Michael Trapido

When Robert Mugabe undertook his murderous campaign to crush the Ndebele in Matabeleland during the 1980s, the planet should have realised then that here was an African leader who would stop at nothing and no one in his efforts to retain power. And so it has proved: while the pirates off the coast of Somalia […]

All together now, sing “Girls in white dresses and blue satin sashes/ security guards bold and poisoned snakes’ ashes/ SA’s Stalin our president in spring/ these are a few of my favourite things. The kids of today huh? Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t the whole thrust of the Cope argument that there would […]

Yesterday’s decision by the South African cabinet to withhold certain aid to Zimbabwe until a representative government is in place is highly commendable. This along with the strong message that they sent to Mugabe et al that this country is running out of patience with our neighbour’s leaders is long overdue. We can only hope […]

With the ANC set to rule until the second coming of Jesus, ANC president Jacob Zuma thought it might be appropriate to confirm his views to a gathering of religious leaders just outside Polokwane on Wednesday. This would seem to indicate that either the religious vote is believed to be vital to the party’s chances […]

South Africa has already treated 66 Zimbabwean patients for cholera as a result of an epidemic which has broken out in that country following the collapse of their sanitation system, which is being exacerbated by the fact that their healthcare has also imploded. www.mg.co.za/article/2008-11-19-zim-health-services-in-state-of-collapse Of course as South Africans we are acutely aware of the […]

“Congress of the People (Cope) leader Mosiuoa Lekota says his party will not hesitate to form an alliance with the Democratic Alliance if necessary, and that if he and DA leader Helen Zille agree on an issue, he will go to his grave to defend it.” (IOL) “Former defence minister and chairperson of the Congress […]

Weekend newspapers including City Press and Rapport were alleging that the African National Congress had instructed the SABC to feature the ANC president Jacob Zuma more than the national president Kgalema Motlanthe and to make the latter seem less presidential. If this is true I’d like to meet the genius who came up with it. […]

A picture of Nelson Mandela flashed up on the screen situated at the front of the Democratic Alliance’s gathering at Constitution Hill, Johannesburg and was instantly met with a roar of approval from those gathered there. In that instance I realised why I have always had the highest regard for the leaders and members of […]