Ekunyamezeleni ukhona umvuzo

In the past years, I neglected this space as I was focused on my studies. I am back and will be updating more. It felt great to complete my MA in Communication at the North West University. 
 

UMakhulu vs Tooth Fairy

 Makhulu, Makhulu, thatha nali izinyo undiphe elinye- this used to be a plea from a gradescholer after teething or losing one of his/her teeth. This is what we call uku khumka ngesiXhosa. Ukumilisa on the other hand is when a baby is growing teeth for the first time (teething). With modernisation and with us black people in South Africa drifting away from our traditions and culture we have been engulfed by the Tooth Fairy.

The Oxford Dictionary describes the tooth fairy as "an imaginary creature that is said to take away a tooth that a small child leaves near his or her bed at night and to leave a coin there in its place." This on its own sounds absurd until you have to also play along.  As a child I experienced ukukhumka and I threw teeth on the roof of my home in Mdantsane and asked u Makhulu for izinyo.

This practice is about asking your grandmother to take your old tooth and give you a new one. Grandmothers in the isiXhosa culture are known to be nurturers,t the backbone of the family. They love and take care of everyone. It, therefore, makes sense to ask one of the most loving person in a family setting for a new tooth. The only form of reward the child gets from u Makhulu is a new tooth. science and biology teaches us that the tooth was likely to grow back anyway.

Now the tooth fairy is not only imaginary like uMakhulu, it is also a creature.  In my understanding, a creature is what one would call isilo, and isilo is a sacred being whether it comes to you with good or bad intentions.  To then allow children to accept money from a sacred being or for a parent to act as a sacred creature has an element of megalomania. 

This tooth fairy phenomenon also brings about the obsession with money as the only reward. From a young age, we are teaching our children that they have to be rewarded with money. We then get shocked when they become obsessed with money.

I still prefer u Makhulu, which taught our children that you have to ask your elders and not every reward is financial. Having a new tooth should be a gratifying reward on its own.

Anyway, my preference is not always the way to go, as I have learned recently, with two teething Gradescholars I learnt this the hard way. u Makhulu to my boys (my Mother) recently unilaterally increase the tooth fairy reward by more than 100 percent. 

The thing is I sometimes try to accommodate the western culture. In my home,  we still ask u Makhulu for teeth,  the children go through all the steps of asking for a tooth from u Makhulu, and still, also get the reward from the greedy western culture creature, after all, South Africa is a capitalist state, the children have to learn about these western cultures, which are tooth fairy and capitalism.

The more than 100 percent increase just post the Covid 19 pandemic financial increase and the state of the country's economy has left me paralysed financially. I am not one to allow a situation to get better off, so I am using this tooth fairy greed to teach the boys about saving. This then leaves me with a question, how much are we going to bend backwards in the name of modernity? The Western Culture has taken its propaganda to the big screen and our children are bombarded with it daily.   Famous wrestler turned actor Dawne "The Rock" Johnson recently made a movie about the tooth fairy, something which made this creature more famous.

As parents are we betraying our children by forsaking what we were taught by our parents? These are the parents who under difficult circumstances of racial oppression when their rights were being trampled on daily, stood their ground and protected their culture. As the free generation living in a democratic country, we have used our access to shift further away from our tradition and life as taught to us. We have betrayed the teachings of our parents. Who will this modernity serve?

Sibunikele umva ubuthina maxa wonke avelayo. We have been fortunate to know our roots but we have now digging them out and handing over our children to western society. When the late great Busi Mhlongo asked asked if ingane kamalume ingaba izalwa ngabamhlophe na, we focused on the child that could not speak his or her indigenous language but forgot to ask u malume what role did he play in the child's miseducation.

We have regained our political independency, is using it to teach our children the best we can do with it?

Ukubheja is all relative

Uluntu  olukumakhasi onxibelelwano  (social media), kweziveki ziphelileyo belixhwitha xhwithana  ngenxa yomba wokubheja. This is because of the comment by celebrity Boity Thulo, who made mention of a R450 000 per month girlfriend allowance.  Boity's comments exacerbated what was already a deep debate on what should women expect from men in a relationship which was in the form of "Indoda must.." hashtag

From a young age, I have always known that indoda iyabheja. Nice words such as spoiling your woman or taking care of her, Ilizwi le ndoda engenamali alivakali ( the voice of a man without money is hard to hear)  and many other expressions were and are still used,  the end goal is simple, you have to spend money on your partner.

As the world evolves ukubheja, also transformed with the requirements and expectations reaching new heights. With social media already exerting all types of pressures in peoples lives, the standard of ukubheja was also influenced. It is not satisfactory to receive a gift from your partner and thank him, now you also post it not on social media.

This has placed enormous pressure on both genders, even fueling speculations of gifts that are hired for photoshoot purposes then returned after. Also, high criticism has been levelled at those who demand gifts/ money and those who do not give gifts/money. 

This has led to ukubheja being seen as standardised than being seen as a subject of relativity. Numerous factors are no longer taken into account when dealing with the issue, these include, but not limited to personal choice,  affordability, and class.

Ukubheka is all relative in the sense that, for an unemployed person, it is a luxury to bheja your partner as one would be struggling with basic everyday life necessities. For a low paid worker, an airtime/data voucher is the luxury gift a man can give to his partner. While an average paid man can add doing nails and hair on that airtime voucher, another man is able to even go as far as adding a decent cellphone and weave. The scale goes high with some buying entry-level cars while others buy luxury vehicles, expensive property and overseas trips. All of this is done in the name of love and spoiling your partner.

The recent uproar caused by the #Indodamust and Boity's comment shows how as a society we have standardised and commodified what used to be a gesture of love by a partner. Why is it that we find ourselves in conversations that dictate to people to either lower or increase their way of showing love?

 Every relationship is unique and ukubheja should be relative to that particular relationship. These bandwagons that people jump on about ukubheja are driving in opposite directions and neither is the correct way.   If you do not want or cannot afford to spoil your partner do not make crimes for those who want and could afford it. Also, those who can afford or want to, must not put pressure on those who cannot afford or do not want to. We must find inspiration from Musa and the late Robbie Malinga's song, which state that Mthande umntu wakho, the rest will fall into place

***Pictures sourced from the Internet

 From Right: Cade Parton, Director of Green Build SA, with Tumelo Mashitisho who is a beneficiary of the house and fellow workers during the construction of the house for the Mashitisho family. Above is the completed house.

Luzuko Pongoma

 A faster and cheaper form of housing technology is forging ahead as the construction industry is revolutionising.

Currently, in the country, there is about 177 Agrèment South Africa (SA), approved Building and Walling systems. Agrément SA is a Technical Assessment Organisation which is mandated to provide assurance by carrying out testing, evaluation, confirmation and certification of fitness for purpose of non-standard construction products and systems through, quality products and services and improve the speed of service delivery.

Of the 177 Agrément SA approved building and walling systems, around 77 are registered on the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) dynamic Database.  The government has entrusted the NHBRC to protect the interest of the consumers and ensure that builders comply with the prescribed building industry standards as contained in the Home Building Manual. The NHBRC, as a statutory body is also mandated to enforce compliance   to approved building standards including all IBTs approved by Agrèment SA. These two organisations work closely to ensure    developers follow the rules.

One of the players in the field certified by both Agrèment SA and the NHBRC is Green Build SA which was developed over several years starting with accreditation of the Alternative building concept in 2013.

 Cade Parton, Director of Green Build SA, said the advantages of their system was  its lower cost, faster construction and consistent quality and has an efficient labour force.

 The Greenbuild Technology uses its materials more efficiently, reducing cost by approximately 30% from conventional methods and 50% from other alternative building technologies,” he said.

 Parton said their system allows contractors to build at a faster rate, with one full set of equipment being able to build over 1000 units per year at full capacity.

 “The technology allows for perfectly mixed materials. Ensuring the consistent quality of foundations and walls. Wastage is limited and data is collected on every house built,” he said

 Parton said the Greenbuild technology uses its labour force more efficiently, with training and skill transfer taking up to one week.

“On our  site at full capacity, 170 local unskilled labours and 32 artisan labours are employed,” he said.

He said the organisation identifying the  need for quality, solid, low cost and affordable housing that is not prefabricated yet can provide fast track mass rollout of housing at an affordable price

Parton said the construction industry in the country has faced challenges, especially the alternative building technology.

 “Many external factors hampered the system's progress such as acceptance of ABT’s by residents of specific areas, many projects being specified as conventional builds, not being able to tender on the “same playing field” as conventional building companies, access to funding etc. But we are facing the challenges head-on and have started to conquer them,” he said

 Parton said another challenge was that their building system is developed for the mass housing market and this requires a large capital investment for contractors to get started on projects.

He said the organisation has built units in Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal with many projects in the pipeline throughout South Africa.

 “Having studied various systems in the world and assisting in the development of similar systems in other countries, we believe that our building system and equipment compares well with the best the rest of the world can offer and is in many respects far superior. The construction “climate” in South Africa is very different to the rest of the world & this needs to be considered when developing building systems.”

 He said the public had little to no exposure to the IBT in South Africa and abroad but the help of the Department of Human Settlements and Housing Development Agency, they were trying to change this.

 Parton said their current clients were predominantly the private sector for various different types of housing projects but they were also seeing interest from the government also.

Their system included the use of batching machine, light-weight re-usable formwork and foam concrete.

He said the systems only disadvantage was the high capital layout for the start-up process, this fact becomes negligible when the cost of equipment is spread over 5 years delivering 5 000 units

 “ The system is ideal for “average citizens” but it can also be used for upmarket clients as the wall method and quality stays the same. The only change is that the finishes used are of a higher quality such as paint and cornicing,” he said.

 Recently the organisation built a house for a child-headed household of four from Winterveldt in the North of Gauteng using their system as a donation.

 “The family has seen its fair share of trials and tribulations, but when meeting the family they do not wear this on their sleeve. Tumelo and his 3 younger siblings are intelligent, young adults who showed huge promise if they were given the opportunity to kick start their lives in the right way.   After the huge effect the COVID – 19 pandemic had on South Africa and the world, Greenbuild SA wanted to give back in the best way they knew how – constructing quality affordable housing. After viewing the living arrangements, the Mashitisho family was living in towards the middle of 2020, Greenbuild SA had the honour of donating a 40m2 affordable house to the struggling family,” he said

 Parton said that donating the house also went a long way in educating people about ABT

 “Hundreds of individuals have come into the house expressing their delight in the process and the quality of the unit. The fact that the Greenbuild Building System produces a “solid feel” wall is a big factor in this. We hope to educate people in this manner around South Africa in the years to come,” he said.

This article was published on Tech Talk on 26 March 2021 see the link below

 https://www.tech-talk.co.za/partnerships/faster-affordable-and-quality-housing-technology/

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