Natal Fever

Musings, opinions, history, local & national news and a few rants.

Google

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

One of THOSE nights.

It was cold and starting to rain and I went into the TV hoekie to watch the Trafalgar Day things. It was nice and cosy and just as the Red Arrows aerobatic team started their display the phone rang. Eddie!! He of the garrulous inclination who insists on being a family friend despite our best efforts to evict him from this self assumed office. His news this time was to tell me of the death of some person I know in name only. Although I am saddened by deaths I cut him short and returned to the TV just in time to see the Red Arrows vanishing into the haze.

‘Oh well’ I mused ‘at least I’ll see the vintage aircraft’. Just as the flock of Hurricanes, Spitfires, Yaks, Tempests, Sea Furies and others swarmed into view the rain (here) came down in buckets. This always has the effect of putting an end to DSTV reception as a heavy downpour breaks our link to the satellite.

I fumed for nearly 20 minutes until the picture returned. This occurred with immaculate timing as the piston engine jobs were also flying off into the cloudy yonder. ‘Never mind’ I consoled myself’ ‘I’ll be able to watch the sailing ships in a vignette of the famous battle.’

Then the power went off!

It stayed off for an hour during which time I got drunk and no longer cared.

It is reported that Stevie Wonder has been so impressed with Michael Jackson's legal team, that he has asked them to organise a driver's licence for him.....

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

You Give me Fever

It’s that wonderful time of year again here in the Garden Province. The mild winter is providing us with warm days and cool evenings. The mossies have abated somewhat as has the humidity; the clouds tower into the sky out on the horizon over the warm Mozambique current and Natalians stir themselves from their summer sloth and Natal Fever goes into remission.

This part of the world is known for its fevers. We have, or had, the usual afflictions that kept all but the bold at bay. Such nasties as malaria and that which felled my Grandfather and a goodly number of his brothers and sisters – enteric fever- or typhoid as it is now known. ‘Fever’ conjures up mental pictures of pallid, sweating, emaciated patients prostrate on their sick beds surrounded by anxious kinfolk watching a hapless doctor taking the pulse. Such was the subject of many Victorian paintings and posed photographs entitled ‘Fading Away’ or some such other melancholic caption.

But Fevers come in many forms. Being the unique place that this is some strange maladies stalk our fair corner of South Africa. These produce high passions rather than laying one low; for we are, at present, in the midst of all manner of Fevers.

We have just had ‘Comrades Fever’ where thousands of otherwise normal folk ran from Pietermaritzburg down to Durban; all 90 kilometres of it. When enquiring kindly as to why your office acquaintance is walking with a strange gait the invariable answer is ‘I did the Comrades on Thursday’. Etiquette then requires the usual enquiry ‘Did you finish and have a good run’ , ‘No…it was alright…came 10898 in under eleven hours’ (We South Africans start most affirmative answers with ‘No’ It's our little thing you know.)

Strangely the finish of the ‘Comrades’ rather resembles the results of the plague with pale, pallid etc…..sweating people in-extremis dropping like flies. I believe the last of the worst cases was released from hospital yesterday.

At the moment we are in the delirium of ‘Sardine Fever’. Huge shoals of the little silver fish gather off the shores of the Wild Coast and then make their way up past KwaZulu-Natal. Now we are not talking about shoals a few metres long but up to 35 kilometres long and a ‘free-bee’ of gigantic proportions – for all. All manner of game fish, birds, sharks and porpoises dine to their fill for days on end. Now this is understandable as the food-chain is part of nature’s way and the frenzy out at sea is normal. But if you want to see abnormal behaviour be on hand when a shoal ‘beaches’ and the humans get involved. All rational behaviour and decorum is set aside; nearby businesses are abandoned and even trains have been known to stop. People plunge into the surf with waste-paper baskets, sacks, cardboard boxes and buckets. Shirts, skirts, aprons and saris become instant fish catching devices. People who have never ever fished (let alone gutted one for cooking) carry off their booty in a state of high agitation and pride. A free hand-out from nature is taken very seriously in this part of the world.

The next fever to be visited upon us is ‘July Fever’. Yes the ‘sport of kings’; the annual running of the Durban July Handicap horse race at the Greyville Race Course. This particular event sadly no longer afflicts the general populace as it once did. We seem to have slipped into an Orwellian new age where TV, Cane and Coke and the Lotto suffice to keep the masses content and at bay. Once every office had a ‘July Sweepstake’ until this practice was banned by the Government on advice from the Dutch Reformed Church who said it was sinful and causing droughts in the Free State. So keen was interest that even if you were not at the race one had to listen to Ernie Duffield’s commentary on the wireless. Oh the suspense as they vanished behind the Drill Hall and the fast-talking Ernie had to pause for a moment or two.

Those who sought refuge from the endless ‘July’ talk, and the race itself, took themselves off to a Saturday afternoon bioscope to watch ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’ or such like. Just as Howard Keel broke into ‘Bless your Beautiful Hide’ the race results would be flashed up onto the screen and superimposed over Mr Keel’s face and all. The subsequent babble of conversation would enrage the connoisseurs of the Hollywood Musical by reminding them that horses were doing things just across town other than taking the brothers a-courting to the next farm.

None-the-less the July is still a major event even though many at the course never actually see the race. The comforts of the hospitality tents where the champagne flows tends to distract many from the purpose of the day. The purpose of the day? Ah well I suppose that’s a moot point.

The ‘Winter Season’ will soon pass. Order will be restored as summer eventually returns and all true Natalians return to our time honoured existence of ‘looking lazy at the sea’. Let our special condition ‘Natal Fever’ apply its palliative balm to us all. After the current few months pestilence and plague of frenetic activity we need the rest.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Well, well….so Jacob Zuma has been charged and it is reported that he will appear in court shortly. This despite the predictions of many – this Blog included – that this would not happen.

How easy it is to get it wrong in the murky world of politics.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

I see there have been a number of hits on this blog looking for information on 'Dingy Fever'.

It is correctly called Dengue Fever and is an infectious tropical fever causing acute pains in joints. There is a site devoted to it and armed with the correct name will be easy to find.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Zuma Sacked!

During a joint sitting of Parliament concluded a few minutes ago President Mbeki has ‘relieved Jacob Zuma of his duties as Deputy President and Member of the Cabinet’.

I assume that he will remain a Member of Parliament and still hold office within the ANC.

It would have been better for all if Zuma had done the honourable and fallen on his assegai and resigned.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Zuma - Again

President Mbeki is to address Parliament tomorrow (Tuesday, 14 June) on the implications of the recent guilty verdict in the Shaik corruption and fraud case. In this matter Judge Hillary Squires found that there was a corrupt relationship between Schabir Shaik and Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

The President will have to express himself on how the judgement affects the standing and status of his Deputy.

Mbeki will possibly say that as Zuma has not been charged and brought to trial he must be assumed to be innocent until proven to the contrary. The likelihood of charges being laid against Zuma seems unlikely as there is an influential faction within the ANC who are opposed to him succeeding Mbeki. This may seem a contradiction but a trial and possible ‘not guilty’ verdict would immediately canonise Zuma and assure his advancement to the Presidency. This is something his detractors are unlikely to risk. Rather leave doubt clinging and allow it to mutate and ferment; a safer method of tarnishing his reputation and ambitions of reaching the highest office.

With this in mind President Mbeki will utter the predictable homilies about the integrity of the judicial system and the rule of law. Dismiss Zuma? I think not. Mbeki will maintain the status quo to appease those who support Jacob Zuma and avert open dissention.

Why do otherwise? The trial of Schabir Shaik has already done the real job of removing Jacob Zuma from the contest for the office of President.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005


Google mastheads often carry a message. Today's celebrates the birthday of Frank Lloyd Wright born on June 8, 1869; one of the great architects of the 20th Century. His buildings stand as testiment to his genius and monumental ego. Posted by Hello
In a tribute to Manie Kuhn (see previous blog) Tommy Malone described him as a 'fierce competitor both on the road and in the pub.'

Good one Tommy.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Manie Kuhn

The great athlete Manie Kuhn has died.

Johan Diedrich Kuhn hailed from South West Africa (now Namibia). He was always a keen sportsman and played rugby for SWA and then Griquas and also excelled at boxing.

He moved to Durban where he was persuaded to take up distance running and first joined Umbilo & Congella Athletic Club. His original nickname was, in fact, Hanie but somehow this mutated to Manie and stuck. A move to the young Savages Athletic Club saw him rise to prominence as a great Comrades Marathon runner eventually winning 6 gold medals, 10 silver and 5 bronze – a total of 21 races including a win, three seconds and a third. (Gold’s going to the first six in his time)

No doubt he will be best remembered by most for his win in 1967 when he beat Tommy Malone in the closest ever finish in this great race. Oh how the SABC & press have regaled us ever since with the tragic story of how Tommy Malone ran second; an injustice to both men. Manie won fairly and on the day was the better runner but remained humble. At an ‘after’ party the next day at the Plaza Hotel he was asked to speak and said with tears in his eyes that he ‘saw Tommy lying there’, hesitated, but knew he had to take the tape and that ‘Tommy would understand’.

I first saw him at Hoy Park here in Durban when I joined the Durban Lunch Time Runners Club in 1966. I could not believe that anybody could run so fast for so long and he became my inspiration and hero. I really thought I’d ‘arrived’ when I managed to run two laps around the ‘big’ field with him.

I eventually ran many very long training runs with Manie where I learned the art of running far and fast. A year of this saw me reduce my own Comrades time by 3 hours. But, of course, at his best and in a long race I could not hope to compete.

Manie eventually spent the latter part and bulk of his athletic career with the Durban Athletic Club where he served with unsurpassed loyalty first as an athlete and then as a man for all Club events, duties and tasks.

Manie moved to Johannesburg a few years ago. It was here that during a hijacking attempt he was shot. After his recovery he was asked during an interview on SABC TV what had happened. He explained that he was told by the armed hijacker not to move. Manie said “the Dutchman in me said ‘No’ and I went for him.” Manie would always win or go down fighting. Such was the Man.

The running world has lost a truly great athlete and the original ‘Iron Man’ of his day.

‘Tot siens ou maat


Manie Kuhn finishing at the old Kings Park track in the 1966 Natal Marathon Campionship. He finished second on this day to Ted Craig. Posted by Hello

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Zuma

I watched the 7.00pm SABC News this evening; not something I normally do. The main item was coverage of meetings held by the youth of both the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party. These were held in response to the growing clamour for our Vice-President and leader to the ‘Moral Regeneration Initiative’ Jacob Zuma to resign.

I was treated to tirades from spokesmen saying that the guilty verdict in the Schabir Shaik trial ‘was a miscarriage of justice’ and that they give Deputy President Zuma their full support; this despite him being named in the judgement as a willing party to the deeds of Shaik.

They went on to denounce Judge Hillary Squires as a racist and an ‘ex apartheid operative’ whose judgement was therefore flawed and biased.

This plunged me into a deep trough of gloom so I checked my Lotto ticket again. But alas I had not won a few million rand and so will have to endure this a bit longer.

 
eXTReMe Tracker