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One of the most resented and hated aspects of Grand Apartheid was the dompas, the pass book. It was an internal passport that had to be carried by all non-white people in South Africa. An early version affecting South Africans of Indian origin was the centre of early civil disobedience campaigns conducted by Mohandas Gandhi in Durban and Johannesburg. Later, the African National Congress and its allies organised the Defiance Campaign opposing the Apartheid government over the dompas and other laws. The Pan-Africanist Congress's organising motive for their fatal march on Sharpeville in 1960 was also a protest against the pass.

Today carrying the National ID book is not compulsory; and the same ID book is issued to all South Africans regardless of race. But even until quite recently the ID book indicated its owner's race.

If I decided not to carry my ID book, most useful services would be denied me. I could barely interact with state services. I could not vote. Most trade service providers, including banks, car hire, air carriers, so on, require my ID document. The government maintains a database of all ID books, of all the registrants, of all those people's physical addresses, and publishes this regularly in the national voters' roll, where anyone can find it.

It consistently amazes me that we South Africans don't learn any lesson from our history. Citizens of no country, besides perhaps those in Europe who have been oppressed by the Nazis, have a better idea than South Africans of the harm caused by state control of identity. Yet there is no protest or opposition to the National ID card. And now there is a plan to upgrade these to smart cards...

Oh, come on, grow up. Frogs might grow claws, but they'll never live in toilets.


The pythons will eat 'em if they try.

Renée de Wet, the waitress who served Clinton, said he chose a calamari starter, followed by Norwegian salmon, garlic mash and mayonnaise. He had no dessert and no wine.

Clinton was "very down-to-earth and friendly", De Wet said. "As he left he asked if we'd like to have a picture taken and we rounded up all the staff. He was just such a cool guy.

"As he was leaving, he put his arms round a girl in his party - I don't know what her name was, she was small and dark - and said, 'Hey, take a picture of this for your local paper. This is my other wife.' "

Meanwhile, he's accompanied by -- Chris Tucker! Geez, it's embarassing enough when Bono gets treated like a head of state, but Chris Tucker? Was Carrot Top unavailable?

Seems like one innovative solution is to 'leapfrog' a generation of technology and just rollout wireless technology.

http://www3.wn.apc.org/africa/resources.html for some interesting links.

The artist's name was Linda Mbube, and was a migrant worker.

If you don't like links, here's some cut and paste from the site.

More importantly, and perhaps less complicated, is the matter of Solomon Linda's Mbube , a song that, thanks in part to Seeger, qualifies as South Africa's most famous melody - and the focus of one of the world's greatest musical travesties. Linda, a migrant worker, recorded Mbube in Johannesburg for Gallo Records in 1939. Seeger directly copied it and released it in 1952 as Wimoweh - but with its composer now credited as "Paul Campbell", a pseudonym for Seeger and his band, The Weavers. Once Seeger, who thought the song was a "traditional" piece, learnt it was Linda's work, he made arrangements for the South African to receive a share of Wimoweh's royalties.

Then, in 1961, a New York group, The Tokens, released The Lion Sleeps Tonight - for all intents and purposes, Wimoweh with English lyrics. Now the "composers" were Tin Pan Alley songwriters Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George Weiss. This version topped charts the world over and would come to be recorded by more than 170 artists. It dominated charts again in 1994 with the Disney film The Lion King . All this earned Peretti, Creatore and Weiss millions of dollars. Linda, on the other hand, died penniless in 1962. Over the years, his estate - four daughters, Philda, Delphi, Elizabeth and Adelaide Ntsele - has received an estimated R130 000 in royalties, a paltry amount considering its overall earnings.

There's also some info here.