Chumani Maxwele, a student from UCT, was arrested, his house searched and then interrogated about his political affiliations after purportedly making an obscene gesture at President Jacob Zuma’s convoy of vehicles while out jogging. According to the Sowetan, Maxwele was arrested for “waving on” Zuma’s convoy when he was jogging on De Waal Drive, Cape […]
2010
Posted inGeneral
The God-Fearing People’s Party
I was watching the news yesterday for some reason, I must have been either really bored, comatose or my housemate was forcing “current affairs” (aka what the media is punting for their mates that day) on me and I saw a report on some of the commentary that was presented on the State of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Woeful State of the Nation Part 2
In part 1 of this blog post, I discussed the State of the Nation address, delivered rather badly last Thursday by the president. I mentioned how the problem of crime had gone almost completely unmentioned by the Comrade Leader’s speech. Thankfully, I’m not the only one to decry the lack of crime prevention strategy in […]
Posted inGeneral
Zuma’s address…disappointing, wasn’t it?
By Zukiswa Mqolomba Firstly, I would like to welcome the input from the progressive alliance, particularly of the ANCYL, for its rather generous appraisal of the State of the Nation address. Individual loyalties generally die hard, even in the face of damning sentiment reflected by its receipt by mainstream society. When we are willing to […]
Posted inMedia
I’m ashamed to be part of the media
There have been times when I have been ashamed to be part of the media industry: this week was one of those. The role that the media played in the virtual destruction of a poor family’s life in the Western Cape this week cannot be overlooked. Before he became the focus of media attention in […]
Posted inSport
Competitive sport will never be fair
It’s often been said that competitive sport is an arena for the world to indulge their war-mongering urges without an inordinate fear of dying. And barring certain events such as the Isle of Man TT, it is mostly true. Just like war, competitive sport allows the masses to work themselves into a frenzy and feel […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma’s a cultural coward
By Michael Baillie “Zuma’s conduct is un-African”. Not my words, but those of an “expert” as quoted in a news article I read recently. But what on earth does it mean? On face value it could mean that Zuma’s actions were not African in nature, that in someway they were not representative of what it […]
Posted inMedia
The web’s unavoidable sharp learning curve
A funny thing happened to me this morning: I finally realised that a really large chunk of people who use the internet haven’t got a clue about the internet space at all. Actually, this is hardly news breaking. Evidence of it abounds. Phishing (creating fake login pages that mimic your online banks login page) is […]
Posted inGeneral
Tears, masculinity, death
The most powerful memory of my father is the last one. I was starting to walk from our home to school on a large plot in Boksburg when I heard him calling me, “Rod, Roddy, Roddy!” Age seventeen, angry and rebellious, I was annoyed because he would often imperiously call me, summons me, without giving […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Simply Slim, sibutramine and synephrine
With tens of thousands of unregistered complementary medicines on the market, it’s interesting and surprising that the Medicines Control Council (MCC) recently ordered one product, Simply Slim, to suspend all sales and marketing until the MCC had had an opportunity to assess the product in terms of its safety, quality and efficacy. The decision was […]
Posted inGeneral
The centre cannot hold
By Athambile Masola “Things fall apart The centre cannot hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” Yeats’ words from the poem The Second Coming are often used to allude to a state of affairs that demands attention from everybody. Today, this aptly describes the state of South Africa’s education system. Things are falling apart […]
Posted inGeneral
The backlash…quapissssssssssssh
I’ve made a mistake. How silly of me. Women’s abuse isn’t important. How naive of me — democracy is about equality, about sharing the rights granted in the Constitution. So of course women’s rights are no longer something to consider — I mean they’re already achieved in some pretty paper in some high office in […]