“Where they are going we don’t know,” says the minister of education about the kids in grades 10, 11 and 12 missing from school. She lost them? Seriously? She should have a chat with the minister of finance. He knows why those kids are not in school. Many 14- to 17-year-olds are not school-goers precisely […]
Alison Tilley
Alison Tilley is an attorney working at the Open Democracy Advice Centre as the CEO. She specialises in right to know law. She is a founding trustee of the Women's Legal Centre, and has a keen interest in gender issues.
Posted inNews/Politics
Racists, Eskom and why I don’t want to put the boot in
The wave of racist comments around Eskom and its — and by extension the government’s — incapacity to manage things has abated a little in my life. I liked the timing of one person’s comment — with the news of the blackouts, and Kenya’s troubles, someone turned to me and exclaimed about Africa’s inability to […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
Eskom — it’s the information, stupid!
I am quite unable to see why some of Eskom’s computer geeks have not been able to solve at least one part of the energy crisis. Everyone keeps complaining that they don’t know when the power is going to go down, and that Eskom’s website is very unclear. Why not simply put a map of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Don’t fire Pandor, fire some teachers
Although in general I love her blogs, firing Naledi Pandor, as Charlene Smith suggests, is really not going to help the desperate state of South African schools. Firing teachers, however, might. And there is precedent for it.
Posted inLifestyle
The police, Mr Fivaz and my mother’s crime wave
I am afraid the mayor of Cape Town is not alone in feeling the South African Police Service is a bit … shall we say, fantastically incapable? Unbelievably incompetent? Perhaps you feel I go too far. I do feel I have been pushed over the edge. It wasn’t the housebreaking and theft of virtually all […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Rape and the African Peer-Review Mechanism
I know the African Peer-Review Mechanism Country Report is not everyone’s idea of a good read. So let me point you to the interesting bit. It comes right at the end, on page 376 of the copy that was sent to me in the post. The report cites the rape statistics from the South African […]
Posted inGeneral
The Mbeki biography — the good one
I have just put down of Mark Gevisser’s Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred and I have to say I am disappointed, but only because the end came too soon — I thought I had at least a chapter to go, but in fact the pages under my fingers were the 90-odd pages of footnotes, bibliography […]
Posted inLifestyle
They really are watching you
You are right, they are watching you. I’m somewhat paranoid — who isn’t? But here’s a chilling little tale. You are on your way into the UK from Europe. You go through immigration. You get pulled aside. The official has a simple question: Why did you go to a particular Palestinian restaurant in London two […]
Posted inSport
Steak, the World Cup and good bones
I have to confess that the highlight for me of Saturday’s World Cup game was the steak. We braaied, of course, and it being a special occasion, I got in some prime rump from the nearby Famous Butcher’s Grill. It is not cheap, but with a teriyaki marinade tends to evoke the sort of eyeball-rolling […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Quick, hit your kids
Well, it’s official. Quick, go hit one of your kids. You still can. It does have to be one of your children — but, still, rejoice, rejoice, the Children’s Amendment Bill has been defeated. Not, admittedly, by a decisive vote in the hallowed halls of Parliament, with ringing speeches on the merits or demerits of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mystery, judges and the JSC
I am not a woman of mystery. I am one of those people who tell you your fly is undone, or that your payment is late. This is not because I don’t like a bit of mystery, especially the mysterious cloak of secrecy that the law casts around judges. In the Supreme Court of Appeal, […]