I’ve just returned from a trip to Victoria Falls — my first visit to Zimbabwe. And although it’s very much sheltered from the rest of the country’s meltdown, the signs are still there — each day we saw weary locals bringing back bread loaves and sacks of maize over the bridge from Zambia. It was […]
Alexander Matthews
Alexander Matthews is the editor of AERODROME, an online magazine about words and people featuring interviews, original poetry, book reviews and extracts. He is also a freelance writer, covering travel, culture, life and design. The contributing editor for Business Day WANTED, his journalism has also appeared in House and Leisure, MONOCLE, African Decisions and elsewhere.
Contact Alexander here: alexgmatthews(at)gmail.com
Posted inNews/Politics
Ravaged Zimbabwe’s tourism pipe dream
Looking on the web for some info about Zimbabwe (I’m visiting the Victoria Falls in a few days time), I stumbled across an article dated the 12 December in the Zimbabwean state-owned propaganda machine The Herald about how that beleaguered nation intends to make tourism a key foreign currency earner, increasing its contribution to the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Does Zimbabwe know it’s Christmas?
Across South Africa, the malls are crowded with busy shoppers buying presents and food for the festive season. And yet just across the border in neighbouring Zimbabwe, thousands of people are dying of cholera and countless more face starvation, with only a meagre assortment of wild berries, seeds and fruits from the veld to provide […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Yelling ‘fuck off’ for feminism
Yesterday I was walking in Cape Town’s city centre with a good friend of mine. As we crossed the road, a few construction workers in a truck began to verbally harass her, calling her a string of disgusting things. So I yelled to them, “Fuck off!” They seemed rather indignant but obliged. Indignant, because they […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why Zuma allows Malema to show democracy the finger
Isn’t it astounding? That a man who incites people to murder and violence, who uses hate speech and insults senior members of his party is still around and playing a prominent political role in the ruling party, nogal? Indeed, most people can’t seem to fathom what lies behind Jacob Zuma’s limp excuses for the outrageous, […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Devious Shikota is merely Mbeki 2.0
Come 2009 elections, Shikota won’t be getting my vote. While their pro-constitutional rhetoric is encouraging, it’s also hard to believe. Where was Lekota’s commitment to the constitution when he was in Mbeki’s cabinet? He seemed quite happy to toe the party line when it came to Aids, Zimbabwe and other issues. It’s tempting to think […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The fatcat and Bara’s broken lifts
Gauteng’s provincial health minister, Brian Hlongwa, has splashed out on renovating his boardroom with R1 million from the public purse according to this article in last week’s Financial Mail. This outrageous extravagance comes at a time when Gauteng’s hospitals are under more strain than ever, with vastly inadequate and ill-maintained infrastructure (such as broken lifts), […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zim unity government: Thabo’s toxic legacy
Part of Thabo Mbeki’s toxic legacy could well prove to be the disastrous unity deal he engineered between Zanu-PF and the MDC in Zimbabwe. Democracy has been defeated in Zimbabwe, and this largely due to Mbeki’s willingness to legitimise Mugabe’s tyrannous regime through his chairing of the power-sharing negotiations. It was a marriage doomed from […]
Posted inLifestyle
Metrorail misery
Recently, Cape Town Metrorail commuters have been subjected to more than just the customary overcrowded carriages, which during rush hour make sardine cans seem spacious. A few weeks ago there were delays of an hour or more thanks to cable thieves having vandalised a signal box at Woodstock station. Thankfully the bastards were caught. Then […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mbeki’s negotiations a tragic farce
President Thabo Mbeki’s latest attempt to get Zimbabwe negotiations back on track smacks of self-serving desperation — an attempt to salvage a bloodstained legacy and ensure an easy exit for the murderous tyrant he seems quite happy to consider a friend. Mbeki as a mediator has no credibility anyway. His antipathy towards the MDC and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zille vs Zuma: hitting the right note with the electorate
The official opposition has called for the upcoming general elections to be scrapped and for them to be replaced with Politics Idols – a singing competition with one singer participating from each political party. This comes after Helen Zille’s stirring performance (accompanied with spirited boogieing) of Never give up, the DA’s new anticrime song, outside […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Why women are this year’s black
“It’s so unfair — there’s a Women’s Day, so why can’t there be a Men’s Day?” wonder woebegone males countrywide each August. The answer is that every day (including August 9) is in actual fact a man’s day. Yes, we have a Constitution that enshrines gender equality, bodily integrity and reproductive rights. And, undoubtedly, there […]