Judges Gregory Kruger and Hennie Lacock in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday dismissed the appeal of Judge Nkola Motata against his conviction and sentence — a R20 000 fine or 12 months in jail — by magistrate Desmond Nair in September 2009. The appellant had crashed his Jaguar through the wall of […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
SA’s WikiLeaks
• The All Blacks were poisoned before the 95 World Cup final. • Carte Blanche’s theme song is pre-programmed to be louder than anything else on TV on Sunday nights. • Thabo Mbeki had a love affair with Robert Mugabe from 1999 to 2002. • The Parks Board planned to kill the alien goats roaming […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Moving forward…
So, one would hope that after years of struggle, the oldest liberation movement in Africa would have learnt from all the others gone before it. Well, it did not! Why would a liberation movement have such difficulty to move to the next stage ie political party? Why indeed? When I talked to a friend about […]
Posted inGender violence, General, News/Politics
School sexual bullying: Where do we begin?
Education is one of the key Millennium Development Goals and it is critical to the development of South Africa’s democracy. The recent Jules rape case has brought the idea that our children aren’t safe in their schools to everyone’s attention. This case is particularly complex and horrifying because of the reported reactions of other learners […]
Posted inGender violence, News/Politics
Femicidal South Africa
The maximum sentence for femicide is only half the maximum sentence for fraud, yet 1 400 women die every year because they are murdered by their intimate partners. Powa brought this to our attention earlier this year with their video showing how people would respond to loud drums late at night, but they would not respond […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC’s homeopathic tincture for the media
The media legislation that eventually emerges from Parliament will, much like a homeopathic tincture, be efficacious only in the minds of true believers.
Posted inGender violence, News/Politics
Rape culture — bad for you, bad for me, bad for everyone
I would argue that most South Africans have endured rape culture which allows violence to persist with little resistance. It’s undeniable that things aren’t right in South Africa when it comes to sexual violence. Last year’s crime stats show 68 332 reported “sexual offences” and this doesn’t account for the many offences which aren’t reported. There […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
The soul of Seoul
By Philippe Orliange There was some gloom in the South African papers about the outcomes of the Seoul G20 summit — “G20 summit did not fail those with low expectations … ” (Sunday Times), “G20 a colossal failure” (Sunday Independent), “Much ado about nothing” (Business Day). Beyond SA, the view in many places was that […]
Posted inGender violence, News/Politics
16 days of activism: Are we there yet?
Every year Women’s Day, Women’s Month and the 16 Days of Activism roll around and we hear some really great speeches from those in power. Every year, as these events tick by we see NGOs around the country rallying their troops to march, educate, inform and assist. Why? What are these days even about? Do […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Sudan vs Sudan
At the 1870 Berlin Conference, Africa was divided up by the great powers of the day. The borders that were decided were arbitrary in their nature (to put it very politely). As the European powers began the process of decolonisation, so the arbitrary borders in 1870 were kept intact under the principle of International Law […]
Posted inNews/Politics
ANC hogs civil society terrain
While constructive engagement with government is fine and dandy, NGOs very often need to give ruling parties a kick in the balls.
Posted inNews/Politics
Murder mystery
With the arrest of a third man by Western Cape police on Saturday and the indication that the authorities have a state witness, the case of the honeymoon murder and hijacking of Anni Dewani, a British tourist, in Gugulethu is starting to come together. On Friday, the first man arrested, Xolile Mngeni, appeared in the […]