Proudly South African

I AM PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN !  

What does this mean, you often see it, people often claim to be .........

Proudly South African. 

We wear our flag on our chest as a pin 

 and wave it at sports centres, supporting our Bokke. 

 We even wrap the flag around us and dance in the street welcoming our sports heroes home

We get together over a traditional braai and we claim only South Africans braai like this. 

All over the world, you can feel that special South African spirit, when they come together to celebrate.

But is that Proud South Africans???  Then why are they not here, why overseas? Better money? The crime here?? I have no idea and I am not going to judge them for not being here, where we need them. Need their skills that are now so in shortage, need their votes. Yes, suppose I am having a bit of a dig on our White South Africans, that have left the country, that was actually not my original intention, but it is all so interwoven in what I am trying to say here, and I will most probably be wildly unpopular yet again, in certain quarters, but so be it.

Proudly South African,"is the “buy local” campaign launched in 2001 by government, organised business, organised labour and community organisations (the constituencies represented in the National Economic Development and Labour Council – Nedlac) to boost job creation and pride in “local” by promoting South African companies and their ‘homegrown’ products and services.

Buying South African stimulates an increased demand for locally-produced products and services. This translates into the safeguarding of existing employment opportunities, economic growth, and the creation of more quality employment opportunities in our country."  

refer:  http://www.proudlysa.co.za/Index.aspx

I am digressing again, but I tend to do that, when on my soap box or excited or angry about something , it gets all muddled up in my head. I really need a voice recorder, as I started this Friday early morning, just after Russell had strangely made a comment, right on the button of what I was so irritated about in the first place.

First of all, I had a nasty tin of tomatoes the other day and me being me, phoned the Consumer Line number on the tin. I told them the trouble and also stressed they should check their quality control system, whereupon I am now asked to relay some numbers on the can. While looking for that I noticed " Made in China". Now WTF is wrong with South African tomatoes ????  This is a South African  store, who makes a big hue hey in adds about Proudly South African and this is their house brand which is R 3 cheaper than the Koo and All Gold. 

Now I am angry, so I check my pantry.................well guess what, there is 2 stores to where I am not setting my foot again. Really , Mielie pips "Made in Thailand" what is wrong with our South African milie  ????? For those of you not in the know, Mielie is Maize, yellow maize pips,  sweet mielie or sweet corn also called here. 

We have thousand of acres of land that could be planted with Maize and Tomatoes , if the problem is that we do not produce enough and thousands of people out of work that could work it !!!!!

Tinned Shredded Tuna Fish , same store different brand , also cheaper by R 2-3 than John West, which is not SA anyway, but imported from England. We have Tuna here ! We have fishermen out of work, trawlers lying keel up !!!  I ask you !! 

Tinned mushrooms, bought actually to take to Zimbabwe for Michelle, "Made in China" also asparagus. I simply don't get it, I can go to Fruit and Veg City and buy mushrooms year round fresh, so why must we get tinned from China. 

I buy very little tinned or frozen foods as we can get most things fresh year round. I do buy Chinese Noodles and Soya when I want to cook a Chinese inspired meal, which is seldom, though. The kids like it, so for them at times. 

If wanting to cook an authentic Italian meal, I look for Tomatoes from Italy, they somehow taste better in the middle of our winter, but most year round we can get it all fresh , right here, grown , produced and packed in South Africa.  

Okay you get where I am coming from ??  We have a huge labour force out of work a corrupt government who is in cahoots with the Far Eastern Block. Thailand, Indonesia, China, Korea and Vietnam in particular. In 2001 , thousands of textile workers were laid off here, hundreds of factories closed, when they started bringing in Chinese clothing and fabrics. 

We have the same scenario in the Stationery business, we are in Office Supplies, so am experiencing this first hand. Several factories has closed, pencil makers, pen makers, paper suppliers, metal workings, it is cheaper to bring it in from China than making it here. To me that is not the point !!!! The quality is lousy and the control of it is bad. We sell paper folders for example, but I cannot guarantee the colour or the shade will be consistent  it varies from batch to batch, so I have attorneys and accountants who are particular about a specific shade of red or blue and what they like and I look like an idiot when I now deliver a different shade. Try to explain to them that you do not manufacture it, it does not get manufactured here anymore, you have no control over the shade, forget it. This is what they want, find it ! 

Charity starts at home, I feel and we have so many unemployed people, if they all have work , they will also spend money and our economy could right itself. Since 1994, the South African Rand has constantly weakened, our inflation rate is sky high and all our costs of basic staples has rocketed as has the petrol price. Strangely though............ Clothing, Home Appliances from an iron to a fancy television has not gone up.  Recently we did a new basic price list, most of our items had not changed since 2009, the cost was the same or lower. A lot had come down. Our overheads are up though, petrol, wages, electricity , water, vehicle maintenance etc. So how can we hold the prices, we have to though as competing against the big boys, who are working on sales figures, not profit margins. 

I digress yet again..................

Now that I had that gripe, of course here comes a couple of our friends to visit, they are originally from Britain, but has lived here for years, 2 of the children are born here as well. The talk turns to Zuma and elections, don't they know , we are now on dangerous rocky ground, one of them remarks that nothing has changed the k....... are the same as always. 

M here explodes, on my soap box........... "what did you do today, to make a difference" and off we go.............why can I not just keep quiet, asks my  man later. 

I cannot understand these people , they come out here, live the good life, buy a house a car, the children go to school here, but they hold onto their British Passport for dear life. They cannot vote, as not citizens, they go HOME every year on holiday, they do not speak the language, neither Afrikaans or any of the black languages. They watch BBC news, do not know anything about what goes on in the country and is not interested either  Most food stuff is fancy imports , like we get "back home", olives, cheeses, jams and  preserves. High tea is observed every afternoon ( I laugh, I cannot help myself ) Holidays are spent in the most expensive private reserves and we do the theatre and the shows when overseas performers come out. They have no clue who is Johnny Clegg or Freshly Ground and would rather die than watch Pasella or Noot vir Noot. 

 They constantly complain about the state of affairs in South Africa. How we get ripped off with out high costs of living, the lazy natives etc. ooooops, here goes M's mouth again "if it is so bad here, why don't you go back to England"...the man reckons maybe it is time for us to break up the party.

Denmark do not allow dual citizenship! When I become a South African Citizen (have now tried for years to get accepted) I will loose all Danish privileges  mind you I cannot just move back there, no, would have to apply and am not legible for a Danish pension either, I cannot vote there either, have been away for too long, so what is the point?

 I have lived here since 1975 and am not going anywhere. I am South African and the biggest gripe I have with my British friends is that they can have both and could help make a difference, come voting day! 

You know you are going crazy when the voices in your head starts arguing, right?

This whole thing is so complex I cannot make sense of it myself, so if I made no sense to you the reader either, very understandable. 

Off my soap box, back to work I go. Things to do.