When the opposition parties took to the election trail during 2008 and 2009 one of the focal points of their campaign was the fact that Jacob Zuma, now president, was beholden to the left wing of the ANC, Cosatu and the SACP, among others, for rescuing his political career. In simple terms they believed that […]
2010
Posted inGeneral
Do you recognise yourself?
Would you do something great if you knew nobody would ever know? Would you find the cure for cancer and share it without putting your name on it? According to many philosophers (Hegel being the most adamant on this subject) we don’t do anything unless we are going to get recognition for it. We want […]
Posted inMedia
So…have you ever made a twitstop?
Do you know how to survive a shelf storm? Have you given into trust lapse? Customer service expert Pete Blackshaw has compiled some essential vocabulary for a world where life is lived 140 characters at a time. Some of these are more relevant to the US than they are to South Africa — but for […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Make witchcraft a criminal offence
An 81-year-old woman in KwaKwiliza near Mtubatuba in KwaZulu-Natal was stabbed 50 times and had her throat slit because her neighbour accused her of being a witch. According to the police he was of the belief that the elderly woman had killed two members of his family members through using witchcraft. Captain Jabulani Mdletshe said […]
Posted inMedia, Sport
Stop bleating Jordaan, you made the rules
It’s not a pretty sound. The Local Organising Committee for World Cup 2010 whining about the slow pace of ticket sales is a little like football teams complaining that they don’t get enough credit for their attractive style of football, even as they are being relegated to a lower league. The reality is that Fifa, […]
Posted inGeneral
What 2010 does NOT hold in store
1. In an attempt to quell the simmering leadership tensions, Cope will adopt a rolling substitution policy for its top positions. The Rev Dandala will deny that this undermines his leadership in any way and offer that it is a shining victory for democracy. 2. Upset at having to wait a whole 30 days before […]
Posted inGeneral
Greener Pastures
“I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself, what a wonderful world I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself, what a wonderful world…” Louis Armstrong’s sweet song […]
Posted inLifestyle
Tourist-hunting season now open
You know something, this sucks mightily. Tourist-hunting season opens, and we hear of it first from the British? Typical of our authorities. This is incompetence at its most apathetic. How African of the government. No wonder the Brits want to re-colonise this place. What, have you never heard Uncle Bob Mugabe speak? Wouldn’t that be […]
Posted inGeneral
The West Bank and Israel: Reasons for cautious optimism
Good news is no news would seem to be the case when it comes to the international media’s reporting on the Middle East. This would seem to be particularly true of the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum, where it is rare to read anything beyond the usual head-shaking reports on poverty, repression, violence and general hopelessness (especially when […]
Posted inGeneral
‘Poison Fire’
I recently watched a documentary called Poison Fire produced by Lars Johansson in conjunction with Friends of the Earth International and communities affected by gas flaring in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Poison Fire documents Ifie’s (a local artist, feminist and environmental activist who works to promote dialogue between the communities, the oil industry and the federal […]
Posted inGeneral
Señor Onion and my television hoodoo
Holed up at our beach cottage in the Eden district, I maintained an interest in the proceedings of the Third cricket Test between South Africa and England in Cape Town. Amidst mounting tension as the game entered its final day with South Africa needing seven English wickets to win and square the series, I deliberately […]
Posted inTech
Now employing: Signpost for 2010
Two ads in the latest Sunday Times were seemingly innocuous: six posts advertised for Broadband Infraco and 13 for the Department of Home Affairs. But between the lines, they said so much. To start with, the Home Affairs ad was headlined “Building the New Home Affairs”. That’s a positive sign to start with; an acknowledgement […]