MMnnnnn.................Beauty!!!!

imali yesibonelelo{social grant}

The South African constitution gives children special protection. It puts the responsibility on the government to provide social assistance to children whose parents or primary caregivers are unable to support them financially.One of the ways they do this is through the provision of a Child Support Grant. The Child Support Grant is monthly income support to adults in need, who care for children who are under the age of 17. Parents and primary caregivers qualify for the Child Support Grant if their child is born on or after 31 December 1993.

Sadly, not all of these parents applied for financial assistance to the government to take care of their children but to take care of their financial problems. They don’t use it properly. This happens mostly when a parent is an alcoholic. You will find that the child support grand pays alcohol debts. Children are not taken care of by     their parents when its pay day. I have seen this many times in my neighborhood. A single parent mother is an alcoholic and she does not care of his children. When it is the day to receive grant it becomes a worst day to his children. She will come home drunk and beat his children.

Children support grant to help children not their parents.

South Africa’s “Rainbow Nation”

After 1994 the new government was introduced in South Africa and had a lot to change in the new democratic South Africa. There were many challenges facing the country as it was separated into different groups of people. People were discriminated according to their race. The government had to come up with ideas and solution of how to unite a country again. The country had to be joined together as one in order for the principles of the new government to work. An ideology was introduced. Ideology are sets of social values beliefs, feelings and representations by which people collectively make sense of the world they live in.The Rainbow Nation was represented  to set beliefs and aims that South African tribes and people will learn to live with one another and even celebrate their differences in their communities.

The rainbow nation is a description coined by Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He first uses the term to capture multicultural nature of this country. The rainbow nation captures the extra ordinary diversity of races, tribes, creeds, languages and landscape that characterises modern South Africa. It is considered to be a melting pot of many cultures and nations embedded in a wonderful landscape and nature {www.jointhegame.com}.South Africa has got different people with different culture. During the apartheid era people did not get a chance to understand each other and learn their differences as a country. People were separated into groups according to their race. They were not allowed to stay together in communities because of the laws. The metaphor rainbow nation is trying to put those differences and try to make the citizens of South Africa understand each other and respect each other’s culture.

The National Party which was in power at time did not want mixed race people stay together in communities. They laid laws against mixed races staying together. This was forced to happen especially in black people. The Bantu homelands citizens act of 19 70 compelled all black people to become a citizen of the homeland that responded to their ethnic group, regardless whether they had ever there or not. The Bantu homelands become communities for black people because they were not allowed to stay in anywhere other than rural ereas.The Bantu homeland was not the only law .The Group Areas act of No: 41of 1950 forced physical separation between races by creating differential residential areas, led to forces removals of people living in wrong areas for example Coloureds living in District 6 in Cape Town. Forced segregation in all public amenities, public buildings, and public transport with the aim of eliminating contact between whites and other races that was the Reservations of separate Amenities Act NO49 of 1953.Various segregation law passes before the National Party took complete power in 1948.Probably the most significant were The Native Land Act of no:27 of 1913 and the Natives{urban areas }act of 1923.The former made it illegal for blacks to purchase or lease land from except in reserves. This restricted black occupancy to less than eight per cent of SAs land.

South Africa held the most non-racial elections in 1994.This was the first promise to the citizen of the country. All was in hands of the new democratic government .Since the democratic government took over those laws were abolished. South African citizens are allowed to stay where ever they want to stay. They are no laws about where to live .Even at school black children can register at the same school with a white child. There is a possibility to become a rainbow nation.

It will take many years to become a rainbow nation. If South Africans can end racism and racial talks the country can reach to the point where we respect one another as brothers and sisters of Africa. For example Julius Malema statements and songs. The politicians or those who are in charge are the ones who have to show the way to the citizens of country. The Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu and the others they have done their part in building this country the way it supposed to be in the first place. A rainbow is a natural thing which got so beautiful colours that are united for now South Africa is that country it is still struggling to reach there. If South Africans can move forward because it looks like they haven’t forgive the past so that they can move forward. South Africa is a beautiful country if we can stop racism and stop discriminating each other and forget about the colour of our skins then the rainbow nation will be born.

Drugs is the problem

 “I am sick and tired of robbery in this community” said the chairman of a meeting that was held in Makhaleni site In Kwazakhele Port Elizabeth. The meeting was about the young boys getting in their homes; stealing their appliances and destroying their properties at night. This has been happening for more than two months in this community and many houses have been destroyed. This has gone too far in this community after an old granny was robbed alone in his home. That is what makes these residents to take action and call this meeting.

The meeting was held to talk about the issue. The residents said it’s a waste of time to go the police because they will arrest and tomorrow the break-ins are back. “My personal opinion is for these children to be beaten up by the whole community if we can only get one thief and beat him the others will see what we have done and I think the breaking in our houses will stop.” said the resident Nomisa Mdange.

Some residents said it is not the solution to beat them. The community should focus on what makes these children break their homes.Siyahluma Qingana said it is unfair that the community should pretend as if they don’t know the reason why these children break these homes. In their community they have a problem of people selling drugs and alcohol to the young children. These children break the houses after getting high with drugs.

The problem in the community is drugs and alcohol. The young children engage themselves on drugs and alcohol. The community reaches to the point that they will start a campaign that will go through the houses that sell drugs to young children and tell them to stop because the community is being destroyed.

I call it a journey

Once an old man said ‘when a child goes to school for the first time. She becomes so excited she cannot wait to wear his new uniform, new shoes and meet new friends.Now,she is no longer staying at home accompany others when they go to school or come from school .Arguably, Not many children feel that way when it’s the first time to school especially children in rural areas. I was once one of those children. When I was in grade eight I have to go to another school, high school. We have to walk long distances from our homes to school.

There is nothing exciting starting at school where you have to walk long distance to go to every day. We have to walk about an hour to school. Our journey usually start at 6:30 if you didn’t make it at that time then rather not go because you  were already missed the first period. I call it a journey because we used to walk across the N2 road. It was hard because we knew that wasn’t supposed to be happening to us. In South Africa every child has the right to education, safety and protected when going to school. We were not safe and were not protected. We felt that the government doesn’t care about us. As children coming from disadvantage homes and we have dreams to fulfill we become used to it. But only one thing that was even harder was the N2road we have to cross every morning without any traffic trying to stop the cars or robots indicating directions.

They say education is the key to succeed but is that what an individual have to go through to reach that point?  

The positive points about Dora Nginza hospital

At the beginning of March the public health care in Nelson Mandela Bay was facing an unprecedented collapse, with wide spread allegations of preventable death. One of these public health was Dora Nginza hospital .Dora Nginza hospital is one of the biggest hospital in Nelson Mandela Bay. The maternity ward at Dora Nginza made some those headlines for all the wrong reasons following horror stories from mothers who blame staff for complications arising with the birth of their babies.

The positive change has start arising in Dora Nginza`s maternity ward. Mothers who just gave birth and those who haven’t gave birth yet admitted that there is change. They receive treatment.The nurses are treating them well and their babies were born without complications.The two mothers that were not happy about the way that things went during labor.A 32 year old woman that gave birth to the twins , just find out when she was in labor that the other twin is dead.”Im not blaming them but etleast I should have known if there was something wrong with my baby earlier but the other one is alive” says the twin’s mother




A nurse waiting for a baby in the nursery ward picture by Asanda Xongo      

 

''Our maternity is the only one that is used in all of these towns around Port Elizabeth ,Uitenhage, Grahamstown up to Graff Reinett all these towns come here. The problem that sometimes we are dealing with is clinics. Clinics keep patients that needs hospital help and on the last minute when they see there’s nothing they can do they send them to us by the time they get here there’s a little that we can do. If you can look at the files of the patient, Patients arrive at about the time we`ve called them .There are patients that come here at 12 o` clock 30 minutes later they are dead because there was nothing to be done somebody else held that patient somewhere for too long.When you know you are pregnant you’re got to attend a clinic.” Says Mr Yoyo director 

Moerida Bell, a mother of 5 says it was the first time she gave birth in a public hospital and she doesn’t find any difference.

‘’My baby is fine, she was underweight but the nurses have taken a very good care of her. I blame the people that come here they don’t appreciate the service and they make it very difficult for the nurses. They don’t listen’ ’says Moerida         

Some mothers don’t attend clinics for check-ups some of them  come here with high blood pressure, diabetes and HIV already on stage 4 what can anybody do ,what you can do? So all of those people are the ones that are pushing up the statistics of people who are dying here .Most of the women that gave birth here are those who are HIV positive .They give birth to premature babies, some weight 200g to 400g.

 

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF JOURNALISTS IN A DEMOCRATIC

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e are living in a democratic society, a society that allows us to express our minds, opinions and ideas .In a society that citizens of its country are not afraid to stand for they believe in. Some even express their minds by writing articles and stories.

 Journalists play a very important role in the new South Africa as we know that we are facing many challenges in our society we need a way of converting those challenges in a positive way. Is the government doing what it is supposed to be doing?  Journalists have responsibility to change the world.  We need to know what is going on nationally and internationally. Journalism is the best way that can be used to reach out news to our society. What they write must have an impact on someone’s live in that he can be affected by your writing and start living a positive change. We must know what is happening in politics and socially, what is the government doing. Find information that is hard to get, corruption against politicians using money that supposed to go to poor people. People must know their rights and journalist helps our society to receive news through media. Journalist gives us hope that every news that we get its something new whether it’s bad for our country whether it’s good but we can learn through those mistakes as the whole society is aware.

 Journalist have a responsibility to come up with new ideas, new style of writing. Creativity is expected from journalists. News motivates people and keeps them going in any situation. People mustn’t feel so left out when reading papers and magazines. Journalists are responsible for their work therefore it is their responsibility to explain their work and make sure that the work is not plagiarised