I cannot speak for him, but if he is anything like most Zimbabweans I meet, he would much rather be living and working in Zimbabwe. But until things get better, many of us will continue to live in a foreign country, giving them the benefit of our skills and depriving Zimbabwe them.

Last week, I noticed with interest that the South African Sports Ministry has accused the South African Rugby Union (SARU) of poor administration regarding their handling of Tendai Mtawarira’s eligibility for playing for the Springboks.

Apparently “The Beast” as he has been nicknamed was in danger of missing the year-end tour if the Sports Ministry weren’t satisfied with the reasons that a foreign national had been selected for the Springboks. Tendai Mtawarira debuted for the Boks in 2008 after completing his three-year residency and has played 19 Tests and has already toured with the Springboks to the UK last year, as well as Australasia this year and in 2008 and so it is strange that they are bringing up the issue now.

SARU apparently wants to speed up the process of getting Mtawarira’s South African citizenship, by asking a government minister to use his influence.

‘This request to have the Minister use his position to have the process of securing permanent residence and subsequently, citizenship expedited ahead of the year end tour in Europe, has exposed our sport administrators’ clear disrespect or lack of understanding of our laws,’ the ministry said in a statement.

‘Talented as he is, Tendai, like all foreign nationals plying their trade in South Africa, is bound by the laws of this country. The migration laws of our country are clear on issues relating to permanent residence and citizenship. We expect our sport administrators to understand and respect legislation that regulate their business. None of the athletes, sport codes, or federations can be bigger than the country.’

The Sports Ministry also questioned whether Mtawarira is that much better than other looseheads in the country to gain the special treatment that allowed him to tour.

‘While Tendai is a live wire on the field of play, the question is whether it is, in the first place, justifiable to say he has scarce skills – the rationale that would have enabled him to obtain the current work permit. If we go the route our rugby administrators are requesting us to take, and facilitate the fast-tracking of Tendai’s citizenship, what would this say to all rugby players in our country? We cannot as a government department responsible for sport and recreation in this country, afford to insult our players like this,’ added the statement.

‘The principle here is clear: Only citizens of our country can play for our National team, irrespective of the sport code. Therefore, no foreign national can play for any of our national teams, no matter how outstanding they may be. If any player in any code is to become a South African citizen, this has to be done within the legal framework of our country.

‘Federations, provinces and clubs, are more than welcome to approach us for advice on similar issues, instead of trying to slip a player through the legal framework.’

SARU responded by saying they would not comment on the Sport Ministry’s statements.

The Beast

If you are wondering why Tendai is known as The Beast: It had something to do with him being “a bit of a bully” in his primary school days in Harare, Mtawarira has stated. It was also back then, when his huge frame was knocking down smaller contemporaries in a football match, that a local rugby coach thought he might be better suited to the rough and tumble of the 15-man game. It has only been in the past two years, though, that Mtawarira has made a name for himself as a beast of a prop.

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AWARD-WINNING Zimbabwean singer, David Scobie, has unveiled his long-awaited website, http://davidscobie.org/

He made the announcement via his Facebook profile recently. “The new website is finished and we hope to get some interest in the old music again,” says David. The multi-media website features David’s profile, discography, photos and singles released, among other great features.

Visitors to the site can preview and purchase his best selling 1981 album, “Cleaning Up!” for the first time in 28 years which features hit songs like Gypsey Girl, Taking The Easy Way Home, Maybe Life Don’t Care and On The Phone. The CD is also available for download. Other albums are available to preview and download. These include: Reborn (1983), Photograph (1984) and David Scobie Special Edition (1989). These albums will be re-released on CD and downloads by the end of 2009.

Brogue CDs are also available for purchase and download on the site. Brogue is David’s new project. He teamed up with Zimbabwean singer, Brigitte Rodrigues to form the duo producing Scottish/Celtic music. They have released three albums to date: Rhythm Of The Celts (2007) (which has already gained silver disc status in Scotland and is very close to gold) Girls And Strong Whisky (2008) and Popscots which has just been released (2009).

Visitors can register for a newsletter to keep up-to-date with news.Visitors to the site are struck by its ease of use, especially as it includes all content areas that are integral to David’s brand. It has been designed to be the premiere destination for all his fans.It is fresh, interactive, and of high quality competing with all other big artist websites. David aims to reach his growing fans through the site and other multimedia outlets available now. The highly interactive site has already garnered tremendous interest and responses from David’s fans. The Guestbook, especially, has already attracted a lot of attention.

Born in Dundee, Scotland, David was exposed to traditional Scottish folk music from the age of six. His parents took him to his first live concert held in Dundee where popular folk Duo “The Corries” blew David away. In 1973 the Scobie family moved to Harare Zimbabwe. From the age of ten, under the instruction of a close musical family friend, David began learning rudimentary chords on a guitar his parents had bought him. In 1980 David, aged fifteen had a hit-single in Southern Africa called “Gypsey Girl”. The single was released in October 1980 and it went to No.1 in Zimbabwe that November, staying there for the next four months. It was then released in South Africa in April 1981 and it bounced up and down the Springbok charts for nineteen weeks.

The single went Gold in both countries and David became an over-night celebrity. His next single “Taking The Easy Way Home” was recorded in April 1981 and by that June it had reached the Top Ten in both territories again. He went on to release four albums.

From 1983 to 2004 he endured a fruitful career in advertising jingles, producing and engineering. Over the years David repeatedly earned Zimbabwe Advertising Awards for his efforts. In 1998, he staged two musicals and two comedy theatre productions to full houses around the country.

David has teamed up with Brigitte Rodrigues producing Celtic music and call themselves Brogue and they are now based near Edinburgh in Scotland. http://www.broguemusic.com

Visit David’s website at: http://davidscobie.org/

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David Livingstone was born in Blantyre, Scotland, on March 19, 1813. One of seven children of a very poor family, he was already working in a cotton mill by the time he was 10. The little education he received came largely through his own efforts and from the determination of his parents, strict Calvinists who believed in hard work and schooling.

In 1834 he heard about an appeal by British and American churches for medical missionaries to go to China. He decided this should be his career, and for two years while continuing to work part-time, he studied theology and medicine. In 1838 he was accepted by the London Missionary Society but was prevented from going to China by the Opium War. A subsequent meeting with Robert Moffat, the noted missionary to southern Africa, convinced Livingstone that he should take up his work in Africa.

He arrived in Cape Town on March 14, 1841. From the moment he arrived, Livingstone determined to become an explorer to help open up the continent for Christianity and Western civilization. His career can be divided into four fairly distinct phases: the early missionary explorations in the years from 1841 to 1849, during which he traveled to the Transvaal and into the Kalahari region; the expedition from 1850 to 1856 that took him to Luanda on the west coast and to Quelimane on the east coat; the explorations along the Zambezi River from 1858 to 1864; and his determined, but unsuccessful, search for the source of the Nile River from 1866 to 1873.

By mid-1842 he had travelled north into the Kalahari territory, farther than any European had ventured. He established a mission at Mabotsa in 1844. He married Moffat’s daughter, Mary, and she accompanied him on his travels until 1852, when she and their four children returned to Britain because of her health and the children’s needs for security and education.

During his first decade in Africa, Livingstone gained his first measure of fame when he assisted in the discovery of Lake Ngami on Aug. 1, 1849. For this he was awarded a gold medal and a monetary prize by the British Royal Geographical Society.

With his family safely in Scotland, Livingstone was able to set out on his second major journey in November 1853. His first goal was to reach the Atlantic coast to open up an avenue of commerce. He arrived at Luanda, on the Atlantic coast, on May 31, 1854. Four months later he began the return trip, exploring the Zambezi River region along the way. On May 20, 1856, he arrived at Quelimane, on the east coast, in Mozambique. The most spectacular result of this trip was the discovery and naming of Victoria Falls on the Zambezi on Nov. 17, 1855.

For his accomplishments he was received as a national hero when he returned to England in December 1856. He published a book, `Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa’ in 1857 and spent six months on a speaking tour in the British Isles. His speeches at Cambridge were published as `Dr. Livingstone’s Cambridge Lectures’ in 1858. Back in Africa early in 1858, Livingstone began extensive explorations of the Zambezi region. On this journey his wife died, in April 1862. The explorations were not successful from a commercial point of view, so the expedition was recalled by the British government.

Livingstone’s last great venture was his attempt to locate the source of the Nile. This quest, fraught with hardships and dissension among his staff, left him broken in health and–at one point–given up for dead. Henry Morton Stanley, a correspondent for the New York Herald, found him in Ujiji on Oct. 23, 1871, and provided him with food and medicine.

Together they explored the area northeast of Lake Tanganyika. Stanley returned to England in March 1872, but Livingstone refused to accompany him. On May 1, 1873, his servants found him dead in a village in what is now Zambia. His body was taken to England and buried in Westminster Abbey on April 18, 1874. Later that year `The Last Journals of David Livingstone’ were published.

The David Livingstone Statue at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe

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