By Baikong Mamid It’s difficult going anywhere without getting caught up in the football fever these days. The World Cup is in the semi-final stage this week and I have to admit that the football bug has bitten me in a big way — even though I was never a football fan before. Now I […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Our small part in Selebi’s downfall
By Stefaans Brümmer I take no pleasure in seeing a man go down, stripped of his dignity, exposed for his lies. That sense is more acute in the case of Jackie Selebi, convicted of corruption on Friday. For Selebi’s story is in many ways a parable of our democracy: it is a story of struggle, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Oh Selebi, did you have to be so cheap?
If you are looking for a serious deliberation on the quite frankly embarrassing conviction of former police commissioner and ex-Interpol chief Jackie Selebi, then you my friend are at the wrong place. If however you, just like me are flabbergasted at just how little it took to bring down a man who had access to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why did Mbeki ‘protect’ Selebi?
Professor Pierre de Vos, South Africa’s leading authority — in my opinion — on constitutional law, has written a blog which is published in the Sowetan today and which calls into question the relationship between former police commissioner Jackie Selebi and former president Thabo Mbeki, arising out of last week’s South Gauteng High Court conviction […]
Posted inNews/Politics
From ticket frippery to feuda thuggery
It is difficult to feel that sorry for the Democratic Alliance over the toilet wars – in which it has been smeared as indifferent to black dignity – because it walked doe-eyed into an entirely predictable political ambush.
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
I’ve got two words for ineffective government…
Zuma’s performance agreements with government ministers are a toothless tiger. What’s needed to drive performance and service delivery is bite. What’s needed to drive performance is variable pay.
Posted inNews/Politics
Propagandist media houses and the misfortunes of Cope
I have known for a long time that the SABC continues to function as a well-oiled propaganda machine on taxpayer money — despite the fall of apartheid. However, it was recently confirmed that the so-called “Paper for the People”, the Sunday Times, has its fair share of misrepresenting and twisting the facts. Whether intentionally or […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Thank goodness the Madiba magic failed
Bafana’s blessed departure gives SA a chance to display maturity in another way, by not always expecting to be the centre of attention.
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
A second chance at life
By Lungile Dlamini The Thwala family gathers around the small radio set to listen to the commentary of the 2010 Fifa World Cup tournament kick-off. The excitement in the little four-roomed house is so huge, neighbours walking past can almost feel it. Like millions of soccer lovers around the world, the Thwalas have been […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Working with the Root
The following is an eight-part series about Danielle Nierenberg’s visit to the Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development’s (ECASARD) work in Ghana. Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. Part I: Working with the Root The Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (ECASARD), based in Accra, Ghana, is a unique […]
Posted inEnvironment, Lifestyle, News/Politics
One more for the denialists
A new study is out, and the denialists of human-generated climate change are going to love it. Basically the authors of the study in question were puzzled by the level of public doubt and scepticism regarding anthropogenic climate change (ACC). As they saw it there was a “striking agreement” among scientists on the causes and […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Malema’s police instructions were unconstitutional
In accordance with a formal complaint laid by Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard, the Independent Complaints Directorate will assess whether the SAPS acted improperly at the ANCYL conference in Limpopo. The basis for the allegations being that the South African Police Services acted upon instructions given by the president of the African National Congress Youth […]