We are short and proud of it

Phumudzo Shakes Mbedzi (31) and Mutshutshu Gilbert Madzivhandila (51) are positive thinkers who want to encourage other people to accept themselves as they are. These friendly guys, who are both short, say nothing is more fulfilling than being proud of who you are.

Both men are highly respected in their communities, with Mbedzi being a famous gospel musician from Khubvi village and Madzivhandila a subsistence farmer from Makonde village.

“I don’t understand why people feel sorry for us. After all, we are created in God’s image. There is nothing wrong with us. People are built differently; some are short, while others are tall. God gave us these precious bodies for a reason, and we appreciated His grace,” says the happy-go-lucky Mbedzi.

His sentiments are echoed by Madzivhandila, who says his body shape makes him the happiest person on earth. “I am not ashamed of myself; I am very beautiful. People might judge me by my height, but that does not bother me. My height is my advantage because I can do other things that tall people find difficult to do, like quickly and easily picking something up from the ground,” he laughs. They admit, however, that growing up was difficult. “Many people regarded us as outcasts when we were young. Some kids would not play with us, but as time went by, people accepted us as part of the community. Growing up under these difficult conditions only made us strong, and we worked hard until people realised that there is nothing wrong with us. Today, we are independent, grown-up men, regarded as role models to many,” says Mbedzi.

Madzivhandila remembers his school days. “Teachers and fellow learners treated me with kid gloves, and I didn’t like it. Eventually, they accepted me as one of their own and treated me like everyone else. It makes me happy to see myself as a grown man today who has defeated the humiliation and segregation from my own people,” he adds.

The two men now want to form a support group for short people, to help them accept themselves. They say they would like to venture into television acting, but for this they need people who can help them get into the industry.

Mbedzi can be reached on 071 290 0048 and Madzivhandila on 071 115 2364.

Gambling machines that cause “misery” seized in Nancefield

Musina News

Six gambling machines were confiscated from different shop owners during a sting operation at the Nancefield location in Musina last Friday (3 March). The operation was a joint effort by the Vhembe District Municipality, Musina Municipality’s law enforcement section and the South African Police Service.

The shop owners were each fined R500 for operating gambling machines without licenses. Vhembe District Health Inspector Peter Mugwena said during their routine inspection at shops around Musina, they realised that gambling machines being operated without licenses were proliferating. “We kept a low profile while we were inspecting the shops for health and environmental compliance, while at the same time mobilising resources for this operation. The operation was easy because we did our research and knew exactly which shops to target,” he said.

Mugwena said that running unregulated gambling facilities was dangerous because the operators lacked training in responsible gambling, potentially luring children and people who were addicted to gambling. “With the help of different stakeholders, we will prioritise vigorous law enforcement to root out illegal and unregulated gambling machines in our society. We also urge the public to report any illegal gambling machines to our law-enforcement agencies, so that those responsible face the full might of the law,” he said.

The chairperson of Musina Crime Prevention, Mr Mashudu Kenny Lesida, was very impressed with the success of the operation and expressed his gratitude to everyone involved. “We have been complaining about these illegal gambling activities for some time, and we are happy that our government is doing something about it. These illegal gambling activities encourage crime because some criminals disguise themselves as gamblers, while they are only there to carefully study how they can come back and rob the shop owners,” he said.

Lesida said that what was really painful about the matter was that the shop owners even allowed small children to use these gambling machines. “Some children would steal money from home to go and gamble, while others would use their school pocket money. We are very happy that the machines have been taken away because they only brought misery to our local people,” he said.