This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Dalai debate: Zuma decision: Miscarriage or justice served?
2009
Posted inNews/Politics
ANC and Zuma are not above the law, for them there is no law
As the gutless wonder Mokotedi Mpshe clearly demonstrated, as far as the ANC are concerned there is no law applicable to the party or to those considered of value. Indeed if any of them are charged this only results in everyone running around like headless chickens screaming about how they are being persecuted. It certainly […]
Posted inGeneral
Stoppie lorrie, my English side wants to get off
Dit my groot lekkerkry gee om hierdie hondeskou oop to verklaar, Meneer Zuma. You’ll be of a certain age and have an elephantine memory to match if you can place the first 80% of that line. It was, I believe, a running gag in a Springbok Radio comedy show in the sixties called Next Stop […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Understanding South African law via the NPA
With all the pro-and-anti NPA articles doing the rounds I thought it best to give you lot some understanding of how the law works in South Africa and what is considered so trivial that we need hardly bother following up on it. So gather round the heath (hearth? — that thing that blows smoke as […]
Posted inGeneral
The barbarians cometh?
So Jacob Zuma’s path has (seemingly) been cleared of the final obstacle and he is free to assume the country’s highest office without the threat of the State, which he will lead, prosecuting corruption charges against him. Of course being Zuma, this could not have happened without the attendant hyperbole, bile and hysteria that the […]
Posted inGeneral
The piss under the army banquet table
I shake my head at the younger Chinese when they drink alcohol. They have to gun bei (literally: dry the cup) when they drink. Their faces turn that nauseous, icy white and they run off, sometimes not making it to the toilet. Why can’t they take their time and just enjoy a drink? Like many […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma decision proves our legal system is overrun with cowards
The next time I hear a member of the Scorpions, NPA, a government minister, a current judge, a prosecutor or anyone else charged with “upholding our laws” moaning about the Zuma decision then best they don’t do it anywhere within earshot of the worst temper our profession has ever produced — mine. Where do I […]
Posted inBusiness
Nationalise the financial sector at your own peril
From the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War we have, as a global economy, seen a sustained period of hyperinflation. I have no idea why there has been such an upward shift in pricing levels but I doubt that it has anything to do with people […]
Posted inGeneral
‘He only beats me because he loves me’
South Africans remind me of a girl with an abusive boyfriend. He beats (excuse my Xhosa) the shit out of her. Every now and then he tells her “I won’t beat you again, I love you”. They cuddle up and cosy up. Then he beats her up again. The girl knows the relationship is not […]
Posted inGeneral
The importance of an ethos
A dictionary defines “ethos” as: “Shared fundamental traits — the fundamental and distinctive character of a group, social context, or period of time, typically expressed in attitudes, habits and beliefs.” The original ancient Greek meaning of the word is “custom” — hence the definition, above, appears to be consonant with this. Neither should one be […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Really, NPA?
Saturday Night Live, the popular US comedy/satire show, recently launched a new segment, called “Really?” In it, they repeat news stories that are so outrageous as to not need any embellishments, and ask “Really?” after each line. It’s very funny. Only, on hearing the announcement that Zuma is not going to be prosecuted, that’s all […]
Posted inGeneral
Door-to-door election reflections
It’s a Saturday. The sun is unforgivably hot. Probably it’s the absence of an umbrella on my part. How could I? None of the ANC volunteers can afford an umbrella. It would be rude and unfair of me to have one covering my head alone while others are left at the mercy of the sun […]