General

Kashiefa Ajam and Candice Bailey — writing for IOL — confirmed that: “Jo’burg shock jock Phat Joe could become the most high-profile casualty of the Caster Semenya saga. As one of the highest-paid radio DJs in the country, Phat Joe, whose real name is Majota Khambule, was suspended by Kaya FM for asking on air […]

Fleishman South Africa were kind enough to lend me a Nokia N97 for a couple of weeks. This phone was coming into focus for me as an upgrade competitor to the iPhone 3GS. Add to that, a fairly nifty digital marketing campaign and my interest was piqued. Straight into it then … The PROs * […]

China’s ban this week on tourists to Tibet — in the run-up to a Cold War era style military parade — will further strengthen the resolve of supporters of the Dalai Lama and, at first glance, the unrelated Chinese pro-democratic movement. Every time they restrict Tibet’s freedom, they, ironically, bring freedom’s day closer.    In […]

I am amazed to think I have been away from SA for more than five years and I have virtually forgotten how many South Africans behave. More than four years of that time has been spent in China and I am starting to acquire various habits, including standing up for the Chinese, some of whose […]

How honest is the jarring partisanship instigated by Pastor Ray McCauley? Would another church leader such as the archbishop of the Anglican Church have gotten away with inviting one political leader to their congregation in the middle on an election campaign? Maybe, but would anyone have gotten away with a blatant refusal to invite the […]

In Discipline and Punish (his genealogy of modern penal practices) Michel Foucault makes the following observation: “Is it surprising that the cellular prison, with its regular chronologies, forced labour, its authorities of surveillance and registration, its experts in normality, who continue and multiply the functions of the judge, should have become the modern instrument of […]

By Sonwabile Mancotywa This being a heritage month, I’m reminded of an incident that happened fifteen years back on the same month. While premier of Free State, Terror Lekota removed the statue of Hendrik Verwoerd, which had been mounted in front of the building that housed the provincial administration. Lekota apparently found the mere sight […]

Today Google released enhancements of two of their products which seems pretty normal by the looks of it. However, these two updates were targeted primarily as a move to trounce Apple. These two applications are Picasa (a free photo managing and simple editing suite, for Windows and Mac) and Gmail Sync (Google’s free email service). […]

When it comes to free photo-editing software, an amateur is spoilt for choice. It seems that big players are competing to bring their solutions into what used to be a very niche field, reserved for enthusiasts. For example, IrfanView, which we often recommended to our sellers for editing the images of items earmarked for sale […]

With the current brouhaha over potential revisions to South Africa’s abortion laws, and in light of recent events in England and elsewhere in Europe, maybe it’s time we in South Africa revisited our national stance on another contentious issue, that of assisted suicide/euthanasia. Certainly it is a controversial and an emotional subject. But like gay […]

I’m an anthropologist and I study humans and in particular am fascinated by how they see themselves and create often strange and even contradictory things called “identity”. Most of us, and I would argue all of us, actually have multiple identities. And the answer is yes; this does create a rather schizophrenic species of great […]

I just read an article on the reader blog called “Fear is not freedom”. Sipho Mazibuko, who labels himself a recent victim of crime seems to suggest that the solution to South Africa’s shared fear is to take the law into our own hands. He says: What is our prerogative as citizens when taking the […]