Latest news with #Bloemfontein
Mail & Guardian
a day ago
- General
- Mail & Guardian
Unpacking South Africans' response to ‘the 59ers'
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G) It is Tuesday evening. I am seated with a friend and my son in our favourite restaurant in Bloemfontein. My son listens to our conversation as I note that the 49 Afrikaner migrants (or 59 as some reports suggest) incorrectly and problematically afforded refugee status through executive order by the Trump administration have landed in the US. Their departure is called the 'Great Tsek' on social media. We laugh conspiratorially. South Africans respond to most situations with a trademark humour that inspires much hilarity. We repeat the in-joke in multi-cultural and multi-classed spaces — taxis, buses, lecture halls, at a Sunday braai, in a coffee shop, between co-workers — we evoke the reality of co-created belonging through humour. Our humour, a shared South African-ness irrespective of historicised divisions of race, class, creed or gender, masks our discomfort, or psychological and emotional pain. Whether we are supporting Tyla's right to self-define as coloured — while ridiculing and stereotyping colouredness — and interrogating black Americans' failure to unpack the context of coloured in South Africa, or vituperatively disowning Elon Musk, South Africans have a unique, enmeshed and complex affinity and loyalty to each other. Amorphous and responsive, this loyalty is an organic response to a perceived threat, or a show of appreciation or forgiveness — recall our troetelnaam (pet name) for our president: Cupcake. South African humour and loyalty are revealed on TikTok, Instagram and X. On these platforms we deconstruct the perceptions and slights of 'ordinary' South Africans as we digest and metabolise the news together, as South Africans, and as global citizens in conversation with other global citizens. We find solace in our derision, and the truth etched onto the edges of that laughter. The phrase 'Great Tsek' is an incisive commentary on the double-edged nature of the 59ers' departure. As South African stayers imagine saying that, they remind us of a socio-cultural memory in which white Afrikaners would chase black people from their farms with the word 'voertsek' (go away, get lost). And in return, based on commentary from a few of the emigrants, we can duly imagine the 59ers exclaiming 'voertsek' as they took off from OR Tambo International Airport. The phrase, Great Tsek, thus points to a rejection that is mirrored by those who stay (are left behind) and those who leave. Amid the laughter M, a young black woman who has experienced the harrowing loss of dispossession of family-owned land in the Free State through apartheid's legalised appropriation of land, comments: 'I'm laughing, but they're still South African, man! What are they going to experience there? It doesn't matter that they are white. I worry about them. They are us.' As a national human collective — South Africans — we don't want to be rejected, or 'left behind'. It is a typical human response to excise the offending parties from our collective. But still there are those among us, like my friend, who compassionately tries to understand the reasons for the 59ers' departure, and hopes that they haven't made a mistake that will have enduring negative repercussions. The reasons for emigration are multiple, but this particular departure underscores a severance of ties with the land of their birth, our South African humour, and much more that embodies a particular national expression of humanity. The 59ers are not Europeans; much less American. They are South Africans; and we are a complicated mengelmoes (mixture) of peoples who embody various amalgamated traditions, languages, orientations, humour, oppressions and battle scars. Violence, risk and resilience are endemic to the South African narrative, no matter which ethnic tributary you lay claim to as you arrive here on the shores of a contemporary South Africa that is being lived in the trenches and robustly debated on the streets of social media. Those who speak, who stay, who worstel (struggle) with the inadequacies of the state, birth South Africa's next chapter in which every lineage and narrative have value. We navigate turbulent racialised, ethnicised and citizenship currents, potholed roads and jagged promises of well-being for all in rickety boats, maladapted vehicles and kaal voete (bare feet) together. We are not necessarily seasoned or adequately equipped; and the shoreline of our dreams is unfamiliar, with the horizon blurred and distant. But for those who stay, the vision of a South Africa that supports the well-being of all her citizens inspires us to put our shoulders to the wheel, and to live not only for ourselves but for others. Each one who voluntarily remains behind assumes an active role in envisioning, dreaming, crafting, moulding and building South Africa's next chapter. Each one. And so, during supper when my son asks what the word 'colonisation' means I try simply to chart South Africa's convoluted history. His response — 'not all white people are like that' — is not a negation of our past. Rather his words confirm, as a seven-year-old, that his immediate and direct experience does not align with our 'black and white' histories. They offer a moment of pause, as I come to terms with what my lineage has experienced pre-apartheid, what I have experienced during and post-apartheid and the future my son is living into existence. He demands from me, and you, a conscious recognition of how far we have travelled as South Africans to be here — constructing our futures with clear sight of our histories. His words defy an easy, glib and uncontextualised narrative of what makes us South African. And, like M, he inspires us to accept that we are complex and incomplete as South Africans, whether at home, or in the US, without each other. Professor Joy Owen is the head of the department of anthropology at the University of the Free State.
The Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- The Herald
Forty graduates turn conservation training into economic opportunity
Forty youths and women received certificates on Thursday in Bloemfontein for completing a community-based training programme hosted by Meals on Wheels in partnership with SANParks as part of a growing initiative to tackle youth unemployment, food insecurity and economic inequality in South Africa. The training focused on agriculture, food preservation, leather and beauty product manufacturing, supported by the government and private sector partners. It aims to equip vulnerable community members with hands-on skills to start their own businesses and build self-sufficiency. Seiso Mohai, deputy minister of agriculture, land reform and rural development, applauded the graduates for embracing an opportunity that links conservation with job creation. 'We must begin to see agriculture and biodiversity not only as tools for survival but as platforms for innovation and growth. What we are witnessing today is not just a graduation but a shift in how we build resilience in our rural communities,' said Mohai. Skumsa Nthanga, SANParks head of socioeconomic transformation and Vision 2040 project lead, told TimesLIVE that the programme's purpose is to empower communities, especially those near biodiversity-rich landscapes, to reclaim their heritage through sustainable economic activity. 'We want to see beneficiaries establish and run their own enterprises. Our national parks are in remote areas with limited job opportunities. This programme is about closing that gap,' she added. One of the graduates, Thulisa Mnqabisa from Nomathamsanqa, said she closed her beauty salon to join the training. 'I wanted to learn how to develop my own beauty products and eventually use them in my salon,' she said. Mnqabisa told TimesLIVE that she now plans to manufacture and distribute her beauty products to BnB houses and hotels. 'The knowledge I got here will help me employ others in my community. That's the dream.'
The Herald
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald
‘So much has happened': Savita Mbuli reflects on 12 years without Vuyo
It has been 12 years since renowned radio and TV presenter Vuyo Mbuli died — but the wound is fresh in his widow's memory. Vuyo died on May 19 2013 at the age of 46 after collapsing in the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein while watching a rugby match. His wife Savita shared a picture of herself with her partner, reflecting on life without him. "Twelve years since the passing of my dearest Thando. And the voice of the doctor who confirmed, 'We tried our best but we couldn't save him,' is remembered so vividly," she said. "So much has happened since, but what remains is that you are the best we've ever had. AI [artificial intelligence] says this is how you would have looked like, while we remember your youthfulness on the first broadcast of Morning Live . Continue to rest in heavenly peace, Myenam. We all miss you."
Associated Press
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Africa's only anti-doping lab has status revoked by WADA for testing flaws
MONTREAL (AP) — The only recognized drug-testing laboratory in Africa lost its right to work in sports, the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Friday. WADA revoked accreditation for the anti-doping lab in Bloemfontein, South Africa, 'due to its inability to satisfactorily address multiple nonconformities.' The lab has been suspended since September 2023 for issues including detecting steroids in athlete samples. WADA has accredited a network of about 30 labs worldwide and samples collected in Africa can be transported to testers in India, Qatar, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Collecting samples from remote athlete training centers and transporting them long distances increases the risk they will degrade and be unusable for testing. ___ AP sports:
The Herald
16-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald
SCA dismisses Nandipha Magudumana's deportation appeal
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed Nandipha Magudumana's bid to have her deportation from Tanzania declared unlawful. The SCA briefly handed down the judgment on Friday. The majority judgment dismissed the appeal with costs of the two counsels, while the minority judgment upheld the appeal. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomed the judgment but also noted the minority judgment. In June 2023, Free State High Court judge Phillip Loubser dismissed Magudumana's application for her arrest and deportation from Tanzania to be declared unlawful and set aside. In his ruling, Loubser found she had consented to her removal by South African home affairs officials from Tanzania as she wanted to return home to be with her children. 'The NPA's prosecution team will now focus on ensuring the trial set down for July 21 to September 19 before the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein proceeds without unreasonable delay,' said NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga. Magudumana and her co-accused face 38 counts of fraud, corruption, money laundering, assisting an inmate to escape, violation of the body, arson and defeating the ends of justice. 'The NPA is committed to ensuring justice is not only done but seen to be done because of the alleged crimes' impact on the rule of law and the victims,' he said. TimesLIVE
