Recent calls by Gordon Brown for a cricket boycott against Zimbabwe are at face value justifiable — after all no one can disagree about the brutal kleptocracy of Robert Mugabe; but think about it less superficially, and it seems to be characteristic of the hypocritical sanctimony of the West. Let’s leave the implications of the […]
2008
Posted inGeneral
OR Tambo Airport: A claim to shame
For a country that is expecting to host the football World Cup in less than 900 days, here’s how the International Arrivals section at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg is currently going about its business. I arrived at the dire baggage claim area just after 17:00 on Tuesday 4 March after a flight that had […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Young black journalist in confusion
Sitting in the forum held by the South African Human Rights Council (HRC) regarding recent issues regarding the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ) and its subsequent fight with Talk Radio 702, I wondered whether anyone really understood the matter at hand. The fighting between the two over spilled into an attack on each other’s character: […]
Posted inGeneral
The thin wallet and sheer bliss on tap
A few years ago I used to play in an inter-departmental indoor football league at work. The departmental team I played for was, at that time, an assembly of pathetic riffraff masquerading as football players. In short; they sucked seventeen lemons and their peels. I remember one particular fellow who used to take tiny Mr. […]
Posted inTech
Google sets your calendar free!
It’s been a long time since anyone thought of Google as “the good guys”. Though they have waged a war with Microsoft for everything from search to word processing, they have become more like the Redmond clan than they would ever want to admit. But, still, how can you not love them? And now they’ve […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What should universities do to foster racial integration?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: What should universities do to foster racial integration?
Posted inLifestyle, Media, Tech
SA’s best blogs
The finalists are in! The SA Blog Awards 2008 have produced an impressive (and somewhat daunting!) list of finalists in various categories. You can see them all at: http://www.sablogawards.com/2008/ I haven’t had a chance to go through them all yet (will anyone ever have a chance to go through them all?) but I do have […]
Posted inSport
The great Kaizer Chiefs tragedy: No more Jabu Pules
So there I was watching SuperSport the other night and having to stomach another drawn result by Kaizer Chiefs — another one among so many that I have lost count! I was just about ready to curse my way out of the lounge and make my way to the bedroom when I decided to hang […]
Posted inGeneral
Institutionalised segregation in SA
Submitted by Boitumelo Magolego Being called African and/or South African, in my estimation, is a politically correct euphemism or synonym for calling one black (black referring to a non-homogenous people originally called the Bantu). An euphemism, because depending on one’s so-called race, calling a person black may be construed as being pejorative. A synonym, because […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma meets Jewish community while Afrikaners meet prejudice
Why is it that we tend to look at the components rather than the whole when assessing South Africa? Isolate the negatives and aggregate them into a false reality that, looking forward, will translate into a bleak future without any prospects of redemption. Jacob Zuma’s meeting with the Jewish community was not only a success […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
The last blog
This is my last blog on Thought Leader. I never thought the day would come when the tentacles of oppression would silence freedom of expression, but as long as I have family in this country, the increasingly sinister, menacing and credible threats from the ANC, Jacob Zuma and their legions of thuggish operatives cannot be […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Kenyan peace deal a win for politicians but a loss for the displaced
Now the world thinks that Kenya is at peace again. Newspapers across the globe are running with news that Kenyans are the winners after last week’s agreement between presidential contenders Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki. With a pen and paper and some applauding, everything comes back to normal. I find this absolutely laughable. It’s bitterly […]