Leadership is an elusive quality, associated, at times, with different, even contradictory qualities. In a patriarchal context, people often seem to attribute personal traits such as conspicuous “strength”, authoritativeness and decisiveness (to the point of peremptoriness) to a leader — qualities that could easily be perverted into dictatorship, not only by the leaders in question, […]
2007
Posted inNews/Politics
The sinister Marc Dutroux cover-up (part one)
It’s worth reminding ourselves of the events surrounding Belgian paedophile abductor Marc Dutroux. Institutions that are meant to protect society can sometimes contribute to misdeeds of the most sinister kind. The Dutroux case was characterised by deliberate police incompetence and behind-the-scenes murder of witnesses. In June 1995, two eight-year-old friends, Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Lifesavers or looters? The Christmas ‘road safety’ myth
So we’re about to do the Christmas-season thing again, and another thousand-plus South Africans who were hale and hearty on December 1 won’t get to see the new year in. Yet again our politicians will pontificate somberly that “speed” and “alcohol” were mostly to blame, ignoring the reality; a large proportion of our drivers are […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Right or left? The arm struggle and Polokwane’s choice
Ever heard yourself say: “Could Zimbabweans not have read the writing on the wall?” What are South Africans waiting for, a plane to write it on the sky? Simply put, the choice at Polokwane is: Would it be better to remove my left arm or my right arm? Pundits have proclaimed Jacob Zuma is better; […]
Posted inGeneral
The trial of John Tengo Jabavu for (mis)representing African opinion
Some friends asked me to attend a day-long talk shop by some of the country’s to opinion-leaders at some white university now the other day. I did not have to think hard before I answered with a resounding: “I am not particularly interested!” They were quiet for a minute before they answered: “This is so […]
Posted inLifestyle
DJ Sbu and the quest to prove SA crack is the market leader
The next time you are bored and can’t think of anything better to do, why not pop along to a traffic court near you? I guarantee that during the course of the day you will wet yourself at least five times. If you think that the geniuses at Eskom have great excuses for their latest […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Jacob Zuma: The vote of the squatter camp
A fair amount of drama is happening in the old homeland this weekend. It’s the Mbeki-Zuma stand-off in the high street, guns at the ready. For the bulk of the white population, as well as some of the black diamonds (a name given to the emerging black middle class), this is a scary time. The […]
Posted inLifestyle
The pinfall wizards
If you subscribe to DStv, you can watch at least 13 different soapies in any given week. The “soapie”, this overused word, as vapid and asinine as the stuff it describes, has created a Las Vegas-type culture in the desert-minds too whacked out after a day of shopping, washing, dusting, picking up the kids or […]
Posted inLifestyle
Paved with good intentions
I have lived in Jo’burg for four months and, since moving here, I have come to learn that, as far as the live music scene goes, it’s usually a case of feast or famine. Granted, there’s always something on, and one could probably go out every night for about three weeks without hearing the same […]
Posted inLifestyle
A violent youth
Slap-bang in the middle of the month that hosts the 16 Days of Activism against Women and Child Abuse, and boy, oh, boy, have I just got a mother of a story to tell you. I am nearly 40 years old. I am white, male and South African. I have lived in this country most […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
World puzzled by support for Zuma
While South Africans anxiously await the beginning of Polokwane to see who will come out tops — Mbeki or Zuma — the rest of the world equally holds its breath. Especially the African continent is concerned about the outcome of the presidential battle. African countries know too well that their own political (and economical) fate […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
2008 looks like another mobile year, but with radio jocks
It’s that time of year again when the predictions brigade publish its wise thoughts for 2008. Wipe off the crystal ball, bring out the Tarot cards, throw “dem” bones. Do whatever you think might help you to peer through the fog and work out what the next big thing could be. For me, the big […]