News/Politics

How did the “Rainbow Nation” get to this point? How did this downward spiral pick up such momentum that not only are we headed toward the ways of Zimbabwe, we are gladly embracing the destination? Did this happen because as a people we have relinquished our responsibilities to politicians? All nations have a point where […]

Last week in an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Thorbjorn Jagland, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, defended the awarding of the Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Asserting that “international human-rights law and standards are above the nation-state”, that “ideas of sovereignty have changed over time” and that “the world” has […]

By Justin Foxton Thank you for taking the time to write your letter to the government. I am certain it will be forwarded on many thousands of times and the GC brand will be all the stronger for it. Your transition from voice of 5FM to voice of the people has been fascinating to watch. […]

By Melissa Govender If I had a cent for every time there was some incident involving corruption I would be as rich as Duduzane Zuma. Public comment on corruption has been nauseatingly predictable. Some comment that corruption is inherently an African problem; evident by Africa’s ageing presidents and their swelling bank accounts. Others argue that […]

By Ilham Rawoot So what does a journalist do when he or she is being assaulted for doing their job (this is not a riddle)? This is what our photographer, Oupa Nkosi and I had to grapple with last week, when we had six angry people throwing rocks at Oupa and his camera. And what […]

Advocate Laurence Hodes SC, at the close of the state’s case in the Brett Kebble murder trial in the High Court in Johannesburg, applied for the discharge of his client — murder accused Glenn Agliotti — on all four charges. Agliotti is accused of two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of attempted […]

There she was. A pretty blond mommy of two darling children, cruising to where ever she was going in her shiny red Ford Fiesta. Whilst she was busy smsing on her cellphone, she forgot to use her indicator. Instead of going straight ahead she turned left. Next to her, her daughter – a pretty little angle in a white dress with pink flowers – was sitting on her knees, leaning on the dashboard. She smiled, mommy smiled, baby brother smiled. A happy little family. Bliss. What is wrong with this picture? Well, as far as I know EVERYTHING!

Last week human-rights activist Rhoda Kadalie raised a stink about the abysmal state of the toilets in Cape Town’s City Hall. A contractor was hired in April to renovate them. When she requested a progress report last month senior council officials ignored her so she visited the loos herself. She wrote in Business Day last […]

Democracy is not just about elections, and yet there is a vocal minority guilty of this reductionism, complicit in conspiring to commit political infanticide. The first inclusive, multiracial democratic elections in 1994 merely marked the culmination of a long, arduous negotiation process that sought to lay the foundation of a new democratic and constitutional order. […]

This is a president who does not do much good, but thus far hasn’t done too much harm either.

Please do me a favour and jump back in time – say 12 to 16 months back. You are driving home from work and the radio is on. All of a sudden the news presenter announces how the RXXXX billion for Cape Town’s / Joburg’s / Rustenburg’s / Durban’s stadium has vanished without a trace. […]