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I dedicate this article to the late Zinande, another young soul that has been cruelly stolen from us by the criminals that continue to dictate the days of our lives as ordinary people of the Overstrand. I also dedicate this article to every single police and security officer in the Overstrand; the recent crime statistics confirm your commitment.

The Overstrand cannot continue to be controlled by criminals while we are here. Enough is enough! The police are intensifying their role; it is time that the collective community of the Overstrand continue to contribute towards the fight against crime that has been intensified by the local SAPS and community structures like the Community Police Forum (CPF) and Bambanani Neighbourhood Watch.

Western culture or African culture, it makes no difference to me as I will never keep quiet when something suspicious is happening at my neighbour's house.

If you would like to provide support to the Bula family, please note the report elsewhere on this website. From reading that report you might be wondering why go through all the expenses of taking Zinande to the Eastern Cape for her funeral instead of being rested in Hermanus.

You might be trying to establish as to why the parents would still want to follow the grandmother's wish for her granddaughter to be taken to Eastern Cape.

This week's article addresses exactly that but you must first feel the Archiecracy regime.

On earth, “house” would be any building that you can or do stay in while “home” is where you belong. It is where you would feel most comfortable. In African culture, home is where your ancestors are based, a place where you are spiritually protected.

Where, on a spiritual level, you will be reconnected with your current family and those that passed away. This is a place which is believed that your spirit would find more comfort and one day testify that this is a familiar environment with familiar ancestral terrain. It is a cultural arguable view that one can have more than one “home” on earth but culturally, it can never be argued that one has only one “eternal home” where one's ancestors are based. This can never be argued as the elders within that particular tribe would most likely prescribe where the person is to be rested for eternal life.

It is to be noted though, that one can perform certain rituals in order to move or inform the ancestors of one?s new “home” if one has found such comfort in a certain area that one can now invite the ancestors to find him/her there. It is against this background that I think that we should maybe change the question from “Why do so many people still choose to be rested in Eastern Cape?” to “What can we do to make more people find a place that they can call home within the Overstrand?”

It is a general view that all “homes” were once referred to as “houses” until the whole family found enough comfort and dignity to an extent that one felt it was guaranteed that the ancestors would find comfort. In more simple terms, if you move to a new area to find work you would most likely first go there alone and rent a house or flat. When you find comfort and can guarantee security for your family, you will then relocate your wife (if married) and find a local school for your children. If it happens that you get hooked on the horn of the Whale Crier and his whale charm, only then would you move your elders and the whole family.

If that is the case, why would we then expect people living in impoverished conditions to move their ancestors to the Overstrand and for them to be laid to eternal rest here? In my view, it is even more impossible for people living in squatter camps or temporary settlements to move their beloved ancestors to the Overstrand.

I therefore fully understand why more funerals and cultural events will continue to be conducted in Eastern Cape or Durban. I further understand why more taxi and bus convoys will continue to face east in Decembers, although this impacts negatively to holiday areas like the Overstrand, maybe even more so to the businesses within the hospitality sector.

I conclude on this issue by re-iterating that there are no shortcuts to economic stability, we just need to understand that we are all in the same boat called Africa, South Africa and Overstrand hence we need to start to support one another in the true spirit of “ubuntu”.

And really start to understand that “globalisation” is an old African philosophy that is rooted in the principle that I am because you are.

I want to use this article to reassure you, regardless of your race, that we are on the right track. The small contribution that you are doing is paying dividends, it is just that these things take decades to show. Just ensure that you do not become like Zimbabwe that “took the eye off the ball” after independence. Enkosi ngokundibulisa ngesixhosa xa nindibonayo.

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