Creating successful families does seem to be a strange concept to many. The predominant belief that we do not choose our families (our parents and siblings) leads us into the experience that either we are lucky to have good family relationships or unlucky. If you no longer like a certain friend of yours, you can […]
2009
Posted inGeneral
How do you explain doping?
Performance-enhancing substance (PES) use in sport is most likely the chief source of distress 1 facing sport in modern times 2. According to Clisby 2, the use of drugs to boost performance is common among athletes, despite strong efforts to hamper its use by sports organisations. The Olympic Charter’s vision of “friendship, solidarity and fair […]
Posted inGeneral
My John Hlophe — small comfort for Pius Langa
Just over three years ago, shortly after my agonising crawl towards formal employment ended, I acquired a winter sweetheart in one of the winelands’ politically more fractured enclaves. When spring finally sprung I found myself unready to let my winelands honey go — in fact, things became rather serious — so I took the plunge […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is this SA’s silence of the lambs?
It boggles even my mind how South Africans can be so docilely satisfied with the way things are. It defies comprehension by correspondents in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the US and Canada. Well, except for the vast and growing network of expats in some of those countries — they are […]
Posted inGeneral
The bare breast debate: Somewhere between the full-body burka and the full monty
A couple of weeks ago, the Mail & Guardian featured a “for” and “against” exchange on the subject of women going bare-breasted on public beaches. It virtually goes without saying that both viewpoints were advanced by women. What possible right, after all, would a man have to express an opinion in an area that is […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema and the height of chutzpah
Like many of you lot I read about the African National Congress Youth League’s decision to close down its controversial investment wing Lembede with interest. There is, after all, nothing more fascinating than the latest goings on down at ANCYL headquarters. In essence, ANCYL President Julius Malema told reporters that they had had it with […]
Posted inLifestyle
Deepak, Phil and Oprah: A self-help paradox
By Suntosh Pillay “Are you living your best life?” Oprah Winfrey likes to ask. Jennifer Niesslein asked herself this, took it quite seriously, made a list of areas in her life that needed improving, and began an ambitious two-year experiment — follow with devotion the self-help gurus and their advice. In her own book Practically […]
Posted inGeneral
The man who invented teenage dreams
John Hughes is dead. I have no idea about him as a man. What he liked to drink, whether he was into chicks, guys or fast cars or rock ‘n roll. In fact I am not even sure how he died. But this is a man who has informed every part of my life. A […]
Posted inGeneral
Police National Commissioner Bheki Cele seems to be wary of releasing crime stats. What do you think?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Police National Commissioner Bheki Cele seems to be wary of releasing crime stats. What do you think?
Posted inGeneral
Facebook’n towards a more caring society
When I first read it, I literally turned into a rooinek as the blood welled up in my gills. “Don’t go where you are tolerated. Go where you are celebrated”, jested the status update on Facebook. The author, a gospel nymph from bygone days in small-town Eastern Cape, now operates her own “revival worship centre” […]
Posted inGeneral
Sustainable technology: The value of cultural interpreters
In my previous blog I introduced myself through my questioning of typical assumptions people make about ICT for community development. I also advocated the need for a sympathetic meeting of minds in ICT for development (ICT4D) efforts. In this blog I want to illustrate some practicalities of the intercultural meeting of minds in ICT4D policy […]
Posted inGeneral
What Stoichkov should do
Mamelodi Sundowns have just hired another coach, their fourth manager since winning the league title in the 2006/07 season. As a coach hired on an expensive salary and brought from abroad, there are high expectations. Hristo Stoichkov — a former Bulgarian international — was part of Johan Cruyff’s dream team at Barcelona in the early […]