As I type, Riaan Cruywagen is one of the top ten trending topics on Twitter in South Africa. He’s climbing fast, and will probably soon overtake Gareth Cliff, #BlackParentsQuotes and #SteveBiko (Twitterville isn’t completely shallow you know). It’s all because he stars in this ad for this weekend’s Loerie Awards*, conceptualised by Loeries CEO Andrew […]
2011
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
That elusive economic freedom
We all know that politicians twist words to suit occasion, but the use of nationalisation is the most egregious yet. At times, nationalisation is taken to mean state intervention, for instance by setting up new companies, though that is not the general meaning. My friend Steven Friedman has argued that the ANCYL specifically means selective […]
Posted inGeneral
Is capitalism destroying our planet? (3)
*What is therefore new in Kovel’s book (The Enemy of Nature), in contrast to the many books devoted to the ecological crisis today, is the sustained manner in which he connects all the obvious signs of environmental degradation and ecosystemic breakdown with the social order or system referred to above. Thomas Berry (in The Great […]
Posted inGeneral
Class is permanent, form is temporary
So it is Monday, the day after a heart-wrenching day of Springbok rugby and where all I read and hear is how great Wales were and yes they were pretty good. But there is no sentiment in RWC, there is a scoreboard and that is the only score that matters. If the Boks had lost, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lamont, you have just censored my history in the name of ‘democracy’
By Gugu Ndima The awfully narrated judgment against Comrade Julius Malema at the Equality Court coincided with the 34th anniversary of the death of one of the most celebrated Pan-African intellectuals to date. He boldly said in one of his interviews, “the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of […]
Posted inMedia
‘Good’ girls, sex and Gareth Cliff
The Independent Online reported today that Gareth Cliff has been reported to the BCCSA for sexist comments while interviewing Angela Larkan, a young female philanthropist. To begin the interview, Cliff praised her for starting her work at 22, saying it was unusual because most 22-year-olds “do nothing but lie on their backs with their legs […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Steve Biko, and how torture remains a problem in SA
By Clare Ballard Many South Africans remember well the story of Steve Biko’s death on this day in 1977. He died from massive head injuries, which, it was ultimately revealed, had been sustained during his 22-hour interrogation. The death of this extraordinary man exposed the brutality of the apartheid regime, particularly the ruthless and violent […]
Posted inGeneral
Open business a challenge for contact centres
Many of the key trends emerging in the local contact centre space are mirroring those taking shape globally. In the important areas we’re right there on the communications frontier, which means our brands are facing the same challenges as those in the US, Asia and Europe. One of the most significant of these is dealing […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mbeki eyes the post-Zuma limelight
After three years — almost to the day — former president Thabo Mbeki is emerging from political purdah. Mbeki, who retreated into virtual isolation after being booted by the African National Congress (ANC) in September 2008, is suddenly popping into the public eye again. True to party loyalties of a lifetime and to reclaim his […]
Posted inGeneral
Remembering 9/11
The Mail & Guardian asked readers to tell us what they were doing when the planes struck the Twin Towers. These are their stories. I was visiting the twin towers a day before it had crashed to the ground. Unbelievable! It was the word that stuck on my mind as soon as I could see […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The brigade for boiling and burning blacks
Just north of here, the tree of liberty is being liberally watered — not with the blood of patriots, but with the blood of blacks. And also unlike Jefferson’s dictum, it isn’t just occasionally, but has been going on for months. The vigilantes have even given themselves a name “The Brigade for Purging Slaves and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What the secrecy Bill should look like
The Protection of Information Bill is an aberration that threatens to eliminate government transparency, cut off the free flow of information and cripple the media’s effectiveness in exposing corruption at the highest levels. Accordingly we need to ask ourselves what can be done to achieve the goals that the legislators purportedly had in proposing the […]