P Dexter, MP Congress of the People Chair, minister, deputy minister, chair of the Mineral Resources Committee and the director general, Advocate Sandile Nogxina, whom I also commend on his 14 years of good service to the department. I start by acknowledging my daughter, Maya, who is here today. Nearly five-years-old, she is here to […]
News/Politics
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Our blind adherence to the monogamy ideal poses a health risk
By Rachel Nyaradzo Adams Some of you may immediately smirk with a resounding no! The more cynical among us though may have already started on the thought process of acknowledging that non-monogamous behaviour within marriages and “serious” relationships is a reality. But we would rather not interrogate the ideal lest we undo a firm system […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Deaf to a nation in conversation with itself
In SA the ethnic origin and ideological lineage of an idea is more important than the merits and demerits of the idea itself.
Posted inNews/Politics
Sudan: Half the horror remains untold
Between May 19 and May 21, the northern Sudanese Armed Forces annexed the southern border town of Abyei. Next in Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s violent re-mapping of Sudan’s savannah belt by the 1956 borders is the Blue Nile and South Kordofan/Nuba Mountains. According to the boundaries drawn in 1956, shortly before Sudan gained independence from […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
What a media tribunal means
By Glenda Daniels I wonder if the media appeals tribunal the ANC wants so badly will happen. Raymond Louw, deputy chairperson of the media freedom committee at the South African National Editor’s Forum (Sanef), who I interviewed on Wednesday reflected that it would, but in about a year’s time, after an investigation into its feasibility […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
Cowardly big business is failing our democracy
Democracy is an ecosystem. Its survival is dependent on many things: a sound legislative framework, an independent judiciary, a vibrant parliament and a responsive government. Beyond this, it also needs a vigilant, proactive civil society, engaged voters and a free media: three elements that ensure government is held accountable for its actions, transparent about what […]
Posted inEnvironment, Lifestyle, News/Politics
There’s no place for fracking in our future
Recently I went to a public debate about fracking in the Karoo. The motion debated related to the moratorium that’s been imposed — should it be permanent or simply scrapped altogether? The four speakers — two in favour of the moratorium, and two against — each presented their views and spoke about numerous aspects of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We have no youth leaders
Today’s young leaders are largely, arrogant, self-obsessed and concerned with position and power. I’m talking about, mostly, young men and women who are not only under 35 years of age but hold so-called important positions of influence and power in organisations, be it politics, business, NGOs or even the church. They are not the sort […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Will we fight or idly watch the ANC remove our freedoms?
Many South Africans are idly watching the government remove their freedoms. Exaggerated as you may think this claim is, the government has several policies and Bills on standby which suggest that this threat is very real. As all three levels of government begin to tighten the noose around the necks of ordinary people, where do […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Digging up the dirty on medical waste
By Lionel Faull On page 12 of this week’s Mail & Guardian, there’s a photo of a man in a dark blue overall directing a digger as it excavates several tonnes of medical syringes and needles from the brown earth. The man is a cop, and the label on the right-hand breast of his blue […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A case for burning books?
For reasons explained elsewhere, I have been sorting through my personal possessions and shedding most of it in preparation for relocation to South America. Among these possessions are books that I have been accumulating for more than 20 years. Getting rid of more than 2 000 books is, as I have come to learn, quite distressing. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Pondoland’s Magwa tea brews a silent storm
It seemed a Magwa tannin-addiction could be almost as bad as the craving that can develop for Transkei Green, the other famous Wild Coast agricultural product.