General

The Free State ANC has confirmed that the party will picket the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Monday and Tuesday with a protest march planned for next Friday, to the University of the Free State, following an announcement by its Rector Jonathan Jansen that they had pardoned the Reitz Four and invited them to finish their […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Was UFS vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen right to drop charges against the Reitz Four?

Not too long ago I had a conversation with an ageing Bra Mike at Prestige Park, as Diepkloof Extension is known. I was gobsmacked when he asserted that President Jacob Zuma is the last of the African nationalists who truly believes in serving the people and putting their interests first. “After him, this country is […]

The lead up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit this December is not looking particularly promising. The world is split into two camps and in the past few months they have both been drastically lowering what can be expected from them in December. On the industrialised nation front, the European Union has come out and said […]

By Roger Diamond There is a train moving across the countryside and we are all on board. Somewhere, ahead on the tracks is a bridge that ends in space where the tracks have been blown up long ago. If the train carries on moving, it will eventually plummet over the edge of the bridge and […]

Why the fecking hell are Saru continuing to allow themselves to be bullied by Aus in the Sanzar alliance? It makes absolutely no sense at all from any angle. New Zealand has 145 472 players registered with its 26 (mainly marginal) unions. Australia has roughly 150 000 in a good year. South Africa is blessed with about […]

Can somebody please explain how Fifa goes about running “world” football? If it truly claims to represent the interests of world football, why is it that Europe and the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) seem to get a better deal than the rest of the world? First we have to look at the World […]

Despite the recent hysteria, there was much to admire about Joel Santana who took the plunge by taking the reins of a national team (for the first time) which had the added responsibility of hosting the 2010 World Cup. Despite a shaky start to his tenure 18 months ago, Bafana Bafana found their feet under […]

I ended a chapter of my life tonight. Quite unceremoniously and without much fanfare I walked out on four years of my life, approximately 20% of what I’ve done as a living creature thus far. It was sad, not because of goodbyes and farewells, but because I had to prevent and restrain myself from plunging […]

We did them for President Mbeki so it’s only right. Three blind mice/doctors Three blind docs, three blind docs, See how they run, see how they run, They all ran after a charming life, But couldn’t cut with a carving knife, Did you ever see such a thing in your life, As medical parole? Humpty […]

In the last two weeks two young talented men, both in their thirties, have tragically died: Stephen Gately, the former Boyzone singer, aged 33, and Garth Stead, the brilliant Cape Town photographer, aged 37, who literally painted images of lyrical beauty with his Nixon camera. Sadly, it appears that Garth died by his own hand. […]

I am not a fan of famous professors. They are normally so caught up in their research that they’re often socially starved animals; aloof and arrogant in their approach. I’d rather read their work than meet them. Some have been in the library so long they’re unaware of the hairs growing on their nose. When […]