South Africa’s plummeting image internationally must surely be a cause of concern today. This year things have significantly worsened with such new crises as the xenophobia outbreak, power cuts and continuing leadership vacuum in the ruling party being added to the usual concerns about out-of-control crime, HIV/Aids denialism and failures to confront the Zimbabwe fiasco. […]
2008
Posted inNews/Politics
Refugees must not hold the government to ransom!
During the oppressive stations of life, it was not uncommon to hear demeaning utterances about the nature of black people in general; utterances that suggested that black people are inherently brutal, criminal and represent the savagery that mankind never witnessed; that they are incapable of adopting a certain moral code or assimilating certain moral sentiments. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is the ANC two parties in one?
Yesterday in response to my call for amnesty for both the president and the ANC president, upon the basis set out therein, I received a couple of responses from readers suggesting that it might be of benefit to the country if the ANC centre and the ANC left formed two separate parties. While I don’t […]
Posted inGeneral
Sharks grind out crucial win
The Sharks Currie Cup win over the Lions this past weekend was, in all honesty, an unattractive, long, hard grind but I do believe that in time, the importance of this victory will come home to roost. After heavy losses to the Bulls and Cheetahs this month, another loss would have been extremely hard to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A good woman in the Congo
I was thinking about xenophobia today. In fact, these days I think about it far too often. The death of a friend in Kinshasa prompts today’s thoughts. Nathalie Muteba was a young and extremely gifted journalist at Radio Okapi, a national radio network covering the Democratic Republic of Congo. On Friday Nathalie died suddenly of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
South African criminals have so much to teach the world
This weekend, news in Australia was enlivened by
Posted inGeneral
Zimbabwe negotiations are bound to fail
There has been a lot of jubilation and misguided excitement about the recent Zimbabwean negotiations, what with the European Union praising Mbeki’s mediation effort and the brokering of a memorandum of understanding. Surprisingly this song and dance has not been witnessed by the protagonists (Zanu-PF and MDC) themselves. Clearly this should be a sign that […]
Posted inMedia
Joshing, noshing and swallowing in the subs room
When I became the 574 478th journalist in the world to receive a forwarded link by email from a sub-editor friend in the UK about columnist Giles Coren’s little spat with subs on the Times, I knew it had to be fucking good. And it is. The letter has more bleeps than a Who Wants to […]
Posted inGeneral
Putting Rugby first
Putting Rugby First Executive Summary Putting Rugby First Report This week, over a thousand rugby administrators around the world will receive a report called, “Putting Rugby First” . The report is being sent to players, administrators, government ministers, high-profile supporters, journalists and commercial partners. It is being made available on the web at to encourage […]
Posted inGeneral
Jon Qwelane: What are you hiding, sista?
A lot of people — the decadent amoral bourgeoisie, mostly — have got awfully upset over Jon Qwelane’s latest tirade. Why the fuss? The Sunday Sun is gutter press and Qwelane’s equally contemptible opinions are part and parcel of a paper that believes that stoking xenophobia and perpetuating intolerance is a prerequisite in speaking to […]
Posted inGeneral
Mandela fariebel
Mondli Makhanya explained the basis for the Sunday Times article, “Feud rips Mandelas apart” as being their contribution to maintaining the Mandela legacy. Having learned of all the family intrigue they felt that it was best to put it into some sort of context, in order to preserve Madiba’s fine reputation. All good and well. […]
Posted inGeneral
Revisiting the Terminator
Through my son, who is as much of a science fiction aficionado as I am, I recently discovered the Terminator movie spin-off television series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which apparently had to be “terminated” temporarily, after nine episodes, because of the film and television-writers’ strike in Hollywood. Watching the series develop the theme of a […]