Animals – and not just pets, all kinds of animals – do not enjoy the care and acknowledgement of being our veritable brothers and sisters, as living beings, that they should by right receive. This much is beyond debate. The obscene practice of killing rhino for the supposedly medicinal and/or aphrodisiac properties of their horns, […]
General
Posted inGeneral
Children are the future
On the occasion of my 28th birthday in March this year, the message from my mother was slightly different from that of years gone past: “Happy birthday son. You know I’m now eagerly anticipating the day you bring someone home and of course, also looking to hold your child in my hands.” From where I […]
Posted inGeneral
Client-driven development the key to software success
Close partnerships with clients are the key to success for software development companies. Whether you’re developing for an individual consumer or for business, giving customers what they truly need and want is the best route to long-term success. We like to develop new functionality and modules in partnership with specific clients. Once we’ve identified a […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Reshuffling: Zuma missed the jokers
They say in every war there are casualties, and it would seem President Jacob Zuma has gone to war far too many times, leaving a trail of body bags in his wake. This week the man from Nkandla caught many, including those in the ruling party, by surprise when he announced a cabinet reshuffle at […]
Posted inBusiness, General
Euro crisis: What are they on about?
Europe’s debt crisis is looming large over the global economy. Reports are everywhere you turn, but they are often confusing. They tend to be heavy with jargon and light on background. The following quote from a story published by Reuters recently is fairly typical. “German debt prices rose and Spanish bond yields briefly jumped on […]
Posted inGeneral
The problems of the past and the promise of the future
The concept of the future, in the face of the political and economic worries of the present, has become ever more important to our imagining of a democratic South Africa. How and, importantly, what should we be imagining? How, in other words, do we conceptualise the future in the face of the present? One such […]
Posted inGeneral
Igesund to finally get his chance?
Bafana Bafana sunk to a new low after drawing 1-1 with Botswana, a country with barely two million people versus South Africa’s 50 million. Perhaps the worst part was that such a disappointing showing in Gaborone was almost not surprising, such has been the malaise surrounding the national soccer team this year. Underachievement has become […]
Posted inGeneral
So let’s rewrite the Constitution
According to Thomas Jefferson, we have four years to go. He wrote to James Madison in 1789: “Every constitution then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years.” He had some funny ideas; let’s leave it at that. Constitution writing has improved since the days of America’s “founding fathers”, the process described in […]
Posted inGeneral
So there is hope (and you can help)
“Do you get As?” I ask. The two girls – they must be around 11 – giggle and exchange looks. “Yes!” they say. “How many?” “Five!” “How many As will you get for matric?” “Six!” I’m at Home of Hope in Kensington. It houses 24 girls rescued from the Johannesburg inner city and as the […]
Posted inGeneral
South Africa as a democratic developmental state: Bureaucratically not there yet
By Elnari Potgieter As part of the 2011 State of the Nation address, President Zuma claimed, “Our goal is clear. We want to have a country…where the quality of life is high.” His statement ties in with the South African government’s vision of constructing South Africa as a developmental state, which frames the agenda for […]
Posted inGeneral
How communists paid the price and capitalists scooped the pool in post-apartheid SA
When Mandela first met with Sol Kerzner it was not, as was the case with most of his post-release meetings with big-hitting capitalist exploiters, to solicit (or more accurately, quietly demand) a large donation for black upliftment projects. Instead, the purpose was purely political. This was mid-1990, a time when it was not at all […]
Posted inGeneral
South Korea’s national obsession with education
By Deva Lee On Monday mornings, I always ask my students how their weekend was. I expect tales of teenage parties and perhaps a family picnic, but am usually disappointed. Most of the time they tell me they did not have a good weekend, and that they are tired and sad. “Why?” I ask, remembering […]