By Jennifer Thorpe I am white and I am afraid. I am not afraid because I am white. I am not afraid because others are black or Indian or coloured. I am afraid because I am the survivor of crime in South Africa. I am afraid because I anticipate that I will have to survive […]
2009
Posted inBusiness
Dubai, an economic powerhouse that’s just getting started
Many a story abounds about the rapid emergence of Dubai as an economic powerhouse. In just 35 years, the country has morphed from a trading outpost to a unique duty-free shopping destination, from a beach holiday resort to one of the world’s busiest ports and dry docks, from a gold exchange to the premier financial […]
Posted inNews/Politics
With open eyes we wander
Brandon Huntley claims he has “opened people’s eyes” to the problem of crime in South Africa. For those not in the know, Huntley was recently granted refugee status by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the basis that he has given “clear and convincing proof ” that he was a “victim of his […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Exit Buthelezi? Real change must emanate on the ground
The images of demonstrators brandishing placards along Durban Club Place, the street that runs outside the IFP head office in Durban, evoke the atmosphere of the pre-1994 city and country where so much that mattered to the people on the ground had to be proclaimed on the periphery of the formal decision-making processes. Why do […]
Posted inGeneral
South Africans are not apathetic, just confused
We were the country that fought against all odds, that stood up to perpetrators of human rights though it meant lives and futures were lost. We were the freedom fighters, the reconcilers, and set ourselves as an example for revolutionaries the world over. But fifteen years after our democracy was born, we are a split […]
Posted inGeneral
US Open: The champions
With the US Open having kicked off over the weekend, pundits everywhere are making predictions about the outcome of the US Open and I’m making my own. The defending singles champion is Roger Federer for the men and Serena Williams for the women. Federer has so far shown he is at home at the USTA […]
Posted inLifestyle
Neighbours who have loud sex
I’m not a hater of people who enjoy their hanky-panky. But please keep the loud sound effects contained to the privacy of your bedroom, lounge, kitchen, bathroom or the top of your fridge, wherever the hell you like to have it. I suspect someone’s saying to themselves right now “much anger in you I sense […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Which is SA’s oldest political party?
It’s a no-brainer, surely? The ANC was founded as long ago as 1912, making it today by some way the country’s oldest extant political party. The old National Party could at least claim to be close to that status, having set out as a breakaway from the ruling South African Party in 1913, but even […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Brandon Huntley: Canadian sans sore thumb
Seems the whole country and beyond is abuzz with the granting of refugee status to one Brandon Huntley, by Canadian immigration, on inter alia the grounds that he is the target for persecution by “African, South Africans”. Considering that this plays out as black South Africans picking on white South Africans for being white, it […]
Posted inLifestyle
Why do we love the bush the way we do?
The bush. Before those of you who fancy yourselves as connoisseurs of the pun bring forth your double entendres, I will state that there’s nothing sexual about this blog entry, or related to narcotics for that matter. No, what I mean is the bush, that mysterious admixture of hardekool smoke and veld, days of dust […]
Posted inGeneral
The ever-shifting sands of cricket
Deserts are an ever-changing landscape. From one day to the next the dunes shift from place to place, rolling over the landscape made asunder with the assistance of the wind. The only constant is the sun and as an Arabic proverb states “all sunshine makes a desert”. Cricket’s great desert over the last decade and […]
Posted inLifestyle
Women’s Day is gone, now what?
Muslim children attending madrassa are taught from a very early age about the role of a mother and the respect we need to accord them. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon Him) once said: Your Heaven lies under the feet of your mother (related by Ahmad, narrated by Nasai). At another occasion a man […]