"Black Stars" Shine On

It is with pride and jubilation that I report Ghana's 2-1 victory against the world's number 5 soccer team, the USA, ensuring them passage into the 2006 Soccer World Cup last 16. As dramatic as the match was, It was clear from the get-go that Ghana was not letting up, with the US having very little ball possession in the first half. Ghana stuck close to the ball, giving African supporters reprieve from the disappointment caused by the lazy Angolan team against Iran.

At the twenty-second minute Ghana had scored the first goal of the match, while the US had hardly any attempts in Kingson's side of the turf. That sweetness soon wore off when the US scored just before half-time, but the Ghanaians got theirs back thanks to the referee's penalty award to Ghana shortly thereafter.

When the second-half came around it seems the Ghanaians slowed down a little, and the US' ball possession picked up, followed by many more attempts at the poles- however, all that exertion did nothing for them in the end.

All props must go to the following Ghanaian players:
Stephen Appiah (Man of the match; Mid-field)
Richard Kingson (Goalie)
and Haminu Draman (Mid-field)

America's Oguchi Onyewu (right) and the man who provided the US' only goal, Dempsey, mourning.

With all that it must be acknowledged that Dempsey's goal was spectacular, luckily it wasn't enough to secure a victory for the star-spangled players.

National Youth Commission White Elephant

The National Youth Commission would be effective if it wasn't lead by an ANCYLese-speaking, incompetent, blithering idiot like Jabu Mbalula. The Sunday Times spurred debate this week about this ivory tower of an institution.

On MetroFM's only current affairs talk show, the fool who claims to be speaking and working on behalf of South African youth couldn't even quote unemployment statistics of South African youth; when asked to recap the success of some recent long-named initiative of theirs, he had the audacity to reveal that the 100 young people benefited from the programme- one hundred!?!

One man called into the show to point out that South African youth know nothing about the Youth Commission or the Umsobomvu youth fund as organs that can help them, according to a survey he did. The man went on to reveal that only one of the young people he had surveyed knew of the commission, and that the rest of them knew that kwaito star Zola is the only person who could help them in terms of getting a stab at employment and so on.

The point being made by the caller was that the Youth Commission was not visible to the youth and that their publicity channels are out-moded. The idiot Mbalula rebutts the caller by saying that the Commission uses community radio stations as a tool for publicity. Community radio stations? How out-of-touch can you choose to be? All those people who desparately need the help of such organizations are watching SABC1, not listening to struggling radio stations.

Shucks!

My question is how much is this young man being paid for sitting on his laurels, twiddling his thumbs, and dribbling saliva while South African youth who should be benefiting from the treasure he's being paid rot in the townships and rural areas.

June 16 'an excuse to go drinking'

"An excuse to go drinking," or so charges Abhik Kumar Chanda. As sound the argument may be, I beg to differ only slightly by saying that in my opinion June 16 is not the only excuse to go drinking on the calender of South African youth. Fitting snuggly into this category myself, I must say that instead we try to squeeze in drinking (and smoking weed, etc., etc) whenever we can, be it June, January or December.

I remember that back in the day June 16 was a big deal, and if you didn't "stay away", you were only asking for it. As the years of the transition drew, my parents became more lax, allowing me to go to school on Stay-Aways, but still there was a brooding ominous feeling I'm sure.

Today, in an interesting twist of fate, the 16/06 is Youth Day- a legitimate public holiday. However, today's youth seem to be on a totally different wavelength, and the sanctity of the Day seems to have disappeared.

It all really boils down to an overrarching zeitgeist- we seem to be in a cathartic mood- and what better way to do so than with drinking, partying and the likes. At least that's what I've told myself in my quest for answers.

The sad thing about this explanation, be it indeed accurate, is that if the general mood is defined by catharsis, we as South African youth are terribly misled. We have so much that we have to tackle, much of it related to our cathartic behaviour: rising levels of drug use, crime, AIDS etc.

We should concertedly try to move away from political rhetoric (ala ANCYL), and apathy (general youth population) and do something about something. Each one choose one problem they wish to tackle and go for it.

If only ideals weren't ideals.