General

One of the sources of great pride to most South Africans is the presence among us of the Zulu nation. At once loyal and courageous this band of brothers took on the might of the British Empire during the 19th century with primitive weaponry and never gave ground. As such their prowess as a great […]

The Scramble for Africa which began in the 1880s has been largely blamed for disrupting and eroding the cultural practices and traditions of Africans. Africans have maintained that colonialism and imperialism served to entrench Western values while undermining their way of life. The rise of African nationalism since the end of colonisation imbued those who […]

Actually many Africans do keep dogs and it is not just the white Africans that do so. There are stereotypes that abound, but like many stereotypes they do not exist in a vacuum. Many Zulu people do not have dogs as pets. Some of the rural peoples do have dogs that they keep for hunting […]

The words custom, culture and tradition are often invoked to shut down debate and discussion instead of used as a meaningful way of explaining a practice, belief or to understand historical events or legacies. The furore surrounding the feast and celebration known as Ukweshwama has raised some interesting points about the sanctity of culture and […]

One wonders when we as a country will actually have a honest and candid conversation with ourselves about the things we do and say. Indeed one only needs to look at the apologists and the denialists who hold public office to see that some of our countrymen believe that the people want their leaders to […]

Team of the Year — Close one between the *choke*Bulls*choke* and the Bokke here. I’ll go for the Bokke purely on the fact that a Lions Series is a real era-defining win. Player of the Year — He calls the shots like no other and leaves an imprint on every major victory — Fourie du […]

Before getting into this blog, it would be appreciated if any reader can give me a practical answer or solution to the question posed in my blog title above and a quick solution (less than six months processing) for the unabridged South African birth certificate. Seriously. Including a Zimbabwean unabridged birth certificate. Dictionaries define “country” […]

I have had it with Indian businesses. Sure, half of them are my cousins and all that, but even shared bloodlines and Sunday Akhni doesn’t make shitty service and bigoted operations okay. We all talk about how big ol’ Telkom, SABC, Eskom and SAA rip us off, but no one writes about “the Indian business” […]

The Zulu practice of Ukweshwama is violent and inhumane. For those who haven’t been keeping up with the comments around this practice this is what happens: Witnesses to the ritual describe the scene where a bull is released into a group of men, whose duty it then is to slay the animal. However, this is […]

Just when South Africans thought that rifts within the alliance were a thing of the past post-Zuma versus Mbeki, along comes the next big one. This time it is Cosatu taking on what it considers to be the anti-left elements within the ANC. If regard is had to the Reuters article (click on link) then […]

We all saw the handball. Thierry Henry, a fantastic footballer, decided to use his hand as a guide to set up William Gallas to score the goal that ended Ireland’s hopes of playing in 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Henry should be ashamed of himself for what he did. Though no angel on the […]

By Niki Moore The campaign for self-determination for the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka should hold lessons for governments the whole world over. The question must be asked: Why self determination always have to be bought with blood? The three-decade-long civil war in Sri Lanka is over. For most of the world it was a […]