Up until the beginning of the 20th century, the island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the east coast of the US, had 20 times more deaf inhabitants for its population size than the rest of the country. But the islanders didn’t consider this hereditary deafness a disability because the entire community, both hearing and deaf, were […]
2010
Posted inNews/Politics
Dear Gareth Cliff…
By Justin Foxton Thank you for taking the time to write your letter to the government. I am certain it will be forwarded on many thousands of times and the GC brand will be all the stronger for it. Your transition from voice of 5FM to voice of the people has been fascinating to watch. […]
Posted inGeneral
When did we lose our rainbow manners?
By Julie Reid My mother was a remarkably intelligent, though unashamedly outspoken and un-politically correct woman. One of the things which irritated her most about the public rhetoric of the post-1994 “halo period” was the politically-correct tone of discussions; in the media, between politicians, among public figures and so on. Remember those days? When we […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The role YOU play in undermining democracy
By Melissa Govender If I had a cent for every time there was some incident involving corruption I would be as rich as Duduzane Zuma. Public comment on corruption has been nauseatingly predictable. Some comment that corruption is inherently an African problem; evident by Africa’s ageing presidents and their swelling bank accounts. Others argue that […]
Posted inGeneral
Ban the cabbage! Viva the vuvuzela!
By Mohamed Fayaz Khan The recent news that the PSL (of all organisations) is considering banning the vuvuzela from all future PSL games came as a shock especially after the vociferous support it received from Safa and all “true” South African soccer supporters in the run-up to the World Cup. If one recalls, Fifa actually […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Journalists against the world
By Ilham Rawoot So what does a journalist do when he or she is being assaulted for doing their job (this is not a riddle)? This is what our photographer, Oupa Nkosi and I had to grapple with last week, when we had six angry people throwing rocks at Oupa and his camera. And what […]
Posted inLifestyle, Sport
Sharks vs Province vs God
It’s 5.29pm, Saturday, October 30 2010. Willem de Waal indicates to his forwards he’s about to kick off when 600 000 locusts descend on Kings Park Stadium. They are of the big, green variety. The locusts blow in from the north and settle on the grandstand like a blanket. There’s mild panic amidst reassurance from the […]
Posted inGeneral
Storm clouds gather over Old Trafford
Wayne Rooney’s surprising agreement to a new five-year contract with Manchester United, considering the amount of press coverage his apparent fallout with manager Sir Alex Ferguson generated in the space of days, is only a respite from the club’s current problems. Granted, Ferguson once again showed his managerial skill in keeping Rooney for another five […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Not enough evidence to secure a conviction against Agliotti’
Advocate Laurence Hodes SC, at the close of the state’s case in the Brett Kebble murder trial in the High Court in Johannesburg, applied for the discharge of his client — murder accused Glenn Agliotti — on all four charges. Agliotti is accused of two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of attempted […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Ag, there are no roadblocks so I can drink’
There she was. A pretty blond mommy of two darling children, cruising to where ever she was going in her shiny red Ford Fiesta. Whilst she was busy smsing on her cellphone, she forgot to use her indicator. Instead of going straight ahead she turned left. Next to her, her daughter – a pretty little angle in a white dress with pink flowers – was sitting on her knees, leaning on the dashboard. She smiled, mommy smiled, baby brother smiled. A happy little family. Bliss. What is wrong with this picture? Well, as far as I know EVERYTHING!
Posted inNews/Politics
Cape Town council: A culture of complacency?
Last week human-rights activist Rhoda Kadalie raised a stink about the abysmal state of the toilets in Cape Town’s City Hall. A contractor was hired in April to renovate them. When she requested a progress report last month senior council officials ignored her so she visited the loos herself. She wrote in Business Day last […]
Posted inGeneral
Don’t get locked into the cloud
By Muggie van Staden If you run a business chances are you already run part of your business “in the cloud”. And if you don’t then you will, in the very near future. The growth of cloud computing — or Internet-based applications and services — is becoming so pervasive that analysts such as Gartner expect […]