A Legend has fallen...

Since I was 9 years old, Vuyo Mbuli was the first person I saw every morning on my television set.  Almost without fail, he has always been on my television screen first thing in the morning.  I distinctly remember when I was much younger, getting ready for school early in the morning, as I got dressed in the sitting room, in front of the parafin heater, that Vuyo was always talking to me.  Vest first, then the long sleeved white shirt and the green uniform and tie to complete the winter attire, and as I stood there, pulling on my grey socks, Vuyo Mbuli was there talking to me about the issues of this world, issues that back then I simply did not understand.  

You see in my family, as so many will also testify, Morning Live was and will always be, the program you watched in the morning.  Even now in the age of 24 hour news channels, that will give you up to the minute updates on the days leading stories, Morning Live is the business.  With Leanne, Vuyo and Andile “she knows the weather” Masuku, Morning Live was the staple diet, the obvious choice for your early morning breakfast viewing. 

It was my father’s favourite show in the morning.  Even after he retired from teaching and didn't have to get up so early to go to work, without fail my father was up before 6am every weekday to watch his beloved Morning Live.  It was here, for two hours, on most mornings, that we met and fell in love with Vuyo Mbuli.  Even though he was in the SABC studios far, far away in Johannesburg, he joined us all in our living rooms and bedrooms.  He humanised dignitaries, made politicians seem more accessible and with the most genuine spirit, he opened up South Africa to its people.  From small unknown villages, to elaborate celebrations which introduced South Africa to the world, Vuyo Mbuli was there, to guide us through, to ask the tough questions and make you believe that South Africa is truly a great country.

He was the epitome of a breakfast host, friendly and outgoing when he needed to be, earnest and challenging when he was called to be, and for every broadcast, he never forgot to treat all of us millions of South Africans, as though we were just the one person he was speaking to.

I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him, I didn’t know him personally, but man oh man, I feel his loss.  He was a great broadcaster, highly entertaining, dedicated and he and Leanne just fit in so well together.  In fact I remember the time when Tracy Going left Morning Live and Leanne Manas joined the team. Vuyo just made it the easiest transition for all of us.  

I don’t know what it is about the people we see every day on our screens; why we feel so strongly about them when they leave one station for another, when they leave our favourite shows or when they pass on, that we always feel so affected.

  

I heard today how upset so many people that Vuyo’s funeral wasn’t broadcast live on SABC, that instead it was streamed on the internet where millions had no access to it and I understood why so many would be so angry.  Vuyo Mbuli was ours too and for many, watching his funeral on tv would’ve been their last opportunity to pay their respects.

Now that I think about it, who else is going to insist on saying “Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma” every time the President is mentioned in a bulletin? 

As we, mere viewers of one of the SABC’s best programs, grieve over this great loss, and make no mistake this is a great loss for the country, I think about his children, his wife and his parents during this time, because they knew him so very well and this is the very worst time of all their lives.

All in all though, "Sharp Sharp" has made his final exist off our screens and out of the journey of life and all I can do is to echo the words of so many before me "lala ngoxolo Bhut' Vuyo".

Your work here on earth is done. 

To what end...

It's been a very long time since I did this. So many thoughts and ideas that I've penned on paper, but often, very often, I have been happy to let them settle in my saved documents, gathering virtual dust, as the seeds of "not good enough" continue to grow.

Yet, in all this time, there have been many times where I have listened to great arguments, read articles and blogs from friends and family, to strangers I may never meet. Debates about gender, education, Nkandla, Health, rape, the political landscape of our beloved South Africa and of course the inevitable bitter, anger driven conversations about Racism and apartheid and how it has almost irreparably damaged the future of this country. 

Almost everyday you and I are privy to all these different opinions being shared by people from all walks of life, some seeped with anger and hatred so deep, your ears burn and you're at a complete loss to give any answer that would at once heal some of these wounds.  Some dangerously covered in ignorance and a lack of understanding and compassion which should be deemed inhumane. Then there is the hopelessness and bitterness that flows from those who have lost so much or who feel so intensely about these issues that haunt us all everyday.

Daily, we are bombarded with these views, many of which reflect the same pain and anguish, the same distinct air of powerlessness but often they are just regurgitated thoughts and opinions, told by different people, in different spaces and yet the feelings they leave behind are always the same.  I have heard it all before, debated it all before, cried over it all before and felt the same sense of hopelessness, time and time before.  Yet, as often as I have heard people say that these are isues that we "need to discuss" to "put on the national agenda", that the only way forward is for us to "speak about 'these things' in the open", I have realised that we really do not have any real notion of what that really means.

Think about it, on any given day, there are enough columnists n this country who write about the sad and dark issues which affect this country.  We have discussions with friends and colleagues about the impact of rape and sexual abuse, the rise in unemployment and the frightening crime stats that plague us ALL every single day, and yet nothing changes.  We're having these conversations in our homes, in the workplace, in buses and trains, sometimes even in schools.  The evils of Apartheid, the lack of political will in this country, corruption, our harrowing education system, the deteriorating state of public health, our President who seems blissfully unaware, we ARE having these discussions.  We are having these conversation and yet we continue to say that we need to discuss these issues.  Am I missing something here?

When we talk about needing a national dialogue on issues ABC to Z, what exactly do we mean, what do we want to see happen and to what end.  The last time we had a moment of national dialogue was during the historical TRC but dare I ask whether that really and truly did anything to pull this country out of the pits of darkness, that we still find ourselves drowning in, 19 years later. 

I almost feel like I'm tired of talking, I'm tired of the same old stories.  Now all I want to see is action, real tangible action in our fight against racism, sexism, rape, gender inequality and the many other fingers which continue to tighten their grip and strangle the life out of a country, which still has the potential be great.          In pure frustration from having these self same conversations, I must ask the same question... "now what".  Once all has been said, what can be done.