Last time I went egg hunting was two months ago when Spar management surprised everyone and moved their eggs from next to the bread to the fresh produce aisle. They also ran a special on hot-cross buns that day which lead me to believe Spar thought it was Easter — in February. As I shopped […]
2011
Posted inEnvironment, General
Shell, fracking and job creation
The degree to which Shell disgusts me is no secret, and this will not be the first time I write about the multinational. Take the worst aspects of capitalism, the most perverse levels of greed, and the highest disregard for nature: combine them and you have the Shell corporation. Whereas in the past Shell has […]
Posted inGeneral
Ivo Vegter vs the fracking fringe
By Aragorn Eloff Ivo Vegter was rousing. In a recent article on The Daily Maverick website the well-known local free market ideologue and climate change denialist dutifully performs his well-rehearsed cherry-picking dance of apologist rhetoric in an unsuccessful attempt to ward off the growing grassroots opposition to Shell’s application to prospect for natural gas in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ghost in the machine
Anyone observing the “Spook Wars” between elements of the intelligence community should be forgiven for thinking that this is just a testosterone driven phenomenon, or a case of “my secret gadget is bigger than yours”. In reality, this disturbing phenomenon, most recently seen before the ANC’s Polokwane conference, is a feature of the ongoing social, […]
Posted inGeneral
Big daddy state not conducive to sustainable development and empowerment
The first time I saw a R20 note was in 1993 when I was six-years-old and we were living in Swaziland. I stumbled upon it in the garden and my mother said I could have it. Elated, I impatiently awaited the regular daily passing of the “sucker lady” (our then-version of Madam & Eve’s Mielie […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Beware of election ghosts, goblins, witches and evil trolls
Flanked by the Dracula Princess, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, to stress his Struggle authenticity, Malema gleefully exploited the moment to proclaim that it was not he who was on trial, but the Revolution itself.
Posted inNews/Politics
Meet Andries. He died yesterday
On the evening of Thursday April 14 2011, I took part in an excellent discussion panel organised by the Steve Biko Foundation at Wits university in Johanneburg. Driving back to Pretoria later on, a journalist friend called and asked me if I had watched the prime news on national television. Of course, I had not […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Whose struggle songs?
I would like to add my two cents’ worth about issues pertaining to the so-called “hate speech” trial of ANC Youth League President Julius Malema. The complainant, AfriForum/Solidarity, called as one of their witnesses a music academic, Anne-Marie Gray, who calls herself a “liberation struggle song expert”. Come on, does that sound right? She is […]
Posted inNews/Politics
For Andries Tatane
Paper rights with blood splatters over them. The new Rorschach test. What do you see? I see black empowerment. I see Strange Fruit falling from the tree of Ubuntu. I see blue is the new black. What did I do to be so black and blue? I see Tumi singing “My black president does me […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ICC isn’t international enough
Luis Moreno-Ocampo is a hero for many in Kenya. For others, he represents the worst manifestation of the West’s holier-than-thou attitude towards Africa (this notwithstanding the fact that Ocampo is an Argentinian by origin). There isn’t a shadow of doubt that this famous prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a man who holds […]
Posted inLifestyle
How to love people who are a pain in the arse
Pssshhhhhh … the toilet flushing in our apartment was the most beautiful sound I have heard in a long time. I sat in our lounge, revelling in its bubbly, splashy song, grinning at myself for finding this somewhat stercoraceous moment almost sublime. We have been living in Suzhou, China for just over the month and […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
How crass is too crass?
I’m no prude. Granted, there are probably Mennonite housewives who are having a wilder time than me right now, but as a rule I’m quite relaxed when it comes to what more delicate types might describe as “colourful” language. It takes a lot to offend me. Hell, I’ve written three books in which I record […]