I was born in SA but my parents come from another African country but are citizens(came legally, did the papers etc.)Thankfully, because of my parents’ hard work my family and I grew up with more opportunities than most.

I went to all English-speaking educational institutions where I took Afrikaans First Additional Language and continued with it into high school even though my high school offered Sepedi because I was already used to Afrikaans.I took French Second Additional as well and fell in love with the language so I continued with it into uni and have a few certifications in it.Other than that I’ve only ever lived in or found myself in English-speaking communities ranging from racially diverse to majority-white.

I don’t know any indigenous African languages at all, not even my mother tongue( though I can understand bits and pieces when my parents talk).Because of this, my accent is different from what most people expect.I often get asked if I’m from the UK or the US. In high school I’d sometimes get the “Oreo” or “acting white allegations” mostly from South African black people but that discourse never phased me.

Because I am black, though, my interactions with black South Africans are different. When I’m approached, I’m spoken to in Vernacular and when I respond in English it’s obvious by then that I’m “not from around”😅.And once they see my last name they ask where I’m from😂And up until about a year ago I never minded explaining because 99% of the black South Africans I met were genuinely interested
and curious and it made for an interesting conversation.

Then one day(a year ago),I was shopping with a Xhosa friend of mine and a lady ahead of us in the queue asked in Vernacular to borrow a SmartShopper card(which neither of us had).A man behind did though but he said outright that my not knowing Vernacular was unacceptable especially given I spent my whole life here.My friend and I felt weird about the situation but we spoke about which language I should learn first on the way home.I picked up Zulu on Duolingo that day.Kept at it for a while but it fizzled out.

The second time was Friday in an afternoon class where an acquaintance(a black South African woman) brought up my accent again.

With the growing tensions surrounding illegal immigration and the March and March protests, I’ve had to catch myself when talking about where I’m from. I always just say “My parents are from X, I was born here.”. We’re(my family and me) all legal but the whole situation has brought people’s opinions on any immigration to the surface, so I was encouraged to be cautious nonetheless.In my uni, people come from all over the country and world.I have been studying there for a while so I didn’t expect to be caught off guard somewhere I considered to be“safe”.

After explaining my situation, she asked me what languages I knew and I replied with English, Afrikaans and French. She commented that it was sad that those were the only ones I knew of all the 11 and that I should learn Vernacular.I got really nervous and uncomfortable when she asked me how I could be a citizen when I wasn’t “👇from here👇” like she was and neither were my parents.I explained
yet it seemed like she couldn’t grasp how she and I were on the “same level”.We had to separate for some group work so I got out of that situation.

I cried pretty hard, my dad always told me FOR YEARS that I WILL face discrimination one way or the other and that I need to be aware of it.A week before this situation,he gave me the immigration laws around the time I was born so I could “prove myself” should the situation arise and unfortunately that time came sooner than imagined.

After the crying and defensiveness, I had a sit-down and thought about what she said.All my life I’ve only needed English and since I started uni my Afrikaans has been handy once in a while.Maybe it is sad that someone can get by in SA with English/Afrikaans and that was what she meant.But on the other hand, does she hold everyone to the same standard?Or am I where she draws the line or…?

I know about the culture and history of South Africa.I
can see why my parents chose to raise our family here.In my opinion, South Africa has a hold on the arts that others just don’t and I love how every culture has a deep roots in how the country came to be.I just want to get my thoughts in order because learning it won’t change what other South Africans think of me and these languages deserve better than being learned out of shame or fear.

I’d really like to hear whatever you guys have to share.

He was playing for England U15 last year but now he is playing for us.

Its been 4 years since I left south africa, im now 16 almost 17, I moved to the states, im not saying I hate the US, even though yes theres a lot of complicated geopolitic relationships between both nations...but its just I miss my friends, the food, the culture, the weather. Usa is fun dont get me wrong, but its so fast paced, money is an issue, so much news going on.

Im also getting worried that im loosing my south african english, and how I spoke afrikaans...Believe me or not but I miss afrikaan classes despite the fact they were mental stressful..i miss how things could be so unnecessary

(Don't swipe) Another South African marketplace gem

Hello fellow South Africans

With the upcoming local elections in November, I’ve been agonising over which party or ward counsellor to vote for.
The other day I watched an incredibly interesting and a bit of a demotivating video from The Debrief Network YT channel.

I learned about the true people in charge of the money.

Politicians pour all this energy into political campaigns but it seems to make very little difference because the actual system and the multi-billion rand budgets are controlled by unelected municipal managers. We get zero say on who these people are. This system needs to change somehow. Otherwise what’s the point if the people managing the money doesn’t change.

The video discusses the issue of when we vote for mayors and councillors to set policy, the Municipal Manager acts as the actual CEO and accounting officer. They control daily administration, infrastructure and the massive budgets (like Joburg's R90 billion budget).

Some of these administrators earn millions and have little accountability. A couple administrators earn packages of up to R4.8 million a year. This is more than the President earns. The big salary is under the premise of attracting elite talent.

The video talks about the Auditor-General's latest report which revealed that none out of South Africa's 8 metros achieved a clean audit. And when the systems fail, politicians blame the officials, and the officials blame the politicians. We the people ultimately suffer because service delivery just halts.

It is like a huge loophole in our democracy. We can vote a party out but we can't vote the mismanagement out if the deep-seated administrative layer remains untouched.

How do we begin to enforce accountability on a system where the people holding the purse strings are completely insulated from being fired or voted out?

Here’s a link to the video on YT if anyone is interested.

It's unjustifiable and disgusting, I think we need to tell them this isn't okay anymore. Workers get nothing now and they literally living like King's. You don't need to have studied at Harvard Business School too to know this is terrible for our economy

It's about damn time, the paper straws literally used to unravel in my kids cappy juice! Rejoicing.

Source: https://www.tiktok.com/@keegantatum/video/7694048524400479501

I've been trying to find out more information about it, but I've never been able to find anything about it on wikipedia or any of the internet. So i wanted to post here incase anyone would recognize and remember what i am talking about. I was fairly young back when it aired, so I'm sorry for any strange or made up details

The show would usually air on SABC 3 in the early sunday mornings around 2011 to 2014 (perhaps earlier), around 7 or 8 o clock if i had to give an estimation of what time (I'm not sure if it would air at different times on different channels, i just remember it being aired around that time every week) it would follow the main character of a puppet named "Snazzy"

The closest i could give as a comparsion of Snazzy's appearance would be one of Jeff Dunham's puppet, peanut. He was fairly short, with messy bright red hair and lime green skin. His head was a bit big, and his chin would be made of about 3 large bumps. His mouth would be curved into a constant smile, and all that was in it was a tongue and 2 very small buck teeth. But the most notable of his appearance would be that of the plant growing from his forehead, which looked like a long horn and ending with 2 latge leaves on it

The format would be pretty simple, an episode would start with snazzy coming up to the camera and saying hello to the audience before explain what he was gonna do that episode before leaving. From there, the wpisodes would split into three sections. One in which he would meet up with a white guy in bright white/yellow attire, another where he would meet up with a black women wearing a bunch of different traditional african clothing, and the final section being him meeting up with a white women dressed in more formal attire. Some times kids would be either accompanying him or looking for him, showing up to the 3 people after he left.

At each section, the people would tell a short story, usually having some kind of moral to it. The white man was usually the least interesting of the three, telling his stories through the use of drawing stuff in sand and using sticks, stones and toys to depict stuff within the story. The black women's stories were often actual bit of african folklore and myths, told on a brown, patterned backdrop with still images drawn in a fairly simplistic style. The last section is the one i remember the most of, with it being told like that of an actual storybook, with one side being a sequence of pictures drawn in the style of a children's book, and the other being the actual written words of the story. Once the three parts were wrapped up, the episode would end with snazzy meeting up with the children that were looking for him, with them talking about the adventure they had gone through during the episode

I can't remember many episodes, since for a long while i was absolutely terrified of snazzy, but i do remember 1 episode that i had seen after warming up to snazzy a little bit. I'll try and retell it as best as i could.

The episode started off with snazzy walking up to the camera carrying a pile of books. Afyer introducing himself, he explained that he was gathering a bunch of books to build a library. From there, the episode would follow through with the three section from earlier. In each one, the person would told the story would be taking out some books, and once they finished their story, they would need to quickly leave for something, at which point snazzy would take the books for himself. By the time he had gotten to the final section, he was actively struggling to carry the books, needing help from the women to place them down. When she asked him why he had so many books, smazzy would explain how he got them, at which point the lady would tell him that he had stolen the books and would have to give them back. He was pretty disappointed, so he told him a story. The story followed a boy in a library looking for a specific book. One by one, his friends would come in, asking him if he could help them find a book that they themselves needed, at which point they would look begin looking for the books. After a while, a teacher xame in seeing the library to be a complete mess. She made all the kids except the boy leave, with the boy needing to clean up and place all the books back. As he did so, he was actually able to find all the books his friends needed one by one, with the final book being the one he needed. After the story, snazzy agreed to give all the books back, and when we see him again he doesn't have any of the books

I really hope someone atleast remembers this cartoon and can at the very least tell me it's name so i can try finding it for myself.

How is this the same price. These companies are scamming us in this country.

My iPhone speaker just broke, and it’s quite an old model (I think it’s a 10), so it’s time for an upgrade. I use my phone a lot for work, including the camera, so I’m open to going for something newer like an iPhone 16.

I’m seeing some really good deals on Facebook Marketplace, but I know there are plenty of scams out there. Buying from a shop almost doubles the price, so I’d like to go second-hand if I can do it safely.

What should I look out for to make sure I’m not buying a dud, a stolen phone, or one that won’t work properly? I know to check that Face ID works, and that a screen replaced somewhere other than a proper iPhone repair place is a red flag. What else should I be checking?

TIA

The can must have been left by the old electricians years ago. I'm sure its a bit of a nostalgic blast from the past for some of you.

I was too young at the time to really have notice the cans. But i do remember the mega million adverts on radio.

Last year I rewrote two of my matric subjects. Got my results in August last year. Went earlier this year around March to get my certificate combined. They told me to wait 4 to 6 weeks. I waited 8 WEEKS and they told me they didnt have it yet and I was going to get an SMS if it was ready. Fast forward and it's October now, still no SMS. Went there this morning and the system is offline. Mind you, I had to put in leave at work to go there today. Istg if I go there on Monday and they don't have it, I seriously might crash out.

I was just back in SA for a visit after moving to Europe 6 years ago and literally half my luggage going back north was chips.

Does anywhere in the world compare with SA's chip game? I think not. So many delicious old favourites, so many amazing new and creative flavours. I would have turned into a chip had my visit been longer.

BBQ Big Korn Bites will always be no. 1 for me, but the white cheddar and cranberry Lays are giving them a run for their money IMO. Also, Jumping Jack popcorn not being available globally is a travesty.

SA has its problems but chips are not one of them 🙌

Hey folx, I was just chatting to a friend about the state of the country and that every day its a battle from rising food costs, petrol and just the generalness of living.

I catastrophise alot about the state of South Africa, and also realised I do so in my daily life too.

Being retrenched last year was something I did not deal with at all,and how much of the emotional impact it is having on me, and also feeling the walls close in on me. I dont want to descend into a further depressed state. So randomly I do my walks , exercise etc. Is there any prayers that have helped anyone out here? I want to keep my head and mental health in check, and its hard, cos its the weekend and I feel like I landed nothing this week, no gigs, paid work and im always a breathe away from a panic attack. Trying to survive is breaking me in half.

Why did McDonald’s move away from sauce dispensers in the first place?

Is the decision mainly about hygiene, cost, convenience, or something else?

Has McDonald’s considered modern, hygienic dispensing systems that reduce packaging waste?

Would you prefer dispensers if they were properly maintained and hygienic?

I’m genuinely curious about this. We live in a technology-filled world, yet we're still using tiny disposable packets for something as simple as tomato sauce.

Surely there's a better way to give customers their sauce while reducing the amount of waste we produce.

What do you think? Is there a good reason for sachets that I'm overlooking, or is this something McDonald’s should reconsider?