News/Politics

Two presidents. Two birthdays. One month. One region. This is the story of presidents Robert Gabriel Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Brightson Webster Ryson Thom, otherwise known as Bingu wa Mutharika (Malawi). Mugabe was born February 21 1924. Mutharika 10 years and three days later. Last week, the pair celebrated their birthdays, Mugabe his 87th and […]

I must admit that I am enlightened by the insights of so many racial identity experts who make their views known in the variety of media available to South Africans of all shades and persuasions. It seems that every time I read a newspaper or log on to a social media site, I can read […]

It’s been going around. Even Barack Obama is crazy. Instead of sending Libya’s hallucinating leader some anti-psychotics, he accuses him of delusions of grandeur and strategically positions his navy close-by ready to fight craziness with craziness. That’s crazy. The same type of crazy Pravin Gordhan must be if he thinks we’ll stop partying if he […]

By Olivier Brochenin This year is an important one for the bilateral relationship between France and South Africa. In 2011 France has assumed a double presidency of the G8 and G20, South Africa has been accepted as a rotating member of the United Nations Security Council and Durban will host COP 17, where the international […]

There is nothing that Sunday World columnist Kuli Roberts can say or do that will justify or excuse her racist bilge and at a time like this it might be opportune to consider bringing back the death penalty for people like her. Outrageous? Well South Africa that’s pretty much what you sound like about now. […]

The latest addition to President Jacob Zuma’s impeccable lip-service delivery record puts him almost on par with Bob the Builder as an over-ambitious Mr Fix It. While the president hits all the right notes, that’s what election season is all about anyway, the meta-narrative of comments emanating from the ruling party heavyweights demonstrates exactly what […]

How it works here in New Zealand is that when a disaster occurs, not even anywhere near as horrendous as the recent earthquake to devastate Christchurch, it floods the news. Regular TV shows and even adverts are cancelled. There is an enormous sense of a village community in New Zealand. It can be summed up […]

One of the founding fathers of the African National Congress, Pixley ka Seme, stood at Columbia University, in 1906, to deliver his speech: “the Regeneration of Africa”. He said: “The brighter day is rising upon Africa…Yes the regeneration of Africa belongs to this new and powerful period. The African people…possess a common fundamental sentiment which […]

It has been a long time coming. Many thought it would never arrive. But slowly, the seers of our time have started confirming it. The long awaited African Century is finally here and it has announced its arrival with a series of revolutions in the Arab section of the continent. The African Century is a […]

The self-styled King of Africa – and more mundanely the recipient of the Order of Good Hope, SA’s highest award to a foreigner – was adept at buying influence with his petro-dollars.

By Mandeep Tiwana The indiscriminate mowing down of hundreds of protestors, including attacks on the demonstrators from the air offers an important test for the UN Security Council. As of now, the world’s most powerful body has issued a unanimous statement condemning the violence but has failed to take any concrete action to stop the […]