By Lethukuthula Mxolisi Kheswa In all major setbacks, be they political, social or racial, there’s a dominating need to look around for the weak link to place the blame on. We’ve seen it countless times. Blame the bank for charging high fees, blame the government for failing to deliver, blame the principals for not enforcing […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Did we expect too much from Mandela?
When our Big Five were herded aside a few weeks ago to make space for the visage of our most (only?) loved politician, we began facing daily reminders at every purchase that this country truly is ubiquitously contoured by Nelson Mandela. How will we even begin to explain who he was to future generations of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why Motlanthe?
The road to Mangaung has revealed a lot, not only about South African politics but our society as a whole. Many seem to be looking outside themselves for solutions to our problems — waiting for a saviour to “fix” things. It’s almost as if we fear being a part of the solution. Or rather, we […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The good ship Msholozi needs Captain Courageous, not Pugwash
Just over three months ago President Jacob Zuma was sailing towards the African National Congress leadership conference with only clear water to be spied ahead of him. Now the good ship Msholozi is battered, yawing from side to side, and its skipper panicked. What happened? After all, a home province membership drive promised KwaZulu-Natal a […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
A dangerous game of darts in the dark
By Daniel Berman and Gregory Hussey South Africa claims with pride its status as a middle-income country and economic powerhouse but when it comes to saving the lives of children through routine immunisations, we are far behind neighbouring countries. By 2010, South Africa was already spending R1.2 billion on vaccine procurement every year but child vaccination […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The value of life in Palestine
By Nina Butler, Ramallah Days are short in Palestine. It is pitch black by 5pm and winter has not yet even solidified over the barren, beige land, scarred with barbed wire and mountains of trash. Lives are short here too. At 6pm last night I received a call from a local friend in Ramallah to […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Informal cross-border trade should be formalised
Despite being a source of income for many living on the African continent, as much as 43%, informal cross-border trade is regarded as illegal. Informal cross-border trade refers to trade in processed or non-processed merchandise that may be legal imports or exports on one side of the border and illicit on the other side and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
How should we remember Zuma’s presidency?
History is a complex social construction but a few grand narratives tend to stick out. Among other stories we’ll remember Mandela as the reconciliatory president, asking us to throw our “pangas into the sea” and forgive. We’ll remember Mbeki’s poetic appeal to our African identity, an aloof renaissance man and, bitter-sweet, as the statesman who […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A miscarriage of justice
The miscarriage of justice regarding the arrest of Dr Cyril Karabus in the United Arab Emirates continues to play out in a manner that reflects poorly on judicial systems partially or wholly based on sharia law. Under this system it appears there is a presumption of guilt, namely that one is guilty until proven innocent. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Crooked socialites – it’s just good business practice
Ah, the rich are different from us. In case you don’t believe writer Scott Fitzgerald in pre-Great Depression America, ask former estate agent Wendy Machanik in post-financial crisis South Africa. Following exposure by a whistleblower, Machanik admitted stealing R27-million of her clients’ trust account money. Since then, the sentencing deal she struck with the Specialised […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The problem with legalising drugs
While the US elections dominated the news for the last week, two US states – Washington and Colorado – took the opportunity to legalise the recreational use of marijuana. For proponents of legalisation and for those who believe that the “war on drugs” has failed, this was seen as a major victory. But having thought […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The decline and fall of the African Renaissance
The Roman achievement was colossal. The Romans knew it themselves hence their belief in Roma Aeterna, the eternal city. But as everybody knows, Rome was not eternal and “the best-known fact” about Rome, remarked Arthur Ferrill, is that “it declined and fell”. Edward Gibbon was summing up not just the reign of Emperor Antoninus, or […]