taxi!

To get to work every morning I take what is refered to here as a taxi, but is known in other places as a minibus or a cumbi. It looks exactly like a VW bus in the US – meaning its basically a large van. Minibus taxis should not be confused with metered taxis or cabs, which do exist here as well. The taxi I take is short distance or local and only goes along a set route in one part of Durban. There are also long distance taxis that can be taken from town to town but they operate a little differently than the local taxis.

There are 15 seats in the taxi, three rows of four people and then one row of three in the front including the driver. Fifteen is the legal limit for number of passengers in one taxi, however they are routinely crammed with upwards of 20 people. There isn’t a whole lot of space in any of the rows, so it feels cramped when there are 15 people aboard. Especially if there are a few heavyweights thrown into the mix – its doesnt matter how large someone is they will squish themselves on. So I have basically been sat on by a few very fat people on taxis since I’ve been here.

Tsotsi

Congratuations to Tsotsi for winning Best Foreign Film at the Oscars this year! All of South Africa is very proud of this movie which was made here and stars a cast from SA as well. Tsotsi’s Oscar win was definitely big news all over the country, for some time leading up to the awards show, and of course after the big announcement.
Tsotsi means “gangster” in Zulu but can also mean “crook” or “theif” depending on who you’re talking to. It is pronounced “tote-see” – and was incorrectly pronounced by the presenter at the Oscars, which annoyed me. You are presenting at the Academy Awards, take 5 minutes to learn how to pronounce the titles of the 5 nominated movies! The language spoken in the movie is a mixture of the 11 different languages in SA, but not purely any individual language itself. There was also alot of township slang used which varies from township to township depending on the region of the country.

Although the Tsotsi in the film lived in Johannesburg there are tsotsis all over the country, even in smaller towns and villages. Tsotsi was one of the first words we learned in from our language trainers during training though “unofficially”, since tsotsis are very much part of life and culture here in SA but not really in a way that is part of the official cultural cirriculum.
The lead actor, Presley Chweneyagae, was a virtual unknown even in SA before the movie, but people are really excited about his performance in the film and the international buzz it generated. The rest of the cast is predominately made up of SA TV regulars. The fat guy gangster friend of Tsotsi’s, is Kenny Nkosi, a well-known comedian with his own TV show. The father and mother of the kidnapped baby both play principal characters on two SA soap operas, “Generations” (the most popular “soapie” in the country) and “Shado’s” respectively. The gangster who tries to get the boys to join his gang, Fela Ndlovu, is played by Zola an SA kwaito artist who also has his own TV show called “Zola 7”.

Kwaito (kah-why-toe) music has been described as the “hip-hop” of South Africa. I guess this is a pretty good analogy culturally speaking (the majority of its fans are inner city youth), but the music definitely has a different feel and different origins. It’s influenced by hip-hip to some extent but also by African techno (all techno can be refered to here as “house”) so it has a much faster beat, less emphasis on the bass, and sometimes an almost tinny sound. The lyrics aren’t sung or rapped but sort of chanted by men with deep, monotone voices. I’ve never heard of there being a female kwaito artist.

Not that I have very much personal experience with South African townships – they are super dangerous since they are, for the most part, completely lawless – the movie seemed to give an accurate portrayl of life there. Some township houses are built from concrete or cinderblocks but many are informal shacks made out of tin roofing or other cast-off materials that people have collected. Houses are almost literally built on top of each other in some areas. New people moving in just build whereever there is space since almost no one owns the land their house is on anyway. There arent really any local police in the township – at least not a force sizeable enough to make any difference.

Formal work opportunities are scarce for youth, which partly explains why so many of them get involved in illegal activities or spend all of their time at shebeens (bars) drinking. As a consequence alcoholism is a big problem, especially among men, and shebeens are known for being violent spots where fights are likely to break out (as depicted in the movie). Women almost never go to bars since this is looked down upon in African culture.

I thought the movie also did a good job of showing the income inequality here and how it rich and poor are literally living right next door to each other. Tsotsi only has to walk a short distance out of the township to get to the wealthy suburb where he car-jacks the silver BMW.