Hunger prompts Univen students to strike

photo supply: univen website 

photo supply: univen website
Univen students gathering to discuss strike  

Yesterday 27 April 2017, students at university of Venda took out their anger against the Management 
demanding NSFAS food pocket. Since the year began the students had been suffering, mostly students who depend on NSFAS for survival within the institution. The situation escalated further to a point where other students had to sleep without having put food on their month, while some students getting themselves and their parents in debts in order to buy food for their sustainability.

photo supply: univen website 
Univen students burning tires  

The situation of NSFAS led to students breaking up the issue of outsourcing within the institution, the students began calling for adoption of in-sourcing to cater and benefit the residents of Venda as a whole. 
The police are busy firing rubber bullet and tear gas trying to disperse the students, but it seems like the students really know what they are fighting for since they keeps on perpetuating and fighting back at police officers.

FACTS BOX

• Excellent service delivery by the government in the universities (public) can reduce strikes 
• In-sourcing must be prioritize by the institutions of higher learning 
• NSFAS must grant all deserving students the same amount of food pocket 
• The institutional properties should not be vandalize because of strikes
• Communities should not suffer victimization caused by students demanding academics needs
• The institution should be seen as a benefit to the community where the university is based    

Audio link: https://soundcloud.com/solomon-mathebula/2017-univen-strike-callinf-for-insourcing-and-nsfas

Being a superstar can cost one’s life

opinion piece 

Being a superstar seems to be a good thing to many people and almost majority of the people would like to be famous and well recognized by the world. Although it seems good to be a celeb, but in some instances, it seems risky and self-distracting, reasons being that the public would like to know every move and action you are making. And by so doing that put you in a point where you have to handle yourself in a manner that people could not see mistakes in your life. On the number of occasions celebrities are reported robbed, hijack and all sorts of crime related against them, I believe that  they themselves gets astonished when such incidents happens frequently in their lives.  Just recently we heard the story of a well know musician called Nathi Mankanyi who then became popular after his first music record song named Nomvula that was produced in 2015. It is said that he was robbed and escaped from gunpoint; this is shocking if is not horrible to his family and fans. Being a superstar led him to be victim of robbery and a target of the unnamed perpetrators. You will find that he had never met such terrible tragedy before he became a celeb, simple because he was not known by many people in the country.

I’m scared if he will continue to be a freeman wherever he goes, because he has been threatened and he might think that what happened to other superstars, the likes of the late reggae musician Lucky Dube can happen to him. It was not easy to Dube’s family to comprehend the pain that which they felt the time they lost a pillar of reggae in South Africa, and it is very clear that he died simple  because he was a celeb, a lot was expected from him by the world especially reggae fans. Sometime when such incidents happens we tend to say it is the will of God, yes one can say that but what is the precise motion of them being robbed, hijacked and killed, is it not because they are superstars? I think it is.  

 Hence I said that, this type of incidents happens often times here in South Africa and throughout the world. Just two years ago, a former Bafana-Bafana striker Benni Macarthy was robbed at gunpoint in 2015 at Paris

There are many ways in which I can justify that being a celebrity can cost one’s life. Many superstars are reported almost every year. Then what is it that can be done to prevent this type of incidents? That is the question everyone is asking him or herself, because our beloved superstars are in trouble. Should  they have to quit their jobs? If yes, then who is going to sustain their lives and put food on the table? Because some of them they don’t have another  option except depending on their talents for survival. I think that superstars should organize themselves personal securities rather bodyguard that could ensure their safety rather than depending on government’s security.  

Tips

•      Be alert that in any dream there’s obstacles
• ·         Peruse a dream if you truly love it
• ·         Do not let challenges be a stumble blocks in your talent or dream
• ·         Let challenges be the advocate of your life.
• ·         Do not let one’s shocking tragedy stop you from dreaming big
• ·         Starts where someone has ended
• ·         Do not  be limited by negativity but rather change it to possibilities

http://solomonmathebula.blogspot.co.za/2017/03/hunger-prompts-univen-students-to.html

From cleaner to celebrity 

Penny-Penny stood to overcome his past situations that seek to deprive him from perusing his dreams. Patience became the mother of success to him, despite the disadvantage background that he had faced during his growing age. Being a young man full of visions and missions towards bettering his life and the family.  A younger Penny- Penny had to look for a job and work as a cleaner, miner and a dancer to put food on the table. So when he rose to stardom in the 90s it was a life the village boy had dreamed of for years. 

All difficulties and situations he came across became a real motive and courage to him not to stop dreaming about becoming a superstar one day. His passion and determination on becoming a celeb during the 90s set a right footstep to the youngsters who want to pursue music and politics. 

It is said that “dreams come true”, and “one day is day” indeed the man proved the reality of these saying. However, he’s now a well-known celebrity and a politician and also a role model too many people in his home town Giyani and throughout the province of Limpopo.

 Penny -Penny started following music industry 23 years ago; even now the man still in good stand with his music and political career and goes with time and fashion of this age. He truly believes that poverty doesn’t dwell in the poor but to ignorant people. Now Penny-Penny is flourishing and enjoying his effort and dreams he had during the past years, his life is a lesson of reality about possibilities in life. To this end, passion, determination and perseverance goes with the mind-set of the mankind, the best way you think how about your future before it come to reality, this is what driven the mind of this prominent superstar PAPA Penny-Penny. 

Lesson

• ·         Set your mind above your situations      
• ·         Turn your situation into efforts
• ·         Be real about your goals and dreams
• ·         Let passion drives your way of success
• ·         Create your statue in the mind of people
• ·         Turn your weakness into perfections
• ·         Let time be your companion, then it will never pass you by. 

h  https://soundcloud.com/solomon-mathebula/superstar-penny-penny

12^th Limpopo Marula Festival 2017 a success

It happened again this year that 2017 annual Marula festival attracts many tourists as it always does since it started in 2006. This is one of the prestigious festivals in the country that attracts international tourists in all directions of the earth. Diverse of cultures and traditions of people found within Phalaborwa attends the event to express their way of doing things in terms of music, indigenous games, and dance.

Since Marula Festival began, provincial economy of Limpopo reached another level and uplifted due to the capacity of tourists, business partners and companies investing more into this amicable event annually. In addition, Marula festival invites international guests from across Africa and South America, the festival is aimed at developing a sustainable local economy through industry development. It is a partnership between SEDA, the Limpopo Tourism Agency, Limpopo Economic Development Agency, Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality, Mopani District Municipality, the Office of the Premier, National Department of Arts and Culture, Phalaborwa Tourism Association and Kruger National Park.

Marula festival gives opportunity to the residents of Ba-Phalaborwa and the nearest areas by hosting several of activities such as sports, entertainment, career expo, business developments and lastly nature conservation. The residents are proud of their own making beer (VUKANYI) which is known as marula beer that is made out of their hands and which is been practiced from their generation to the next particularly by black people in Limpopo. Many different type musicians across the country and SADC countries always gets excited when a year begin, because they know that annual marula festival is the necessity to them and their fans, to the local artists it is a privilege to them, because local artists are mostly given a chance to perform and be heard by many people, celebrities, government officials, successful business people and the like. 

To this end, marula is a heritage phenomenon which is performed by traditional leaders at the beginning of the marula season. It is a heritage practice that precludes any drinking of the marula beverage before traditional leaders have blessed the season. 

https://soundcloud.com/solomon-mathebula/12th-marula-festival-2017audio

  89^th Academy Awards Oscar 2017  

 The 2017 Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, was awarded on Sunday, February 26, with the ceremony airing live at 8:30 pm Eastern on ABC. The awards are considered the most prestigious honor in the film industry. The awards were handed out in 24 categories and two exceptions were the best picture category which can have between five and 10 nominees but this year the category had nine only nominees.

The mood inside the Dolby Theatre was polite but distracted. Due to the fact that many nominees didn’t achieve what they thought they will in terms of winning the categories. It happened that Warren Beatty announce wrong best picture winner. “La La Land” was mistakenly poised to take the Oscars best picture instead of Moonlight.
The mistake of “La La Land” being nominated the best picture prompted Oscars to launch a formal investigation and promised appropriate action 


after a mistake which caused the biggest upset its history, as auditing firm PwC name and shame the man responsible.
     

PwC, which has counted Oscars votes successfully for 83 years, disclosed Brian Cullinan, one of the two auditors privy to the Academy votes, had personally handed Warren Beatty the wrong best picture envelope and did not correct the mistake quickly enough.
The firm admitted it had failed the Academy, with protocols for correcting the on-stage error not enacted immediately. Everyone else began checking their phones consulting the babysitter or their schedule of post-show parties. Apologies were sent to those who were disappointments about the errors that seek to tarnish the best history of the Academy. It was indeed a hectic award day in the history of Oscar Academy.  

https://soundcloud.com/solomon-mathebula/oscar-adio

89th Academy Awards Oscar 2017