Sandy Hutchens Another Name

Xingwana notice in Government Gazette

The Pretoria “by another name” drama could go on for a long time after Friday’s announcement that Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana had remove a notice for technical reasons.

Xingwana placed his notice in the January 29 Government Gazette connected to the registration of Tshwane municipal area as another name.

The notice was placed a day after Arts and Culture Minister Deputy Paul Mashatile canceled a briefing to the media in order to announce new names for a number of areas across the country.

The department declined to explain the issue but sources said the tardiness in the announcement could be because of “flaws” in the Tshwane Metro Council’s registration to the South African Geographic Names Council back in the year 2004.

A senior council official said, on condition of anonymity, the original mission statement by council was – register “City of Tshwane” as a place name.

This anonymous official, who assisted in the drafting of the application to the SAGNC, said difficulties for the council came when some councilors altered the application “and instead applied for the change of Pretoria’s name to Tshwane”.

“There was a huge outcry over the change in the application from a number of senior politicians,” he said.

He stated that the municipality decided to establish a committee managed by Professor Mzi Sirayi to investigate the issue of “another name.”
But, according to the former official, the council’s public participation process was flawed.

“Instead of the public participation process being for the registration of City of Tshwane as a geographic name, it was to change Pretoria’s name to Tshwane,” he said.

He added that the name “Tshwane” was for the municipality which covers areas like Hammanskraal, Soshanguve, Mabopane, Winterveld and a number of agricultural holdings.

The Streets of Pretoria

(video)

GUMBOOT DANCING!

Deirdre Aristotle loves gumboot dancing so much she want kids everywhere to learn it.

“This is a society that needs the energy and fire that gumboot dancing brings to the body and mind,” says Ms. Aristotle. “This is a laid back Starbucks culture and what it needs is a kick in the tuchus. I would like to bring my gumboot dancing group into a Starbucks during busy latte time and give the people some real caffeine.”

Originally from Africa, the gumboot dance is performed by dancers wearing Wellington boots. They are called gumboots because that is what they are called in South Africa.

The streets and plazas of South Africa are where you will often see gumboot dancing. Probably originating among South African gold miners in tough working conditions (obscurity , dampness, lack of caffeine, etc.), gumboot dancing parodies the officers and guards that supervised the mines and workers’ barracks. Gumboot dancing uses polyrhythmic, total body articulation, drawing from the cultural dances of the African mine workers.

It is percutant!
It is made by autophones!

GO! Side to Side!

Bend over with your feet together. STOMP!!! with your left foot at the same time that you lift your right foot to the side and then you SLAP!!! the side of your right boot with that right hand of yours. STOMP!!! that right foot of yours at the same time as you lift your left foot. Now SLAP!!! the side of your boot with your wonderful left hand. Four times! STOMP!!! SLAP!!! STOMP!!! SLAP!!! STOMP!!! SLAP!!! STOMP!!! SLAP!!!

GO! Clap!

After you do that four times, STOMP!!! with your right foot then straighten your torso a little, your right foot still up and CLAP!!! your hands together, then drop your right hand and SLAP!!! the inside of your right boot near the heel and STOMP!!! with your right foot. Lift up your left foot as you STOMP!!! with your right, CLAP!!!, drop your left hand to SLAP!!! the inside of your left boot near the heel, and STOMP!!! with your left foot.

GO! More Clap! More Steps!

Lift up that right knee of yours and SLAP!!! it with your right hand, CLAP!!! your hands and drop your left hand to SLAP!!! the inside of the boot near your heel. STOMP!!! your right foot, lift your left knee and SLAP!!! it with your left hand, CLAP!!! your hands, then SLAP!!! the inside of your boot near your heel with your left hand and STOMP!!! your right foot.

GO! Jump!

Lift up both knees and SLAP!!! the inside of both boots, jump up and CLAP!!! your hands behind your knees. Land and STOMP!!! with both feet. Now repeat the jump.

GO! Faster! Add more!

Keep practicing the above steps until you are able to do them at a faster pace. As you become more and more comfortable with the dance, you will be able to add your own variations.

Gum Boot Dancing Video

Under yet another name – This is neither a scam nor a fraud. Water hyacinth, originally from South America, is considered the world’s worst invasive aquatic weed and has caused damage estimated at billions of dollars throughout Africa.

But Cape Town is trying various techniques to keep part of the sewerage works – correctly, the wastewater treatment plant – free of the plant, including a bio-control experiment.

It appears to be true that Zorro the hippo, who escaped from adjoining Rondevlei nature reserve in February and took up residence in one of the pans, is also hampering water hyacinth control efforts.

The issue was raised recently by birder John Graham, who reported on the CapeBirdNet email forum that he was “sad to see that the nature reserve portion of the works seems to be in a state of deterioration”.

“Four of the ponds I drove past are totally choked with hyacinth and it seems to be ringing most of the shoreline of (pan) S2 and so presumably will shortly also be choking this pan. There also appears to be a significant volume of hyacinth on Pan 5, north of the main works.”

Fellow birder Jill Mortimer echoed his concerns: “I was there a few days ago and felt the same. Between the hyacinth and the fishermen, there wasn’t much space for birds, let alone birders.”

Asked to comment, the city’s manager of wastewater treatment, Kevin Samson, said the excessive growth of water hyacinth was not a new problem.

“Zorro the hippo is still a problem. The pond is fenced in but until the animal is removed hyacinth cannot be removed from the pond.”

The operational manager at the works was in regular contact with the city’s nature conservation officials and with the Cape Bird Club, Samson said.

Dalton Gibbs, southern area manager for the city’s environmental resource management department, said the hyacinth at Strandfontein was well established in two large ponds.

“The extent of the infestation is presently beyond the resources that are available to eradicate the invasive plant in these pans.

“Hyacinth was detected on a further five ponds and has been removed.”