General

Bess Myerson, a 1950s beauty queen, once said: “The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.” The shameless regularity with which acts of impropriety re-emerge at every station of life has certainly numbed the collective conscience of society. Even those who lament the erosion of morality and ethics in all spheres […]

I have finally decided to break my self-imposed silence on our recent elections. The first thing I would like to do is congratulate our new president, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma. Whatever one thinks of the man, you have to admire how he managed to clear every single obstacle in his way. I know that many people […]

I don’t quite know how to put this but SA Rugby has just received a monster shove in the derriere by Australia with regards to the Super 15 plans announced on Tuesday. Of course this is the release trotted out by SA Rugby with the details of the Super 15 tournament starting in 2011 and […]

Well, it all ended in the most un-United of ways with a rather desperate draw but Manchester United had done more than enough in the previous 36 games to earn a day off on their way to a third straight league title. There were cheers when it ended, tears when Tevez departed, and most certainly […]

Submitted by Lynne Brown This week’s battle about gender is not simply a fight between two women or two political parties. The gender issue is a human-rights matter, a complex subject that is of concern to all South Africans. Studies have shown that there is a direct link between a country’s attitude towards women and […]

Submitted by Steve Woodhall I got the impression that the Mail & Guardian had their knives into the IPL series, some of the blogs have been a bit … mean. I was suspending judgment but I’ve just watched the wonderful game between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians at Kingsmead (May 14). I’ve decided this IS […]

Think like a champion, speak like a champion, but live like a forgotten hero. The story of Norman “Pangaman” Sekgapane, transcends record-breaking boxing title fights, and speaks of a nation with little or no value for its human assets. If Helen Zille is a “struggle hero”, then what do we call “Pangaman”? It seems the […]

If the people loved boxing, does boxing love the people? Many would find it puzzling that the son of a once famous boxing champion hates the sport so much that he would rather play rugby. In the Queen’s language his name translates to “Happiness” but Thabo Sekgapane makes it no secret that he cannot be […]

There were the great, and the greatest. And then there were those who moulded their success. The history of boxing is very rich and littered with inspirational stories. Yet so little has been told. It is an honour for me, today, to tell the story of Derrick Phetoe for reasons to be apparent at a […]

Now that the legendary actor, director and theatre producer John Kani has received an outstanding ovation for his Nothing but the Truth, I wonder what those who recommend the play say about it. I must admit that I loved its vivid portrayal of the rivalry between the former exiles and those who stayed behind. The […]

Helen Zille was an anti-apartheid activist who repeatedly put her life in danger in order to bring about a free, non-racist and just South Africa. In addition to exposing the truth about Steve Biko while she was still a journalist, Zille allowed the use of her home as a safe house for other activists and […]

The secret to successful relocation — whether between cities, countries or continents — is not to think about what you miss about the place where you used to live. I’ve never bought into romanticised notions of uniquely African sunsets or the magic of Highveld thunderstorms, and though I love the bush more than anywhere else […]