Lebo Mphahlele

World Cup Closing Ceremony – Hope It Makes Up for the Opening

2010-07-10T20:31:00.000+02:00

I’m one of those people who were disappointed by the opening ceremony of the World Cup on the 11 of June. I did not imagine the Chinese-style opening ceremony but I remember the Confederations Cup opening ceremony and other ceremonies we have had (Cricket World Cup in particular) were much better. What made the situation worse was that I was stuck at home watching on TV because I underestimated the traffic around Johannesburg at that time. I thought I would be able to easily make it to Paulshof in a few minutes as usual. My sister came to join me and found me speechless and looking sick with embarrassment. The show got better towards the end but I still couldn’t get over the embarrassment. We eventually made it to the restaurant to watch the opening match and tried to put it all behind us.

Tomorrow I’m hoping for a good closing ceremony but I’m careful not to build high expectations again.

Single parenthood - is there societal pressure?

2010-05-10T21:38:00.000+02:00

In the last two weeks I’ve come across two ladies in their thirties who felt under pressure to have a child outside of wedlock because “our community puts pressure”. On one forum another lady claims that her mother was very happy about her pregnancy announcement because lots of much younger single girls have had kids and she was left out. Apparently her mother jumped for joy because she thought she was infertile, which is shocking. This begs the question: Is it really true that in the black community it is expected that a woman who has ‘completed her studies and working is expected to have a child – married or not? I don’t think so.

I do not understand how an independent woman in her thirties would find it difficult to fend off comments from insensitive relatives snooping into her affairs. We are talking about a lady who is obviously successful, has good taste, knows what she wants from a husband (if she chooses this path) and won’t settle. I say to all the ladies (single, married with children or single with children): When you get home at night, no relative will be there to help you face the life you were apparently pressured into. Take decisions that you will be happy to go home to. Single parenthood should be your free choice.

The GrowCon (District 74 Toastmasters Mini Conference)

2009-11-10T16:35:00.013+02:00

I thoroughly enjoyed the GrowCon held at the Johannesburg over the weekend of the 17th of October. Apart from the good people and good food I enjoyed the speakers that were there. A few points that stood out for me during the conference:

Poh Kim Siong, DTM, International Director based in Singapore:

His address was around success as members of Toastmasters and focused on Confidence, Leadership and Service and I manage to jot down the most important points:
Confidence: Stage Time: Never decline it, never lose the opportunity
Leadership: Leadership should come from the heart, everything else will work out.
At the end it will all work out. If it hasn’t worked out, it’s not the end yet”.
Service: Always vacate your office better off than how you found it.

Billy Selekane: Key Note Address "Awakening the Spirit of Tribal Consciousness"

His address was an inspirational take on the leadership that enabled Zulu warriors to defeat the British troops at the Battle of Isandlwana. The learnings from the battle were:
Right of Passage: All leaders and members should earn their full right to be there. We need a culture of excellence (meritocracy)!
Collectivism: Need to put collective goals before roles.
Service: Serve first before being served.
Organisational traditions: Do they inspire people to achieve great things? What is the impact of your rituals?

Growth in Challenging Times, Mike Perry, Perry & Associates

District 74 has been having a decline in a number of active clubs (from 160 in 2005 to 119 today). If we compare ourselves to Australia, the whole of District 74 should be having 2400 Clubs. The challenge to start new clubs is on!

Awards

I was amazed at the 31 people who got the Triple Crown Award (3 or more educational awards in a year) because I thought just one award was all is needed in any year. Well done to all of them and for being an inspiration to the rest of us.

A big thank you to all who took time to organise the conference. Hope not to miss other future conferences

Lebo Mphahlele
Vice President Education
Nedbank Toastmasters

Caster Semenya debacle: Athletics South Africa has a lot to answer

2009-08-28T21:52:00.002+02:00

I am still shocked about how Mr. Choene, the President of Athletics South Africa (ASA) handled the Caster Semenya debacle and am one of those calling for his resignation asap.

Mr Choene doesn’t seem to understand the context of gender testing as it relate to elite athletes and his answers were far too amateurish. It is quite clear (even by doing a Google search) that when it comes to highly competitive sport (where there’s millions to be made), gender is a lot more complex that simply pulling down a pair of panties.

It also came out during the radio show on SAFM that Caster’s gender has been questioned throughout her running career (as early as high school) and even Limpopo Athletics consulted ASA about her case. For Mr Choene and his team at ASA to have not pre-empted this and put a coherent response on the matter is simply unacceptable. Caster should have been tested (away from the media glare) and duly counselled long before the Berlin event. ASA had known for a while that she would stand a chance of a podium finish at Berlin because she had broken a few records (e.g. Zola Budd’s SA juniors record, among others) and was on her way to the highest league of athletes.

I wish Caster all the best and hope she will pull through this traumatic experience. I hope ASA learn a lot from this spectacular PR disaster of their making.

When last did you see a well-behaved minibus taxi driver in South Africa?

2009-07-06T23:13:00.002+02:00

I watched 3 matches at the Ellis Park stadium, opening match, Italy vs. Egypt and the closing match and must note a marked improvement in logistics throughout the Confederations Cup. The logistics of the final match felt like they were conducted with military precision. To think that it sounded almost impossible to sit 60 000 South African soccer fans on their correct seats for a match, let alone move them into a stadium via park and ride.

What tops my list is the Gauride park and ride, who were friendly, warm and for once drove at respectable speeds. Our dangerous tigers had become nice cuddly pussy cats. In the taxi we returned in on the last day, the driver even asked us if the heater was warm enough for us since we froze our teats off inside the stadium. I even fell asleep by the time he dropped us at Wits University. Now I’m wondering if they got back to their usual foul mouthed selves and abusive behaviour that poorer South Africans are used to. I remember one incident almost 15 years ago in a minibus taxi when an elderly woman complained about the high speed at which we were going. The driver then dropped the speed to 35 km/h and kept complaining about how he’s doing us a favour by getting us home as fast as he can and we ruined it all.

Am I the only one irritated by the Vuvuzelas at the Confederations Cup?

2009-06-17T22:01:00.003+02:00

Please don’t get me wrong, I like the vuvuzelas played in moderation. What I find sickening is the continuous buzzing sound that goes on forever and ends up being too noisy and uninspiring. Pray that you don't end up sitting next to one of those over-enthusiastic blowers who struggle to keep it quiet for a few minutes during the singing of the national anthems.
I’d rather we sing shosholoza or any other songs, just like we do at all our social gatherings. I suggest that SAFA and FIFA consider giving drums and other instruments to the passionate soccer fans that are always shown on tv so that we can do more singing and dancing. The rest of the people who can’t sing can blow the vuvuzelas.

Chaos at Confederations Cup opening match

2009-06-14T22:42:00.008+02:00

It took us two hours to get into the Wits University Park n Ride and ended up arriving during the disappointing opening ceremony. This is the worst I have seen coming from South Africa and hope they will have a better plan for the World Cup.

Other issues I feel could've been better organised:
1. The Park n Ride at Sunninghill was cancelled without warning so we had to look around for an alternative. I had to use my mobile phone to locate other Park n Rides through joburg.org.za.
2. At Wits we were not allowed through the Empire Road entrance, which was totally unnecessary. We had to use the overcrowded Jorrisen Street entrance and had to queue for over 2 hours. Wits security only opened the second and third gate much later despite being warned of long queues.
3. FIFA didn’t bother letting people know about using other Park n Rides when Wits was obviously not working out. We didn't know whether it was worthwhile going to Nasrec or Bez Valley.
4. At the stadium food ran out before the opening ceremony so we had to snack on chocolate and biltong. People running the stalls were not even embarrassed about it.
5.Returning back was apparently a bigger nightmare but we thankfully left the stadium before the final whistle.

Hopefully FIFA will iron out some of the issues we experienced because I can’t imagine going through this again. I’ll be at Ellis Park on the 18th for Egypt vs. Italy.

Zuma's 500k jobs make perfect sense

2009-06-08T21:36:00.005+02:00

Everybody is concerned about President Zama’s promise of 500 000 jobs in a time when our economy is in a recession. I say give him a break; surely he has done his home work. After all he’s a president, isn’t he? Now as far as I recall he didn’t quite elaborate what those 500 000 job are, so, nobody should shoot him down just yet. Here’s how I break it down.

Firstly, each municipality will be asked to issue a tender for picking up papers on the streets for only one day. That’ll amount to a substantial number of jobs. If this still doesn’t add to 500 000, then Public Works will be requested to employ people to each dig up a hole for one day to make up the balance. If this still doesn’t add up, the balance will be made up by the guys asked to cover the holes that have been dug. There you are - 500 000 jobs for the masses.

What I didn’t get though, is why all his wives fell asleep during the opening of parliament.

There is something about The Comrades Marathon

2009-05-27T21:05:00.006+02:00

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

2009-05-20T20:20:00.005+02:00

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

2009-05-14T22:43:00.004+02:00

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

2009-05-13T21:15:00.009+02:00

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!

2009-05-11T21:39:00.004+02:00

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

2009-05-07T22:40:00.005+02:00

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.

I'm single this long weekend!

2009-04-30T22:18:00.004+02:00

My initial reaction when I heard that my husband and little boy will be going camping over the long weekend was "What will I be doing with myself for 3 days!?!?". I'm glad it looks like it's all coming together fine:

Friday: Wally Hayward 10 km run in Pretoria; Shopping, shopping, shopping; Golf practise at Worlf of Golf; Watch movies I've taped but never watched (plus we need to delete some and create more space).
Saturday: Spend all day at the True Love Magazine All the Woman Needs workshop; Catch up with friends; Read Demons and Angels by Dan Brown - hopefully this book will keep me curled up until late at night.
Sunday: Church; Golf at Services Golf Course with my sister(hoping to break 100); Read the book and wait patiently for the boys to come back and tell me their stories.

Sounds like a plan and hope it works out fine. Maybe I need to get rid of my nervousness around camping and encourage more trips :)

A golf weekend to remember

2009-04-27T21:22:00.005+02:00

This long weekend was a golfing wonder for me - I played golf three days in succession!

Of the 3 golf courses we visited, Euphoria deserves a special mention. Despite the fact that there are no caddies (the GPS is very good though), it was a lot of fun. The course is not easy and we heard one golfer claim that Annika Sorenstam (world no 1 lady for a while but now retired) must have been angry when she was working on the design of this course. But the staff more than made up for it because we were treated like royalty. The experience was well worth the 2 hour trip we took to get there but it's a pity we didn't have enough time to go up the cable car and eat at the restaurant on top.

What a good golfing weekend. I wish I could say the same about my game though.

I'm grounded

2009-04-17T22:40:00.007+02:00

I couldn't go to work today because of a terrible flu that I've been trying so hard to avoid. So this means that no running for me for the next few days, which is good, because I need time to pause and reflect on what I've been doing in the last few weeks. So what's next?

To avoid more bouts of flu:
- No skipping of meals (no matter how busy)
- A good multivitamin supplement (or milkshake)
- A vitamin C supplement and immune booster to fight all the flu strands I come accross while running (doctor's orders).

Training:
I'm thinking of attempting a 42k this year still but will know in the next week what I need to do. I think I need a coach...

Good luck to those running Loskop tomorrow (20 and 50k). I'll be practising a few shots at the World of Golf if I feel better.

Two Oceans Half Marathon 2009 - The good and the bad

2009-04-14T21:08:00.007+02:00

I managed to complete the Two Oceans Half Marathon despite my persistent fever and flu symptoms. The official time of 2h44 is worse than expected but I'm grateful for my bronze metal because lots of people did not make the cut-off point on time.

Two issues that upset me were the fact that I could only run 3,5 minutes into the race (there were 11000 half marathon runners) and when I did start running I felt a little held back. In addition, there were 2 u-turns where we had to slow down. Solution for next year? A "C" seeding rather than the lousy "D" I got. This means I need to identify a half marathon that can give me a good qualifying time so that I can come back to settle the score. I also need to work on my uphills runs.

On a positive note, the weather was great throughout and the race was largely well organised.

Two Oceans Half Marathon - 2 days to go

2009-04-08T20:31:00.002+02:00

We are about to pack our bags and leave for the Cape but I have reasons to get worried. Today I couldn't run because I had a fever and had to do last minute shopping. I have a slight discomfort on my back muscles but I think I should be fine. So long as my knees are fine we are ok.

Tomorrow I'll be buying some Mageu to carboload (we were given some at the Om Die Dam and it was quite good) so I don't have to eat pasta. In fact, I shouldn't be carboloading because I'm only running 21k but maybe I need some strength for that 2km incline at Southern Cross.

Good luck to Tumi who will be running the 56k and hope the weather is as good as predicted.

Two Oceans Half Marathon - 3 days to go

2009-04-07T21:06:00.008+02:00

I will be doing my final 4.5 km dash tomorrow in preparation for the hills and winds in Cape Town. I thought of attempting a sub 2h30 but I'm not so sure anymore. This week I ran the Slomag in 2h37 and maybe I should aim for 2h40 down at the Cape.

The other year I went to Durban to run the Spar Ladies 10k and found myself struggling to breathe normally because of the difference in altitude. This time I'll be more prepared to handle the situation if it arises.

I'm getting my mind ready for the 2 km uphill between Southern Cross and Rhodes Drive(11 to 13 km mark).

[Picture from www.twooceansmarathon.org.za]

Triple dose of a morale booster

2009-04-06T22:37:00.009+02:00

On Saturday I played a round of golf, on Sunday I completed the Slomag 21k and tonight (Monday) I won the Impromptu Speech Contest at the Toastmasters Area Speech Contest and will now be competing at Division level. The cherry on top was getting home early enough from the speech contest to spend an hour with my son, tell a bed-time story and tuck him into bed.

Immediately after my golf round on Saturday I had issues with my right leg and was not sure if I'd be ok to run a 21 the next morning. I also felt a bit fatiqued after a rather difficult round but felt a need to give my running a well-deserved boost. I set my watch before going to sleep and when it ran at 05h00 I was good to go.

This has been an amazingly active week for me. I can't recall the last time I had such an action packed few days.

10 days to go to before Two Oceans

2009-04-01T23:06:00.004+02:00

I need to find time this week to get myself a new pair of shoes so that I can use them at least once before Two Oceans. I think I should do the Mazda Zoom Zoom this coming weekend (15km) in the new shoes and forget about the Slomag 21k.
This week is such a schlep - I haven't done anything active, not even a 9 hole sunrise golf at Leeuwkop. The highlight has been the group coaching session (yep, professional coaching, not running). I think I need a two week long holiday to reflect on things.

This past weekend I completed my 10k in 1h05 - new 2009 record for me. Yey!!!!!

Om Die Dam & The Pencil Grip

2009-03-24T22:57:00.005+02:00

Another milestone achieved: my first 20 km race in 4 years! I really enjoyed the Om Die Dam Harties and will definitely go back. Oh and congrats to Tumi on completing the difficult 50 km run - you are my inspiration girl.
I'm now way ahead of schedule with my running milestones, which means I can now up the stakes. My new goal will now be to run a full marathon by the end of the year, but I'll first try the 42.2km 702 Walk the Talk to get used to being on my feet for a long time.

PS Mohale has finally managed to get his pencil grip right this week - finally. My little boy only realised this week that it is actually easier to write with a proper grip. We are beginning to have more fun scribbling already.
Another awesome week in my house!

The Mini Monster and the Hole-in-one

2009-03-19T19:54:00.004+02:00

The Mini Monster that we ran this past Saturday was more of a mountain climbing exercise than a road race, but it was fun nonetheless, especially when I saw a few people I knew during the race.

On Sunday we played a round at Magaliespark, but it turned out very difficult for me. I suspect the Mini Monster because last time I played there I did fine. Then there was a lady who scored a hole-in-one and received a nice little certificate to take home. Unbelievable. What about a 62 year old lady in the US who went to the golf course for the first time ever and hit a hole-in-one on the first hole? This is very sad for all those committed golfers who have been playing for decades and still have no hole-in-one to show.

The Township 15 km race and my knees

2009-03-11T22:56:00.009+02:00

This week was a fairly successful one because I ran my first 15k race. I did the first 10k's in 1h11, which was fine because I didn't want to overexert myself. I felt really tired from 12k's and my knees started to hurt. I spent Sunday and part of Monday struggling with my knees but from Tuesday I was fine. Tumi recommends a new pair of running shoes to compensate for my overpronation and help support my knees. I also need to strengthen my quadriceps to help my knees, but I don't even remember where my gym membership card is sitting. I think I should combine this quadriceps training with something fun like the hip hop or katabox class so that I can make going to gym sound like fun, but maybe I should keep it simple.

PS The unusual stitch problem I had last week was due to dehydration! Thanks to the articles I found on google. Stitch problems are no more.

Hope this stitch is nothing serious

2009-03-04T22:19:00.006+02:00

On my birthay (25 Feb) my husband and I took leave and went to play golf together. This was really special because we don't often have time to do so. Services Golf CLub is surprisingly good, given that it belongs to the army base at Thaba Tshwane. I'll definitely be going there often. We went to my in-laws in the Free State over the weekend and played once more. I had a lousy round there but that's probably because my husband accidentally bumped someone's car slightly and there was drama.

My fitness levels are on an increase. I managed to run 6 km on the hills inside our estate without stopping (26 Feb)! Today I went running but unfortunately I had to only walk 2 km due to a stich on my lower tummy. This is very strange because my stitches are normally higher on my abdomen and I can still jog with them. I'll have to try again tomorrow or else take it to the doctor. I'm looking forward to run the PWC Township 15 km on Sunday so I really hope to be OK by then.

2009-02-21T18:15:00.004+02:00

Today I ran 10 km race in 1h08! This came earlier than I expected, thanks to the course we ran at the Tuks Half Marathon this morning in Pretoria. The course had gentle slopes up and down and was easy to run, except the spot between 1 & 2 km markers. There were thousands of runners and the race was very well organised, with plenty water points along the way.

In the morning I wasn't sure if I was ready to run because I only ran a 3.5k during the week and I played an exhausting round of golf at Eagle Canyon yesterday. The only reason I woke up at 4h45 to go to Pretoria was to be up on my feet but not to actually finish at 1h08. So this was a pleasant surprise and I'm now looking ahead to 1h05 within the next month. I don't want to commit to a sub-hour 10k yet until I get to 1h02 (my personal best in 10k).

I'm now beginning to picture my Two Oceans Half Marathon , which is a good thing. The only issue is that my knees are not ok. I think I should focus on running shorter distances during the week so that they can get used to impact. I don't think I'll run any race this coming weekend.

2009-02-15T19:36:00.000+02:00

I have a few weeks to go before I attempt my 21.1 km at the Two Oceans Marathon and I have reasons to be very afraid. Since January, I have only ran 3 times (a 3,5 km dash, a 10 km at Sasolburg last weekend and another 10 km at the Valentine Nite Race this past Friday evening). I thought 2009 would be a wonderful year for running for me but this hasn't turned out that way. I still haven't given up on my Two Oceans and have in fact already signed up for it, so I better get my act together.
I will consider myself ready for the 2 Oceans half-marathon if I can:
- Run a 10 km in 1h08 (I'm presently on 1h17 - believe it or not!)
- Run at least one 15 km race before Oceans (a 21 will be a bonus)
- Run at least 18 km a week until April.
I have tried following recommended programmes to complete a half marathon but have found myself struggling to keep up due to other priorities in my life. So I have made up one that I know I can stick to and still avoid injuries. I will keep at it until the race day in April.