2009

In Discipline and Punish (his genealogy of modern penal practices) Michel Foucault makes the following observation: “Is it surprising that the cellular prison, with its regular chronologies, forced labour, its authorities of surveillance and registration, its experts in normality, who continue and multiply the functions of the judge, should have become the modern instrument of […]

By Sonwabile Mancotywa This being a heritage month, I’m reminded of an incident that happened fifteen years back on the same month. While premier of Free State, Terror Lekota removed the statue of Hendrik Verwoerd, which had been mounted in front of the building that housed the provincial administration. Lekota apparently found the mere sight […]

Today Google released enhancements of two of their products which seems pretty normal by the looks of it. However, these two updates were targeted primarily as a move to trounce Apple. These two applications are Picasa (a free photo managing and simple editing suite, for Windows and Mac) and Gmail Sync (Google’s free email service). […]

When it comes to free photo-editing software, an amateur is spoilt for choice. It seems that big players are competing to bring their solutions into what used to be a very niche field, reserved for enthusiasts. For example, IrfanView, which we often recommended to our sellers for editing the images of items earmarked for sale […]

With the current brouhaha over potential revisions to South Africa’s abortion laws, and in light of recent events in England and elsewhere in Europe, maybe it’s time we in South Africa revisited our national stance on another contentious issue, that of assisted suicide/euthanasia. Certainly it is a controversial and an emotional subject. But like gay […]

I’m an anthropologist and I study humans and in particular am fascinated by how they see themselves and create often strange and even contradictory things called “identity”. Most of us, and I would argue all of us, actually have multiple identities. And the answer is yes; this does create a rather schizophrenic species of great […]

I just read an article on the reader blog called “Fear is not freedom”. Sipho Mazibuko, who labels himself a recent victim of crime seems to suggest that the solution to South Africa’s shared fear is to take the law into our own hands. He says: What is our prerogative as citizens when taking the […]

Judging by the volume of responses to my last article, “Will the JSC debunk the myth of white judicial competence?” I surmise that South Africans are ready to confront the myths and deep-seated prejudices they have been harbouring for the past 15 years. The point missed by most morons is precisely this: judicial incompetence knows […]

As the sun rises over a hungover Joburg, a motley collection of Lycra-clad racers are steadily gathering outside one of Joburg’s trendiest pubs. It’s Sunday morning and the latest race in the Kinetic Urban Challenge is starting and finishing on the expansive lawn of Outer Limits in Fourways. Among the sponsor banners of fitness fundi’s […]