Now having established the leadership for the next five years, there will be pronouncements from the Policy Conference held earlier this year. More blah-blah-blah while the children starve. Posturing by newly elected leaders taking responsibility for the implementation of policies, starts the promissory ball rolling, “these new leaders will deliver”. Nonetheless this is an opportunity […]
General
Part 3 of 6: Election
Nominations flew thick and fast this last year. But now it seems that the results from the branches and provinces will be counted along with the votes from the women’s league, youth league and veterans league and other sections of the congress to establish a vote. Rather than this this process should be restricted to […]
Part 2 of 6: Plenary
Struggling with breakfasts, not enough suitpockets for buffet to go into. Lurching toward the conference centre, nursing a GUINNESS, gonzo’s gone so loud, they may have stocked enough GUINNESS in the fridge skirripoppop man likes. This tented-hall, This expo-centre, will it fit all the gatherings? Will it constrain all the pleadings? Will it dampen the […]
Part 1 of 6: Registration
It feels overwhelming this cavalcade of registrations each claiming to be authentic and yet none seeming to be real. Fake people for a fake race for fake taste. Skrrrrrrilup pup pup pup doom doom tak tak. Its over, you weasels were ducking. Skriiiiiiidi pup pup pup doom doom tak tak, it’s over me man was […]
Committed to teaching in the midst of smog: Five turnaround strategies for rural schools
By Lehlohonolo Mofokeng There is no shortage of evidence that our basic education is in shreds. That being said, the question that we should be asking ourselves is: how do we get out of this mess? How do we ensure that our learners, in spite of an already established culture of mediocrity, start to believe […]
SteinPuff – how much is enough?
We woke up this morning to the news that Christo Wiese had lost 75% of his R58bn (that’s 58 000 million rand) fortune. He is now only worth a paltry R11bn. This all came about because of what appears to be some spectacular accounting principles applied by Steinhoff International, of which Wiese is a 23% […]
SteinPuff – how much is enough?
We woke up this morning to the news that Christo Wiese had lost 75% of his R58bn (that’s 58 000 million rand) fortune. He is now only worth a paltry R11bn. This all came about because of what appears to be some spectacular accounting principles applied by Steinhoff International, of which Wiese is a 23% […]
A challenging archaeological perspective
In the world of archaeology it seems that it takes a long time for what Thomas Kuhn called a “paradigm switch” to take place. By this phrase – as is well-known – Kuhn (1962) meant a sudden abandonment of a certain fundamental conception of a science, which has held sway for some time, in favour […]
The urgency for ‘critical theory’ to wake up to the extinction of the ‘human’
I recently attended an exciting event: the inaugural symposium of what is set to become the South African Society of Critical Theory (SASCT) at the University of the Free State, arranged by colleagues in the philosophy department, where I work. ‘Exciting’ because its formation is long overdue in a world that is facing a bigger […]
‘Westworld’: The shape of the future?
In a previous post I elaborated on an art exhibition at the Venice Biennale of 2017, which thematised the bio-technologies that are in the process of colonising the biosphere on Earth today, arguably with unpredictably deleterious consequences for humans and other living beings. The 2016/17 HBO bio-science-fiction television series, Westworld, based on a similarly-titled Michael […]
When your Wiki page reads like a rap sheet
Being myself unaccustomed to fame and fortune, and the trappings of high profile folly, I don’t have a personal reference for this, but judging from the others it must be a shame when your Wiki page reads like a rap sheet.
CR17: The “Top 5” Sickness
Dear Comrade Govender, You seem to forget the reality that:- We cannot say, “Top 8” – because then we’re broke; We cannot say, “Top 7” – because then we’re dead; We, as the ANC, are saying, “Top 6” – and we are hoping that you (Victoria Island) will carry us as we pay-off the factions […]