Over the past week I’ve wanted to add my two cents’ worth to the (whining) discussions on the power cuts — each time I thought about what I wanted to write, I’d get up in the morning, read the headlines and realise that what I have to say could lead to a cyber-stoning. Not because […]
2008
Posted inSport
Kick-off
Monday January 21 — Lawson Naidoo The city of Accra exploded into colour and cacophony this weekend in anticipation of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament being staged in this dynamic, robust and bustling metropolis. Most cars, taxis, buses, bicycles and wheelchairs on the streets of the capital were adorned with the […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
JZ killed the weekly newsletter
The Sunday Times has welcomed the fact that Jacob Zuma won’t continue the tradition of a weekly ANC president’s e-comment. The implication being: we no longer have to wade through screeds/screens of high-brow discourse each week. Au contraire — the change means there will be even fewer opportunities to get a handle on JZ’s thinking […]
Posted inMedia, Sport
Arriving in a war zone
Saturday January 19 — Richard Calland As you sweep into the centre of Accra, the sight is uplifting. The Black Star. It adorns the Arc de Triomphe-like building around which the traffic spins. Actually, there are four stars, facing out north, south, east and west. Which is convenient: the Ghana football team are known as […]
Posted inLifestyle
Durban might be half-asleep, but …
… I love coming home, because: You can swim in the sea! It’s wild, and a little dirty, and you get tossed around a lot and end up with sand in your cozzie, but you can swim for ages and not freeze. Durban seems to stay the same. I was driving home from the beach […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Thrown to the lions
The Chinese zoos that allow patrons to buy live chickens, goats and cows and toss them into the lion enclosure so that people can enjoy them being ripped apart has been a lead story in many local and international newspapers this month (also see Saturday Star, p13, January 19 2008). Zoo patrons are allowed to […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
The curious incident of the ratings agency and the developmental state
Something strange happened last week. An international credit ratings agency told us we should act more like a developmental state. Standard & Poors — which does credit ratings of countries and large companies — warned that South Africa’s power utility Eskom needed a financial injection from the government in order to cover the costs of […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
The takeaway society
One thing that really surprised me about the United Kingdom when I first moved across was the number of furnished homes that were for rent. One hardly comes across that in South Africa where most people accumulate their own living things. It’s not uncommon for the locals to pack a few boxes, tuck them under […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Swartruggens burning
In 1964, Sam Bowers, the Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, set in motion a preconceived plan for the elimination of Michael Schwerner, a civil rights worker. Schwerner, a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (Core), was trying to help African-Americans gain the right to vote in Mississippi, which […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Empowering ourselves
It is so easy to be a victim, to blame someone else and to shrug off responsibility. I’m referring to things such as crime and education, employment equity and gender equality at some level, but what I actually want to get into is the power situation and how each of us affects and contributes to […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Eish! Our divided country
I don’t normally respond to comments on my writing. I believe that writers have the first word and should not necessarily have the last word. But the beauty of the internet and blogs is that no one really has the last word. The blog writer starts a debate that can continue as long as needed. […]
Posted inGeneral
A small step into cyberspace …
I’m not sure why but I feel that I need to mention that I am new to blogging. I previously avoided reading blogs as I perceived them to be some kind of diary input where people revealed their soul and discussed how they lost weight in 30 days — with details of what the burger […]