General

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: How should we be dealing with the influx of Zimbabwean refugees?

When Schabir Shaik eventually recovers from his terrible (let’s hope it’s not terminal, eh?) illness and re-enters Durban social life, he won’t find quite the same place he left. A lot has happened during his brutal 28-month stint in that private ward. For one thing, it’s been raining for months on end, not only aggravating […]

In 2004 I appeared on a number of occasions in Protea Court, Soweto, in defence of a man who had been charged with murdering his fiancée by shooting her 5 times at point-blank range. As a leading member of her church the trial invariably drew enormous crowds from the community. In respect of the accused […]

I have written previously about the need for democracy to be about more than just voting every few years. It has been about the need for democracy to be an everyday way of life for all citizens. Active citizenship is the essence of what is sometimes called radical or deep democracy and active citizenship ultimately […]

If Tony Leon had accepted former president Mandela’s offer to join the government of national unity in 1994, and had become a minister, in the first non-racial democratic government from 1994 to 1999, it is clear that the fortunes of the DA would have, today, been different. Not wanting to become lapdogs to the behemoth […]

There is this sudden and quick South African political obsession with keeping convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik in jail. The obsession has got nothing to do with the fight for justice and equality before the law but everything to do with the fact that he is friends with ANC President Jacob Zuma. There is unfounded fear […]

The 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) is back on the ropes — this time over its failure to promote the 2009 Confederations Cup which will be staged in just three months. Visiting Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke lashed out at the lack of signage for the key 2010 curtain-raiser. Fair comment, perhaps, but once again it’s […]

Submitted by Tendai Chiguware I have to admit I was not one of the first people to download Linux Ubuntu 8.04 when it was released some time last year. The reason was that I already had Ubuntu 7.01 Ultimate Gamers Edition (which I believe is the best thing to come out of the Linux community) […]

The vast scope of the politics of patronage has become an incontestable reality since Polokwane visited on us all the ills we never imagined for our young democracy. Scavengers from all corners have descended upon the carcass of the ANC, lured by the promises of a gluttonous feast. When the once glorious ANC hoisted a […]

“Let me clarify one thing. I hate no Jew (for that matter a great admirer of Ronnie Kasrils, Steven Friedman and other millions of Jews who refuse to be silenced on the basis of their nationality by Zionists) and organised a march not to anyone’s neighbourhood, but to offices of an organisation that I considered […]

Creative Commons licences are a set of copyright licences that enable copyright holders to mark their creative work with the freedom they want it to carry. By specifying what kinds of reuse you will allow by default (non-commercial or commercial reuse, the production and dissemination of derivatives, translations etc) Creative Commons allows copyright holders who […]

I’ll keep this one brief, Mondays are rough enough hey? Four weeks in, here’s what I’ve figured: Bulls: Stick to your knitting and you’ll be just fine. These ELV malarkeys don’t forbid kicking it long and keeping it tight. Keep Fourie du Preez fit and when in doubt, swing it to Pierre Cheetahs: Take up […]