If continents were companies, Africa would be an investment banker’s delight and a consultant’s playfield. It would offer real opportunities to unlock a host of obvious synergies and realise its true potential through careful restructuring and timely intervention into human egos and vested interests. And 2010’s Fifa World Cup could well be the perfect catalyst. […]
2010
Posted inGeneral
Greece may sell Corfu — what about SA selling Robben Island?
Greece is in financial crisis and Germany recently offered to buy the island of Corfu to help kick start the nation again. Now what if South Africa was in the same plight and was offered a purchase for her historical Robben Island? Just imagine the following South African personalities and others acting as brokers for […]
Posted inGeneral
Burqa ban, just another form of oppression
Speaking about the ban on the burqa, Denis Ducarme, a Belgian Liberal Party MP said: “We are the first country to break through the chain that has kept countless women enslaved.” As noble as this may sound, I cannot say that I agree with his statement. First, how exactly does one go about liberating women […]
Posted inGeneral
How people allow themselves to be spoken by discourse
I have noticed that some readers — probably more than meets the eye — have difficulty understanding what is meant by the notion that one is “spoken” or “constructed” by discourse. A concrete example of how this happens may clarify things somewhat. Some time ago, as part of a discourse-analysis project with other members of […]
Posted inLifestyle
The lap-dance industry and persistent blind eyes
by Ilham Rawoot It’s quite something for a young lady to visit a strip club. I’d always thought of myself as rather liberal, but I found myself averting my gaze from anything round for quite a while. And when I finally got a bit more comfortable, I wish I’d remained coy. You see, men don’t […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Scaring ourselves on the Great Zim Dipper
Zimbabwe was Africa’s hope. It is Africa’s despair. It may be, many fear, SA’s future.
Posted inGeneral
It’s just Super, unless you like big cats…
Note: This was written on a Friday, before the weekend’s carnage fully materialised. Click goes the remote as a Lions fan has to absorb yet another loss in the Super 14. There is some spilt beer on the floor, a King Carlos moniker on a dart board with several holes within the crown that this […]
Posted inNews/Politics
No, Mr Manyi, the Constitution is the solution to land reform
In 1999 as part of the new draft constitution for Zimbabwe, there was an amendment to replace existing clauses with one to compulsorily acquire land for redistribution without compensation. This was put to the country in a referendum in 2000 and rejected outright. What followed was anarchy ratified in 2005 when the government passed a […]
Posted inGeneral
Why aren’t women as comical as men?
Why aren’t women as (deliberately) comical as men? This is how you tell this quick Joke about Women (definitely one of those that are all in the acting). Ask, “Why does a woman with PMT take so much longer to bath and get dressed in the morning?” Answer question by yelling at the top of […]
Posted inGeneral
On the power of owning property in SA or elsewhere
Alasdair and Thomas ran up from Carlos Rolfe’s Pan in the Boksburg farming area, caked with mud from wrestling in the water and trying to build a raft and get the thing to float. Bums bobbing in the sun, they knelt on the bamboo raft and dug in the water on the sides whilst the […]
Posted inSport
Zakumi and me
One morning, recently, I woke up to realise that this 2010 thing is happening. You know what 2010 thing I am talking about, right? I have not bought into it and I am in the passive revolution against it. Please do not get me wrong, I am usually very optimistic (NOT), but it’s just the […]
Posted inLifestyle
Oh ‘difference’, a reminder that you are what we say you are
By Lauren Hermanus I read (on a blog) that chicks and okes are different. I shuddered. But my shuddering was linguistically motivated. I like other colonially trained young ladies find the word, “chick”, inane. I find the invoked comparison of a female of the human species with a downy, speechless, flightless, tweeting little thing, odd. […]