“Armstrong ‘still a hero’ ” read the Independent on Saturday headline. Lance Armstrong’s scandalous admission of guilt has got fans scratching their heads wondering how to feel about this anti-hero. The tour-de-farce of lies and denial has climaxed in a tacky American-style made-for-daytime-TV confessionary. Oprah tweeted; the world waited; and now it’s confirmed — cycling’s […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Don’t throw Malema into the dustbin of history
I have listened to political analysts, academics, businessmen and women and ordinary people trying to convince me that Julius Malema is the biggest problem this country has ever been confronted with post-democracy. I have heard arguments about how he is a “populist”, an “opportunist”, a “demagogue” and “a danger to the future of the country”. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Truth and treason
This is not per se another article on the ANCYL’s comments regarding FNB’s new advertising campaign. If it were, it would probably devolve into an angst-filled rant at the ANCYL’s stupidity and FNB’s corporate power, much like the others I have read. Instead I want to focus on just one word, the word that the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Have jihadists crossed the Rubicon in Mali?
A maxim of President Francois Hollande’s election campaign was to reduce France’s overseas interventionist activities. Since the 1960s France has intervened militarily on nearly 50 occasions, mainly to evacuate foreigners as it did in 1990 and 1991 in Gabon and Zaire and in 1994 in Rwanda. Until 2011 France continued to act as the ”policeman” […]
Posted inNews/Politics
FNB, the national anthem and patriotism
What’s a national anthem? Well, according to the Oxford Dictionary a national anthem is defined as a “solemn patriotic song officially adopted by a country as an expression of national identity”. That’s a pretty clear definition. Now, the question begs, how many South Africans stop where that definition ends and see it as nothing more? […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
So how did FNB manage to tickle the ANC’s studio?
When I heard about the troublesome First National Bank advert causing a stir with the political bigwigs I was on the Lyon TCL tramway, on my way home from a rather unpleasant encounter with French bureaucracy. I became so excited I was literally pacing up and down, hoping to use my superpowers to command the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Davos: Why isn’t education higher up on the agenda?
By Pauline Rose This week business leaders are gathering in Davos to debate global priorities at the World Economic Forum. The forum declares itself to be “committed to improving the state of the world”. So why isn’t education higher up on the agenda? On the face of it, there should be little need to make […]
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What do we do with another 14000 unemployed?
By Aidan Prinsloo In my previous contribution, I made a fairly simple point: the retrenchments proposed by the big mining companies in South Africa are unavoidable. The only way our mines can offer competitive prices and look after their employees properly is if they move from the outdated and inhumane many people, low-tech model to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why isn’t Angie the new Manto?
So there I was, having dinner with my family, talking about Lance Armstrong and yellow bracelets, when I had a random thought: is Angie the new Manto? They do have an awful lot in common. Both instantly recognisable by a single name. Both spectacularly bad at their jobs. Under Angie, we’ve embraced chronic and possibly […]
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Disgrace in our winelands
Out of South Africa’s nine provinces, the greatest number of farm workers reside in the wealthy and fertile Western Cape. Despite their fundamental role in the success of our country’s valuable fruit, wine, and tourism industries, farm workers benefit very little, in large part because they are subject to exploitative conditions and human-rights abuses without […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why Amplats is doing the unavoidable
By Aidan Prinsloo The upcoming retrenchments are neither malicious nor a justified retribution. Instead, they are signs of transition that South African business must make. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and Cosatu have expressed outrage at Amplats’ proposed cut of 14 000 jobs. Other mining companies are proposing similar cuts. Some think […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Predistribution
I recently finished reading The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. I last read the book shortly after it was first released in 2009. The book made quite a splash at the time in the UK, but I don’t recall a similar fuss being made about the book in South Africa. But I […]