Urban Monkey

Another Warwick Portrait

It was just after 08h00 and Albert was working up a sweat. The pole he is using is iron, I would not like to know how much it weighed. And this man is strong!

Warwick Herbal Market

I know that the smells and sounds of the Warwick Herbal Market are one of the things which make me feel home. The neatness in the chaos of an informally run formal trading site. It is manic but peaceful, slow but constantly moving.

If my words are not convincing you feel free to join me on a trip to Warwick.

The Zulu AWB Man

In the wake of the murder of the right wing leader Eugene Terre'Blanche, the AWB has dusted off their khakis and flags. As much as I do not understand the right wing mind, I have always been somewhat curious. Perhaps because I do not have a culture of my own to protect with such conviction. But nothing could have prepared me for Piet.
Piet Dlamini is no ordinary AWB supporter. He is a one of a kind, and as some of you are wondering he is the real deal. When he spoke about the murder of his Terre'Blanche he cried, speaking of the former right wing leader as 'my beginning and my end.'
I had heard of this man before we managed to track him down, and was sceptical as to the authenticity of what I had heard. But hearing him speak about his 'king' referring to Terre'Blanche was mind blowing. He loved the man and went to great lengths explaining the qualities he admired in him.
Paddy Harper wrote a lovely piece entitled 'Humble Gardener Mourns 'Father' which is online at http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article397310.ece/Humble-gardener-mourns--father
I have thought about Piet long and hard over the past few days, and at the end of it I am still stumped trying to work out why a black man is fixated by a right wing group. He sincerely loves the Afrikaans culture which is evident by the pictures on his wall.

I hope to visit Piet Dlamini in the near future.

No Civil War

When news of the murder of leader of the right wing AWB Eugene Terre'Blanche made the news I had a feeling that the weather was no longer the first topic of conversation. Civil war, retaliation by the AWB, security and the World Cup.

Well, it looks as though the man on the street, or on the side of the soccer pitch, is thinking a little differently. Who really wants a war anyway?