When I first saw the painting of the The Spear I instinctively felt that it was wrong for one reason: if it had been a painting of a female politician with her genitalia (however small) displayed at a public art gallery, I would not have supported it. I would have felt that it was an insult to […]
News/Politics
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Zuma’s privates and the black male sexual potency myth
Tom Sharpe’s comic novel Indecent Exposure mercilessly lampooning white racism in South Africa was predictably banned under the apartheid government. I managed to get my copy during a visit to Sun City, where such contraband was legally obtainable (since it fell within the boundaries of the ‘independent’ homeland of Bophuthatswana). In one scene, a distraught […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics, Tech
The promise of technology in South Africa
The pace of change and technological evolution has accelerated greatly over the last decade. It’s not only remarkable how dramatically the technologies in everyday use has changed, but also how easily society as a whole has adopted these innovations. The adoption of these technologies has been unequivocally positive – for individuals, the business environment and […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Zuma only has his cockups to blame
The orgiastic furore surrounding the depiction of President Jacob Zuma’s genitalia in an infamous painting, The Spear, is yet to reach a climax in the public square. The painting has power for one reason, and one reason alone: it crystallised a public narrative in pictorial form. As I have written here before, sex is controversially […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cosatu tries to give marching orders to the DA
The opposition was looking for trouble, so there should be no surprise that stones flew and heads were cracked. Any moron should realise that a march on union headquarters by a despised rival would spark violence. That’s the response of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Rebuilding the Eurozone brick by Bric(s)
Europe is in crisis. After a reasonably calm last few months, massaged by a trillion-euro stimulus from the European Central Bank, it seems as if the dark clouds are once again forming over the continent. This comes after the news that Spain’s bond yields have skyrocketed based on concern that the country (which is the […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Obama: Rip those conservatives apart
Four years ago, Barack Obama and his rival, John McCain, both embodied the American idea of nobility in their respective campaigns. This time Obama enjoys the power of incumbency, and he will fight on his record. While all political figures become repositories of hope by virtue of taking office, Obama had built his entire campaign […]
Posted inNews/Politics
How the gogos got their groove back
It’s exciting enough to have me scrambling for the number of my old tailor in Oriental Plaza. Granted, those gigantic bib collars are a bit seventies, and the skirts are a bit mumsy. The hint of shoulder pad also needs to go. And that hat will never fit on my ‘fro. But the old green […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
FW: Why sorry is the hardest word
Amidst the blanket coverage of FW De Klerk’s remarks on CNN, few have stopped to consider that Mr de Klerk may actually have meant what he said, and said what he meant. I believe De Klerk will be judged a towering figure of history, and that his closest historical proxy is Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev did […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Marching left but walking (and talking) right
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce” is Karl Marx’s famous quote in his 1852 book titled The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. In the preface to the book, Marx said it was his specific intention to demonstrate how the class struggle in France created circumstances and relationships which made it possible for […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Review of the judiciary: Transformation = co-operation
Almost exactly three years ago, Jacob Zuma addressed the last ANC rally before the election on April 22 2009, which returned the ANC as ruling party and made him president of the country. He spoke about everything from education to crime before he identified two institutions that required “transformation”: the judiciary and the media. Just […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Is hierarchical democracy an oxymoron?
I sometimes wonder if the constitutional notion of “participative democracy” is not just an impossible, idealistic dream. We are eighteen years down the road since our 1994 elections and the only hard evidence I have of my participation in our new democracy has been making my mark on a few ballot papers. The countless thousands […]