So now that we know Richie McCaw plays the bagpipes, and has Scottish heritage, the Rugby World Cup organisers are being put under pressure from all quarters to lift the ban on bagpipes. The Scottish media, traditionalists and rugby aficionados want their instrument in the stadiums. This involves Scottish MPs, a Facebook plea, letters to […]
2011
Posted inNews/Politics
Dear ‘K-word’ and ‘K-the-boer song’
I know not everybody likes a letter, and when I think about it, you two surely don’t spend a lot of time reading either — but I love a letter, so here goes: Nobody can say that you two haven’t had your fun. You’ve shown your faces at some of the greatest and lowest moments […]
Posted inGeneral
Our best selector ever
A lot has been said about the RWC, dangerously, people have been splurging predictions … we should know better than that by now. I have maintained for all time (well my time anyhow) that the tournament is a temporary and jaded measurement of world rugby status. I will categorically state that bar one or two […]
Posted inGeneral
How professional is professional?
So as we have become accustomed, there is always upsets in a sports show piece, at the Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup Brazil and Argentina’s exit stumped the entire watching and betting community, it happens. It needs to remain part and parcel of the tournaments so as to keep the intrigue alive. In the RWC […]
Posted inGeneral
Reed Dance does many things well, fight HIV not one of them
By Vadim Nikitin Last weekend my friends and I lost our Reed Dance virginity. Prior to the deed, my white-liberal squeamishness mingled with a prurient male curiosity. Thousands of essentially naked young ladies having their maidenhood (and much more besides!) scrutinised by an ageing polygamist monarch? Charming, yes, but not generally my idea of a […]
Posted inGeneral
Doping in rugby is everyone’s problem
In Wednesday morning’s edition of The Star, it was reported that “rugby, followed by power lifting and boxing, were the most doped-out sports in South Africa last year”. Between April last year and March this year, the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport stated in its annual report that doping has increased by 178% with anabolic […]
Posted inGeneral
Consolidating platforms: The strategic fundamentals
Corporate life has long featured a gulf between the interests, motivations, budgets and actions of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department and, well, everyone else. This was true as long as communication technologies were largely hidden aspects of how humans interact. The notorious “Big Room” housing the company contact centre was an obvious manifestation […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Shoot the boer’ our history
By Beth Vale A week ago, the equality court announced its verdict that the lyrics of struggle song “Dubul’ ibhunu” or “shoot the boer’ should be considered hate speech. The trial has evoked months of public debate and has not been short of media commentary. Despite this, it is only in the last few days […]
Posted inGeneral
Lust, Chinese women and transformation
I live in a city in China, Suzhou, which, if you google, apparently has the loveliest women in China. Having lived in different parts of this country for nearly six years I can believe it. Many young women here are in unbelievably perfect shape. They are criminally, sinfully sexy, and in summer, they dress so […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema misguided on judicial transformation
African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema selected the decisions in his case before the equality court in Johannesburg and those of Robert McBride and Bees Roux to draw the conclusion that the South African judiciary has failed to transform since the end of apartheid. This, like many of his other utterances, is not […]
Posted inGeneral
Liberate mobile payments for a more inclusive economy
While mobile payments have met with astounding successes in other parts of Africa, adoption has been far more modest in South Africa. The main reason for this is our severe banking laws, which further entrench banks in the payments industry while stopping innovative mobile operators and developers from bringing cheap, easy and secure (card-free) payments […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Liberating ourselves from unhelpful notions of struggle heroism
The theme for this year’s Heritage Month leaves me somewhat cold — even after carefully considering the major statements of the ministry of arts and culture in this regard. “Liberation heritage in honour of heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle”, that is the theme. Not that there is anything wrong with the idea of […]