Lifestyle

The scent of jasmine in the air is intoxicating, isn’t it? I think I may be addicted to it. Every day I yank flowers from the bushes and keep them in my bedroom, my office and my car, where they grow brittle and scatter papery petals everywhere. I am breathing in a sprig of jasmine […]

As South Africa looks to renew its energy sector, comparisons are often made of how much one source of electricity costs versus another. Carrying out this exercise is much more difficult than might at first appear, but this must not deter the attempt. What are the problems encountered when comparing renewable sources such as wind […]

Tick tock, tick tock. That sound is the passing of time, and lots of it has passed since the 50s, or at least I had hoped so. The love of my life has been given a job in Johannesburg (a dusty, dirty and angry city) and we currently live in Cape Town (a fresh, clean […]

I’m interested in the story we tell about ourselves in 2010 South Africa – because I don’t think it has a happy ending.
It’s a story like many of the fairytales we’ve heard before. It tells us that we are all special individuals capable of achieving anything we can imagine if we just work hard enough. Yes, regardless of where you come from or what your background, you can have a happy ending — a Tuscan-like villa, flat-screen TVs, a flashy car, and lots of branded goodies.

I’m between home and show and booked in for the night, but adrenalin has bled out, and the minutes feel skinned alive. Moments hang together, nerves exposed. I’ve chickened out and beat the last joke to the car. Drunk executives and their punch bags heave under the weight of free buffet. Young do-goods shake jowls […]

There are bunch of teachers on strike. They want more money or something. I don’t blame them, we all want more money, and sometimes removing your services is the only way to get that. I don’t know if they deserve any more money or if they are just taking a chance. Sometimes in the Third […]

And it’s horrible. Right now my lower lip is completely numb and my face is completely lopsided — grotesquely swollen on the right and almost normal on the left — so that I look like half a hamster. It’s a scary sight: in a way it’s worse than looking like, well, a whole hamster. At […]

On Saturday night I made my way in a Rikki taxi to attend what I expected to be an Afrikaans sokkie-jol in the heart of a suburb of Cape Town. We pulled up outside the rugby hall to hear what sounded like evangelical music pouring out the window. I looked around at the people in […]

By Anton Botha As the seriousness of global warming has become clearer, scientists, environmental activists, civil society, and even politicians have taken to informing, and warning, people about this crisis. Although this campaign has been informative by all accounts, it does not seem to have been effective. Knowledge of global warming and its effects is […]