The long awaited cabinet reshuffle has finally happened. Almost a third of the ministers have been laid off. This is unprecedented. Its rationale according to the president is to promote efficiency and bring about a better life for all South Africans. But what is even more important is the genesis and pathology of this cabinet […]
General
Posted inBusiness, General, News/Politics
The fatal hermeneutic divide in South Africa
Many people are bound to have thought of Alan Paton’s novel, Cry the Beloved Country, in the wake of recent events in South Africa. And everyone who have thought of it as a suitable response to these events may be forgiven. But there’s a saying, that people get the government they deserve, and it is […]
Posted inEquality, General, Health
Blood Brothers and socio-economic inequality
At the dramatic culmination of Willy Russell’s gripping musical, Blood Brothers (1983), one of the twins who were parted soon after birth, Mickey, expresses his resentment at his mother, Mrs Johnstone, for not having been the one (Eddie) who was given away to a rich, childless woman, exclaiming something like: “I could have been him!” […]
Posted inGeneral
How can we use privilege to influence change?
After a year and half of being the white facilitator in Consciousness Café, a pop-up dialogue café in which people of all races, nations and cultures, come together to examine their own feelings – and consequently actions – on the topics of racism, privilege and injustice in South Africa, I started to wonder if an additional conversation was needed. I had noticed […]
Posted inEnvironment, General
Is humanity a rational species?
Most readers’ gut reaction to the question, above, would probably be something like: ‘Yes, of course!’ But please consider that the question is not whether humans are, on occasion, capable of rational behaviour. As it stands, the question bears on what would, if it could be answered affirmatively, be the supposed overriding quality of the […]
Posted inGeneral
Anthem for Kalushi
Kalushi is a period drama with international calibre attention to detail. In one of the opening scenes a shop owner holds out a bank note bearing the image of the infamous man with curly black hair – that is, Jan van Rieebeck himself. This is world class attention to detail. When Solomon and his friends […]
Posted inGeneral
Revolutionary clichés are intended to mask failures in policy execution
Watching Fikile Mbalula announce the introduction of a ‘’revolutionary electoral council’’ at the ANC press conference and state that “we simply dusted it from the cupboard and have given it new perfume” left me completely stunned. What stunned me is not the novelty of the subject but the fact that he restricted himself to the […]
Posted inGeneral, Media
The actress who should have won the Oscar this year
Although I have come across quite a few people who dismiss the richly ambiguous La La Land as an unsuccessful attempt at a musical – no doubt implicitly comparing it to traditional musicals like My Fair Lady or The Sound of Music – I do not share their view. It is an outstanding film that […]
Posted inGeneral
Xenophobic violence has underlying causes that were ignored
The unfortunate cycle of wanton violence meted against migrants in Tshwane and other parts of Gauteng is indeed petrifying and dangerous. It is our responsibility to arrest its cyclical nature and rededicate our efforts to honestly confront the underlying issues and resolve them permanently. Anecdotal evidence points to a massive level of frustration that has […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics, Tech
The early 21st century: Taking stock
We live in a society in transition – a process rooted in a technological revolution that stretches back to the middle of the previous century, with the invention of television, followed by other innovations in the media, and culminating in the invention of the internet, initially conceived as a military tool of sorts. Although the […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
Stop feeling guilty for living in your strengths
It strikes me when doing work on strengths-based leadership that the biggest hindrance to people connecting with their strengths is a subconscious and unhealthy attachment to GUILT. Our education drums into us this idea that functional humans must spend a disproportionate amount of time working on their weakness so that they can be ‘well rounded’ […]
Posted inGeneral, Media, Tech
Technocratic culture: ‘Disconnect’
If you don’t like thinking for yourself, don’t read this post. If you prefer playing around on your mobile device or smartphone, don’t bother reading further. The phone is definitely smarter than you are if you have relinquished your own memory and thinking-ability to its functionality. But if you would like to know something more […]