By Tess Peacock This week in the news Thuli Madonsela, our Public Protector, is going to court on the Nkandla matter. Why? This is about power, power and power. The Constitution divides government into three components: the executive (the president and his ministers), the judiciary (all the courts) and the legislature (our representatives in Parliament). […]
Nkandla
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Once again, NKANDLAAAA
By Mphutlane wa Bofelo You can’t tell me that the political officials and administrators in South Africa — from ministers and director-generals to CEOs and finance managers — are so ignorant of the prices of goods and services, and the costs of construction of buildings and installation of appliances and devices that they would not […]
Posted inEquality
My name is Siphumelele, not Sipho
By Siphumelele Zondi Last week President Jacob Zuma joked about people who cannot pronounce Nkandla but now constantly use the word Nkhandla in conversations. The way in which the two words have been written is to emphasise the difference in how a Zulu-speaking person will pronounce it. There have been many debates about whether he […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Nkandla: An open letter to the Sars commissioner
Dear Mr Tom Moyane, I write to you as a concerned citizen of South Africa. Sars remains one of the few functioning and efficient institutions in our country. Indeed, without taxpayers’ money, social grants and RDP houses would be impossible and so would the construction and maintenance of essential infrastructure. Delivery of services and the […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Fifa, Blatter and SA crookery: No surprises
So Sepp Blatter gets the Fifa presidency again at the tender age of 79. He has been president since 1998, far too long to be in power over one of the most powerful, economy-boosting juggernauts the world has ever known. If a country gets the green light to host the World Cup, the payoffs for […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Heroes all: EFF and the honourable Julius Malema
This is how social media images of a country inform one’s perceptions, and then stick like glue in this instant-info “Gutenberg Galaxy” of ours. You scroll through Google News, Facebook and Twitter, and powerful impressions of countries impinge on your subconscious without you being able to question them. Then you “form” an unmediated and indelible […]
Posted inEnvironment, Lifestyle, News/Politics, Tech
Mum and the stolen iPhone
Over the weekend I met up with my friend the Diplomat and he presented me with an opportunity that I could not resist. We had not chatted since December when he spent his holidays in Cape Town and it was time to catch up. Although his time in the Mother city delivered on all the […]
Posted inGeneral
South Africans! Beware of the sea
Are you planning a seaside holiday in December? Are you thinking about putting on a swimming cossie and entering the water? Perhaps you should reconsider. I have been reading the Daily Sun since 2006, and amid all the stories about tokoloshes, 4-5s, muthi and sangomas, it was this piece of advice that stood out for […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
South Africa’s three words everybody loves to hate
As someone who, in the grand old liberal tradition (I’m not sure if there is anything grand or old in the liberal tradition, but, if I had to choose a tradition, that’s probably the one I’d chose in spite of it being utterly impractical and unfashionable) generally considers the rights of the individual as more […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Protecting Zuma by force: A dishonourable Parliament
Last night ANC MPs showed South Africa how far they were willing to go when others attempted to hold them to account. In the hours of bedlam, heckling, and howling[1] the ANC managed to push South Africa’s democracy to the brink. The ANC not only voted to protect President Jacob Zuma, who according the Public […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Is the public protector an ‘enforcer’ or a ‘recommender’?
The public protector has dominated the news yet again this year, and I’m sure this has been the year with the most coverage in the public protector’s history. One thing that has been outstanding is the debate around the powers of the office of the public protector. The public protector falls under chapter nine institutions, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Crime’s wake-up call…
My five days back in SA from the UK: one foiled armed carjacking, one petrol bomb hurled at a house, an armed carjacking and house robbery — all within a 400m radius of my house. Let’s not forget an alleged dealer’s friend looking to intimidate me within earshot of the cops. I live in a […]