Susanna Haink

Love lifts us up where we belong.

[Mike Abel @abelmike]

On Rosh Hashanah, watching our Bokke in Baltimore.

Jesse Clegg, a Jewish South African raised in the extraordinary Jewish-Zulu cultural world of his legendary father Johnny, singing Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.

And on the field, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, tears streaming down his face as the anthem is sung.

Feinberg, Jewish from his father.
Mngomezulu, Zulu from his mother.

Jewish roots.
Zulu roots.
South African roots.

Perhaps this is the South Africa we sometimes forget we are.

Not one identity replacing another. Not one belonging requiring the surrender of another. All of them. Us. Together.

And all of us singing the same, beautiful, rousing National anthem
💚💛

Shana Tova. God Bless South Africa 🇿🇦

[Susanna Haink @Haink2]

@Markosonke1 However, there is no reason to exclude other cultures from a "bokkie week."

[Pookie's Polls & Opinions @pookiepolls]

I saw this on FB and it made me very sad. Is their absolutely NOTHING that this criminal government can do properly.

Written by James Deacon.

I am about to write what has to be one of the most difficult and painful posts for me to write on Facebook.

On Friday I was given news which unfortunately I cannot disclose yet that has forced me to turn my back on something I truly love with all my heart: Kirstenbosch Garden.

I have been involved there for 19 years due to my love and passion for the garden. However Kirstenbosch is no longer a place that brings me joy and happiness but rather pain and sadness.

When I walk through nursery now I see neglect, decay and death. The amazing plant collections that have taken decades and more to establish sit neglected slowly dying.

The Protea collection is less than a third of what it was and only a fraction of the Ericas remain. One plant has gone from extinct in the wild to completely extinct purely due to lack effort to keep it going. Places once full of plants sit empty and in some cases full of weeds because the production of plants is so diminished.

Great plantsmen and women like Ernst van Jaarsveld, Monique McQuillan , Louise Nurrish , Cherise Viljoen , Anthony Hitchcock who I admired and looked up to all left way before they should have because working there had become so unpleasant and because things like procurement made it impossible for them to do their jobs.

One told me when they tried to order pots the response they got from the management of SANBI the SOE that runs many of the country's botanical gardens was what were they cooking. Another ordered pots and three years later they yet to arrive.

Poor financial management has resulted in the organisation having to use funds donated for educational purpose to pay staff salaries.

Kirstenbosch no longer has a Protea or an Erica expert and hasn't had either for years.

Staff morale is at an all time low and respect for the leadership of the garden has broken down.

The garden cannot produce metal labels to tell visitor what the names of the plants are.

I say all these things not out of animosity to anyone or with the desire to see people in trouble. I say these things because I love the garden and what I am seeing is breaking my heart. I am also saying these things because after all the friends, experiences, knowledge and memories the garden has given me I feel I have a duty to speak out for the garden in difficult times such as these.

I don't know what will happen to me for saying all this. Maybe I will be banned from the garden or get into trouble. However I refuse to stay silent and standby while the things and people that I care about suffer. I also feel that we the current custodians of the garden have a duty to preserve and protect the work of those custodians of the past for the custodians of the future.

We have two choices to be remembered as those who fought for Kirstenbosch during its most difficult and challenging times or as those who sat idly by and allowed it break down and be ruined.

I don't know if anyone will read this or if it will achieve anything but I will not keep silent while the place I love suffers and will continue to speak out against what is happening.

[Paul Weston @PWestoff]

Paul Weston: "The eastern half of Europe that suffered real communism is now preserving Western civilisation, while the western half that believed itself free has succumbed to Marxist subversion and is sleepwalking toward confrontation or collapse."

[Tribute2Hemiunu @Hemiunu2021]

Wenn ich nicht rauchen, weniger Zucker essen oder langsam Autofahren möchte, kann ich das jederzeit tun.

Dazu bedarf es keinerlei staatlicher Regelung.

[Jason Bartlett @Jason2bartlett]

If you leave white South Africans alone they will grow crops, raise livestock, build churches, establish schools, setup hospitals, start up businesses and build working cities.

That’s just what we do

[Lord Bebo @MyLordBebo]

🐕 The bros who rescued a dog got a statue … worth the gesture?

[Ngoni Mujuru @ngonithetechguy]

Get to OR Tambo, and there's no water. First time experiencing this. Private lounges are closed, some restaurants too...Nandos even has a no water sign. Everyone just seems to be going about their business...and that what scares me, situation seems to be normalized. It's NOT normal for an airport not to have water.

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Keith the Apocalypse Bringer is a three-year-old Anglo-Nubian goat in a field in Devon.

Keith should not be underestimated.

Keith has been systematically dismantling the ecosystem since approximately 7am, when he ate a bramble. This is significant because bramble is an invasive scrub species that outcompetes wildflowers, reduces biodiversity, and creates dense monoculture thicket that nothing else can use.

Keith ate it. Keith does this every day. Keith does not charge for this service.

8:15am - Keith ate a thistle. Thistles are also considered invasive scrub in managed pasture. Goldfinches eat thistle seeds, but Keith's grazing will ensure the pasture remains open enough for the ground-nesting birds that can't use dense scrub. Keith has not attended a conservation workshop. Keith arrived at this conclusion by being a goat.

9:00am - Keith dismantled a section of hedge. This was less helpful. Keith does not have a perfect record.

10:30am - Keith escaped the field. He was in the road for eleven minutes. He ate a neighbour's rose. This is not being counted in Keith's environmental impact assessment.

11:00am - Keith was returned to the field. Keith regarded the farmer with the specific expression of an animal that does not recognise the concept of property.

12:00pm - Keith ate more bramble. His digestive system: four stomachs, a rumen full of specialised microorganisms, the ability to extract nutrition from lignified plant matter that would defeat any other animal on this field, is converting scrub vegetation into milk with a fat content of approximately 4.5%. The milk will become cheese. The cheese will be sold at the farm shop. The farm shop is four miles away. The cheese food miles are: four.

3:00pm - Keith produced manure. The manure will grow the grass. The grass will grow the bramble. The bramble will be eaten by Keith.

This system has no inputs.

It has been running since goats were domesticated approximately ten thousand years ago.

Keith is not aware he is saving the planet.

Keith is thinking about whether the fence on the north side has a weak point.

It does. Keith found it at 4:45pm.

Keith got out again.

[🇿🇦Olivia La Grange🇿🇦 @Olivia_LaGrange]

#JusticeForWarras

[Goolam @goolammv]

The outrage of the tragic death of the hero DJ Warras ❤️ Warrick Stock will last for a few days and then another one. Witness D - Marius van der Merwe, the Police Commissioner promised urgent action, “arrested” someone then that someone was the wrong person. People have already forgotten about Marius, his wife and kids are still in pain, I am sure the Gauteng police commissioner will do the same for DJ Warras unalived in Carlton Centre JHB CBD. Arrest someone, then say it’s the wrong person. This is like the same story over and over again in Gauteng. Remember Gauteng premier is PANYAZA Lesufi who will show you robots from Germany and tell u this is what we will have in Gauteng, it never happens, tell you Gauteng will be cashless in 2024, tell u about drones and helicopters. Like he lives in a fantasy world. When he is cornered he will use the name of “Chris Hani and Oliver Tambo” who warned about leaders like him. Cry the beloved country… move away from Lesufi’s fantasy world and come to reality.

[TizzyWoman 🗽 ☮️ ~ Keep moving forward @tizzywoman]

Hatred or discrimination against Jewish people doesn’t only harm Jews—it damages society as a whole.

When antisemitism is tolerated, it weakens shared values like dignity, justice, & humanity, leaving everyone diminished, not just the direct targets.

💛💙

#DemsUnited

[Susanna Haink @Haink2]

@NoBodyIdesof03 @Follouu_Me Ja, dalk 'n longdrop?

[Juanita Broaddrick @atensnut]

The most adorable video you will see today. 🥰🥰🥰

[Kelly R @KelRo736]

Terrible things are happening in South Africa...

If you keep mistaking cultural appreciation for appropriation, this is the former. The joy on their faces says it all. Believe it or not, sharing our cultures is an amazing experience.

This is our future, SA. We need to nurture it.

Credit to @ChoirAfrica for the video. A #ProudlyMzansi moment if ever there was one.

[Agent Provocateur @Flingeraner]

Ich hab mir jetzt mal diverse Videos von Charlie Kirk, den ich vorher nicht kannte, angeguckt. Er hat u.a. gesagt, dass
- Rasse ein soziales Konstrukt ist und kulturelle Werte und soziale Milieus entscheidend sind, nicht Genetik,
- Homosexuelle absolut willkommen sind in der konservativen Bewegung,
- er als Christ Homosexualität als "Lifestyle" zwar nicht gutheißt, aber ihn eigentlich nicht interessiert, was Leute im Schlafzimmer machen, es also Wichtigeres gebe,
- Staat und Kirche getrennt sein sollen und er nicht in einer Theokratie leben will,
- im Job so wie im Sport allein die Leistung zählen soll, nicht die Hautfarbe,
- wir miteinander immer im Gespräch bleiben sollen, weil sonst schlimme Dinge passieren,
- seine persönlichen Positionen zwar christlich motiviert sind, aber mit Vernunft begründet werden müssen,
- Männer eine Verantwortung gegenüber ihrer Frau und Familie haben und zu ihnen stehen sollen,
- Israel ein tolles Land ist und er sich von den Juden dort immer willkommen gefühlt hat, auch wenn man die israelische Regierung kritisieren kann.

Wenn ich mir dagegen anschaue, was (nicht nur linke) Medien über ihn berichten, war Charlie Kirk
- Nazi
- Rassist
- homophob
- Hassprediger
- Scharfmacher
- Spalter
- Frauenfeind.

Ich habe noch nie eine so krasse Diskrepanz gesehen zwischen dem, wer jemand tatsächlich war, und dem medialen Zerrbild von ihm. Das Einzige, worin die Medien richtig lagen: Er war Abtreibungsgegner (mein Gott, wie furchtbar).

Ansonsten bin ich zu folgendem Urteil gekommen: Selbst wenn ich seine politischen Positionen nicht vollständig teile, war der Mann ein absolutes Vorbild, insbesondere in seinem Willen, die Debatte zu suchen und sowohl politischen Gegnern als auch den Radikalen aus seinem eigenen Lager in klaren ruhigen Worten immer sachlich und respektvoll seine Argumente entgegenzuhalten. Davon könnten sich alle politisch Engagierten eine Menge von abschneiden.

Ruhe in Frieden, Charlie. Du warst ein Guter.

[Georg Pazderski @Georg_Pazderski]

Nie aufgeben, nie kapitulieren!

Das Böse triumphiert, wenn gute Männer und Frauen nichts tun.

[The Paris Review @parisreview]

“Evil and good are terms I use from time to time, when I’m trying to shock myself into some better thinking.” —Anne Carson https://t.co/zVjDDI9kBm

[The Paris Review @parisreview]

“You just do not believe that you’re going to be old. People don’t realize how quickly they’re going to be old, either. Time goes very fast.” —Doris Lessing https://t.co/GJZ8LNUYql