General

Like Jonah in the belly of the whale, you cannot possess power. Rather, it possesses you. Google would do well to understand this. One of the more interesting people I’ve interviewed is a man called Ali Allawi. Based in London, Allawi has the look of a haunted man. The former minister of trade and minister […]

I was encouraged and puzzled by Khadija Sharife’s recent post, simply one of Rumi’s stunning poems. The poem is beautiful, the lack of commentary and any particular reason for posting it, rather odd. I know the poem speaks for itself, but … I was encouraged because, though I have published bits and pieces of my […]

Skills wise, what have you really given to your country lately? Are you the serving or the grabbing kind? How would you know? What is the little voice inside telling you?  Next time you turn on a light, a water tap, flush the toilet and take out the trash, remember this: you are part of […]

Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota — addressing journalists in Bloemfontein — has warned that the media would come under pressure from the ruling party in the near future. In response to questions about who would be the leaders of the new party, he advised that this was a work in progress but that of greater concern […]

What do you do with those wasted minutes in a queue, waiting for a train or a meeting, or staring at the cereal box wishing there was something new to read there? I usually reach for my phone to read, in an activity that’s come to be called “interstitial reading”. Over at Tools of Change, […]

At the tender age of nine, Alec Greven has figured out what most men will spend the rest of their lives puzzled and perplexed by … namely, how to talk to girls. This is the title of his first book that has reached the top thirty on the Amazon best seller list and is set […]

It feels strange coming back onto Thought Leader and reading some of these fascinating blogs after an absence of almost a year. Still picking on the poor politicians I see, and still stressing the superficial differences as if our lives depended on it. December 16th is a South African public holiday. We celebrate Reconciliation Day. […]

WE FLING these four words about like they were just so much confetti at someone else’s wedding. Yet they are four words that can cut deeper than a Samurai blade and be as deadly as a 9mm right between the eyes. Everyone sips a little from the cup of melancholy around this time of year. […]

The ANC has always claimed to be oriented towards non-racialism but under the current leadership the opposite appears increasingly to be true. All the gains made by Nelson Mandela since the liberation in building an inclusive and non-racial society are being reversed in populist pursuits for the preservation of the ANC’s political hegemony. In 1996 […]

Here’s one suggestion for helping ease South Africa’s economic and moral woes: close all casinos. Right now. For they have utterly no redeeming features whatsoever. And while we’re at it, let’s draw a knife across the throat of that monstrosity called the lottery. At a time when South Africa is crying out for good old-fashioned […]

It is with a heavy heart that I write to you. I am convinced I cannot continue to address you as a leader, because you’re no longer one. You are a failure. You have messed up everything. Indeed, you have messed up with disastrous results! Your people have been shamed all over the world. Their […]

Going through my collection of Australian insults a couple of days ago, something struck me. Knock me down with a budgie feather, but Australians don’t particularly like their expats either. So it’s not just Jarred Cinman comparing South Africans who leave to a cancer that must be cut out in order for the “healing” to […]