One of the most irksome tasks that many governments around the world loath and execute badly is how to deal with crisis communications in the face of scandal involving high-ranking politicians such as a head of state. Armchair critics of how government functions in these critical times fail to grasp the fact that no PR […]
2010
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
An interview with my grandfather
Soobrie Pillay, the 90-year-old stalwart of the Congress Movement, who through his humble position as the head barman of the West End Hotel, on the corner of Dr Yusuf Dadoo (Grey) Street and Dr Monty Naicker Road (Pine Street), selflessly provided, over 60 between 1933 and 1995, protection and aid to generations of political activists […]
Posted inGeneral
Leonard Cohen: Singer extraordinaire
Nietzsche once remarked that life would be “aimless” (a confused “getting lost”) without music. There are many instances of musical performance that attest to the accuracy of this insight, and among these one must certainly count the music of Leonard Cohen. I can hardly imagine that fans of the man who “was born with the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema’s master class in tendering
On a smaller scale, but also inspiring to the huddled masses yearning to be rich, is that some sporting administrators managed to structure matters so that they could buy themselves Mercedes E-class limousines for only R1 each. That they achieved this while their organisation was technically bankrupt surely makes their entrepreneurship the stuff of legend and business school case study?
Posted inGeneral
Tenderpreneur explained
Terms, phrases and personalities unique to South Africa often have to be translated or the general public will give up trying to figure out what the media are on about in many of their articles. Herewith the latest batch : Tenderpreneur shall mean a lover of the music of Elvis with hits like Love me […]
Posted inGeneral
Gucci comrades: The ANC’s new cadre?
By Zukiswa Mqolomba It is a worrying sign indeed when the leadership of the African National Congress can use its weight in strong and uncritical defence of the ANCYL president, a symptom of the burgeoning trend among its ranks of greed, avarice and an insatiable appetite to amass personal wealth, while millions of South Africans […]
Posted inGeneral
The end of poverty: An alternative paradigm
Jeffrey Sachs has become something of a force in international development circles over the past decade. As special advisor to the UN’s Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, former director of the UN’s Millennium Development Project, and a decorated economist at Columbia University, Sachs certainly has much to commend him. And his recognition has been no less […]
Posted inGeneral
The best way for SA to silence its critics
Six years have now past since that magnificent moment in Zurich when Fifa President Sepp Blatter declared that SA had earned the rights to host the biggest party on the planet. And with just over 100 days remaining before the kick-off to the 2010 World Cup, SA can rightfully stake its claim as being the […]
Posted inLifestyle
Food for Africa
By Andrew Tayton and Dulcie Krige Africa, as we all know only too well, is a continent with severe agricultural problems such as widespread poor soils and water deficits. In addition the problems of poverty make transport and marketing of food crops far more difficult than they are in the West. This has led seed […]
Posted inLifestyle
Beyond ‘band-aids’ for hunger
By Danielle Nierenberg and Brian Halweil This year marks the 25th anniversary of the devastating famine that hit Ethiopia in the 1980s. At that time, Bob Geldof brought together a group of well-meaning musicians to raise money to feed millions of people. Band Aid raised millions of dollars and immeasurable awareness with the compelling chorus […]
Posted inGeneral
How good are we?
By Duncan Newton Keal At the completion of the test series between India and South Africa, a series touted as being the ‘world championship’ of Test cricket, I can not help wondering how good South African really is. When the Proteas made history by beating Australia, in Australia, many heralded it the rise of a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Advocate Barbie should’ve been denied bail
The problem with leniency in matters relating to sex offenders is that it creates a trend that is difficult to break until some learned judge decides that he has had enough and reverses it. Yesterday Cézanne Visser (Barbie) was sentenced to 7 years in prison having been found guilty of 11 sex-related charges, including indecently […]