Don’t cry for me
WHILE political parties are springing up like wild mushrooms in anticipation of the May 29 elections, it came as a bit of a surprise to hear the Minority
Front (MF) has decided to throw in the towel.
It turns out the MF is dropping out of the poll after failing to secure public donations. In other words, the party’s broke.
As party leader Shameen
Thakur-Rajbansi shed a farewell tear when she announced to the provincial legislature: “A time comes in the life of each of us that we have to, for various reasons, say goodbye. My time has come.”
Her sadness is understandable. She’s been at the helm of the MF since the death of her husband, the inimitable Amichand Rajbansi (popularly known as the Bengal Tiger) in 2011.
And to mark the occasion, here’s my tongue-in-cheek rendition of a song once dedicated to the First Lady of Argentina, Eva Perón.
Don’t cry for me, MF members,
The truth is, we’ve run out of paisa.
All through the Raj years, we showed great resistance.
I kept my promise
We’re now out of business.
And as for ballots, and as for fame,
Neither eventually came.
A front for minorities was all we desired.
But they were delusions, not the solutions they promised to be.
The answer was clear all the time.
I love you, so please pay your fee.
Listen in silence
P
EOPLE have sometimes asked me: What was it like being a newspaper editor?
It’s not an easy question to answer simply because there isn’t any practical manual that spells out all the dos and don’ts.
Sure, there are broad guidelines and expectations, but it’s more a case of learning as you go along, based on hard experience, learning from your successes and failures.
Not very different from being a parent, I suppose.
What I will share with you though are two profound lessons I learnt in my career.
Lesson No 1: Be a good listener.
Very few people listen these days. Really listen, I mean, not just nodding your head in token agreement.
Listening requires concentration, sincerity, patience, probing and showing compassion and understanding. Most politicians certainly don’t – and the biggest losers are the very people they purport to represent.
Some journalists don’t either – they’re good at posing questions but interject too often when the answers are flowing.
That’s also true of people who fail to listen and empathise with friends, relatives or family members desperate to share their deepest fears, concerns and frustrations with loved ones.
Linked to this is lesson No 2: Remain silent when there’s nothing to say. As a wise person once said: Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens. There are often times in life when silence means you are listening empathetically to someone in distress, sorrow or pain. And it so often works more powerfully than words.
Isn’t it an amazing coincidence that the words “listen” and “silent” are spelt with the same letters?
Enough is enough O
NE of the biggest obstacles to progress in our city, and indeed the entire country, is public indifference.
We tend to be too apathetic and remain silent even when injustice stares us in the face.
It’s precisely for this reason that I applaud the stand taken by civic organisations who’ve banded together to demand a better deal for residents and ratepayers in
Durban.
Standing up for their rights, the civic groups have sent out an unequivocal message to mayor Mxolisi
Kaunda, demanding greater service delivery and an end to inefficiencies and mismanagement in the municipality.
When the mayor tabled the city’s draft budget recently, he was told in no uncertain terms that proposed tariff increases for electricity, water, sanitation and refuse removals were out of the question.
Ish Prahladh, who heads the umbrella organisation, did not mince his words.
“If they want 100% of money from the ratepayers and residents, then there needs to be 100% service delivery,” he said.
Last stop I
T’S now generally the norm that most families can survive only on a double income, with spouses sharing all responsibilities, including household chores.
Why is it that some men are so shy about talking openly about their domestic routines?
When I invited a friend to join me for a drink the other day, his response was: “Sorry, I’d love to, but I’m working on a special project: Aquathermal treatment of ceramics, aluminium and steel under a constrained environment.”
I believed him until I found out he'd been washing dishes in warm water under the supervision of his wife.
From newsroom gofer to award-winning editor, join South African media legend Dennis Pather on a fascinating trip down memory lane in his captivating memoir, “Copy Boy”. This heart-warming journey takes you inside the newsroom, filled with laughter, hard-earned wisdom and the power of family. Get 30% off the R285 cover price (only R200). WhatsApp the publishers today at 078 593 0585 with #POST.