The government does not need to fight or over-invest in the media. In fact, it can afford to keep its distance and insist on factual, accurate, correct and truthful reporting. It is an open secret that not only is the media overly juniorised but its professionals are so underpaid and demoralised they cannot uphold their […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
What should we make of the state of land reform?
By Rudolph Jansen Land reform received a fair amount of attention in President Jacob Zuma’s 2013 State of the Nation Address. Sceptics will say “we’ve heard it all before, now show us that something will happen” and the pessimists will say “there is no virtue in admitting failure and government still doesn’t understand the fundamental […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
The Oscar Pistorius case: Time magazine is wrong, Lulu is right
Two mainstream media companies have turned the Oscar Pistorius case into an opportunity to ruminate on the perils of post-white rule. Time magazine and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) have both in their recent coverage used Pistorius’s defence to weigh in on the South African “culture of violence”. It is notable that these media companies […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lynching black men
On March 1 we watched in disbelief and horror as a young Mozambican man, Mido Macia, was forcibly handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged behind the vehicle as he cried out for them to stop. When the car eventually arrived at the police station eyewitnesses say he was further beaten by […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma: The nation’s in a state
Say it just like you would “The Lord’s Prayer” Our President, which aren’t in Nk*ndla, Hello, be thy lame? Thy taxes come. Thy e-toll be done in Gauteng, As it is in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Cape. Give us this day a policeman as commissioner. And forgive us our minister of women, As we […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Corruption destroys political legitimacy
We, as a country, have a serious problem with national morale. Everywhere you look you can sense ”something is wrong”. No doubt, over the last 23 years since the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990, we have produced bright and charismatic leaders. Many have risen to international stature and are significant global players. In […]
Posted inNews/Politics
ANC lashes out at Jews in lead up to 2014 elections
With the date for elections, which must take place before July 2014, fast approaching, the African National Congress (ANC) aims not only to secure its unassailable position as the national governing party, but also wishes to govern in each of the nine provinces. A ferocious battle is shaping up in the Western Cape, the only […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A survival kit for the ANC
It’s crucial that a parasite controls its intake. After all, if the host is sucked dry and consequently expires, so too does the parasite. It is this self-preserving biological imperative that lies behind the African National Congress’s intention to “name and shame” corrupt civil servants. This, it claims, will reduce the amount of R30-billion that […]
Posted inNews/Politics
South Africa and that Time cover
Alex Perry’s story about Oscar Pistorius and South Africa’s culture of violence has inevitably attracted a great deal of attention from the Twittering classes. The general consensus is that the piece, which draws a link between Pistorius’s shooting of Reeva Steenkamp and the endemic violence that characterises our national culture, is poor journalism and full […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Beyond symbols, we need substance
“The unexamined life is not worth living” Plato says in line 38a of The Apology. The thoughts of an ancient Greek philosopher personally grappling with self-examination and intellectual exploration. But how do we examine ourselves today? What happens when you critically interrogate yourself? What are the consequences when you and I begin to call in […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
White South Africans are victims too
On March 17 1992 the National Party, under former president FW de Klerk’s leadership, asked white South Africans a difficult question in the form of a referendum. The question was: “Do you support the continuation of the reform process which the state president began on February 2 1990 and which is aimed at a new […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Would stricter gun control have saved Reeva?
So Lulu Xingwana thinks we need better gun control. “Domestic violence is exacerbated by easy access to guns. We are making a call for stricter gun control,” she said at a media briefing last week. “As a country we need to wage a sustained and effective campaign against the availability of guns in our homes […]