Last week’s post looked at the most expensive asset most of us will ever buy: property. This week we’ll take a look at vehicle sales and what they tell us about the economy as a whole. Cars, bakkies and trucks are expensive. For most of us consumers, after our houses, vehicles are the most costly […]
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Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The ANC’s “second transition”: promise, threat or propaganda?
1 The chain-reaction set off by the release of the ANC policy discussion documents last week, the foundation course for the party’s “second transition”, was to be expected. Headlines and tweets speak of “mining grabs”, “resource nationalism”, a “full scale attack” on the constitution, and the “path to a failed state”. Some say it is […]
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Sharks need a plan and fast
Well that’s a pretty disappointing start, isn’t it? A moment of magic sparked by Paul Jordaan in the 72nd minute of that dull arm wrestle in Tshwane. And that’s pretty much it as far as bothering the tryline has gone for the Sharks in 2012. Its been pretty moribund stuff really. Not poor, but certainly […]
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Why I don’t want any more nuclear power in SA
It is nearly one year since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. As a result of this meltdown, a 30km evacuation zone was triggered and 150 000 people within that radius have since had to leave their homes, and sometimes their pets, behind. They will not […]
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Think first, then think again: social media and the contact centre
In 2012, it would be shocking indeed to see a communications plan that doesn’t feature social media. In the contact centre environment, most brands are rushing to expand their contact channel mix to include social media, such is the pace of adoption across the global economy. The irony, however, is that for many brands there […]
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Saving our children by sobering them up
By Liezille Pretorius Dear Comrade Angie Motshekga, The problem I wish to address with you is the issue of alcohol misuse in schools. It is my opinion that the current contention around the alcohol-free schools campaign is flawed because it doesn’t take into account the child’s unique socio-economic/politic circumstances. In this letter I show that […]
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The days of our politicians’ lives
By Gosiame Legoale I have a president who has an affinity for showers and an appetite for women, matched only by my imagination when boastfully declaring to any who would care to listen exactly how many skirts I’ve accounted for. I have a deputy president who has no official deputy first lady to utilise as […]
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Greed the only reason for Indian T20 game
Greed: an excessive desire to posses wealth, goods, or abstract things of value with the intention to keep it for one’s self. In today’s modern world, it’s a very important concept considering it was greed that led to the collapse of Bear Sterns which was the prologue in what has become the Great Recession. Greed […]
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Freedom fighters urge rendition, death penalty
Freedom fighters – people who are going through a divorce – have a number of interim applications available to them in order to ensure that there is sufficient maintenance and security pending the final decree being handed down by our courts. These unfortunately are never enough for most spouses who are going through a split […]
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Situating (university) research in an encompassing social theory
As far as I can tell, research at most South African universities – and I would even include overseas universities in this – is conducted in such a way that it is guided principally by individual researchers’ interests, and/or their interests in so far as they overlap or dovetail with those of other researchers under […]
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Malema swaggers to the gaming table in the Last Chance Saloon
Expelled African National Congress Youth League leader, Julius Malema, may know how to whip up a paramilitary posse of slathering, beret-wearing fascists, but when it comes to taking strategic decisions he just hasn’t a clue. When the chips are down he behaves like an alcohol befuddled gambler in the Last Chance Saloon, rashly doubling and […]
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It’s time for a cruise aboard the Costa Discovery
Are you bored to tears listening to the latest on Malema, sick to death of hearing Motlanthe going on about Spurs being legitimate title contenders for the premiership or Zille harping on about scrapping the currency and introducing tokens if the DA comes to power? Well fret no more because Costa Cruises, the British-American owned […]