There seems to be a problem with the delivery of the South African nation. The rainbow nation is currently monochrome and issues remain cast in black and white, ignoring other factors like class, gender and sexuality. In fact the rainbow is highly separated, with very little grey area in between. The most prominent marker for […]
2010
Posted inNews/Politics
AWB’s Visagie and SA’s urgent need for communication among all parties
So Andre Visagie, secretary-general of the AWB, really lost his cool recently on e.tv to the delight of the international media, especially the BBC. Addressing Visagie in the talk show, campaigner for human rights Lebohang Pheko was passionately asking a string of perfectly legitimate questions about the poverty and oppression of (largely black) farm workers. […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
#dontouchmeonmystudio and other things I’ve learned from Twitter
Apart from Don’t touch me on my studio (which I hadn’t seen live because I seldom watch TV) I’ve learned quite a lot from Twitter. Here are 12 of the things I’ve learned from my year and a bit on South Africa’s trendiest social networking site. 1. Twitter has made it much easier for memes […]
Posted inMedia
What should we investigate?
By Adriaan Basson Being an investigative journalist, a question one often hears from friends, family or followers is: “Why don’t you rather investigate X or Y?” When I started working as a journalist, I was afraid that I would not have enough material to write about. Today one of the hardest decisions we often have […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Hate crimes and farming in SA
Eugene Terre’Blanche was a figure of ridicule and disdain for many people. He evoked strong responses of anger and shame for his political beliefs and in death further polarises South African society. I am horrified by the responses that bluntly state good riddance and that he deserved this type of death. I feel for his […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Winnie had no business criticising Mandela’
Recently, we had the privilege to witness what could be called a catfight between two legendary women. The one, Nadira Naipaul — a writer — had the pen and the other, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela — a symbol of resistance — had the word. Between the two lies a truth that has only been whispered for the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema can’t claim a history that belongs to no one
The most depressing part of the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre wasn’t the political mud-slinging between the two leading former liberation movements. Both reveal the predictable inability of most black politicians and activists to engage in constructive engagement and decent discourse. Rather, what was most disturbing was seeing Pan Africanist Congress members tearing into […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
An ANC that speaks the language of the people
The deep rumbles of discontent that have exploded into violence and property destruction teach us clearly that the government has not, exactly, succeeded in speaking to the people. Instead, it urgently needs to address its messages to the people who put it into power. It was none other than the minister of cooperative governance and […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
SA artists must stop embarrassing themselves and the country
It is inconceivable that the soccer fraternity would demand Bafana Bafana be featured in the Fifa 2010 World Cup final without proving themselves. There is no sane person, including die-hard supporters of Bafana, for instance, that would support demands that they be in the final without proving their merit against international counterparts. It is a […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Floyd’s right about partisan journalism
My intuitive connection to friends, rivals, enemies and colleagues in the media tells me that many of the powerful ones will curse me after they have read this piece. After all, this is not intended to protect them against the onslaught by ANC Youth League’s Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu. As I understand after many […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Juju blog blackout — no more free publicity
Julius Malema has exploded into political … prominence … by making himself hard to ignore. Inheriting a platform that drew attention to the accidental outrages he tripped into, he quickly learned to stoke outrage and roar back at any responses he provoked. For the media, trying to gauge the state of the nation’s health from […]
Posted inGeneral
Terre’Blanche — an economic murder!
Before the events surrounding the murder of Eugene Terre’Blanche become the stuff of legend, myth and spin, we must soberly look at his killing and shape an analysis of his death within the contexts of the dire conditions of rural farm workers, and the unequal social relations simmering in the countryside. For this reason it […]