The children of the revolution are turning against the liberation movement. For now, a handful of insider top thinkers have expressed their disillusionment on the decline of the political integrity of liberation movements. In fact, they have gone on record to say: liberation movements will, ultimately, betray the people! There is a new wave of […]
2008
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Affirmative Action may be the under current that fuels xenophobic rumblings
The deep rumbles of discontent that have exploded into an orgy of violence, death and destruction may, rightly or wrongly, be the poor’s version of Affirmative Action. Of course, AA is nothing else but implementation of the culture of ‘putting local blacks, first.’ Its widespread and, ironically, justifiable practice has, over the last decade resulted […]
Posted inGeneral
Friends that ring – Chatting with Neal Fullman, PR Director of fring
If you haven’t heard of fring, you’re probably a tad behind the mobile IM / VoIP wave. I discovered it a while back, looking for an application that worked on an S60 phone and enabled me to communicate with all my MSN, Skype and Google Talk contacts. If it did Twitter as well, bonus. It […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Make Africa Day a public holiday
It is Monday 26 May 2008 in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and it is a public holiday. Yesterday was Africa Day, a day that still goes relatively unrecognised in South Africa, and because it was Sunday, the Monday becomes a holiday. The streets are noticeably less busy, the market is relatively quieter. Maybe that […]
Posted inGeneral
Zimbabwe run-off: Now that’s entertainment!
Britain’s tough new Consumer Protection Regulations have been particularly hard on fortune tellers, astrologers and other mediums who are now required by law, to tell customers that their work is “entertainment” and not “experimentally proven”. Surely this system should be introduced into Africa where it is desperately needed. Let’s start with everyone’s favourite, Uncle Bob. […]
Posted inGeneral
Back to Biko
Hello, cyberpublic. Let us read Steve Biko, I Write What I Like, page 31. “…the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality. The first step therefore is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Just how safe is Australia anyway?
Bad things can happen anywhere. And they do happen in Australia. Take the case of 54 year old Brian Gilsenan, a Scottish emigrant who was attacked in an apparently motiveless crime in the Sydney CBD four months ago. He died on Saturday. The police never did track down his assailants; now they are hunting for […]
Posted inGeneral
Have we forgotten why we’re here?
I had an interesting encounter with a car guard this weekend. This experience made me realise how much I take for granted and how the little things we do in life can have the most profound consequences for people and sometimes for our environment as well. On Saturday, as I was going to the bank, […]
Posted inSport
Let me race in the streets, please
This weekend a young man tragically died in the streets of Durban while participating in a legal street race. My heart goes out to the family, friends and fellow street racers of Gert Vorster from Johannesburg. Ironically, Gert clocked the fastest time of the race shortly before he crashed. Although this is tragic, people must […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Sad to be a South African …
This past weekend, residents of Masipumelele informal settlement apologised to displaced people driven from their homes in the township during the cowardly xenophobic attacks that have raced through some Western Cape informal settlements since the start of the weekend. One Masipumelele resident said in an interview that “it sure does not feel good to be […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What xenophobia? The word is xenocide
The issue we are facing is not xenophobia as such, but xenocide. In 99% of xenophobic incidents anywhere on this planet in the last decade (however heinous), we do not find xenophobic dispositions turning into a mobilisation and a social movement that kills foreigners. Ours does. It is the habit of my profession to explain […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Immigrants the scapegoats for ANC delivery failure
The barbaric attacks on immigrants are in essence a protest against a lack of delivery and opportunity. Immigrants are an obvious target; a conductor rod to the storm of discontent that has gathered as inequality, poverty and unemployment in our townships has continued to remain rampant. The seething anger being vented on the streets of […]