A friend was lamenting on facebook about the pervasive racism in the small town where she's recently moved, and finding herself cringing internally and shutting up instead of speaking out.

Her friend Annie Ory (who I'm compelled to credit for such sage advice) responded:

"Yes, it's hard to, but needed. It helps me to have a plan for what to say that is calm. I practice it, so I can "pull it out of my pocket" ready to go. It is never attacking. It is always a feedback report. I note that no matter what I really think, if I accuse someone of being a bad person or I attack them or their thoughts, they fight back, label me, and learn nothing. They just make the interaction about ME being a bad person who calls names. I tell them how their comment made me feel. All I message is, "Oh. I don't really believe that black people and white people are different in that way and it makes me very uncomfortable and sad to hear that from you." Interestingly people respond to this sort of calm input with deep shame, which is what you're looking for...

It's interesting, because it works by turning the thing in on itself. Racism is really a social construct for building community. We say negative things about the "other" so that we draw closer to those who are more like us. When it has the opposite effect, the person steps away and tells us we're creating distance instead, the impact is that the racism becomes a useless tool. The kinder and more gentle we are as we disavow it the more the person feels that they lost a connection with someone worth being in relationship with. We are all just apes after all, down from the trees, but still safer in a tribe than on our own...."

We are appealing to enthusiastic volunteers to assist rural schools and promote literacy, computer skills, extramural activities, arts and sports development.

Experience the magic of Africa and play a vital role in education and bridging the digital divide, while exploring and integrating with the ancient local customs and culture of the Xhosa people.

The Mentoring Volunteer Project is based on the Wild Coast, and works with junior secondary schools located in and around Hole in the Wall and nearby Coffee Bay.

Please see:
Mentor-ring Volunteer Project for more info.

You may also be interested in these other Wild Coast Volunteer projects:

It's already at www.wildcoast.co.za/node/96

CASABio (Collaborative Archive of South African Biodiversity) is an NGO dedicated to the conservation of the earth's species.

Their bottom line is: get involved!!!
It's one way you CAN help protect our natural heritage.

CASABIO have submitted the following protest posters against the destruction of our Pondoland Center of Endemism:

Sign the Petition at www.wildcoast.co.za/ict4d/petition before the close of business on Tuesday 18 May 2010!

Daily News - 5 March 2010

Related Article:

* Toll tariffs to rise

The N2 Wild Coast toll road project has been given another green light after a decade-long controversy, but final approval could still be thwarted by strong opposition from Durban, the KZN legislature and other interest groups.

By: Christy van der Merwe
10th February 2010

The hearings involving interested parties appealing a decision to grant Transworld Energy Minerals (TEM) a licence to mine heavy minerals from the dunes near Xolobeni on the Wild Coast, scheduled to take place this week, were cancelled.

The committee of four people, which was appointed by the Mining and Minerals Board to oversee the presentations from all parties involved, could not proceed because it had not received the necessary documentation from the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

Committee chairperson Pathekile Holomisa told Mining Weekly Online that it had now received the documentation, which it would go through, and would decide in March whether or not hearings into the matter in fact needed to take place.

"Ultimately, our piece would be to advise the Minister, either to proceed with granting the license, or cancel or withdraw it, but that depends on our understanding of the issue. And we shall also decide whether there is a need to invite more oral presentations or not," he explained.

Grahamstown-based Legal Resources Centre (LRC) representative Sarah Sephton said that the cancellation of the hearings was "completely unsatisfactory', as the LRC had made the effort to submit its volumes of documentation on time to the DMR.

She added that the LRC, as well as representatives from the mining company TEM, and the company's black economic-empowerment partner, Xolco, travelled to the KwaZulu-Natal DMR offices for the scheduled hearings "at great cost", only to be told that hearings were not going to take place.

The LRC represented the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), which was appealing the mining right, which the former Minerals and Energy Minister, Buyelwa Sonjica, granted in August 2008.

The LRC stated that one of the grounds for the appeal was that the mining right was granted to the Australia-based mining junior without sufficient and reasonable consultation with the Xolobeni community as an interested and affected party.

On September 28, 2009, the LRC submitted two expert reports to the Minister in support of the appeal to set aside the mining right. One of the reports provided that the heavy minerals mining operations planned by TEM had been discontinued in other jurisdictions, such as Australia and New Zealand.

Resolution on whether or not the licence to mine for titanium-bearing minerals would, in fact, be granted was expected by June 2009, however, little clarity on the matter had emerged.

Edited by: Mariaan Webb

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/xolobeni-appeal-hearings-cancelled-2...

The Legal Resources Centre's submission to DME on behalf of the ACC and Xolobeni community is rather long-winded and dry; but also interesting, and thoroughly convincing:

THE DEPARTMENT OF MINERALS AND ENERGY

INTERNAL APPEAL/REVIEW OF THE AWARD OF A MINING RIGHT TO TRANSWORLD
ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES (SA) (PTY) LTD

Appeal/review instituted by:

THE AMADIBA CRISIS COMMITTEE

Directed to:

MINISTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MINERALS AND ENERGY

APPLICANT'S FURTHER GROUNDS OF REVIEW AND REPLY TO SUBMISSIONS FROM TEM AND XOLCO

2 Recent print articles, which only appeared in the Daily Dispatch Online today, have already been published in the Weekend Post and on other environmental sites; proving conclusively that public perception is strongly against the mining:

The stories have been published at
http://www.weekendpost.co.za/article.aspx?id=527361

http://saweatherobserver.blogspot.com/2010/02/another-environmental-disa...

and
http://www.savingwater.co.za/2010/02/04/heavy-minerals-mining-in-environ...

and are also reproduced in full below:

2010/02/04
THE granting of a mining licence to Australian mining group Transworld Energy Minerals (TEM) to mine heavy minerals on the pristine dunes at Xolobeni on the Wild Coast was “clearly improper and ought to be withdrawn”.
...

From page 76, Government Gazette 29 , January 2010

Annual & temporary permit prices with effect from 1 May 2010:

Fees payable in respect of issuing a permit to undertake Recreational Fishing (annual), and fees payable in respect of issuing short-term permits (only valid for 4 weeks) of:

Not to over-stress the absurdity in the first place, of bureaucratizing access to their coastal resources for the uneducated, impoverished, and already marginalized inhabitants of the Wild Coast; but there has been a recurring theme of blatant government incompetence played out over the past few years at Hole in the Wall.

DEDEA is responsible for enforcement of permits and quotas, and MCM is responsible for the issuing of subsistence permits. But the 2 government departments don't know what the other is doing, and several times we have had cases of local fishermen being fined heavily for not being in possession of a permit, whereas they had not yet been issued.

Yesterday, a local fisherman by the name of David was caught by the 'Green Scorpions' for catching a 16kg kob (kabeljou). The fish was confiscated and he was issued a summons to appear in court next month, and, if what I heard is correct, he could face a fine of about R2,000 or more.

The absurd irony is that MCM only issued the permits today. And he was carrying his permit, which expired on the 31 December 2009, with him!

Believe me, issuing the permits by the 25'th of January is an amazing feat and HUGE improvement over previous years. Vuyisani Jozana from MCM has really played an incredible role in improving delivery of permits over the last year. His predecessor managed to deliver the permits for 2008 in October that year - whereas the crayfish season closes for 4 months at the end of October.

I truly believe it is wasteful of resources, counterproductive, and completely ridiculous to even think about registering each and every coastal inhabitant to allow them access to the fruit of their own back gardens; and resources could be much more effectively deployed simply enforcing quotas.

Year before last year one poor chap was fined R200 and his gaff was confiscated, for fishing for red-bait without a permit, because they hadn't been issued yet; and he hadn't even caught anything.

Sad really.

UPDATE 1 Feb '10: I have a scan of the fine, and the new permit which was issued to David the very next day. It's actually a R250 fine, but the fish alone is worth the same amount. If not more. R20 per kg is about the going rate. The 'officials' confiscated his old/expired permit along with the fish.

In any case, the ±R2000 fine discrepancy comes from the grapevine, and in fact David, who is one of the very few locals with a vehicle, pulled off the road across from the youth project rondavels just outside Coffee Bay, to have a pee, and received a R2,500 fine from the 'scorpions' for being off the demarcated road.

The issue is that he was temporarily 6 feet off the road, proper, and was parked on a track running parallel to the road, which is often used because it is less rocky. But besides all that, he would have had no way of knowing about "letter of the law" enforcement to that pedantic extent.

UPDATE 2 February 2009: It turns out that it is the self-same department that issued the fine to David. MCM "Compliance" have had 4 officials staying at the Hole in the Wall hotel for the past 2 weeks. They gave the fine to David on the Sunday, and they issued the new permits on the very next day.

Also, it's an 8kg kob, not 16kg as I heard previously. At R30 a kilo it's still worth almost the entire amount of the fine.

And, hmm, let me see: 4 rooms at R450 per night, times 14 days = 25,200 of tax payers money on this debacle. That's excluding daily S&T.

Our project rented a 4 bedroom house in Coffee Bay for an entire year for about the same amount. Very efficient use of tax payer resources, I must say.

And furthermore, MCM are supposed to be working with local communities to create co-management committees to enforce their own regulations and quotas. DEDEA is supposed to be the enforcement arm at provincial level. Why the duplication of effort?

South Africa: Late Start For Crayfish Licences, Inter Press Service, Thursday, December 31, 2009 (posted by Global Issues)

http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=367920

2009/12/19
We're Serious: Advocate Votani Majola, the man behind the Justice For King Dalindyebo Campaign, seems to be stopping an interruption at its launch at Bumbane Great Place near Mthatha. Picture: LULAMILE FENI
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma was called on yesterday to apologise to the AbaThembu nation and order the State to pay the tribe R80billion for allowing the humiliation of their monarch.

And the State was also instructed to pay R900million – or else! – to the family of King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of serious crimes last week.

If the demands were rejected the AbaThembu nation would secede from South Africa and form its own independent State.

The bizarre demands and threats came in a discussion document which was revealed during the launch of “The Justice for Dalindyebo Campaign” at the king’s Bumbane Great Place.

Votani Majola, convener of The King Dalindyebo Justice Task Team (KDJTT), which heads the campaign, made the following demands with five-day deadlines:

So here's a basic outline of the Volunteer programme I would love to get going: www.wildcoast.co.za/ict4d

Please contribute some constructive criticism and/or suggestions. I have this unshakable belief that it's important (even if only for the 2 percentile) and that it will work, but I've got zero resources, and even less confidence, at the minute.

8< --
To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is "the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind." - John Quincy Adams

&

"Those who pretend selflessness are constantly acting from self-interested motives but clothing them in various guises." - Ralph Steadman

Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, the paramount chief[1], or king, of the Thembu tribe, has been sentenced to an effective 15 years imprisonment.

There are arbitrarily 2 types of people on earth: upright dudes, and uptight bastards. Cats and Grinches, or those who grew up reading Dr. Seuss, and those who did not. (Not too sure about the last one, but I speak for myself, and books like The Lorax inspired several generations with a love of reading and a strong bias toward environmental conservation. Thanks to Theodore (Dr. Seuss) Giessel: www.wildcoast.com/lorax)

Most people don't like to think of themselves as uptight bastards, I guess, so they complain less than they should most times. I've come to realize that it's pointless getting worked up over bigots and other assorted idiots, but there are certain things that need to be said, and free speech does appear to be alive and well in Zantsi, even if sometimes the quality of said speech is less than appealing. Mine included.

Actually, I have in the past mentioned our ward councilor's dodgy dealings, but didn't really go into details because of a cowardly fear of repercussions with my state funded employment here. Which rubs precisely on the nub of the problem with employment in the area generally: out here in the lallies the ward councilors control job allocations. My dystopic viewpoint is blurry, but seems our leaders verge toward authoritarianism and imposing failed communist doctrines on us all; manufacturing dogma and principles based on "democratic centralism" and a "National Democratic Revolution" which is actually code-speak for undermining traditional culture and patriarchal leadership structures while simultaneously creating a disenfranchised proletariat who still won't have rights to their own land.

Sounds like histrionics, I'm sure, but there is no adequate way to convey the abuse of power that we witness, and I've lost my sense of humor.

Nkosinathi Mvunge, the very unpopular, but apparently invulnerable ANC councilor of Ward 23, stirs the trouble pot at Hole in the Wall time and again.

2 Years ago he stopped our project over the Christmas period because he felt that the majority of employees were UDM (United Democratic Movement) supporters. So he arranged a meeting for January and basically insisted that each person declare their political affiliation. Turned out it was pretty balanced, so he magnanimously allowed the project to continue. However, the approximately 40 staff members only received half salaries that Christmas.

The current issue is not as blatant: Coastal Care is responsible for creating employment and for the cleaning of our beaches; and as an EPWP (Expanded Pulic Works Program) sponsored project under Social Responsibility, Policy and Projects within the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, (which incidentally is in the process of a name change to Water & Environmental Affairs under Jacob Zuma's presidency) they owe our impoverished people here Social Responsibility Projects for several reasons; not the least of which is the fact that the people's land is held in "trust" and they are unable to buy sell or cede their properties. Another is the fact that the regulations governing subsistence fisheries are hellish and draconian. Mussels and other seafoods are a primary protein source for many of the poorest people here, and protein is an absolutely essential part of a growing child's diet. But the bag limit on mussels is only 30 mussels per permit per day. Which is really ludicrous when the reality is that people harvest between 5kg and 10kg on average, regardless of whether government has issued the permits or not. Even more mind boggling is government is actually considering an age restriction where no persons under the age of 18 would be allowed access to their shore and coastal resources.

However, to remain on the rubbish subject, the implementing agency controlling our area, Ikamva, had their contract terminated in about September 2008. 25 people who were the Hole in the Wall cleanup contingent lost their jobs abruptly, and since then we've had no cleanup teams here at Hole in the Wall. The contract was awarded to another company, and they got underway in Coffee Bay in about February this year. According to the project manager, only 15 positions were created for both Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall. However the implementers were informed (I wonder by whom?) that they could not consult anyone in the Hole in the Wall region because of danger from the ongoing "political instability."

I've been in intermittent contact with the new implementers to try and get something to happen here. Not only for the sake of aesthetics and hygiene, but also for the local employment opportunities.

In September I was informed by a project manager at the implementing agency that they had seen the ward councilor and he was set to organize the allocation of positions; and they would be starting at the Hole on the 1st October. Then on the 7'th I received a phone call to say that they hadn't started yet because it had been raining, but they would be starting soon. The following week I got another call from the manager to say that the ward councilor was now claiming insufficient consultation, and they have had to refer everything back to the department for further, interminable, delays.

I can understand the impact of the 7 existing jobs at Coffee Bay which supposedly have to be forfeited to employ people at Hole in the Wall within the original budget; but the lack of communication and planning, and gaps between contract renewals?

Our councilor's list of accomplishments is becoming too vast to ignore, and he should be promoted to somewhere where he can exercise his deft oratory skills to his full potential. I vote we send him to parliament. In other parts of the country competent mayors and entire councils are removed by demagogues over lack of service delivery, presumably to be replaced with cronies closer to the new cadre deployments; and here we have a deployed cadre, complete with Robben Island credentials, actively destroying livelihoods in an ongoing onslaught by the "Ruling Party" to eradicate any opposition. So no jobs for UDM supporters. Sorry for you. What a fucking mess.

In the 3 and a half years I've been living here, our councilor has also succeeded in stopping the Mussel Rehabilitation and community gardens project in its tracks at Hole in the Wall; causing the loss of 20 jobs plus over a million rands worth of investment in the area.

He's also responsible for causing a near civil riot, when he led the process to give away a majority stake in a priceless tract of land, again at Hole in the Wall, without ever consulting the people to whom the land legally belongs. The foreign financed consortium led by an American tax lawyer with layers of non-profit companies (with the same members) was granted the right to build a 45 room hotel, but instead divided the land into 50 tiny erven, the cheapest of which was available for R690,000. Numerous fraud charges have ensued against the American developers. (www.wildcoast.com/node/96)

Furthermore I've personally seen the minutes from several meetings held at Bumbane "Great Place" - the "court" of our dear Comrade King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo - wherein there were numerous complaints about the ward councilor's arrogance and heavy handed approach, his lack of delivery, allegations of misappropriation of funds belonging to the Tshezi Community Development Trust. If rumors are to be believed he actually spent a weekend in Mqanduli prison over the trust's funds incident. Many people at many meetings requested that he be suspended, but it appears that he and the king share a disconcerting bond. Strangely though, perhaps there is some hope for the future.

He also used grant money from foreign donors, some R360,000, to purchase 2 tractors which for the past 3 years have sat idly gathering rust at his home. Though I will attempt impartiality and concede that this year, since our spring rains he has actually been attempting to redeem himself and has been seen plowing some fields (himself) on behalf of the Tshezi tribe/community.

He has also, for about 3 years now, completely failed with the community youth center which was badly planned and built, and is already falling apart, on another priceless tract of land just outside Coffee Bay. The center has never been put to any useful purpose. All prospective ideas and comers are turned away; and he is rumored to have commandeered the place for his personal office. He's never actually there. though, so who knows for sure?

Sadly, he probably has been carrying out the mandate of "the party" as a deployed cadre engaged in the NDR. Backed by our Convict King Buyelekhaya, who will have sentencing handed down on 30th November 2009 for the 6 convictions out of the 34 charges he was facing, which ranged from assault, to arson (hut burning), and extortion. The charge of murder was reduced to culpable homicide. Though how ordering the beating of a man (the rumors are less kind, but nonetheless who can gainsay the testimony of witnesses who admit that they will kill, out of fear, at his order) can be seen as culpable homicide, like say accidentally killing someone in self-defence, is beyond my comprehension.

About a week before I heard about his convictions, I had come across the summary judgement document for the trial of the people accused of murdering the "headwoman", Nowinase, whom Cde. Buyelekhaya insisted, over the protests of the majority of local "subjects," be appointed as the successor to the late Mzoxolo (her estranged husband, who incidentally was murdered in cold blood before even being officially appointed as the headman of Mthonjana A/A) as an object lesson in "Equality" and "Democracy" or some or other inimical paradoxes.

Attending community meetings is a cogent peek at the state of the National Democratic Revolution out here in "the sticks." Traditionally, the women sit separately from the men at community meetings. At a recent meeting I attended a few weeks ago, one of the local chiefs (very well loved, respected, and all 'round good guy) boldly defied political correctness and stated quite publicly and unequivocally that, essentially, a woman's place is in the kitchen. Qa!

More to follow!

Here are some rubbish pictures:

Coffee Bay

History
The infamously dangerous 300km coastline between East London and Port Edward known as the Wild Coast has been described by experienced seafarers as South Africa's own Bermuda Triangle; where ships disappear without a trace.

Freak waves which frequent this notorious coast have plunged untold ships to the bottom of the Indian Ocean, or sent them crashing onto the shore. The most famous victim was the SS Waratah, which vanished a hundred years ago, on the 29th July 1909, with all 211 passengers and crew aboard. (See www.wildcoast.com/shipwrecks for more info.)

I posted the following comment on a local resort owners blog (http://chintsa.blogspot.com/) after he came out in favor of the N2 toll road. Needless to say it never went past moderation:

I believe your side of the argument is commonly known as "enlightened self interest": you own a resort on the coast and stand to benefit greatly from any infrastructural improvements and tourism opportunities. Fair enough.

What about the people that will actually have an 80m wide swathe of concrete and tarmac running through their back yards? Separating families and friends with a fenced off high-speed *toll* road that cuts them off from their pastures, fields and coastal subsistence livelihoods?

Never mind the environmental impact, it's the social impact that will be the most grievous. And considering the area, that's saying a lot!

Did you know that they plan to fence off the entire road to enhance safety? and that there will be limited on/off ramps? So if you want to get to, say, Port Grosvenor or Msikaba, you will still have to detour well away from the N2. It will be, if anything, more difficult and inconvenient to get to the remote areas.

No there aren't going to be taxi stops every 5km, or underpasses every 2 for the peasant's convenience.

Have you ever seen the people desperately taking life in hand trying to cross the N2 north of Hibberdene in holiday season? You can see how much they benefit from having access to a "freeway" just by the standard of their informal dwellings.

The worst part of this nightmare is that the existing road between Umtata and PSJ is one of the coolest drives in the country. They're not improving the road much in my opinion by simply forcing people to now pay to access it. And that will benefit the locals how? by sending up transport prices and the cost of /everything/ along with it?

PSJ may benefit, but it's not exactly a tourism Mecca, and the kind of tourists it attracts are backpackers. Umngazi certainly doesn't even need the marginal extra convenience.

The purpose of the toll road is 2-fold: to make money for the operators and for their government backers, and to open one of the most beautiful and pristine environments to commercial (industrial, agricultural) exploitation. Yes, that means mining, too. As inevitably as night follows day. And for what? to shave off half an hour on an already perfectly serviceable route between Port Edward and Port St Johns?

Something does not compute.

Regardless of how government presents the statistics, we have experienced a sharp decline in international tourists in Southern Africa since 2000. Our political outlook and alliances sees little hope for improvement there.

By all means upgrade the Jikeleza route, but leave the greenfields of the Pondoland Center of ENDEMISM the hell alone. Please.

Brink of extinction: Polar bear

From Avaaz:

Dear friends,

the results are in – more than 100,000 Avaaz members took part in the worldwide vote about whether we should go all out to organise a massive global wake-up call on climate change on September 21, and over 96% of us voted YES!

Now let’s get to work. More information about what will happen on the day is below, but the first step is to consider registering a climate wake-up call event to take place in your local area on the 21st. These will be quick, politically powerful, and a lot of fun. Our goal is to organise thousands of wake-up events (or "flashmobs") in public places all over the world -- showing a massive public demand for our lagging leaders to sign a fair and binding deal to stop climate catastrophe and unleash a new green economy this year.

The basic plan is so easy that anyone can register an event, and Avaaz technology will do the work of helping other people find one near them. We’ll send simple instructions about how to make these events successful: people will gather in groups at an agreed time on Sept 21st for a few minutes, and together make a phone call to their elected leader to press for climate action. Photos, videos and phone-calls from these events around the world will then be compiled into a powerful package and delivered to world leaders and the media at the UN climate summit the next day!

Click below now to register a climate wake-up event in your area, or keep reading to learn more:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/sept21_hosts

The climate wake-up events are based on the idea of “flashmobs” -- fun, peaceful demonstrations in which participants assemble suddenly in a public place, blending in with the crowd, perform an unusual action simultaneously for a few minutes, and then quickly disperse. They will be mostly self-organising, so should be easy for everyone involved.

On the morning of September 21, everyone participating will set our alarms and gather together a few minutes before the assigned time, at locations chosen by the hosts in our local area. When our alarms go off, we'll hold up our mobile phones and find each other, and then, as a group, call our leaders to urge them to go to Copenhagen and sign a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty this year. We'll make as much noise as we can, while recording videos and photos for the UN presentation -- then head back to work, school, or home to upload the results!

Zero Carbon Emmissions
Your role is straightforward: you just need to choose the location (a good public place near you) and register a Sept 21 event using our online tool, encourage friends to attend, and read through a short kit beforehand so you have all the information you’ll need. Get creative or keep it simple -- it's a fun way to contribute to the climate movement, and a great way to meet other Avaaz members.

Road-kill

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327236.700-roads-are-ruining-the...