Enter 2024
This past Saturday, I thought, okay, I will be able to watch the fight because the baby wakes up just before 5 am.
That's the extent of my UFC knowledge. I was surprised that there was a whole lineup and the fight would start three hours later. Needless to say, it was one of my more violent Sunday mornings. I muted the three hours of grunt and the introductions made with the archetype fighting voice. I can never follow what they are saying. Only after the whole sentence can you make some sense of who the next fighter is. Dricuuuuuus duuu Ples...
What excited and surprised me was the watching crowds in Pretoria. It's early to get up and support our homegrown fighter elite - DDP. I have zero knowledge of mixed martial arts except for my childhood love of the Ninja Kid. He won, and it made me happy. The one point was as sweet as the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Razzieeee...
I still, however, do not know what they know.
That may be the point. Zizi Kodwa, minister of sport, was disappointed with Dricus's comments about SA having one of the world's worst governments. I'm unsure if the "one of" was in there. Given Kodwa's surprise, that may be the point - not knowing.
No one knows why David Teeger lost the Under-19 cricket captaincy and why SA is challenging Israel in the International Court of Justice. Some people are talking about it like they understand. Pretty much like I talk to my father-in-law about the history of cricket. Yes yes Jacques Kallis, best allrounder, yes yes. Sure. That's it.
Moving on, on page 3 of Die Burger, you will find that a baboon had to be removed from the Drakenstein Municipality in Paarl. The fire department caught him with a heavy-duty sheet after being sedated with the help of a local veterinarian. As a Paarl local, this didn't shock me; we have a lot of baboons that venture down from the mountains, especially getting close to the Du Toitskloof pass. But again, how exactly did the animal end up in midtown? Nobody knows.
I am not writing this picking apart all the events in SA and how little we know, even though it is tempting.
This much is true. I am excited about our upcoming elections. Usually, this is the time for the potholes to be fixed. I am grateful for the election timing after being in Jeffreys Bay this past holiday.
May you do 2024 like Dricus handles Saturday nights/Sunday mornings, wearing a t-shirt at the end saying, "NOU WEET HULLE."