injuries; the Mexican squad has often relied on his pace

Meanwhile Parreira can boast of his two intensive training camps in Brazil and Germany between March and April this year that has produced consistency and fighting spirit. Today, it is clear that a defeat or draw might hamper South African dreams for quarter finals, and millions of fans are hoping that Parreira’ s tactics of ball possession, quick passing and fitness will see us victorious!
- Raselebeli Khotseng

Also:

PARALLAX SNAPS (Column)

With Hector Kunene

The cup of glory in South Africa!

Today is D-day as South Africa meets Mexico! The world will be looking more with a different eye as this is the opening match that will set a standard of what is to come throughout the tournament. Who are the underdogs when Bafana Bafana have proven beyond reasonable doubt that they can do it? Feel it. It is here. South Africa elevates once again!

Looking at the reception of the world, we have managed to convince and stamp it POSSIBLE for our country to host the World Cup. Soccer has proven beyond measure to be the language that can be spoken and understood by all the four N’s - Near, Neighbour, Nation and Nations. It is also understood that economically every country that hosts the World Cup has got a lot of financial muscle. We can even confirm that our million dollar preparations have done us well for those who doubted South Africa the possibility of pulling off this awesome honour.

Great men come and go. We ought to leave an impact that the world will never forget. This is not about us but for the history that will be pasted on books, even the Guinness books of records. It will take decades again before we host this Cup so we stand a great chance of engraving ourselves a world class World Cup file.

Sport, art and culture will remain an indomitable activity that will always resonate a well paved shadow that glows within the darkness of clouds. The expectations of viewers or fans are high especially when the results speak for themselves. We have seen it happening also with the rugby at Orlando Stadium 2 weeks ago when for the very first time in history rugby proved once again that sport is an international language.

Together with all other sports we are going to achieve a lot in this country. Of course we want all the best to come to fruition and will remain eternally grateful that Madiba did a lot to get the Cup in our African soil. All the best for Bafana against Mexico. Sparks will flow and the best man will win!
Till next time folks!

JUNE 4 – JUNE 10 2010

FEATURE OF THE WEEK: “Meet Jah Rose, an exhilarating poet!” Interview by O Bolaji (Page 4)

Reproduced below:

MEET JAH ROSE, an exhilarating poet!

Exclusive interview by O Bolaji

BOLAJI: You have done very well to establish yourself as a powerful female poet in the Free State. How did your love for this genre (poetry) start?

JAH ROSE: well it kinda started even before I realised...Bareng Dichaba was the one who actually un-blinded me to say what you’ve been writing is actually poetry, so I was excited to find out that I'm a poet and never looked back. That was back in early 2000.

You have performed/read your impressive poetry at many occasions. Can you tell us about some of these events?

Mostly at home - I perform at are governmental events, to sharing my writings at poetry sessions around, in and out of South Africa...there is nothing more thrilling than being at an event full of art and artists themselves, so poetry festivals have become my church - that’s how much I have dedicated myself to my work.

Allied to this, what would you say was your greatest moment as a poet?

I have so many very beautiful moments as a growing poet... I have met kings and queens through my gift as a writer, I have crossed seas and borders, rivers and mountains, I have and continue to travel the world through my art, so this is one call I’m glad I never missed, for it is a calling.

South Africa is blessed with a crop of powerful female poets. Which ones of them do you admire most, and why?

I love Napo Masheane mainly because I can hear her, I adore Mme Myesha as well thanks to pacofs we have worked together on so many occasions and she is a mother figure artistically so, she is a sweetheart.

In the Free State, how would you describe the awareness of women as regards poetry at grassroots level? What can be done to sensitise even more women to relish poetry?

Fortunately I am a field worker, so I work with most artists especially upcoming poets...so I know for sure that the culture is booming a lot compared to the last five years...and there is real talent out...people who have the ability to tell their generational stories and write tomorrow's history. to women/’wemen’ poetry is a weapon of self discovery, self development and self empowerment and beyond anything else it is a self creation to...you work on sculpting your craft until you shape it to what you want, who you want and anything else that you want out of life,,, so if you have the spirit of writing in you...use it.

Obviously, you have read anthologies, books of poetry published by South Africans – by the likes of Don Mattera, Mongane Serote, Vonani Bila, Lebo Mashile etc. Which of any of these books are you likely to read again?

It will be Napo's - like I said I hear that woman too much, Lindiwe Mabuza and Ntate Don Mattera - he is also very clear in what he wants to say and he is not afraid. You feel it as you go through his work. I love simplicity, so they do it for me.

Internationally, who are the poets that have impressed you most?

I love Asa from Nigeria, I love...''why is it that when Lauren comes from the Hills of India she's always Arie''; for me these ladies sing their poetry.

I understand you are set to publish your first book of poetry. How will you describe the collection?

Yes it is true, I'm hoping to launch it in August this year for it is finished and by the way looking for a publisher, it is called ROOTED FROM THE HEART!, It is an intro of me to the world of literature , who and what I'm about...the high's and he low's, the fears and vulnerability, joys and peacefulness, aspirations and admirations of young woman and how she views and has experienced her environment, emotionally, spiritually, politically and all other ‘cally's’! Basically how I found myself through art and poetry as it has become huge part of me, all these are reflected in this compilation. Thank you…