Jeug, die baanbrekers van ontwikkeling

Jippie, dit is Jeugmaand! Maar het ons regtig iets om te vier?

Daar word gesê een uit vier jongmense is werkloos. Ons land se werkloosheidsyfer vir die eerste kwartaal van 2016 was 26,7% waarvan ’n groot deel – meer as 50% – jeugdiges is.

Ons is op die vooraand van Jeugdagvieringe waar ons onthou hoe honderde jongmense in 1976 opgestaan het vir dít wat hulle geglo het is reg en regverdig.

Ek kan nie help om myself af te vra nie – het hulle toe nie maar net die battle gewen nie, terwyl die oorlog voortduur?

Bendegeweld beheer ons gemeenskappe en vir so baie het dit al ’n comfort zone geword. As jy nie ’n kind voor 21 het nie, is jy nie cool nie, of die nuwe sêding is “jou kind gaan jou ouma noem”. Voorts word dwelms ook geëet soos ek lekkers kou.

Maar alles is nie verlore nie. Verlede jaar het ons die jaar van studente gesien, van

#RhodesMustFall tot #FeesMust-Fall. Jongmense het, soos 40 jaar gelede, opgestaan en sterk gestaan, van kampusse tot op die stoep van die parlement.

Hulle het die sekretaris-generaal van die ANC gedwing om op die teer saam met hulle voor Luthuli-huis te sit en Tata Madiba moes toekyk hoe duisende op die grasperk buite die Uniegebou byeenkom en aandring dat aan hul eise voldoen word.

Hier staan ons nou weer voor Jeugdag en talle gaan sê hoe belangrik die jeug is en watter belangrike rol ons jongmense speel in organisasies, ons kerke en die gemeenskappe. Die woorde sal verskil, maar almal se boodskap sal dieselfde wees: die jeug van vandag staar talle uitdagings in die gesig.

Dis geen geheim dat ons jeug uitdagings het nie, maar kan ons dit regtig nog sê? Is ons nie veronderstel om liefs met realistiese voorstelle na vore te kom nie?

Voorstelle waar ons die uitdagings aanpak, pleks van kyk wie gaan dit oplos.

Ons jeug is goed in tegnologie. Kan vir ure in ’n laptop, tablet of selfoonskerm vaskyk en nog ander take verrig aka multi-tasking.

Tog is ons ’n sogenaamde verlore generasie, ’n confused generasie. Ons is onseker omdat sommige sê daar is nie geleenthede nie, terwyl daar tog baie is, maar ons nie kan besluit watter een nie.

Baie reken dit is cool om vriende te volg, maar dink nie vir hulself nie. 

Ons dink wat ons sien, hoor en wat ons ouers en grootouers moes deurmaak, ook met ons moet gebeur. Ons is baie keer te gemaklik in ons gemaksone en bang of onseker om daaruit te styg.

Van ’n vroeë ouderdom af, word ons geleer wat is reg en verkeerd en dit behoort ons almal snags wakker te hou dat so baie jongmense die verkeerde bo die regte kies. Daar is geen kitsoplossing vir die uitdagings nie en die antwoorde lê by ons as individue.

As gemeenskappe verenig ons by groot sportbyeenkomste; kom ons verenig ook vir ons uitdagings.

Wyle oudpresident Nelson Mandela het eenkeer gesê “jongmense reik uit na ander om ’n eenvoudige toekoms te bou. Dit verg emosionele volwassenheid en morele krag”.

Ons verlede is belangrik omdat dit ons leer waarvandaan ons kom. Ons moet daaruit leer, maar ons moet ook in die hede werk om na die toekoms te beweeg.

Tata Madiba se woorde slaan dus die spyker op sy kop. Jongmense is uniek op hul eie manier en hulle reik uit. As ’n samelewing neig ons baie keer om dit nie raak te sien nie, om ons jeug te kritiseer, ons jeug te verwerp, af te skryf en die ou gunsteling, te veroordeel.

By ’n jeugsaamtrek ’n dekade gelede het Mandela gesê “jongmense moet baanbrekers van die heropbou en ontwikkeling word.

Deur die jeug se voorbeeld sal daar gehelp word dat Suid-Afrika die land van ons drome word’.

Die bou van die toekoms waarvan Madiba praat verg die morele krag, waardes en emosionele volwassenheid van ons almal deur ons jeug te aanvaar en erkenning, inligting, opvoeding, motivering en aanmoediging te bied.

This is Caylum's story...

In my TOF support group is Samantha and Wayne, parents of little Caylym. As a support group we are trying to raise awareness and get support for not only Caylum but many other babies who are not as lucky as I was.

This is Caylum’s story, please read it, and by sharing it you doing your bit by help creating awareness.

Caylum Willemse, diagnosed with tracheobronchomalaciam, was born on 12 January with Tracheo-oesophageal fistula (TOF) and oesophageal atresia (OA). 

Tracheo-oesophageal fistula is an abnormal connection between the oesophagus and the trachea. 

Oesophageal atresia is when the oesophagus develops in two parts, meaning food cannot reach the stomach. If associated with TOF, fluid can leak into the lungs causing pneumonia. 

This rare birth defect meant he had to go for life saving surgery the next morning. The doctor that did the operation did an awesome job and in two weeks Caylum went home. The joy of his parents was short lived. Caylum started having what his mom calls choking spells or blue spell. On one occasion he was rushed to the hospital and had no heartbeat. He was stabalised after an hour and transferred to Clinton hospital where they did a bronchoscope and saw he had severe trachiamalacia and would have to go for surgery or next time we wouldn't be so lucky again.

Caylum went for the operation and recovered well and once again 2 weeks later was sent home. Things went well for about a week until his mom started noticing he sounds a lot worse at night after he was fed. His doctor was consulted and was assured it is normal for a TOF baby to make those sounds. 

Shortly there-after another incident happened where Caylum wasn't breathing and had no heartbeat. At hospital they managed to revive him and was put on a osculatory ventilator because he had milk in the lungs. 

Long story short the problem is the tracheamalacia, but only a few cases are to the extend that the trachea collapse from the back and they have now picked up he also has bronchomalacia. 

Dr. Russel Jennings from the Boston Children's Hospital did an operation in America, called a posterior tracheopexy, with a high success rate. Currently some local doctors are doing research on this procedure but no one is willing to perform the operation. 

In the last month he had to be resuscitated three times as his condition is getting worse. 

His parents don't have the necessary finances to take him to Boston and their prayer now is for dr. Jennings to get the necessary documentation and permission to come to the country and do the operation but also for local doctors to learn from it and more angels be saved.

His parents created this Facebook-page and YouTube channel.

#BeMoved together

Prasa on Tuesday successfully carried out #TestTrain2 at Pretoria station. What makes it even more awesome is that the #TrainReport team from @CapeTownTrains got the opportunity to be part of this and boast their tech savvy skills.

It would appear as if modernization has now boarded an express train. Looking at the video clips and images, it all looks nice and I share the excited of minister Dipuo Peters and the team. We however not yet in first world gear and I have to be realistic.

Mindful of the arson and vandalism incidents of the past six months in the Cape Region alone, it is clear commuters and indeed Metrorail is not ready for the new trains.

Maybe important to also mention new trains does not mean all challenges will suddenly disappear. New trains are now closer to a reality but we still have old infrastructure, tracks and signalling equipment – but that is not what this blog is about.

As commuters we not ready because:

We have to start educating ourselves to look after our [state] assets and not vandalize them.

We have to start familiarizing ourselves with the current train lingo and operations.

We need to become activist and ambassadors of our trains, to protect ourselves and our assets.

Metrorail is not ready because:

They struggle to communicate with existing communication tools,

Departments and some staff still operate in segregation and not as one united unit,

They see modernization but don’t operate pro-active [although small progress here has been made].

#MovingSAforward requires all hands on deck.

Should we get the new trains tomorrow, some will be upset because it is not on their line and others angry that they cannot stand between the carriages. 

There will be those who would be frustrated that the train is not moving because they keeping the door open and someone will complain about windows not opening. I won’t even exclude a complaint about the air con in the train being too cold. And I’m not even at delayed announcements…

#MovingSAforward requires #CommuterEducation and an integrated Metrorail to #BeMoved

Moving Metrorail's Mountain

Thousands of commuters are daily faced with train delays and cancellations, if only there we proper communication those delays and cancellations would not make you so frustrated.

Although I’ve pointed it out before their confession, Metrorail have admitted to me communication is their biggest weakness. I have to give it to them though that the past two years they have made some improvement on this field, and that is an ongoing thing.

For three years now I have been their biggest critic, this led to me being privy to some internal information. Having a better understanding of the network, operations and challenges – although I learn something new every week – it gave me and them the advantage of taking a look at things from an outside view and making proposals with realistic solutions. And May has thus far seen Metrorail accepting two of my proposed solutions.

Case 1:

My big issue is proactive customer communication, and I fail to understand why this cannot be done. See Metrorail cannot control passenger-related incidents, broken rails or faulty signal due to the old infrastructure, and because they operate in an open environment they are also not immune to criminal activities [this is a separate blog]. Metrorail can however ensure that they do proactive customer communication and not leave commuters stranded with more questions than answers.

Recently I invited senior Metrorail managers to join me for 10/15minutes just walking on the platforms of Cape Town station and witness the lack of [proactive] communication. The Regional Manager was on official business and could not join but the Customer Service HOD and Marketing Manager met up with me.

Normally when management make an appearance there are no problems, not even a delay. This unannounced visit showed them the reality we have to face daily though. There were platform changes with no announcements and staff on the floor was not informed. This led to the 15 minute observation turning into 40 minutes, notes were made and certain actions immediately implemented. The two even made time to assist commuters who were confuse where their train is.

Days after this various inter-departmental meetings were held and remedial action will over the next few days and weeks be implemented. Many of the suggestions I made have also been accepted and implemented.

Case 2:

If you have never been in an overcrowded train, you have probably never traveled via Metrorail. Recent arson and vandalism incidents caused train cancellations, adding pressure to the already overcrowded trains.

Metrorail’s TrainOps made some adjustments to ensure not a lot of peak trains are cancelled. Two things they might have missed are that (i) atleast the first two peak trains will be overcrowded and (ii) they don’t travel in commuter peak time and are not squashed like sardines.

I took one line, went to the drawing board and by scanning I made a proposal to Metrorail to lift the burden on one of the first peak trains of the line. Making the proposal I had to keep in-mind limited available number of sets, other options available for commuters when cancelling another train and the pressure that would add to trains after it.

While I understand their challenges, I refuse to negotiate on two things:

1. Metrorail’s operations cannot be business as usual,

2. There should be proactive communication with synergy across all platforms

I’ve started moving Metrorail’s mountain, and there’s no stopping now.

Challenge an Opportunity

Many things can make a Monday blue. Mine was the main story of the seven pm news. While violence has become a regular occurrence in many of our communities, it is with sadness to take note when the ones happening in your home town make the prime time news bulletin.

Pic by: Lee Jacobs

What caught my eye was not only the dog walking with sunglasses. But during the insert a young man says the youngsters are throwing stones as they also want job opportunities.

Now I’m not sure if it is a coincidence but this story featured the same day as Statistician General, Pali Lehohla, made public the Vulnerable Group Series: The Social Profile of Youth 2009 –2014 report. Based on the report more coloured and black youth in South Africa are unemployed, involved in crime and uneducated.

In November 2014 I wrote a column Youth need to take responsibility. I allude to no one being raised to be bad, nor would any parent want their child to use drugs or become a gangster. And ask myself where did we fail and who is failing us?

I am strongly of the opinion that where you come from do not determine your destiny. Also that responsibility and ownership is not determined by government, but by parents, the youth and our society at large. It makes me wonder do communities not determine their identity.

As child we taught what is right and what is wrong. It should worry us that our youth despise this, favouring wrong over right. Why it is sad that children hold their seniors hostage – what happened to one of those tenth commandments to honour your mother and father. Surely in a community the aunty and uncle you pass is a mother and father and should be honoured.

I hold no answers. I do know we will all have to work together to address a challenge. In the column I wrote that society has the ability to create their identity, by being an active community – where we not only know our neighbours but where we talk to one another.

There is no quick remedy for our challenges, but it starts with me as an individual. Parents are only the vessel that brings a child into the world. It is still my task as child to be responsible and take ownership.

Paarl and more specific Drakenstein hold many potential. It has many success stories, icons and opportunities. If the story on the news showed me anything, it was an opportunity for myself and many others that now is the time for youth development through creating economic opportunities.

Religious leaders our moral compass

The South African Council of Churches (SACC) and National Religious Leaders Forum (NRLF) last week added their voice to the growing calls for Jacob Zuma to do the honourable thing and resign.

Now what makes this so special?

The religious groups normally speak out on pertinent social issues.

But this is the first time I can recall in our young democracy that the two bodies not only have a joint meeting on a specific issue, but also a joint meeting with the ANC as well as a joint press briefing calling on Jacob Zuma to resign.

Surely this alone calls for a moment of silent reflection, considering past tension between the two and in the foreseeable future we may not see this joint effort again.

A brief history of the two formations is that the NRLF was formed in post-apartheid South Africa, with one of their most prominent leaders being Pastor Ray McCauley of Rhema Bible Church. The SACC needs no introduction, having 

been in alliance with the ANC during the anti-apartheid struggle.

As one would expect the “devil” was not happy. Our church leaders were criticised and their actions questioned. Some colleagues even asked who gave them a mandate – even though they were elected. One of the comments I read was that our religious leaders should not judge but act with love and compassion.

“The pulpit cannot be used by religious leaders for politics, and only the ANC can ask the president to resign,” said the chaplain at the Chris Hani Memorial Service.

Yes, politically he may be correct, and we have already received indications of this.

ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe, at two press briefings he addressed - one after the national officials met and the other after the extended national working committee meeting X made this distinction clear. When 235 members of Parliament voted against the DA impeachment motion to remove the President, the ANC NWC and parliamentary caucus indicated they would never again recall a sitting head of state, as the party’s national executive committee did in September 2008 when it recalled Thabo Mbeki as President.

Not all religious leaders asked the President to step down. On Monday, the National Interfaith Council of South Africa welcomed the President’s apology to South Africa and criticised men and women of God for asking him to resign. It may be worth noting that one of the prominent members of this council is former ANC Parliamentary Chief Whip Dr Mathole Motshekga, who was also a member of the Nkandla Ad hoc committee.

Reading all the unhappy comments, I was wondering if they did not read or didn’t know 1 Timothy 5:20, which says: “But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning...” There is also Deuteronomy, Acts, Titus, Corinthians and several other scriptural texts one could quote from.

Prof Mary-Ann Plaatjies-van Huffel, World Council of Churches President for Africa and moderator of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (and first female to hold this position), wrote to President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday 6 April – in a letter composed on Sunday 3 April with a humble, though serious request.

The letter, a copy of which is in my possession, contains no politics just a humble reminder of moral integrity, asking the President to do the right thing and not let his own struggle in the fight for liberation fade from the memory of the nation.

A friend occasionally tells me that politics and religion do not go together... you will be busy praying and swearing at the same time. Although many religious leaders tried it on the political scene, I agree that the pulpit should not be used for politics – indeed for souls. But we cannot ignore our country’s history and remind ourselves that religious leaders – and we can name people like Oom Beyers Naudé, Dr Allan Boesak, Archbishop-emeritus Desmond Tutu, Rev Frank Chikane, Archbishop-emeritus Bill Burnett and many others – played an instrumental role in #ApartheidHasFallen and the #RiseOfDemocracy

Yes, politics can make one forget one’s values, even if only for a second.

But our religious leaders have a role to play and we should see them as the moral voice in our country, for our [political] leaders.

• This opinion piece was originally published in Paarl Post of Thursday 14 April 2016 [pg.8]

Be honest not Metrolies

I have to start this piece by stating my “fight” with Metrorail has never been personal, nor have I ever criticized an individual. If you carry the portfolio, then you have to deliver to expectations and the unexpected.

I don’t need anyone to tell me, I am well aware many within Metrorail feel offended when I say certain portfolios are incompetent. Someone once said only someone who is guilty will feel offended.

When criticizing Metrorail I have always done so with facts and yes I have been proven wrong on an occasion or two.

Metrorail’s problem is that every department works like an island. Many within the state owned enterprise are also so focused on their own thrones; they forget the company operate with infrastructure older than six decades causing many of our frequent delays.

Since the parastatal declared itself in the ICU in March 2014 it made a good recovery with a few relapses inbetween. Metrorail however slipped back into a critical condition in March 2016 – without them even knowing this.

It is two years since I wrote Metrorail now Metrofail and despite undertakings from the company, nothing was implemented to address their lack of effective communication.

In April 2014 I proposed some more solutions to this disaster waiting to happen and despite some of it being implemented; it seems many staff are still on a delayed train, when it comes to implementation.

I’ve had the privilege of visiting Metrorail’s heartbeat and my first observation was that there is an I in their team work. Apart from a few staff changes, nothing in that Operational Centre has changed.

The decision-makers at Metrorail are well aware of what should happen. Flip they even had a presentation on effective pro-active communication being done for them and two documents on the status; challenges and solutions of our Railway service to their disposal.

So why are commuters still in the dark?

See besides many not knowing how to get off that island, there are also those who don’t want to be the odd one out and criticize what is wrong.

Many are also caught in the culture of apologizing for the inconvenience and look or make up an excuse – instead of taking my 2014 advice and just speak the truth.

Customer Communication is not a priority for Metrorail, was it a priority they would have:

• Revised the invisible Customer Service Communication Policy
• Implemented a more proactive strategy approach
• Be honest with commuters and not apologise for what they cannot control
• Make up excuses why key departments cannot address challenges head on
• Made so many errors in announcements and SMSe

Customer Communication is not a priority, because meeting financial targets – for the organisation to keep its head above the water – is.

Despite the above Metrorail is not all bad. There are many talented and competent individuals at the company. There is also nothing no one can do or say that will do any more harm to Metrorail, than the critical state it is in already.

Metrorail should thus apart from learning the word team, also learn to communicate the truth and tell a thing as it is.