Hands up who thought I was being sarcastic. Sorry to disappoint. Eddie Funde and Dali Mpofu, respectively chairman and CEO of the South African public broadcaster, are right on the money with their latest statements.
2007
Posted inBusiness
An hour with Discovery Holdings’s Adrian Gore
Many people may have heard of the founder and CEO of Discovery Holdings, Adrian Gore, but most will be hard pressed to tell you why they know the name. When you meet Gore you will understand why. Understated and down to earth, it is sometimes hard to believe that this is the genius behind it […]
Posted inLifestyle
Advice on the making of the world’s largest cupcake (please)
On December 15 this year I am attempting a Guinness world record: the world’s largest cupcake. Amazingly, nobody has thought to try it yet. I have all the necessary forms and documentation, and the Guinness World Records authorities have given me the go-ahead. It will be a vanilla cupcake with green icing, 1m in diameter, […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
Time to grow up, bloggers
Microsoft’s quarter-billion dollar investment in Facebook is a litmus test for the maturity of the social media and social networking world called Web 2.0. While it was fun for some (like Thought Leader colleague Ivo Vegter) to join a group of Facebook users who promised to quit the social network if Microsoft bought a share […]
Posted inLifestyle
The handmade revolution
One of the lifestyle trends that has continued to crack full steam ahead this year is the so-called craft or handmade revolution. With the good old US of A in the forefront, young, hip people are taking over what used to be considered our grandma’s domain. They’re knitting, crocheting, embroidering, quilting and sewing their own […]
Posted inMedia
Ethics? Sold out
Imagine this: a news presenter is being offered a sponsorship deal worth half-a-million rand by one of the broadcaster’s advertisers. In exchange, one of the station’s DJs (not the news presenter) would read out the company’s ad during an entertainment feature shortly after the news bulletin. Kosher or not? The news presenter, perhaps understandably, finds […]
Posted inLifestyle
Welcome
Welcome to the Springbok Spaza Shop, where I’ll be taking a look at the world of home decor and design, and art and craft. From retro to modern, fabulous to functional, the Springbok Spaza will hunt down cool home accessories, keep an eye on emerging trends and find out if there’s more to South African […]
Posted inSport
Jake White and the (other) succession debate
So Jake White has quit his job. By now that should not come as a surprise to too many people. It shouldn’t be a shock that the South African Rugby Union (Saru) will shoulder much of the blame for his decision. But what I find intriguing is the number of people arguing why Saru should […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Trading insults: Khulumani, Korman, Maduna, Mabandla
When the Khulumani Support Group’s appeal against the dismissal of its international lawsuit (Khulumani et al v Barclays et al) was granted recently, the decision was not, as implied by most reports, unanimous. The dissenting judge (in three parts of the judgment), Judge Edward Korman, stated that “[the] lawsuit [is] an insult to the post-apartheid, […]
Posted inMedia
How does ubuntu rhyme with crime?
The role the media have played in forging a feeling of national unity after the rugby victory is commendable. And indeed, it must have been an inspiring change for editors to devote so much space to good-news stories. But imagine what change we can bring about if the same amount of space is devoted to […]
Posted inMedia
Media ethics and guerrilla warfare
It has been with some interest that I have followed the ongoing discourse over the “us versus them” (mainstream media versus the blogosphere) issue, and its potential impact on the media landscape. Vincent Maher has pretty exhaustively tackled some of the issues in his paper Towards a Critical Media Studies Approach to the Blogosphere, and […]
Posted inBusiness
Stability strategy: When should we take the off-ramp down Rocky Rich Lane?
In my business, building cars, it’s all about how fast we can churn out a completed vehicle without sacrificing quality standards and customer satisfaction. Along with this we take into consideration our employees and contractors … are they happy? Are they secure? If not, how can we fix the problem? Yesterday evening I was sitting […]