Let me start off by saying that I am not travelled. I have
not been overseas at all. I do however know so many people that have had the
opportunity to do it. And from what they have told me and from I have read in
papers and the internet I can assure you that by all measures, our country is
not a 3rd world country. Okay maybe only our public transport
system, but in general we can compete with most first world countries. Not too
long ago you could not use a credit card in Europe to make normal purchases; it
was cash or debit card. Our roads are apparently much better than most European
countries and the list goes on of areas that we are very much on par, if not
better than most first world countries.
There is however something that makes South Africa a bit…………shall
we say dodge, besides for Mr. Julias Malema.
In South Africa we have a phenomena that is called the
‘Toi-Toi'. Let me explain this to our over seas guests. This is a form of a
riotor protest but not quite as hectic/violent as a riot. It is when a whole bunch of people are
extremely upset with their jobs or government or the never ending rise of
petrol (gas) prices. What these unhappy people then do is they get together and
they sing and dance. They have placards that state why they are unhappy and
what should be done, but if it wasn’t for those you would have thought they
were having a moerse party (Moerse is a South African word that means ‘very
big’ or ‘huge’, pronounced moo{sound a cow makes} with an r and –si- a in
simple).
The Urban Dictionary defines Toi Toi as:
“When a
group of people, sometimes even hundreds or thousands, do a combination of
singing, dancing and chanting to express unhappiness about something. In the
southern part of africa, when the people are unhappy about something, usually
something regarding the government, a group of people feeling strongly about
the cause will organize a toi toi and take to the street. It usually gets alot
of media attention. Most commonly performed by black people although in recent
years white and coloured people have started joining in. A toi toi is often
used as part as a protest”
It can however sometimes be very intimidating when they sing
like traditional songs in Xhosa (one of our twelve, that’s right, twelve
official languages). This is normally accompanied by dancing that involves
serious stomping on the ground. But from a distance you would still think that
it is a moerse party. When you are caught in it though it is a different
matter. Let me explain.
When I was still working in Cape Towns CBD, I was on my way
to Woolworths one lunch time. Now for those of you that know town, it is the
Woolworths in St. George’s Mall. For those of you that does not know town, St.
George’s Mall is in fact not a mall but a brick paved road, not for cars but
for shopping. Anyway, as I got out of Woolwortsh, I suddenly found myself
in a huge crowd of people. It was noisy beyond belief. Now I don’t like noisy,
that is why my clubbing days are just about over.
Being pushed and pulled in all directions I realized that I
was in the middle of a Toi-Toi. I was completely outnumbered by the hundreds of
people doing this Toi-Toi. They were dancing and singing down the road. Now as
a kid we get taught that you stay away from such events because it is dangerous
and that they do bad things to people who refuse to Toi-Toi with them.
So I got
scared. I tried to go back into Woolworths to just stay there until they had
danced past but by now the crowd had pushed me to the centre and there was no
way for to go anywhere but forward. Instinct kicked in. I can’t speak
Xhosa to save my life. I can say a few things here and there but not even
enough to help me in a sticky situation. There are many different tongue clicks
in the language and its all very confusing. But in that moment I clicked my
tongue as if I was being paid to do it.
I started moving my body and dancing and clicking my tongue, waving my
arms around. I was protesting all the way. I remember a Mamma (a respectful
term for an older African female) looking at me and frowning and saying
something like “Eish, ooh these peepal.” So what do you do? I frowned back,
throwing my fists in the air and confirmed with her “Eish, (tongue click) I
know.” I protested that day for the first time in my life. I got into the
spirit of things and it was kinda fun. Scary at first but all in all it was
great fun. I have no fucking idea who I protested with, or what I protested
against. I don’t know if the protesters got what they wanted as the moment we
got to a point that I could actually turn off to go back to work I did. But
that day, I sang and danced until God alone knew where I was.
This week, in the road where I work, there has been some Toi
Toi action again. I don’t know what they are singing, I don’t know who they are
or what the issues are, but I will tell you this much, I have been tempted to
go join them.
Mwah!!
Here is a
video to teach you how to Toi Toi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gQkWMekXeQ&feature=related
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