The glorious art of the insult has been brought to a new level with Julius Malema around. I was sent an article about him recently (Feather in his cap as Malema agrees to shut up) in which he professed to stop making clownish statements and get more mature as he prepares for his rise to […]
2009
Posted inGeneral
A new dawn for Formula 1
Next season’s Formula 1 season looks like it’s going to be one of the most intriguing yet. There won’t be a certain Max Mosley, whose reign as President of Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) was full of scandals. Some said the sports governing body showed favouritism in how it handled some of the disciplinary cases. […]
Posted inGeneral
An open letter to Prof Jansen — you are so very wrong
By David Maimela Dear Prof I write an open letter to you deliberately to protest your first major wrong decision at UFS. And I sincerely hope it finds you well. No need to patronise you at all. We both know that I admire you for many other reasons and we talk anytime. I won’t enter […]
Posted inGeneral
When SA’s future Parliament sat in a wire cage
Apart from the lamentable tendency to misspell “Gandhi” as “Ghandi”, failing to distinguish between the Treason Trial and the Rivonia Trial would seem to be the most common error even reasonably educated people make when it comes to South African history. Usually, it is the second trial, where Nelson Mandela et al were famously put […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema’s praise for Mbeki offers a vital bridge
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has for the first time praised former president Thabo Mbeki as a hero of the ANC, whose struggle credentials can never be erased from the history of the ANC. Malema in the past has been very critical of Mbeki, even accusing him of leading a political conspiracy against President […]
Posted inGeneral
Thanks for your ‘help’ SuperSport
By Michael de Vries South African cricket is going through a “golden period”, if the hype is to be believed then our national team has not had this much quality and depth in the post-isolation era. It’s great for those who never stopped believing. Kepler, Hansie and Polly’s teams were impressive but could never seem […]
Posted inBusiness
Every budget tells a story
By Albert van Zyl In his first important speech as finance minister, Pravin Gordhan’s main story was that the budget deficit would be 7.6% of GDP, not 3.8% as projected in the February budget. And the reason for this, he told us, was that Sars collected a lot less tax than what the Treasury thought […]
Posted inMedia
Black Wednesday, white lies?
By Janice Winter This month has been a very encouraging one for media freedom in South Africa. Reporters Without Borders released their Press Freedom Index 2009, seeing South Africa rising in rank to position 33 (from 36 last year in 2008 and 43 in 2007), now outranking countries such as France, Spain and Greece. This […]
Posted inMedia
Sex, lies and advertising
The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad by Reckitt Benckiser SA promoting Bosch dishwashers by claiming that dishwashers use less water than hand washing. Why is the ASA singling out Bosch? Advertising on TV is full of wild, inaccurate or deliberately misleading claims. Take the ad for Three Ships. The ad would have us […]
Posted inGeneral
Profiling in the name of identity
The world we live in remains a disturbingly dangerous and very fragile place, largely because of our own making. Amin Maalouf opens his provocative book, In the Name of Identity, with an analogy that may be worth reproducing for this polemic. Maalouf talks of “a young man born in France of Algerian parents clearly carries […]
Posted inLifestyle
Caught with yer pants down: How’s your ‘privacy quotient’?
The man fondles my butt. Okay, it is only two seconds of curiosity — I assume — but my left hand immediately turns into a fist and swings backwards at that vegetable seller in Jiaxing city before you could say “cheeky bugger”. I drop the fist, realising the assault could easily have the police around. […]
Posted inGeneral
Two steps back for Joburg
Describing the East Rand as the heart and soul of South Africa, “crammed with spectacular natural beauty and cultural sophistication”, the Sunday Times notes that the first sign that greets foreign visitors at OR Tambo International Airport is a warm welcome to — wait for it — the Ekurhuleni municipality. “No mention of South Africa, […]