There is something about The Comrades Marathon

My family and I went to Durban to support my twin sister (Tumi) who was running her second Comrades this week.

We went in two cars so I only had to see my sister for the first time just after the halfway mark. At that point she was feeling strong and excited and was running on target. When I saw her again at about 31 km to go she was taking strain but was fine. At 12k's to go her legs were beginning to pack up and she was in pain and was really down. My younger sister and I were not so sure whether we still wanted to attempt this monster as we looked at all the runners going past.

Contrast this with the finish at the Sahara Kingsmead stadium where we saw Tumi running fast, jumping, waving and in very high spirit. All that pain gone! The high of the finish is something out of this world and gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. There is indeed no better sporting inspiration for me that the Comrades. Tumi's picture appeared in The Times on the 25th of May and can also be found here

A new gift policy to address the S'bu story

Is the present gift policy in line with our new plan of getting rid of corruption? I guess not, because according to Jacob Zuma, Sbu Ndebele simply needed to declare the R1 million Merc and two cows for him to be on the right side of the policy. It is also not clear why Sbu is being sent these gifts because if everyone of us deserves gifts for doing our jobs, then we would be a very expensive place to do business. The other issue is the stringency of procurement practices if people can earn the sort of profits that allow them to send back lavish gifts to individuals.

My proposed policy is the following:
1. It is against the law for anyone to offer a gift of any size to any anyone in a privileged position of granting contracts or performing business favours
2. It is against the law for anyone (including business associates and relatives) to receive a gift of any size from any member of the public wishing to or doing business with government.
3. If anyone would like to recognise any outstanding contribution then a trophy or certificate should be acceptable.

There we are. This is clear and simple and levels the playing fields for everyone.

Zille ANCYL Boxing Match - The score

Enough said about the political punches between The Helen of The Cape and ANCYL in the last few days. Much as I feel very strongly about how both sides have trampled over women's issues, i've decided to stand aside and keep scores just for fun.

PS I deduct a point for any below the belt punches.

Here we go: Round 1

Comrades 2009 - Cheering my sister on

I'm a little distracted with my running but no sweat because after Comrades I will have enough inspiration to start again.

My sister is getting ready to run her second Comrades and I will be in Durban and Pietermartitzburg to cheer her on. This time she will also be running for charity - check her page on www.backabuddy.co.za/tumi and donate
I'm not sure if I have the time or the heart to run Comrades but my sister assures me that since we are identical twins and have exactly the same genes, I have no excuses.

My three year old ran the 300m Toddler's Trot at Two Oceans Marathon - he's very proud of his medal.

White Wedding - What a Movie!

I thoroughly enjoyed the White Wedding this Friday and would highly recommend it to anyone, even those who hardly go to movies these days (talk about myself). It is one of those movies that depict our lives without the usual struggle politics that leave you exhausted after a movie. I also like the fact that it touched on issues relating to black weddings without being too deep and touched on the AWB types in a funny way. All in all, a brilliant comedy, which most of us identify fully with, especially the dialogue.

I hope to see more and more movies coming from Rapulana and Kenneth - they don't disappoint. Between White Wedding and Jerusalema I'd have to choose White Wedding. I'm looking forward to a time when movies such as these do better than the trashy Leon Schuster movies (no disrespect) at the box office.

True Love Magazine - All the Woman Needs Day

I spent my Saturday at the Sandton Convention Centre where ladies were supposed to get all the pampering and love that we deserve. From True Love's point of view this was a hugely successful affair, but from the women's point of view it was not (at least speaking for myself and my friends). We spent more time on queues than anything else and did not even get to some of the stalls we wanted to touch. The number of ladies far exceeded the facilities available and it made the whole experience disastrous. There were also some organisational issues that I thought could have been handled better but maybe I should stop here. Fortunately I got a complimentary ticket, but for R350 surely every woman should have received their money's worth?

Other magazines such as Destiny and O supposedly run more well-organised workshops and True Love should pick up their socks.

PS I am still waiting for a response from the email I sent to Dora Sitole (the Editor) on this issue.