Thought Leader

This morning my eye caught a report about Brazil’s climate-change denialist, neoconservative president, Jair Bolsonaro — evidently in an attempt to divert attention from his own egregious responsibility for the fires that rage unabated in (what is rapidly ceasing to be) the Amazon rainforest — accusing Leonardo DiCaprio of ‘paying’ non-governmental organisations to set fire…

It seems that when I write in rhyme The words seem clearer from my mind Rather than when I write my posts Whose words seem to concern the ghosts Of things gone by and Christmas past My own grandeur and their bawdy cast Of merry thieves and gay warlords That carouse and sing in many…

A crime syndicate is an organisation that commits or commissions crimes, whether directly or indirectly, and benefits from crimes, whether directly or indirectly. Therefore if an organisation commits or commissions crimes, whether directly or indirectly, and benefits from crimes, whether directly or indirectly, it is a crime syndicate. Now, some criminals, who seemingly rather enjoy…

Let’s assume that the first Europeans to land at South Africa arrived in the year 1497, or between the year 1497 and the year 1502. That’s Vasco da Gama’s expedition from Portugal. They arrived to find local South Africans. That is people who were already inhabitants of present-day South Africa. Let us consider that for…

It is not in the best interests of Hong Kong for the People’s Republic of China to exert influence over the livelihoods of the people of Hong Kong. It is definitely not part of the make-up of the history and culture of Hong Kong for there to be an exogenous force that interferes in the…

Two days ago, November 9 2019, marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin wall, and the irony has not escaped some people, that today one witnesses walls going up again everywhere. Nick Miller, in the Sydney Morning Herald (November 2 2019), for example, writes: Thirty years ago the Berlin Wall fell, pulling the…

It was with a heavy heart that I read the news, first, of Herman Mashaba’s resignation from the position of mayor of Johannesburg and from the Democratic Alliance (DA), and soon afterwards of that of both Mmusi Maimane (leader) and Athol Trollip (chairman) from their respective leadership positions in the DA, and from the party…

The Chairwoman Federal Council and Federal Executive Democratic Alliance DA Federal Head Office Website: da.org.za E-Mail: [email protected] Telephone: +27 (0) 21 465 1431 Theba Hosken House 16 Mill Street Gardens Cape Town Democratic Alliance Federal Head Office P.O. Box 1475 Cape Town 8000 Dear Ma’am My best wishes and congratulations to your good-self, on the…

There has been serious outrage which has greeted an art exhibition which appears to mock Christianity at a KwaZulu-Natal school.  A pastor in a video circulated on social media labelled the exhibition “demonic”, arguing that the paintings, some of which show cartoon paintings of Jesus Christ alongside a McDonald’s mascot, degraded Christianity.  Other pieces of…

Recently, I decided that I wanted to hold a conference to define a new vision for South Africa. The premise being that the old vision for South Africa, which was defined between 1987 and 1996, has in fact failed. I intended to invite every political party registered with the Independent Electoral Commission (and you can…