The fact that ANC president Jacob Zuma is purportedly implicating former South African president Thabo Mbeki in respect of wrongdoing in the arms deal and influencing the Scorpions in respect of the Special Browse Mole report are not the basis upon which the NPA can rely to drop the charges against Zuma. All this means […]
2009
Posted inGeneral
Should the charges against Jacob Zuma be dropped?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Should the charges against Jacob Zuma be dropped?
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
What do you do when you don’t have a job to go to?
With all these thousands of retrenchments, a lot of people are suddenly finding themselves with something they haven’t had in a while: time. So what do the newly redundant do with it all, now that they have so much of it? The writer of this article in the Times has noticed that men are starting […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Just trust the president
Duma Kumalo was sentenced to death for participating in the murder of an apartheid-era Sharpeville councillor. Duma Kumalo was innocent. He was not even present when the murder took place. Duma was convicted on the basis of testimony of another Sharpeville resident, elicited through torture. This was revealed at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). […]
Posted inGeneral
Why are we disgusted by what comes naturally?
From Jiang Rong’s Wolf Totem*: “…[Chen] spotted a large wolf slipping out of the bed of flowers and pouncing on one of his sheep, pinning it to the ground. Chen’s face turned white from fright, and he was about to scream when Dorji stopped him. He swallowed the scream and watched as the wolf tore […]
Posted inGeneral
Dealing with people who can’t count
Most South Africans can’t count. This is a much more serious handicap than you might think. Of course numeracy is a major challenge even in the so-called First World. I read somewhere that only 6% of Britons exhibited a satisfactory grasp of the concept of a percentage in a survey. If the stat is true, […]
Posted inGeneral
A derby six-pointer! Thank heavens
Finally, after more than a few years where cup supremacy (which I will grudgingly concede belongs to Kaizer Chiefs) and pride were the only things to be played for, the old Soweto rivals, Chiefs and Pirates, will square off in a match that means something beyond just the respective fans’ moods when they go to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Give us an answer, NPA
In the event of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) electing to drop all charges against ANC president Jacob Zuma and thereafter refusing to furnish the basis therefore, then the loss of credibility suffered by Correctional Services in terms of the Schabir Shaik medical parole and Carl Niehaus as a result of his outing as a […]
Posted inGeneral
We do nothing at our own peril
I don’t like sounding like an alarmist. What I like even less is announcing how much I don’t like being an alarmist because we both know that a “but” will be making an appearance soon. I won’t disappoint. But (yes, there it is) I think that if we carry on as if things are just […]
Posted inGeneral
SA fixed in three easy steps
South Africans are the worst kind of bipolar sufferers: put some bleeding guy with an oblong-shaped ball on a patch of grass and the entire country clings to one another like chewing gum to an economy-class table. But raise the topics of crime or politics and we’re ready to go to war with one another […]
Posted inGeneral
Zuma shall govern …
Let’s face it, come April, the great man will be state president. Rumours abound that the NPA is set to drop the case against old JZ. He must be dancing — it wasn’t necessary for his umshini to be brought to him, after all! Slavish Zuma loyalists like to paint objections to the man’s accession […]
Posted inGeneral
True confessions of a liberal politico
I have been asked by young South Africans to explain why I have chosen to vote for the DA. However, let me first say that I encourage all people to vote and further let me say that I encourage all people to vote for the party that represents as closely as possible their own perspective. […]