Ovi magazine; Sunday December 4th, 2022

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday December 4th, 2022

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The BRICS Mandate by Abigail George

The future of seawater towards immortality, dust singing of sick birds. My sister was the former, and I, the latter. The night air clandestine and spiritual. Your country, in faraway Johannesburg, is a haunted land filled with the proverbial thirst. The measures of longing. Of dying to belong to feast and the imperative. Every broken family is filled with cracks in their system. Their lungs overflowing with flame like a fireplace in a mansion. I don’t know whether this shoreline will still be here in a decade. I’m thinking of the wind. Feasting my eyes on gulls. It’s beautiful out here. The singing geography here reminds me of Alice in her wonderland. A word like ‘emphasis’.

I cannot comprehend how she moves in the world now yet I still see the beauty in the spell of her eyes. I’ve loved her, my sister (who lives in faraway Johannesburg now), from afar my entire life. I see and hear everything in this doctor’s waiting room. The receptionist with her open, friendly smile when she comes to check my sugar. I never wanted to be a poet. Instead, it chose me. Maturity comes with letting go. Learning how to fly and then with having no expectations you will find wealth there. A wealth of spirituality, knowledge, prosperity within you. We both needed each other for the longest time and then we didn’t. That’s honesty for you. I cannot comprehend the depth of her in the world, anymore. She is no longer my muse.

Continue reading HERE!

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HE STANDS on the ROCK #poem by David Sparenberg

“He stands on the Rock
the beautiful rock
beside the flourishing
Tree of Life.”

Continue reading HERE

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Screws & Chips #48 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Screws & Chips, HERE!

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

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Ovi magazine; Saturday November 13th, 2021

 

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday November 13th, 2021

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The Devolution of Evolution by Bohdan Yuri

On October 24, 2021 the average weekly deaths from covid-19 in the United States was 1509 with a total number of deaths at 736,112. Recently the cases have been decreasing after a late summer surge; but with the winter enclosures ahead the cases will surely rise. All the more reason to get vaccinated.

Fortunately, this winter the world will have a vaccine available to fight the virus. Unfortunately, while many are getting vaccinated there is still a great minority who will refuse to get vaccinated. Their reasons vary:

“Nobody, especially the Government is gonna tell me what to put in my arm or not!”

The government didn’t think they would have to mandate, they assumed that you would welcome the free vaccine to protect you from the pandemic.

“Who knows what the serums actually contain?’

It contains a vaccine that may prevent your death from covid-19.

“What about all those other things…?”

There’s only this one thing: it’s safe, it works, it saves lives.

If that logic isn’t enough then I’d say, “Fine, you win — Don’t Get Vaccinated!”

In this nuanced age of social media distractions we may be spending too much time trying to convince the non-vaxers to get vaccinated.

Continue reading HERE!

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Window Pain #poem by Pamela Hunt

“The cat…slate gray, stands sentry-
At the bedroom window, sentry for centuries…standing like an old, tall building,
Green eyes panicky….”

Continue reading HERE!

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FW de Klerk: A Negotiator Before Defeat by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Rarely is the pragmatist admired. Be it in policy or politics, such a figure induces suspicion, a concern that principles will have to be subordinated to broader goals. True dreamers and visionaries, for all their glaring faults, can take the accolades; the pragmatists can be given lower pegging.

These differences have proven stark with the late FW de Klerk, South Africa’s last apartheid president. “De Klerk,” suggested Mac Maharaj, formerly official spokesperson for President Jacob Zuma, “was a man of the moment and [Nelson] Mandela was a man of history.” The late Colin Eglin went one better in his observation of the two men. “A relatively conservative Afrikaner leader decided to negotiate before he had lost, and an imprisoned leader of a liberation movement decided to negotiate before he had won.”

Continue reading HERE!

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Ma-Siri & Alexa 21#17 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ma-Siri & Alexa, HERE!

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

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Ovi magazine
We cover every issue

Zuma the new SA leader

South Africa is preparing to swear in Jacob Zuma, leader of the African National Congress, as president. Nearly 30 heads of state will join an expected crowd of 30,000 at the Union Buildings in Pretoria for the ceremony.

Security is tight with streets around the Union Buildings - the president's office - closed to traffic. Analysts say Mr. Zuma, 67, brings a populist touch to the presidency, ensuring a very different leadership to that of Thabo Mbeki.
Another questionable era starts for South Africa but then again anything after Mbeki will be better!

Mandela, Mugabe is a failure

Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has added his voice to the growing international condemnation of the political violence in Zimbabwe.

In his first public comments about the crisis, he noted "the tragic failure of leadership" of President Robert Mugabe. Southern African leaders earlier called for Friday's run-off presidential vote to be postponed because conditions did not permit a free and fair election.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged foreign help to end the crisis. Speaking at a dinner in London to mark his 90th birthday, Mr. Mandela said: "We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighboring Zimbabwe."

Now time to do something serious, Mugabe’s cell is awaiting!

No to refugee camps

South Africa's government has denied it is setting up massive migrant or refugee camps for the tens of thousands of foreigners who fled recent attacks.

Aid agencies had said the government would reveal plans to set up seven camps for up to 70,000 people. But a home affairs spokeswoman said temporary shelters accommodating 2,000 each would be set up instead. A formal announcement will be made on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UN said it is helping South Africa plan relief efforts. It is conducting a survey of the conditions in the police stations and municipal halls in which the displaced people are currently living, UN spokesman George Nsiah said.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) has warned that those sheltering in makeshift camps or outdoors have been left without protection - either physical or legal. "It's very cold at night; it's almost like one or two degrees. It's been raining in the last few days," said MSF South Africa programme director Muriel Cornelis.

"And then legal protection - most of them do not have any status, no legal status, no temporary status." A spokesman for the UNHCR said very few of the displaced foreigners fit the formal definition of "refugee".

Nevertheless, the government is coming under considerable pressure to organize better accommodation than the makeshift camps currently housing most of the displaced people. Correspondents say it has made it clear that any option which isolates rather than integrates foreigners into the community would be contrary to its policy.

That’s one thing I found really difficult to believe and I’m happy is not true, refugee camps in South Africa, that was …going too far!!!

South Africa and refugee camps

South Africa is to set up seven refugee camps around the country for foreign migrant workers who have fled a recent wave of anti-immigrant violence.

The holding camps will take up to 70,000 people from the increasingly unsanitary conditions at temporary shelters put up around state buildings. The government decision comes despite strong advice from respected international aid agencies.

They say South Africa does not have the expertise necessary to run the camps. Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF), the medical charity, says conditions for people seeking refuge in the existing shelters are worsening.

This is embarrassing for a country that has suffered for so long and so much in camps!

S Africa joins calls to Mugabe

South Africa has joined international calls for Zimbabwe's electoral commission to release the results of last month's presidential election.

A South African government spokesman said they should be published as soon as possible. South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki is mediating in Zimbabwe's crisis but has been accused of failing to put pressure on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. The opposition MDC says it won the election outright.

Government spokesman Themba Maseko said there was a fear that the situation in Zimbabwe could deteriorate because the results of the presidential poll had not been released. "It is our view that all the participants should come together, sort out all the causes of the delay, and then release the results as a matter of urgency," he said. When asked whether South Africa still adhered to a policy of "quiet diplomacy" in dealings with Zimbabwe, Mr. Maseko said that South Africa's position had not "been coming out as clearly as it should."

About time for South Africa and Mbeki to do something!

Mbeki on Zimbabwe

South African President Thabo Mbeki has defended his record on Zimbabwe, while playing down the crisis at a UN debate.

His governing ANC party, however, said it was concerned about the deepening crisis brewing in its neighbor. Gordon Brown told the UN Security Council no one believed Robert Mugabe won last month's presidential election in the country.

Meanwhile, the opposition in Zimbabwe said 50 supporters were arrested after a strike over delayed poll results. Mr. Mbeki had said there was "no crisis" in Zimbabwe after meeting Mr. Mugabe on Saturday. He defended those remarks in New York, saying dialogue was essential to bring about a resolution to the situation in Zimbabwe, where 18 days after presidential elections, electoral officials have yet to announce a result.

"The solution to the problem of Zimbabwe lies in the hands of the people of Zimbabwe," he said. "In our engagement with the situation, we needed to talk continuously at all times with both the ruling party and the opposition."

The truth Mr. Mbeki, Mr. UN General Secretary, African Union and the rest of you is that you failed and the people of Zimbabwe have to pay your failure, Mugabe the caricature African Hitler is still on power and there is no excuse for that!

The end of the apartheid

Today is a day to remember internationally, a very unique day, in 1992, white South Africans have backed an overwhelming mandate for political reforms to end apartheid and create a power-sharing multi-racial government. In a landslide victory for change, the government swept the polls in all four provinces, and all but one of 15 referendum regions. It won 68.6% of the vote in a record turn-out, which, in some districts exceeded 96%.