The Orlando shooting

On Sunday morning at a gay night club in Orlando, Florida in the United States, a gunman by the name of Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and injured at least 50 others. It was the worst mass shooting in the United States in the last 25 years.

It has led to an out-pouring of grief for the victims of this horrific act, further soul searching among many Americans regarding their country’s attitude towards guns, and anger and defiance against the constant discrimination faced by the LGBT community in the United States.

US President Barack Obama said Mateen had violated a sanctuary for the LGBT community and people should think long and hard on how violence and discrimination against the LGBT can be ended in the United States and around the world.

The sooner mindless, ignorant hate towards others ends, the better the world will be.

Youth Day, 40 years later

This week marked the 40th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto uprisings, led by high school students, against the apartheid government’s introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction at local schools.

It marked an important watershed in the history of apartheid South Africa, with the image of Hector Pieterson’s bullet-marked body being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo one of a select few that defined apartheid-era South Africa’s brutality and inhumanity. Pieterson was one of many who died that day and their sacrifice continues to inspire those who have followed them since.

However, South Africa is still dogged by the racism, inequality, cultural ignorance and discrimination that existed those 40 years ago. It’s up to the country as a whole to show the fortitude exhibited by the students of 1976 to make South Africa the country it can be.

The Oscar Trial is finally coming to an end

This week also saw the final arguments, and we really mean final this time, in the legal journey of former South African Paralympian and global superstar Oscar Pistorius. It began on 14 February 2013 when Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Following his trial, conviction and sentencing as well as his sentence being overturned from culpable homicide to murder, a denied appeal to the Constitutional Court, and final arguments this week, Wednesday, 6 July is when Pistorius (and South Africa) will finally learn his fate.

His trial has raised many questions, too many to go into detail here but as we’ve said before, the sooner South Africa can move on broadly speaking, the better.

Rugby’s just a game but…

South Africa is known as one of the big three Southern Hemisphere giants in world rugby, and following the appointment of new Springbok coach Allister Coetzee and the announcement of his new squad, there was much hope the national team could turn a corner in attitude and playing style.

However, at Newlands in Cape Town, an Irish team - reduced to 14-men after local boy CJ Stander was sent off for clattering into Springbok flyhalf Pat Lambie - beat South Africa for the first time on its own soil. This ensured much talk and chatter about the state of South African rugby.

Also, said defeat in Cape Town was not helped by the South Africa U20 rugby team losing to Argentina at the world championships in Manchester and the South African cricket team, the Proteas, being beaten by Australia in a triangular tournament in the Caribbean.

When South African sporting teams win, the country feels better so for the sake of all those rugby fans out there, hopefully the Springboks can improve the moods of all when they face the Irish again in Johannesburg on Saturday.

That’s it for this week. Have a good weekend, be safe, and don’t be rude.