The Parade

The rain failed to stop thousands of fans from lining the roads of Pretoria and Johannesburg to see the team that won them the Rugby World Cup.Being on the media bus that led the parade, I was able to see first hand, the uniting effect that success in sport has on our people, people of all sizes, color, shapes and creed lined the streets to celebrate. On the highway between Jhb and Pta cars blew their horns, some stopped to take pictures of the team, every single person that I seen had a smile on their face. One thing that I noticed was the sheer numbers of black supporters that seemed intent to congratulate the Boks. That made me think that maybe the controversy about quotas is not really what the man on the street wants, but what a select number of politicians want, because the black people that lined the streets in large numbers seemed to love this team as much as the white onesBryan Habana lifts the Webb Ellis Cup for the crowds in Midrand, near Johannesburg.

Check out the support the Boks had during their parade through Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Rugby victory

South African rugby fans celebrate their 15-6 victory over England in the Rugby World Cup at Boktown in Johannesburg.South African rugby fans at Boktown got a surprise before the final, when they were joined by former President of South Africa , Nelson Mandela... I was also surprised because no-one from the PR company running Boktown felt the need to mention that he was coming, so after standing in the beer queue for what seemed like an age- I get to the front, the announcement is made and Madiba slowly makes his way to the balcony, being a newspaper photographer, I couldnt let this opportunity get away, so I ran there- got my pics and had to stand right at the back of the beer queue again... Thanks Madiba :)

Wits protest

Students belonging to various youth movements, protested by disrupting classes at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. They are protesting about increased tuition fees.These students ran from class to class, jumping on the desks, dancing and singing songs to force students that were in the classes to leave, they ran between the classes like they were possessed, this photographer (who is just one day from his thirtieth birthday) found it tough going, but nevertheless managed to keep up, even though he was out of breath, soaked through and extremely red in the face.


Damn, these kids hardly even seemed out of breath...

Strike

A striking worker shows his frustration during a strike at Caxton printers in Johannesburg.

Today whilst attending a strike at Caxton Printers, the printers that print The Citizen newspaper (which I currently work for), I was approached by one of the printer management, who said I must get pictures of all the strikers with knobkerries ( zulu wooden clubs), His approach towards me was as if it was "us and them" and I sure was'nt in either of those groups.

I told him he must be insane, asking me to do that and told him that there was no chance that I would, if he wanted pics like that- he could take them himself, I SURE AS HELL WASN'T.

If photojournalists gave pics that could be used to prosecute people, people at demonstrations would attack photojournalists as soon as they whipped out their camera, and I sure as hell dont want that to happen .