By Odiriel Mekwa When I was eight my late father took myself and a cousin of mine out for our first live professional soccer match. I got to see the legendary Ernest ‘Wire’ Chirwali (later Mtawali) in action against my then hero Doctor Khumalo. The match was nothing but unforgettable. The day was also unforgettable, […]
2010
Posted inNews/Politics
April fool this, Mr News Guy!
Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day. The day when newspapers try to catch us out with whacky stories and tall tales. The day when fiendish hacks ply their wily trade to fool our pre-caffeinated brains. Sucking us in with official looking headlines, well-crafted copy and photoshopped images. Feeding us fantastical “facts” that have us reaching for […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Fat cats and foul play
I am at Moses Mabhida Stadium for a tour, when the cute journo I’m chatting to spots a giant leopard bobbing his fractious head for a couple of photographers to our immediate left. “Ah, first Sepp Blatter, then Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and now the famous Zakumi, esteemed World Cup mascot dressed in a long […]
Posted inGeneral
My patronising attitude towards the Chinese
1 Book sales on my recently launched memoir, Cracking China are going well, and my publicist is doing a superb job. Most magazine and newspaper reviewers and radio stations are keen to do interviews with me, which is wonderful and a privilege. I look forward to the next radio interview, with Karen Key on […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Kicking out the homeless and other house-cleaning activities
I just read an article suggesting that South Africa’s homeless will be moved out of the cities and into the townships to keep the streets cleaner during the World Cup. It seems that the inconvenience of having people sleeping on the streets has become too much to bear and instead they should be shipped out […]
Posted inGeneral
Shake off the 2010 World Cup hangover with Sepp!
TO: Federation Internationale de Football Association Fifa-Strasse 20, PO BOX 8044 Zurich, Switzerland Att: Mr Sepp Blatter FROM: Gavin Foster 25 March 2010 Good morning Mr Blatter I know you’re a very busy man, what with checking that nobody makes any money from the World Cup without giving your organisation a fat chunk of it, […]
Posted inGeneral
The new beast: The beginning of the end?
By Duncan Keal The news that Mathew Hayden will be wielding a new weapon in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) came as little surprise. While the shape of cricket bats has remained constant over hundreds of years, technology has seen the modern bat have greater hitting power, a bigger sweet spot and a lighter […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The future of SA’s opposition politics
By Andy Carolin Contrary to popular perception, opposition parties in South Africa actually intend on making themselves relevant. It was with cautious trepidation that I heard about the possibility of an unspecified cooperation between the DA, ID, UDM and Cope. What will loom ominously above any collaboration between them is the fact that each of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema and ANCYL: The new Idi Amin
All journalists who would in future dare criticise the ANCYL and its leaders, must make sure that they do not have skeletons in the cupboard lest they get investigated by the league. Anyone who doubted that we are descending onto a banana republic must have their doubts cleared up by this extraordinary development. With all […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma goes Dutch to stem the leaks
It is Zuma’s job to lead the country. Not to sprint between fiery communities, spreading avuncular reassurance like a fire-blanket over conflagrations.
Posted inGeneral
The use of discriminatory pubs to unite SA
I was struck by the use of thematic uniforms and pictures in an upmarket Chinese restaurant, Red Guard Cafe, off Queen Street in Auckland here in Kiwi-Land. The waitresses and waiters were all in green, Maoist, military-style uniforms, complete with soldier caps displaying the red star. On the walls were a few pictures of the […]
Posted inTech
Hands off video on the internet
Strangely, at a time when South Africans are beginning to benefit from better and cheaper broadband connectivity, our communications regulator is toying with the idea of licensing online video. The notion smacks of institutional self-interest, of a body in search of a cause to justify its existence. But the irony is that the Independent Communications […]