Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai now contends that the world should get over President Robert Mugabe. If his recent comments on the matter are to be believed, it confirms that Zimbabwe’s many problems are likely to endure long after Mugabe is gone. Reading between the lines, one gets the sense that Mugabe’s rule has produced […]
2009
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Non-performing civil servants: Scratching the real itch
I generally choose to steer clear of issues that directly attack the persons and characters of political figures. Leadership, however, by its very nature, is inherently both political and personal. The issue of the ANC planning to force senior officials, including ministers, to sign performance contracts with the party drew me into the ring on […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Niehaus, Bennett and the birth of Malemaisms
The ANC’s confirmation that spokesperson Carl Niehaus will not be abandoned despite the revelations made in this weeks Mail & Guardian is, in my humble opinion, highly commendable. Instead of taking the path expedient and getting rid of him they have opted to recognise a lifelong contribution and face the invariable slings and arrows that […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Sifting through the ashes for someone to blame
Like most people in Australia, and many around the world, I’ve been following the reports of the terrible fires that ravaged the state of Victoria on “Black Saturday”. I’ve watched with horror as, night after night, news reports show more awful footage of the devastation. There are burnt out hulks of cars in the road, […]
Posted inGeneral
On Carl Niehaus, coming clean and religion’s role in society
Poverty jostles alongside wealth in Shanghai. On one street corner I can buy a delicious takeaway omelette, a jidanbin (jidan: egg, bin: cake) with a choice of spices for about three RMB. I can add a sausage and it become four and a half RMB. Literally twenty steps away I can walk into a typical, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
South Africans overseas should be allowed to vote
I sat with the phone pressed to my ear, waiting to query one of those wonderful tannies at the SA Embassy I have spoken to before and also met: “How do we go about voting in the South African elections in April?” I was looking forward to hearing that strong Afrikaans accent. The accent was […]
Posted inGeneral
Academic freedom alive and well
I have always been the foremost advocate of academic freedom among my peers, most of whom during their early undergraduate days did not see the relevance of academic freedom in their lives, which were seemingly interminable cycles of rote learning and repetition. Though they might have resented the absence of free thinking from their first-year […]
Posted inGeneral
Tools of change: News from ebooks’ biggest conference
The annual O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference has just closed in New York and as usual it was a digital-publishing feast. Though I didn’t get to go myself, the flood of blogging and tweeting that came from the conference kept me happy right until my brain exploded. Though more time would improve my […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Bashir indicted for war crimes, what about Bush, Blair?
Reuters reported that International Criminal Court judges had elected to indict Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur. They also confirmed that there was a warrant issued for his arrest, which they later amended to say that the judges were still considering the warrant. Though allegations of genocide in Sudan […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Reviving Zimbabwe: What does the new government need to do?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Reviving Zimbabwe: What does the new government need to do?
Posted inLifestyle
The peeping Sumo – a moral dilemma
So wrong, yet so right! I bet most of you have these moments, but not as much as I do these days. You know? You see something that is horrendously wrong, but it gives you so much pleasure even though you know your mother would’ve slapped you three times from Sunday had she been close […]
Posted inGeneral
Sinful tax driving one to drink
We are a much-maligned lot, we who have a fondness for fortifying malt-based beverages. Whenever the government needs a quick fix to balance its books, pay for JZ’s legal fees, Trevor’s follicle treatments etc we get milked. Just like that. No-one ever thinks about the good we do. Not only do we contribute to the […]