Call me crazy (OK, crazier than usual) but doesn’t the Democratic and Republican primaries remind you of the race for this year’s Super Bowl? First off we have the NFC where the New York Giants (has to be Hillary Clinton as the Senator from New York) beat the Green Bay Packers to reach the grand […]
2008
Posted inGeneral
Hits of our time
Ever alive with improbabilities, South Africa is exploding with anthems. Not content with lyrical pleas to the ghost of De la Rey to return from Benoni and free the boere from the yoke of demockracy, anthems are cropping up everywhere. And, ironically, most seem inspired by the shambolic state of the nation. As cricket commentator […]
Posted inMedia
The trial of John Tengo Jabavu for (mis)representing African opinion
Friends asked me to attend a day-long talk shop by some of the country’s opinion-leaders at some white university 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 surprising.” I guess […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Oh, switch off our MINDS, not our MINES?
If there are two things even more annoying than our power crisis itself, one is the feel-good positive-thinking rubbish people have been writing, and the other are the insults and nonsense we’re being fed by government.
Posted inLifestyle
To kiss or not to kiss?
The advent of the prohibition laws (against the brewing, sale and transport of alcoholic beverages) in the US and other countries had a long and complicated history, going back to the 19th century, and culminating in the general Prohibition law, or amendment to the US Constitution, of January 1920. For almost 14 years, until its […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Hope as a weapon: Obama, Eskom and Zuma
Hope exists only because of despair. Panic thrives among the ignorant. Discrimination lives in those who fear their own inadequacy. Let’s have a look at what that means for the United States this week as it heads toward Super Duper Tuesday on February 5 and the strongest indicators yet of who its next president might […]
Posted inLifestyle
Is it really all that bad? (I love living here!)
With all the Eskom troubles going on lately, there’s been much talk about how the country is going to the dogs. Figuratively speaking, of course (I hope). So it was with great relief that I found the SA Rocks website this morning. It’s pretty much a collection of opinions on why South Africa is a […]
Posted inTech
Seven things I learnt from one year of blogging for money
The first thing I learnt — and admittedly it took a fair number of months — was that I should not have given up my day job. Alright, I didn’t give up the day job as I didn’t have one to start off with. But still. I would have starved if I had depended on […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Looking at a loser: Ramaphosa the ‘never-ran’
“Newspapers said I was a dark horse in regard to Polokwane. I object to this — I may be dark, but I’m not a horse.” So said Cyril Ramaphosa last night at the launch of Anthony Butler’s biography of him. Describing himself as a “victim” of the writer, the former ANC secretary general nevertheless complimented […]
Posted inGeneral
Zuma avoided Tyson, now Mbeki must void Erwin
“Accountability”, for the benefit of Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin and others, is the acceptance of responsibility for your actions and decisions — in this case, the national electricity disaster. It is a debacle that dwarfs all other problems facing this country and impacts directly or indirectly on the lives of every South African. Opposition […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What is wrong with Africa?
January 3 2008 On January 1, as I sat in a Yeoville flat with Kenyan friends, the atmosphere was sombre. A Kenyan friend, was in tears. “They are lying. More people have died,” she said of figures the police were giving on the number of slain. She should have known; anyone who has police blood […]
Posted inGeneral
South Africa, what the hell is wrong with you?
The power failures have given the prophets of doom hope for the country; hope that it’s all downhill from now. Finally our prophecies are coming true, they whisper in their hearts.