I have recently made a very startling discovery: most men who wear black Armani suits are tame. Of course, their dress sense makes them look like very important people who are making it in the world, whatever that means. But on closer scrutiny, their black Giorgio Armani suits soon reveal people who are not only […]
Sandile Memela
Sandile Memela is a journalist, writer, cultural critic, columnist and civil servant. He lives in Midrand.
Posted inLifestyle
Life here, in Africa, is brief as a candle
Sometimes one can feel like an atom — alone, isolated and abandoned. You must have experienced those moments too where you feel that you have lost a whole tribe of good friends, family, relatives and neighbours. It is a development that is enough to drive one crazy because it is so foolish, you know. What […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Writing on the wall for African liberation movements
The children of the revolution are turning against the liberation movement. For now, a handful of insider top thinkers have expressed their disillusionment on the decline of the political integrity of liberation movements. In fact, they have gone on record to say: liberation movements will, ultimately, betray the people! There is a new wave of […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Affirmative Action may be the under current that fuels xenophobic rumblings
The deep rumbles of discontent that have exploded into an orgy of violence, death and destruction may, rightly or wrongly, be the poor’s version of Affirmative Action. Of course, AA is nothing else but implementation of the culture of ‘putting local blacks, first.’ Its widespread and, ironically, justifiable practice has, over the last decade resulted […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Leadership from an unexpected quarter
I will start off with a controversial statement: Former MK cadre Robert McBride is now my hero! He is a source of hope in this South African hour of darkness. Well, it is men like him in our history who have always been our source of hope, confidence and optimism, you know. We need to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
How the ‘market economy’ fuels xenophobia
The deep rumbles of discontent have, sadly, exploded into an orgy of violence, death and destruction that threatens the center that holds South African society together. It is, of course, a very complex issue but it can be simplified, if you like. One of the fundamental reasons for this explosion of anti–African xenophobia is man’s […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
A mother of two nations
I was feeling black and blue on Mother’s Day because I am, now, motherless. My mother, Nomali, is dead. For the first time in many years, I spent Mother’s Day without her. My soul felt so empty that I could not even bring myself to take flowers to her fresh grave. She was buried six […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Black fascism is as empty as white nationalism
Someone needs to tell the self-appointed ‘thought police’ to stop their fascist behaviour. Nobody has the authority to dictate to other people what to think or how to behave because of similarity of skin colour. In fact, it would be a good idea for thought police to go on a holiday in Europe or Asia […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Well-heeled make the Madiba magic fade as they carry on with business as usual
The privileged class would rather enjoy a life of luxury and indulge in shopping sprees than attend Freedom Day celebrations. They have no shame that their wealth is gotten by stealing and monopolising the Earth’s wealth for themselves, exploiting the working poor and perpetuating class-exclusive lifestyles and economic injustice. In fact, it is so business […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The FBJ’s ‘blacker than thou’ racial reasoning is political suicide
The most exciting feature of the SAHRC ruling against the Forum of Black Journalists is the loud echo of black voices that have welcomed the decision and denounced the latter’s insistence on its right to exclude whites on the basis of skin colour. This reveals that more and more blacks are willing to turn against […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
BEE’s ‘married bachelors’ and a moral centre that cannot hold
Since the advent of black economic empowerment — an outward expression of the worship of money — the moral centre of the previously disadvantaged community does not hold. As a result, many families are falling apart. The new trend, it seems, is that many men now love money more than their wives. After all, when […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Anybody who is Somebody is telling Everybody about Mugabe but Nobody knows what he is thinking
It is almost impossible to know any Truth with a capital T about what President Robert Mugabe is thinking right now. Thus, every time Anybody who is Somebody talks or writes about what is happening in Zimbabwe, Everybody should understand clearly that Nobody knows what is going on in the big man’s head. In fact, […]