This article first appeared last month in Alliance Magazine (Volume 13, No.3, 2008). Since its publication, I have received many requests to reprint it. The article has since appeared in other media houses. In order to get more feedback, I am reproducing it here in its original form. This article attempts to answer three related […]
2008
Posted inBusiness
On absurd predictions of a recession of the SA economy
The ailing US economy and collapse of leading financial institutions have driven global markets into a collective panic. The ills of globalisation are manifesting themselves in a most spectacular fashion. The interconnectedness of world economies is delivering not the promises of sustainable prosperity, but rather reversing the gains of protracted periods of imprudence. The price […]
Posted inGeneral
Great moments in ANCYL auditing we’d like to see
“The new ANC Youth League under Julius Malema wants to wrestle control of the R120-million investment company away from ‘old comrades’ who became ‘millionaires’ in the name of the young people,” reports IOL. Apparently the ANCYL were furious when they were advised that “wrestle”, in this context, did not actually mean physically mutilating the old […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Dear comrade Terror: your political bankruptcy and hypocrisy: Part I
You wrote an “open letter” to the secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC), your leader and my leader Gwede Mantashe. It is the duty of all ANC members to assist each other with political education and assistance when these are found to be lacking. Seemingly you lack even an iota of political knowledge […]
Posted inGeneral
What if?
What if there had never been apartheid and colonialism in South Africa? Who and what would we have blamed for many of our problems today? What if Nelson Mandela had not spent 27 years in prison? Would he still have been as revered by the international community? Would he still have become our president? What […]
Posted inLifestyle
ANC Lite
With the resignation of president Thabo Mbeki, following intense pressure from elements within the ANC, ANCYL, Cosatu and the SACP, speculation has grown about the possibility of a party split. Ministers and others loyal to the former president are believed to be weighing up their options pursuant to their misgivings about the current direction of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Regulation or strangulation? NGO laws in Africa, part 1: South Africa
I am introducing a “series on civil society laws” across the African continent. Some may ask why civil society? It is a subject very close to my heart but more importantly, civil society is perhaps the most effective platform we have to further our democratisation and development agenda. But as most of you would know, […]
Posted inGeneral
The anatomy of violence and confrontational politics
The nature of social arrangements among black people appears to have been severely disrupted by their unflattering history. It is troubling when programmes for regenerations of morals are instituted, when you would have assumed that morality is an intrinsic virtue of mankind. Human relations have been ruthlessly distorted by varied pursuits for survival and the […]
Posted inGeneral
I cannot keep a musical note, but that has never stopped me from singing in the shower
I intended to submit a commentary in response to Macca’s* reply to my original post, but I need to provide greater clarity on my own (very personal) position with regards the English language as a technical communicative function — as opposed to a socio-historical phenomenon. Let me say, first, that the point I made about […]
Posted inGeneral
Julius Malema and other bloggers we’d like to see
Robert Mugabe Hi, I’m Bob, I am in my late middle ages, which is exactly how I run my country, like the Late Middle Ages. A great famine followed by a bubonic plague-like population reduction. But enough about history, let’s talk about me. As I’m being forced to enter into power sharing I figured that […]
Posted inGeneral
Changing consumer behavior with mobile broadband and strategy by mobile operators?
Mybroadband reports on how the ratio of mobile broadband in the UK has exceeded that of even Wifi: “Point Topic’s recent survey of mobile broadband users shows that the UK mobile phone companies have managed to grow their market share to 47% of users accessing the internet away from home or work. This compares to […]
Posted inLifestyle
A response to Ismail Lagardien’s “We do not have to apologise for not speaking ‘proper English’ “
I loved Ismail Lagardien’s article which was inspired by my innocuous – or so I thought — comment on another blog. I thought it was a compliment that he took to task my remark on using correct English. I laughed at the nickname he gave me in the commentary box when he replied to commentators […]