The Marikana Massacre

The Marikana Massacre



Police at the Lonmin Marikana mine in the North West

 I write this blog at the risk of sounding redundent.
I am an individual who was born and raised in the North West province.
My father is a Nursing Manager at the Lonmin mine in Wonderkop near Marikana ,where the murder of 34 unarmed miners took place, and when I first heard of the Marikana Massacre I was shocked, not just because it happened, but because it happened soo close to home.
I've always had it in the back of my mind that South Africa is violent, but never did I think the violence would follow me home. My public relations angle is pritty simple. Could the public relations department in charge of LONMIN the SACP have covered this story any different? I write this having read in the Businuss Day that South Africa is being reffered to as "just plain dangerous" and a place to "stay away from" by foreign media. The Public Relations of a country is very important and I believe South Africa needs to work harder to maintain a good image in the eyes of the rest of the world and also to it's citizens.

• To avoid a crisis in future the govournment should tell both sides of the story
• Avoid having foreign media framing issues according to their agenda
• Issue statements before the media can release their own findings
• Issue apologies and media objectives ahead of time

Obama vs. Romney

I guess it’s been five year since Obama was inaugurated as president because there are two and a half months left until November elections take place in the United States of America. Obama is the candidate being presented by the democrats and a man by the name of Mitt Romney is representing the republicans. According to the Fox News national poll Obama has 49% of the votes and Romney is at 40%, A CNN poll had Obama at 52% (The New Age Monday 13 August 2012). It seems to me like Obama is still quite popular, but is it because he is the right man for the job or is it because of his popularity. We all know the popular kids in school they spoke well had confidence they might have even been attractive but

1.       hard work isn’t always their strongest attribute

2.       Nor can we honestly say that they were good decision makers

3.       The biggest problem about popular kids, they’ll say and do anything to be popular

 

Barack Obama made a few promises when he began his campaign

1. He promised to end both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan respectively
2. He promised to keep lobbyists out of the cabinet

3. He promised to get workers out of Naphtha and Gat

None of these promises where kept and his term is almost over. Whether he wins or not does it really make a difference? Romney has painted Barack Obama as “a job-killer bent on making the country worse.” Which leaves me with the questions what was the big difference between Obama and Bush? What stops this Romney guy going back on his word? My belief is, we should not vote on what people say they are going to do but on what they’ve done and what they are doing or else politics will remain a popularity contest.

Snoop Dogg vs Snoop Lion (Can a dog become a lion)

Snoop
Can a leopard change it's spots, or in our situation can a dog become a lion. One of the slogans of the University Johannesburg at some point was reinvent yourself, where those just words or do we as people
believe in our ability to change, Is the only constant change? is this bold new step that snoop lion is taking a step in the right direction.

The question that I believe arises from Snoop Dogg aka Calvin Braudus' decision to move from gangsta rap to reggae, Is the question of whether we as a society believe in the ability of our people to change and whether we accept individuals who've changed their way of life whether it be for the good or better.

Is our society one that can accept a hardend criminals decision to become a pastor, a drug dealer who wants to become a police man a prostitute who might want to become a social worker or a guidance councellor do we as a society believe in second chances.Snoop Lion has a song out titled la la la I'm not sure what to expect but I plan to keep an open mind.

• Cashious Clay converted to Islam and became Mohammed Ali
• Malcolm Little converted to Islam and became malcolm X
• P diddy has changed his name but not his lifestyle a few times

ANC vs DA

Hello ladies and gentlemen. I invite you the the one, the only, 'Political Party Face Off!' presented to you by yours truly, Phemelo Dibodu. Who is your money on? Is it he ANC; the liberator of the opressed, the breeding ground of revolutionaries, the peoples champ? against. The Party vowing to reduce poverty, improve service delivery, and do everything the ANC is struggling to accomplish.

Ok, on a serious note is the competition between the ANC and DA neccessary, both parties are trying to expose each others inadequate service delivery with regards to the toilets Saga.Their campaign budgets run into the millions. Their mandate seems to revolve around doing better than the other wether it be service delivery or just winning votes. Would it not be more beneficial for the country, if the best minds from the DA and ANC where put together to come up with ways of improving the country. In the famous words of Mr king "Why can't we all just get along."

• Since the ANC came into power unemployment in 1994 26 percent/2012 23,6 percent
• Murder rate per 100 people in 1994 66.9/ 2012 39.1
• Life expectancy at birth in 1996 61.4 years / 2012 49.3 years
• Children in secondary education 1994 58 percent/ 2012 72 percent

Helen Zille the leader of the DA party



Jacob Zuma the president of the ANC and South Africa