TokisoM Writes

How much time do you spend knocking another person’s hustle? And I use the term hustle as meaning their drive and push to reach their desired goal.  Many of us, I’d hope, wake up with a goal in mind – we work towards something bigger than the daily grind. Some of us do it the conventional way of a regular nine to five, others have more than one job and others are pushing their God given talents to do what makes them happy.  We don’t have the same method, we don’t share the same goals and chances are what is “right” and “proper” to you won’t be the same for the next person. How much time do you spend knocking another person’s hustle?  Is your constant banter pointing out that someone is fake, unrealistic, “they’ll fall soon” or whatever it is you think proves your argument – making a difference in the world?  Unless you are whistle-blowing illegal activities or saving someone you love from a con-artist; what purpose does you negativity se...

Powerful Woman “Why is it that the men are always forgiven and the women aren't” – asked a disheartened Toni Braxton in her song, Talking in His Sleep . That’s the question I asked myself when I finished reading Winnie Mandela A Life by Anné Mariè du Preez Bezdrob . Winnie Mandela’s life story is the perfect example that you can swallow barb wire for your man but as soon as he feels you don’t fit in the greater scheme of things – you are out. You are lucky if you get a thank you. Winnie Mandela gave up so much for this nation and for her husband but when he got out of prison – what did he do… If she could endure all the police brutality, being banished to an out of reach town in the Free State, prison and raising their children on a shoe-string budget – he could have made it work. Winnie and Nelson Mandela would've been the greatest love story ever – just imagine if they were still together. “I had so little time to love him, and that love has survived al...

Great Book Che Guevara was powerful, charming, knowledgeable and a fighter, mentally and physically. TheStory of Che Guevara is a well written book about one of history’s greatest game-changers. The author, Lucia Alvarez De Toledo , researched Guevara’s life for fifteen years – before she wrote this biography. Her writing credentials include her translated and edited work of Guevara’s father’s memoir of his son, The Young Che , as well as Che’s own Bolivian Diary , and she translated Travelling with Che Guevara by AlbertoGranado .  Toledo paints Guevara as charming, smart and charismatic. It’s hard not to fall in love with Che once you reach the end of his thrilling life. Che’s story is told from when he was born on 14 June 1928 until his death on 9 October 1967. Famous for his role in the Cuban Revolution it is fascinating to learn that Che was not Cuban. Another interesting fact is that Che, as he is famously known, is a nick name he got from his comrades while ...

I know how we'll meet, chat and share a sentiment over a pot of tea. I know how we'll kiss and tell our tales and adventures. I know how you look, walk, smell and laugh. I know your smile, your tears and pain. I know the next chapter in your life, the new colours and new habits you'll adopt, the new love notes; I miss you, I love you.  And no we didn't rush into this.  I know your first thought in the morning and your last. I know that when God gives you to me and me to you... I know it will be us with a new beginning and happy forever after I know to have patience, because you are worth the wait, and I don't lose patience with each rising of the sun and the setting of the same. Instead I am happy because I know I'm one day closer to being with you. "This is why I've been single, but at least I've drafted my letter to my Queen" Sizwe Mkhize: @CSayTweets or Sizwe Mkhize on Face Book! 

What kind of relationship do you have with your money? Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich – 75 Avoidable Mistakes Women Make With Money by Lois P.Frankel is a book about financial thinking and not financial planning. I had to get that out before you think that this a quick guide to wealth – something we all know doesn't exist. “This book is dedicated to every woman who works too hard, earns too little, and never seems to get ahead financially”. That dedication line from the author caught my attention because it is a story most of us share. We have the careers, look the part, live the life but we don’t see ourselves moving ahead financially at the pace we would love to. I picked up this book: Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich because of two words on the cover “rich” and “mistakes”.  From what’s written on the cover I figured that she meant we can get rich from what we have but we make mistakes with it. That caught my attention because I’d rather be told how to make the most with wh...

*Black Humour : “ humour that deals with unpleasant aspects of life in a bitter or ironic way” Thanks to the Market Theatre for the Pic Oh what a show! Set in a South African prison during Apartheid; five prisoners tell us how they ended up behind bars. One man stutters, another believes that he was falsely accused, another was back-stabbed by a cousin, another idolized a con man and another had an affair with his employer's wife. While watching the multi-awards winning South African classic play, Asinamali, I experienced a bitter/sweet moment. The sweet was all the laughing I was doing; the bitter was the fact that Apartheid was a dehumanising cruel system. Thanks to the Market Theatre for the Pic Written by the legendary Mbongeni Ngema , Asinamali was inspired by the 1983 rent strike in Lamontville Township, KwaZulu-Natal. Led by activist Msizi Dube the people of Lamontville wanted the government to know “we do not have money” ( Asinamali ) when rent was increas...

Herman Mashaba’s story is a well written anecdote about a man who wanted to be more and worked hard to make his dreams a reality! Coming from a small village in Gauteng, born in the time when being black was a crime – Herman Mashaba defied the odds, set his own goals and worked hard to reach them. Do you have faith in your dreams? Do you have faith in your capabilities? How far will you go to reach the standard of success you've set for yourself? Those were the burning questions I walked away with after reading Herman Mashaba’s autobiography Black Like You, co-written with Isabella Morris. Pic sourced from:  http://blacklikeyou.co.za/ He is one of South Africa’s inspirational success stories. If there is someone who could have used any excuse under the sun to avoid working hard and settle for a life of mediocrity, Herman Mashaba is that man. He lost his father when he was very young, his mother struggled to raise him and his siblings on her domestic-worker...