Joubert Malherbe
I’VE ALWAYS had a liking for copper bracelets and I have been sporting them for various decades now; sometimes two or three on each wrist.
Whenever I attend a fair or a fete of some kind, I return with at least one new such bangle. Our family visits to the KZN South Coast have never been complete without a day trip to Durban during which I’d acquire a bangle or two and other hippie-ish accoutrements, like beads.
I’ve not worn beads now for some years, but I still like seeing them.
Many people have enquired whether the copper bracelets that I wear have medicinal properties. I guess they do; they’re certainly reputed to “draw out” undesirable substances, like excess acid, which tend to lead to attacks of gout and other wrist or bone pains.
There’s also a kind of esoteric belief that these bracelets actually serve to ward off evil spirits, such as they are. I think it’s probably more a mind-over-matter thing, but it sure has been working for me for a while.
Anyway, I’m happy to say that there’s this bloke up at the corner café in funky Doringkloof who sells all sorts of bric-a-brac-style items, including copper bracelets of the kind referred to above.
His name is Simon and we often have a chat. I have also bought the odd trinket from him. He sometimes works as a security guard, but he runs his little stall as a sort of a side business and he seems to be doing fairly brisk trade.
I think my fascination with copper bracelets stems from the fact that I have been a huge Led Zeppelin fan for several years, nay decades. As fellow aficionados will recognise, singer Robert Plant also seems to have a penchant for bracelets, often sporting more than one on his arms.
While it is not exactly a case of “rings on my fingers and bells on my toes”, the bracelets do jingle-jangle a bit from time to time. So, in a way, I will always have music wherever I go.
Sorry to seemingly push a line again, but just one look at the Pieter-Louis Meyburgh book on Ace Magashule – who has hogged the headlines again in recent times – should dispel any doubts that may exist about the latter’s non-bona fides.
Anyway, with the Ace, JZ vs Zondo and Bushiri shenanigans, one didn’t know whether to laugh or cry… or to seek redemption elsewhere. Hopefully, Magashule’s appearance in court was finally an indication that the great job done by NPA bigwigs, Shamila Batohi and Hermione Cronjé, was finally bearing fruit.
Watching the ANC S-G’s supporters carrying on outside court, I found it difficult to fathom that so many seemingly intelligent people – well, at least some of them – had been hoodwinked into displaying such blind loyalty to the alleged architect of state capture.
With regards JZ, watching his lawyer, Muzi Sikhakhane, arguing that Deputy Judge President Raymond Zondo was biased against his client when urging his recusal, was infuriating and amusing… even the good judge had to chuckle now and again.
As far as Bushiri goes, the unkind part of me believes that slavish followers of so-called prosperity gospels such as his – which are nothing other than get-rich-quick schemes – fully deserve what they get. But, hey, what a charlatan he has proven to be…
Maybe the followers can do themselves a favour and simply take a listen to the late great Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”. It will be cheaper and, more than likely, more effective in their search for absolution.
The words are, in part: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery/none but ourselves can free our minds…”
Or, an easier way out is simply to get yourself a copper bracelet…