So the dire situation we find ourselves in in Cape Town at the moment is severe drought conditions. Consequently the municipality has imposed very strict water restrictions, meaning each person should use no more than 87 litres on average per day. That is intended for personal hygiene, drinking, cooking, washing clothes and any other household cleaning. 87 litres is not much.

An average shower uses 22 litres of water per minute. Thus a 2 minute shower is 44 liters which is slightly more than half my daily water ration. A toilet flush is 9 litres, so add 2 flushes and I’ve already used 62 litres! Then there all those seemingly small amounts that all add up. Let’s say 4 cups of coffee, washing the dishes, cooking rice or pasta, washing my hands two or three times a day. My 87 litres is used up in no time.

For the most part Capetonians have started realizing the severity and seriousness of the situation. Fortunately we’re a pretty resourceful bunch too. In my household, we reuse the water from washing dishes to water the plants. We shower with buckets in the shower, and then use that water to flush the toilet. Besides this, we subscribe to the commonly heard phrase, “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down”, and we ask all our visitors to do the same. Similarly, when I visit my friends’ houses too – this is a common understanding – we’ve all adopted this water saving habit.

It surprises me that more people don’t subscribe to the same philosophy in the public restrooms that I’ve been to. The things is, we are all impacted by this drought – so in my opinion there is nothing embarrassing about not flushing the toilet in a public place if you’ve only wee’ed. It baffles me how selfish some people still are – so aware of themselves, that they would risk us all reaching Day Zero, as opposed to letting other people see their urine! Craziness. Thankfully, it’s only a handful of people who continue to be selfish and ignorant. I hope they’ll catch a wake up soon, stop being so proud and selfish and the hopefully with all our collective efforts we can avoid Day Zero.

Day Zero is term that we more and more commonly hear being referred to. That’s the calculated day when our dams run completely dry. When that happens, every Capetonian will have to stand in a security guarded queue for a daily ration of 25 litres of water! To give you an idea of how much that is, see picture below of a 25 litre jerry can (or aspirator is the term used to refer to this container in a laboratory) positioned next to an ordinary sized coffee mug. Not much water uh… But that’s all we going to get per day for cleaning ourselves and homes, drinking, cooking and even flushing the toilet! That sounds insane but that is indeed our reality. Reality bites.

So currently no potable water may be used for cleaning anything outdoors such as a vehicle or even watering plants. A while ago I realised that I can collect the most water when it rains from my downpipes (from the gutters) because of the large surface area of the house’s roof. It’s much more effective that just leaving a container in the middle of the garden, hoping to catch some rain. Those containers are never filled to capacity with rain water – despite me trying that numerous times.

So until now I have been using two 25 litre buckets to catch the water from my downpipes when it rains. There’s three problems with that though. Problem one is each bucket just contains enough water to water all my pot plants once. So in a week without any rainfall then my plants suffer. Problem two is those buckets don’t have lids so if it’s a really hot day after the day it rained, the contents of one of those buckets evaporates before the water is even used. Problem three, on the day it rains, the 25 litre buckets overflow – meaning I could of actually harvested more water if the container was bigger….. hmmmmnnnn think think think.

Auspiciously, I’ve now come to a decision which is hopefully is going to be the solution. Today (with the help of my Dad…. Thank you Daddy), I purchased two 240 litre wheelie bins (the type usually used for household refuse). I opted for the unusual colours red and yellow to avoid my neighbours mistaking either of my new bins as their own! Anyway, these bright bins are now strategically placed to catch any rain water that falls on my roof.

Keeping my fingers tightly crossed for rain sometime soon. My plants are feeling it – looking terribly sad. I believe a little rain has been forecast for Wednesday so I’m holding my breath hoping this new idea works. Who knows, with some luck I might catch enough water to top up my Jacuzzi! That’s another thing we not allowed to do…..top up pools and Jacuzzis. If my plan is successful however, take a guess where our Din Din club’s Christmas (Jacuzzi) party is going to be…..

Specifically, dear aimless, thoughtless, uncaring and unruly protesting CPUT student… What the hell are you thinking!? You and I are connected in the sense that we both belong, not only to humanity – but the higher education institution known as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).

It is an undisputed fact that our university is the underdog, both in resources and in reputation when compared to the others in our geographical area, the Western Cape in South Africa. The only thing we can boast about is we are the biggest. We are the biggest though, an result of amalgamation of two technikons and a handful of colleges – which in itself means we aren’t sure of our own identity. But this path, this “identity” you are leading us to adopt is just downright wrong. What you are telling the world to believe about us is wrong. You are wrong – not by university level thinking standards – just plain old common sense. We are not what you are reflecting, and it has no place at university – any university. You do not belong with us.

This above dear CPUT student, is plain criminal. That bullshit idea that you convey, that these actions you’ve taken (aka causing this kind of damage) is a way to get your opinion articulated, is screwed up. Period.

You and I know, this is merely one incident, insignificant compared to burning buildings and cars – something you’ve also done, which is arguably far worse. These cars dear student, do not belong to the university though. These cars are the personal property of people trying to etch a decent living for themselves and their children, just like you and your parents.

I admit, I don’t know what it’s like to go hungry and have to study for a test. I don’t know what it’s like to grow up in a rural environment and then at tertiary level have to adjust to living in the city. I do actually know what it’s like to be taught in a language that is not my first language. I do actually also know, what it’s like to move to another city, from Cape Town to Pretoria in 1995, I would argue two completely different cultures. To feel isolated and alienated, homesick for the first 6 months in a place where I just did not fit in.

Also I know what it’s like to sit in a class and have the lecturer refer to “you people” (me being one of “you people“), a marginalized group of students who were expected to fail. In 1995, I was expected to fail simply because of the colour of my skin. (This incident among others…. one being walking home from class one night when three policemen in a marked police vehicle verbally sexually harassed me – a lone coloured girl, simply because who is going to come to the aid and defend a lone coloured girl in the middle of Pretoria city in 1995… come now. It’s just the way it was). I didn’t even tell my family about it – what was the point? Shit happens.

Besides that, I also know what’s it’s like to have to get a loan to study, knowing that when I get my eventually earn that degree, I’ll spend years paying that debt off. My point is adversity is no stranger to me. I admit, maybe you think that still, I was buffered – because true story I have a supportive family, but dear student…. with this little insight that I do possess, I boldly am telling you is that you have no right. You have absolutely no right whatsoever to threaten me and try to intimidate me or any other staff and students at CPUT, because of your inadequacy. Yes… I said it, your inadequacy, not ours.

We all have a choice, and we all have the right to stand up for ourselves. You dear student have crossed the line though – because you are selfish. You have taken only your needs and your situation into account and assume it gives you the right to bully the staff and other students. It does not!

You feed off fear and tension. I will no longer empower you with that.

 

 

 

 

Well that’s according to Paula Marais, the publisher who has taken responsibility for Rainbow Nation Navigation: A Practical Guide to South African cultures. Actually, I personally don’t believe Paula is such a bad person – she just did what in my opinion all human beings do, whether they willing to admit it or not. We stereotype.

I’m not sure why though, probably driven by potential financial gain, did she think she was going to get away with it, without being on the receiving end of some backlash. Most of us just stereotype others in private conversations or in various forms of personal communique.

Admittedly, I would have loved to see what she wrote about other cultures, to judge for myself if she was just being blatantly racist towards coloured people, or if she really applied the same idiotic mentality throughout and misrepresented other cultures too. I unfortunately can’t get hold the book because it’s been withdrawn by the publisher.

Look the point of this blog is not to blast the lady. I did a bit of research before I started writing and I found an audio clip where she apologised and told her side of the story. She explained how she is making amends and then stated that she has been ridiculed and even threatened as a result of the book. Me…., I accept her apology although based on some of the excepts from the book that I found I still feel I have justification to blog about the incident and say “Really Paula Marais and Co., what were you thinking?”

The one except I read which wasn’t so bad was: “Coloured People also have baby showers. If you’re invited to one of these‚ then here are some hints: – Hand-me-downs are acceptable gifts‚ although in the younger generation‚ this is becoming rare.” Really…….

I’m almost 40 years old, and even if I tried to remember how many baby showers I’ve been to or organised, I could not, there were so many. Yet I honestly cannot recall hand-me-downs being doled out, not even once. There may have been, since I did not make mental notes of this with scientific rigour, but for the life of me I can’t remember second hand toys, clothes or toiletries being passed off as a stock standard gift.

Another excerpt reads: “There’s a little (unacceptable) thing called ‘vat en sit’‚ which refers to a man moving in with his girlfriend and‚ often‚ letting her pay for his expenses. In some cases the girlfriend falls pregnant. She then returns to her mother and makes peace with her (usually by apologising). The girlfriend moves back in with her and then has the child‚ She then leaves the child with the mother and returns to the boyfriend.” What? Really…read that again. Because I had to read again to make sure that I read that properly.

Now that’s a part of the book just ruffles my little coloured feathers. That’s not satirical Paula Marais and Co. That’s just plain rude, in addition to racially typecasting that to the coloured community. The behaviour you refer to exists yes, but is not exclusively coloured. The actor Jack Nicholson as example.

That being said I don’t know if she just implies it’s only more common place in the coloured community than that black, white or indian community. I do however know from my 40 years of personal experience, there in not a single person that I can think of in my community or in my circle of coloured friends that did that.

Then another:“In spite of their friendly and welcoming nature, coloured people can be quite defensive about their culture and identity. They feel they always stuck in the middle between other cultures” This one makes me wonder, did she pay her interviewees to say things that they thought would be entertaining even if it does not make sense? Like what really? I tried understanding what that meant. I wondered what has being friendly and welcoming have to do with being defensive about our culture? Aren’t most people on the planet friendly and welcoming but if you said anything untoward about their culture they take offense? Or did she mean coloured people feel the need to defend their culture if you say something random about them… I only have a M degree in Quality. Maybe when I have the PhD I could possibly make sense of that.

I could do a review of all the stupid excerpts I read, but that’s boring, and I’m over Paula Marais and Co. already. I’ll end up negating each one so I’ll  just mention one last one because this one is rather hilarious. It reads: The youths are very concerned about appearances and they like to show their money by wearing it in the form of designer clothes or lavish jewelry. This is in stark contrast with many people of the older generation who are frequently seen in their slippers. Some women go a little further than this and can be seen wearing nightgowns till late in the day”. The only nightgown I have is one I bought 14 years ago for when I went into hospital to give birth to my son. The only other time I wore it again was when I went back into hospital to give birth to my daughter. I better check if I still have it, so I can start wearing it again. Or perhaps I’m just not a coloured woman after all – because I don’t personally relate to any of this.

Jokes aside, truthfully I am getting a little tired of how racist we all still are. No one particular South African race, – we all are racist. I recently referred to someone as white, when a friend pointed out to me that I did not have to use the colour of his skin to describe him in the context of our conversation. I was trying to describe his behaviour which I perceived to be haughty, but So true – it wasn’t necessary. I’m guilty of that. I’m not suggesting we be overly sensitive about this but since then I have become more aware of it. There comes a time in everyone’s lives when you need to make a conscientious decision to stop the racism and practice it. Like stopping smoking – it won’t happen unless you have the will to do it.

Besides that, I suspect we also accuse people of being racist when they really are just bad people. If someone says something nasty and it’s directed at someone of another race we say that person is a racist. But I think there is a case to be made for some events where racism is just a symptom, not the root cause of bad or nasty behaviour. I’m referring to Riaan Lucas’s racist meme after Joost van der Westhuizen passed away. I don’t know the guy but I believe that he probably kicks his dog, and yells at his neighbour and won’t give the coloured kids who accidentally kick their ball into his property their ball back. His meme was in really bad taste, but more than it being racist it was downright unfeeling and disrespectful to Joost and his grieving family.

I think if all South Africans just actually made an effort to be better people in general, then racism would go away. If there is enough goodness in us to truly treat each other with dignity, our own race groups and other race groups. Funny enough my PhD is on culture. The simplest definition I found of culture is “shared values”. Goodness and respect for others are values I think we can all share. I believe there is enough goodness in us South Africans to accomplish this yet.