News/Politics

So the taxi industry wants to launch a low-cost airline. Seriously? As soon as this year? I’m nervous, shocked but most of all appalled. Of course I’m not one of those absurd people who think Baba Mkhize from the Bree taxi rank will give up his fake leather jacket, izincab’elela and fong kong Nike Clima-FIT […]

A little later than promised here is part two of “Digital Tongues”. For new readers here is a brief recap of what this is about: “Digital Tongues” is a series of Skype and email conversations between myself and four other Africans from Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. As I lack ruthless editing skills, I […]

The Council of Europe’s recent call for its members to investigate lowering the voting age to 16, while not a novel idea, is undoubtedly a controversial one. In South Africa the idea of lowering the voting age was first raised by former president Nelson Mandela in 1994 when, in an interview with Time magazine (May […]

By Zuki Mqolomba The decision by UN Security apparatus to step in militarily to resolve the “Libyan crisis” has raised serious legal, moral and political questions. Concerns have been exacerbated by the marginalisation of the African Union peace roadmap, as well as the actions of UN allies in Libya, which herald a different approach to […]

What does Julius Malema have in common with Annelie Botes? Apart from their chubby faces, that is. She and Malema are going places – each according to their considerable talents. Both hold views generally regarded as shocking on people they consider to be “the other” – blacks in the case of Botes and whites in […]

“Digital Tongues” is a series of Skype and email conversations between myself and four other Africans from Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. I can’t bring myself to shred any major parts of this digital chat, so I’ve decided to publish this as a series of posts over three days this week. I hope readers […]

Can any independent assessment informed by a ‘broad, critical and researched view’ can negotiate the populist currents that make treacherous ANC waters.

I once read somewhere or overheard someone define a genius: a person who does what no other person has done before or is not afraid to say things that others are afraid to say. In am not interested in the correctness or falsity of this stamen. In South Africa, there is a pervasive culture of […]

By Sally Evans Two weeks ago, I wrote a story about former Gauteng crime intelligence boss Joey Mabasa’s gun allegedly being used to kill strip club tycoon Lolly Jackson. It made me realise how far this story has come since Jackson’s death a year ago, and the unimaginable journey it has led me on as […]