by Zamantungwa Khumalo I don’t believe in Mandela Day. I really don’t. Now I realise that this is probably the most blasphemous thing I can say, especially on this day. However, inasmuch as I don’t believe in this day, I recognise the impact that it has and I recognise what today symbolises. It is because of […]
2011
Posted inGeneral
Rudolph: The joker in Kirsten’s pack?
As the year slowly grinds towards the next summer of international cricket, preparations have already begun for those considered to inhabit the “near selection” vortex of the national side. South Africa A have recently returned from a brief yet fruitful tournament involving themselves, a near full strength Zimbabwe and an Australia A side containing several […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Only faint support for a fair lady
Given the circumstances, does Adv Thuli Madonsela really trust police-appointed ‘guards’, should she get them?
Posted inTech
Eskom and the ANC will leave us in the dark
By Roger Diamond The last decade of inaction, dithering and incompetence on the part of those deciding South Africa’s energy future is going to leave us in the dark — literally and figuratively. Renewable energy generation should already be in operation with massive programmes on research and further installations under way. Yet we sit with […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Nelson Mandela and I
Mandela and I have come a long way. Our story starts at Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. In those days he slept by day and slipped by night – Mandela by day and David Motsamai by night. One moment he was a dirty car mechanic. The next moment he was a Zulu man from Natal – […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
Targeting gaps in the food supply chain
Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. Agricultural production is only the first step in moving the world’s food from farm to fork, according to Nourishing the Planet, a project of the Worldwatch Institute. The other links in the food chain – harvesting, packaging, storing, transporting, marketing, and selling – ensure that food actually […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Why I like movies about losers
I like movies about losers. Not depressing movies about social issues, you understand – not movies that make you want to slit your wrists because my God the world is a miserable place with precious little opportunity for redemption. No, I mean wry, funny movies about lovable losers whose failures point to the fundamental unfairness […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
A great American dies
To hear a South African you’d swear that we won liberation from apartheid oppression all by ourselves. It was us who suffered. We who conquered. And when it comes to today’s failures, then there are a host of ‘them’ and ‘they’ and ‘others’ we can blame. Triumph is a cloak we all wear; failure is […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Lessons from the News of the World scandal
It would be the ultimate irony if the phone-hacking scandal in the United Kingdom that led to the sinking of the News of the World dragged press freedom down with it. The signs are not encouraging. It has been forecast that the scandal will probably see the demise of the UK press self-regulatory body, the […]
Posted inGeneral
Jurassic township tours
In a famous scene from the original Jurassic Park, the private visitors are herded into Toyota Venturesque vehicles from which they depart on a predefined tour of the park and its unknown inhabitants. They stare with awe and mystery through the high-voltage fencing at the dark hinterland beyond, waiting for an unknown predator to show […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
Walmart and South Africa’s misplaced inadequacy
I think South Africa has a small touch of an inferiority complex. An amazing country, with so much potential, but you just don’t always know it. At least I’m assuming this to be the reason why business leaders, government and excited shoppers have rolled over and prepared for a “corrective” rape from one of the […]
Posted inGeneral
Netball on the way up
Looking at Sports Leader and all other sports-related websites we do not see enough of the poorly defined “Cinderella” sports , which I would define as netball, hockey and perhaps swimming. For some reason these sports attract a low degree of sponsorship which keeps them pigeoned holed as “Cinderella” sports. I spoke to Mimi Mthethwa, […]