Abathwa paintings, famously known as 'San Paintings'

I declare it alright to refer to groups of people as they are known by their own and translate for those that will be lost in translation at the original names. For instance I will say Ngqika not Gaika.

Here's another educational tip:
Did you know
"there are drawings painted by Abathwa all along the Tina River on both banks? The Tina River is the big river that separates Mt Frere and Qumbu.
we are still in progress with archiving more information and linkages between the clan names and village names that have Abathwa dialect connotation to them.

"Make your own come"

"Make your own come, jesus is taking his holy time", Kgafela oa Magogodi, a performance poet





It is an age of conscious wealth creation. Wealth that is not necessarily monetary. I do not know Mzwakhe Mbuli, yet, I do agree with one of his poetic lines, "I am the RDP of the minds". If you are not South African and not familiar with our abbreviations, RDP stands for Reconstruction and Development Programme. I do not just agree with him, we are separately working together, atleast towards the same goal.

It is a joy for me to spot young people looking towards the earth in creating their wealth. I saw Siyabonga and Xolile working on their plot within a communal gardening project space in Ntlenzi Flagstaff; I was there on a research exercise looking into farming practices. I was immediately attracted to getting closer to them and speaking to them.They have decided to to be farmers. They are small farmers now; yet, these are the people that call to themselves potential and possibility to become bigger farmers. As a developmental worker, these are the guys I want to talk about and hope to invest funding into their works; so as to assist them to stretch their strides further. These guys are bringing that which they seek closer to themselves, instead of....the list is countless , yet very repetitive....we want jobs, there are no jobs, even "our kids are educated and non-employed".
Creating the life one wants to live is the way, Siyabonga and Xolile are open to living and are planting their own vegetables. They grow enough to sustain their families and they sell the surplus for profits within the community.

This is not the ultimate high, they're still struggling and I can see that. My high will come when these guys are proper gardeners, ample land, proper gardening tools and practices, when they don't struggle with the land but working in unison with nature to receive what they want. Then I shall use two of my well chosen favourite words, "proper advancement".

My struggle then becomes, "going for my come with regards to small farmers, first in the Eastern Cape because this is where I live" What is my come in this regard? Finding funding and support for young farmers that I have identified.
Perhaps this is the kingdom we've been waiting for, it is not to be waited upon but created and the mother nature said, Amen, finally they are beginning to see the truth. Freedom is not granted by others, it is freewill to live and create".

David, the trespasser!

0n the 05^th of February 2011, the AmaCirha, amaTshawe and amaKhwemte sat for a meeting with all the traditional leadership of the amaTshawe clan of Gatyeni. The purpose of this meeting was to mobilise amaTshawe and elect a representative body that will go to King Xolilizwe Sigcau in Ndaqu; amaTshawe want the king to facilitate a process that will result in reimbursement to all the families that were moved from the area that is now being occupied by the nature reserve.

The Great place elected its own Trust in an attempt to overthrow the Trust that already existed; they blamed the old Trust of misusing the funds under their care for personal endeavors. The new Trust opened a court case against the old one. The court researched the case and found the allegations to be false, however, the court did not rule this case, and instead it threw it back to the community to solve this issue to the best of their interest.

Land Affairs intervened in this case and suggested electing a Trust and thus nullifying the two previous Trust bodies. Land Affairs set a date on which they would come hold these elections to ensure fairness. CPA’s, Chiefs and old Trustees were informed about the date and the elections. The communities involved, from Cwebe to Mpume, were not formally notified of the date.

There was unhappiness amongst the locals with the date set as it clashed with a long awaited for opening event of a local Clinic and most community members missed the elections to attend the event.

The elections were held and all Trustees elected are not from within the residing area of true claimants, which is those that live closer to the sea, those who have ancestral graves and their original homes within the nature reserve.

King Xolilizwe sent chief Mngomezulu to be his representative at this meeting. This community wants the king to summon Land Affairs to come back to Cwebe and facilitate elections of the Trustee committee, one that includes people of Hobeni, especially the Elalini area in Hobeni.

9 community members were elected who will go to speak to Xolilizwe in Nqadu, a date had not been set yet.

People of Hobeni are getting bitter and bitterer at the treatment they encounter with parks board. People of Hobeni struggle for wood (dry and wet wood), they cannot access natural medicines and they also do not have access to the sea resources that they have grown up using.

The community is puzzled that after so much glitz and signing by Jacob Zuma (then Vice President) and Thoko Didiza (then minister of agriculture and land affairs) to symbolize handing the land over to the community; that there is actually more hardship and harassment by the Parks board and it has become almost impossible to access most natural resources that form a huge part of their way of life.

David told this story, his court case and other 2 community members was set for 21 February 2011, he is being charged for trespassing: that means sitting on a rock at full moon with his fishing rod in the sea waters and catching a fish.

Farming Friction

There is an existing farming friction throughout the Eastern Cape, livestock versus maize growing. Lots of families have stopped planting food in their fields due to the damage that is continuously being done to the crops by livestock in the process of feeding themselves.

 People that are planting their fields are those that can fence their plots to prevent these distracting visits by the dear cows, goats, horses and sometimes pigs. In a certain village in  Ematolweni, Tabankulu, 52 families have come together to develop an agricultural cooperative, they have been supported by funders and now have their land fenced and are growing food for consuption and for trade.
 Some people have opted to move away from their family allocated fields because they are situated next to livestock grazing land, to plant on land much further from their homes.

 Picture taken at Dudumeni, Mbizana by Nokhanyo Mhlana

There is also the growing number of government initiatives(e.g.Lima, Asgisa, AgriSA) intended at growing food on, they all grow food on communities family's fields (emasimini abantu), the issues and risks are that:
1. The seeds used are mostly GMO seeds, so the land will be damaged when returned to the communities
2. Family's get a maximum of 5 sacks of maize or beans from the produce of their own land, not enough to sustain the families throughout the year until the next harvest.
3. Giving people 5 sacks of produce is not a solution


This is not what most communities want to see happenings, the new trend and possibility for the future is fencing the field plots and continuing to farm, as well as coming up with other solutions to this farming strife,looking at possibilities of growing crops that are foreign and not edible to the livestock.
Food and survival are to be worked for!!!

Development.... On Whose Land?

Dwesa community leaders assessing land development options within Dwesa Nature Reserve, from which they were forcibly removed, and which was restored to their ownership, conditional to ongoing conservation 

Toll road goes ahead!

The South African Government today announced that the Wild Coast Toll road wll go ahead.

TRALSO is not opposed to the construction of the toll road, but would like to see Government do thorough consultation with the affected communities and respond to the issues that have been raised by the affected parties.

The accompanying picture is taken at Mtentu, part of the environmentally sensistive Amadiba region, currently under threat from mining initiative that have exposed deep ruptures in local communities. The road - which will give access to the region - will involve cutting through the Pondoland Centre of Endemism, exposing communities to new realities such as highly restricted crossing points, and construction of large-scale bridges spanning wide ravines.