Yeah, yeah, I know some of you will have seen that title and assumed that I was making some sort of satirical reference to some of our more flamboyant celebrities, but I really am talking about fresh produce. In this case, I am choosing to honour the humble apple. For the past week, I’ve been […]
2011
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
The unforgettable Vusi Ximba
Several years ago, I started a lecture on orality and popular culture with a reference to a song by comedian, traditional rapper, singer, story teller, concertina player and maskandi musician Vusi Ximba. In the song, Ximba tells the story of how a rural woman — let’s call her Ma Dlamini — who could neither read […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Egypt’s empty revolution
The people of the land of pharaohs will not find what they are looking for because they do not know what they want. It has been 30 years now that they have lived under one man’s dictatorship. In fact, all these three decades they have willingly collaborated with a leader who regarded himself as successor […]
Posted inGeneral
Rise Africans, rise!
“Nothing will come of nothing,” the old King Lear lashed out at his youngest daughter Cordelia. Cordelia unlike her older siblings, Regan and Goneril, had failed to shower the King, who was nearing the end of his mortal existence, with praises in order to earn an inheritance. This enraged the old king. For having “nothing” […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Egyptian revolution or Islamic awakening?
The Egyptian uprising, which began on January 25, is aimed at ridding the country of President Hosni Mubarak and his National Democratic Party, who have maintained de facto one-party rule under an ongoing state of emergency. The regime was able to remain in power through the support of the West underpinned by substantial aid from […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The not so tender matter of tenders…
By Sally Evans Every day we are inundated with scandals relating to nepotism, tenders and corruption. And the media slogs away trying to expose those who — at the cost of development — are merrily filling their boots with cash and have just taken ownership of new BMWs. Tenderpreneurs — the mantra for jobs for […]
Posted inGeneral
Cold War adversaries the sleeping giants of rugby
There is an ominous threat hanging over the established order of the oval ball, from lands large and rich in diversity. Since the coming of the professional era, rugby has slowly been spreading itself across continents with the IRB aiming to make the game rival soccer in popularity. It’s a tall order, but not impossible […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Egypt: Obama, audacity beckons, once again
By Abiye Teklemariam and Janice Winter Popular revolutions do not generally end with protesters storming presidential palaces. Success is most often achieved by their ability to breach the unity of the regime’s power base. Such divisions manifest in several ways: reluctance of the armed forces to take action against protesters, regime moderates distancing themselves from […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Johnny Issel: What he meant to me
The first thing I did when I heard last Sunday that Johnny Issel had passed away was to listen to my vinyl of Bob Marley’s Buffalo Soldier. I thought it appropriate because this was the theme song of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the early 1980s and Issel was a founder member. As I […]
Posted inGeneral
Sundowns must keep Habas
After a perfect start to their current league campaign, Sundowns have had to endure a bad loss of form lately and the supporters are calling for coach Antonio Lopez Habas to be fired. The Brazilians started this season like a house on fire and were at one stage seven points clear at the top of […]
Posted inGeneral
SMS proves its resilience once again
Time and time again SMS is the technological exception to the rule. Not only is it incredibly resistant to downward price pressure, which has seen it immune to the dramatic price drops in the tech world over the last 10 years, it also refuses to be usurped by newer technologies. A case in point is […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
The Mona Lisa conspiracy
Now they’re saying the Mona Lisa was a MAN? I’ve always suspected it! I’ve suspected it even more when I saw that picture — it’s a famous picture by now — on the front page of a Cape Town newspaper the other day! It was the story — “Zille, You Can’t Touch This” — by […]