Concerning the small matter of the second failed attempt by the Dalai Lama to get a visa into South Africa in as many years, let us begin by giving the South African government the benefit of the doubt. Notice how I have carefully constructed the preceding sentence along the lines suggested and hinted at by […]
2011
Posted inNews/Politics
Black middle-class, middle-child guilt
Black middle-class South Africans suffer from a wide spectrum of self-inflicted psychological ailments, which you need to be black and middle class to truly understand. Each generation suffers from its own variations of these — only black syndrome, first black syndrome, (my favourite) bad black syndrome, black guilt — often discussed with close confidants, far […]
Posted inGeneral
Summer cricket — what a bonus!
As the summer of cricket is upon us, excitingly I have to admit, I am still left wondering what is the situation with the massive amounts of Cricket South Africa (CSA) money that seemingly is still under discussion. As recently as September 8 2011, Telford Vice reported in the Business Day the following: “CSA can’t […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, News/Politics
Metro police would rather police women’s sexuality than men’s violence
According to their Facebook Page “V-Girls is a global movement of girl activists inspired by I Am an Emotional Creature” — Eve Ensler’s latest collection of monologues for and about girls. The aim of the book, and of the movement is to inspire girls to take agency over their lives, and to encourage them to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is SA the next Zimbabwe?
The simple answer is, no. I’ve attempted to answer this question once before, in 2009. My argument at the time was that South Africa had a strong Constitution, which ensured the country stayed on democratic course. Unlike Zimbabwe, post-apartheid South Africa has endeavoured to consolidate democracy by empowering independent institutions such as the judiciary. Soon […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Winds of change for the ANC
The winds of change have finally started blowing for the ANC government, just as they started blowing for the National Party government in 1960. In 1960, this event was formally announced by former British prime minister Harold Macmillan in his famous address in Cape Town on February 3 that year. In this Year of our […]
Posted inBusiness
My favourite words of wisdom from Steve Jobs
This morning I woke to the news that Steve Jobs has died. At first I thought it was another ghastly Twitter hoax, but then I saw the links coming through and I realised that no, this time #iSad was anything but a sick joke. I thought immediately of the quote I keep on my Facebook […]
Posted inGeneral
SuperSport’s reputation suffers again over Davies
SuperSport is purportedly one of the best and largest sports broadcasters in the world. Seven channels, slick production value, a 24-hour news channel no longer reliant on foreign broadcasters and an infrastructure as big as any other major sports broadcaster out there. It is, like SAB-Miller, a South African company that has exceeded the borders […]
Posted inGeneral
Three steps to better contact centre management
Communication technologies have the power to dramatically shape company performance, and if the bottom line is shaky there’s little doubt the contact centre can make a positive contribution to turning things around. But within this context, many decision makers get caught in the tactic trap — changing and re-changing various elements of the contact centre […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Let the Lama Skype in!
When Arch Desmond Tutu’s BFF received a big fat “NOT YES” from the South African government, the Arch took the (in)decision rather personally. Fortunately for our Tutu, we South Africans, having a flair for dramatic tendencies, dichotomised and moralised the issue into good vs evil, with the country’s integrity and pearly gate invite hanging in […]
Posted inGeneral
Mandela and the Dalai Lama
So damaging was the fall-out over South Africa’s denying the Dalai Lama a visa when he wished to attend a peace conference a couple of years ago that it was hard to imagine such a blunder being repeated. At the time, it was perhaps the most egregious example of the last administration’s penchant for shloeping […]
Posted inGeneral
Dan Carter: Kiwi World Cup talisman or jinx?
Dan Carter was to have captained the All Blacks for the first time on Sunday. An honour bestowed on him as a Kiwi legend akin to that of teammate Richie McCaw who had to withdraw because of his injury. “Twang” went Carter’s groin muscle during kicking practice yesterday and now he is out and gone […]