The first thing I came across on SADTU’s website when I visited it on 18/05/2013 is an announcement on “improvements in the working conditions” of teachers. This particular improvement relates to annual cost-of-living adjustments for educators. This is all well and it is needed, and granted SADTU is a union for teachers and not the […]
General
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Where is the black conservative in South Africa?
By Melo Magolego The deafening umbrage surrounding the DA’s use of Mandela in DA posters makes me curious. What has made people so flustered about the appropriation of the Mandela brand by the DA? I find reasons focusing on the veracity and accuracy of the claims about the track record of Helen Suzman wholly uninteresting. […]
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Stop, Jonathan, before Nigerians lose their internet freedom
By Gbenga Sesan On Saturday, 6 April 2013, at a leadership workshop organised for young and emerging leaders in Ekiti State, south west Nigeria, I asked Nigeria’s finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a simple question: Why does the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan prefer lazy solutions? My premise, at […]
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Loving on Mugabe’s lap
By Gcobani Qambela May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (Idaho), presents an opportunity for us young people, the so-called “future leaders” of the continent, to reflect deeply about what we are going to do differently to our many ageing African homophobic and misogynistic leaders when it comes to our treatment of non-heterosexual […]
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Ten tips on how to be a colonial
1. Constantly compare your country, its people, its practices, its food, drink, scenery and products to the overseas version and always find the local version wanting. 2. Ignore the cynicism and spiritual poverty of nations who have seen better days. 3. Have no faith in home-grown solutions. Always look for international or European or US […]
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Bad form
Next time you try to complain and in response some poorly-trained surly sod working for a diseased organisation in a sick building gives you a form to fill in that needs three years of audited financial statements, your life story in block letters, your race (the one none of us win), your gender (ditto) and […]
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The famous tree house
My friend Johannes says that it is considered fortunate to have an Oak Tree at the entrance to your home. I do not know the name of the man who has lived in this tree for as long as I have driven along this leafy road, Observatory Curve in Johannesburg. Must be nearly 20 years […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Guptagate, a scientist’s point of view
In the past few weeks of politics in our country, it transpired that politics can be a dirty playground meant not for the fainthearted. Since the dramatic saga hit the news, and still receiving immense attention in popular media, some friends perhaps sensing that I am “mum” about the issue have asked what my reflections […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Al-Qaeda training camp a disaster
The media and certain political parties appear to be up in arms over the so-called failure of the Hawks, crime intelligence and the State Security Agency (SSA) to report on their alleged monitoring of an al-Qaeda training camp in South Africa. This is a no-brainer. Our top police units and SSA work with police and […]
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Kathrada’s sudden interest in Morgan Freeman
No doubt inspired by the recent success of the boycott movement in persuading Stephen Hawking not to attend the President Conference in June, Ahmed Kathrada, the veteran anti-apartheid activist who served time in prison on Robben Island, has written an open letter to Morgan Freeman condemning him for accepting the “key of knowledge award” by […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Pandering to apartheid
The DA has recently launched a poster campaign entitled “Know Your DA”. It attempts, I think, to bring to light the “untold” role that some of their founding members played in the fight against apartheid. Typical of South African politics, supporters of opposition parties countered these claims with a series of spoof posters, intent on revealing […]
Posted inEquality, General
Nolwazi, HIV and the people she left behind
My daughter’s nanny died today, 10pm on the 12th day of December. The day of her passing is 11 days after December 1, World Aids Day, and 10 days after December 2, the day I was born. We celebrated her birthday two weeks after she had tested positive for HIV. Because *Nolwazi lived thousands of […]