By Vasti Roodt Another debate is upon us. Following the uproar over her snubbing of a risque art exhibition, Arts and Culture minister Lulu Xingwana has called upon South Africans to debate the line between art and pornography. We will have to find space for this new debate among various other debates that are clamouring […]
2010
Posted inGeneral
Business as usual…for the mines
By John Capel Mining continues to drive South Africa on many fronts — economically, socially and politically. No day passes without it being in the news. Thus one would have thought that the annual Mining Indaba Conference which ended in Cape Town recently would have included in its deliberations the people whose lives are most […]
Posted inGeneral
South Africans and the fine art of bitching
It’s the simple things in life that give us the most pleasure. The most meaning. And what can be more meaningful than sinking your teeth into the denials and accusations of Winnie M&M and the latest shenanigans of leaders like Zuma and Malema? Look at the sheer delight on Zapiro’s face as he shows off […]
Posted inGeneral
SXSW South Africa Series #6 – Banking, banking, banking (and the web)
The Banking 2.0 panel was so good, I thought I’d pull all the thoughts together into a post. This is more a list of trends and themes, but it’s well worth a read. Banking, gambling and porn are going to be the dominant industries on the internet (you laugh — but it’s true). And banking […]
Posted inGeneral
Dear Nyanda
An open letter to the minister of communications Dear Retired General, When I moved into a small flat in the suburb of Mowbray in the Cape back in 1998, when you were still in the army, I got to learn of a company called Dial-a-Bed. They way it works it can even be understood by […]
Posted inLifestyle
Take some freaking responsibility
Enough! Enough of all the pussyfooting, slippery tongue-sliding circumlocution. Enough of the fall backs to culture, ancestry, age, wisdom, the struggle, the party and the legacy of apartheid. Enough of the misuse of taxpayers’ money. Enough of the failure to speak when appropriate and necessary and enough of the propensity and frequency with which inappropriate, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Aussie cops remind us of apartheid days
The massive community of about 150 000 former South Africans living in Australia must be somewhat bemused by the accusations of racism currently being levelled at certain members of the Australian Police. Many of them had after all left the land of their birth to start a new life down under where racism and crime were […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Mr Siphiwe Nyanda, what is your secret?
Dear Mr Nyanda It has come to my attention that you and I share a common interest. We like to rock overpriced hotels on someone else’s dime. Please don’t tell anyone this, but the way I do it is to convince large multinationals that if they want to sell truckloads of their products they […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Nationalising the mines a just cause but…
By Zukiswa Mqolomba Firstly, the ANC Youth league must be applauded for raising debate on key and critical questions about the need to unlock natural productive forces in pursuit of national development. The league has tried to put both a strong historical account and case for nationalisation on the one hand, and an ideological basis […]
Posted inGeneral
Becks can still be a star in 2010
Let’s get one thing straight here, folks. David Beckham’s absence from the World Cup is probably a blessing in disguise for Fabio Capello and England’s chances. For starters, the world’s most celebrated part-time footballer was never a starting option for a serious match — he is simply over the hill. His inclusion would have sidelined […]
Posted inGeneral
The French masters of cinema
Why is French film important? Not only because the French, such as Auguste and Louis Lumiére — who invented the cinématographe — and Alice Guy Blaché were among the pioneers of film technology, but because as film directors and film actors/actresses, not to mention theoreticians of cinema, they have made a lasting and very influential […]
Posted inSport
The cost of hosting the World Cup
Why it is that African countries have to go through the painful and expensive exercise of convincing the so-called first world that South Africa, in particular, is ready and capable of hosting the Fifa World Cup? We toiled culturally to showcase our rainbow nation as not barbaric, and politically to prove a matured democracy and […]