Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

Ato G may not be corrupt. But he lives in a society ruined by corruption. He may be honest and hardworking. Yet the law will always make an enemy of people like him. ET Wonqette powerfully plays on words, satirising Ethiopia, which he says, “is ruinously, unrelentingly peaceful. Better days are coming because there are so many others doing their '16 days'.”

You Missed This draws attention to the threat of censorship, where those who are unhappy with what bloggers are doing may choose to ruin their site by hacking into it. “One blogger reveals that he has already been targeted before and somebody even hacked into his site,” he reveals.

Unlike many countries, Nigeria is richly endowed with human and natural resources. But it’s lagging behind, in terms of development. Many emerging rich countries, Nkem Ifejika argues, are taking advantage of the little they have to transform their economies. Some even rely solely on human resources, where expert experiences gained from other societies are brought and put into use at home. “Nigeria has the cumulative knowledge of the world at its disposal, it has to use it,” he submits.

Tale of corruption and official high-handedness is re-echoed by Ethio-Zagol, who seems rather pleased that Bereket Simon, “one of the most detested EPRDF politicians” in Ethiopia, is defraying the cost, via divine punishment, having been rushed to hospital in Israel. Even in a close shave with death their kleptomaniac fingers remain busy doing business as usual, “On the morning of the same day, Bereket's aides were spotted taking hard currency from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.”

Joel Basson’s experience with banks in South Africa had made him lose confidence in them. He felt they were only out to rip people off. Soon the opportunity to prove him wrong came and right at his doorstep, his own bank forced him to a rethink. He now thinks differently. “So, to every student out there that is paying bank charges in excess of R13.50, visit your nearest FNB branch and change banks,” he preached.

For anyone that passed through the boarding school system, Nkem Ifejika’s story, bizarre as it sounds, is not in any way strange. What may, however, seem strange is that anyone could be convicted for violating immigration rules and sentenced to gardening. Yet life at Nkem’s school might have been much worse, with bullies always on the rampage. “Imagine being given a matchbox and being asked to cut grass to the exact dimensions of the box, and not with a razor blade, but with our huge machetes,” He wonders.

From Big Brother Africa to Survivor Africa young men and women across the continent are making their way up, ascending the ladder of fame. And this time out as many as twelve were called. But only one will be chosen, to take home the star prize of US$100, 000. Courtesy of Bella Naija, “Here’s a look at the survivors.”

For two hearts in love no price is too much to pay and no gift is too expensive to give. Perhaps, this could be taken to the extreme, where roses are swapped for crawling creatures, all in the name of love. You Missed This EXTRA captures a Romeo’s mood as he handed a gift of poisonous snake to his unsuspecting Juliet, “His parting remarks were even more bizarre. Without revealing what the gift was he asked her to come back for a “red one” if she was not satisfied with quality of the “black one” inside the box.”

How often do you use microwave? Is it very often, sometimes or hardly? If you hardly do and think it’s harmful, then you need to read Sotho’s piece. His family members avoid it because they feel it’s capable of contaminating food. But he is unconvinced and he writes, “Since the waves that hit the chicken are instantly converted to heat energy inside the chicken, there can be no question of radioactive contamination. In other words, when you switch your oven off and remove your chicken, it has absolutely no radiation on it.”

Mike Golby, a South African blogger, struggles to understand the situation in Cape Town, where, as cosmopolitan as it seems, refugees find it difficult if not entirely impossible to integrate fully. For the Somali refugees, as he particularly notes, it’s hell on earth. “That they might be, but it seems we offer them no refuge. Accorded refugee status if not deported to the charnel houses they’ve fled, they’re not allowed South African citizenship. Children born to refugees remain refugees,” he laments.