News/Politics

Julius Malema has exploded into political … prominence … by making himself hard to ignore. Inheriting a platform that drew attention to the accidental outrages he tripped into, he quickly learned to stoke outrage and roar back at any responses he provoked. For the media, trying to gauge the state of the nation’s health from […]

For years Bob Geldof, former Boomtown Rat turned self-styled saviour of Africa, was celebrated as a secular saint. To the annoyance of some of us — including me — he was fawned over by the world media and world leaders, who loved the gruff, messy-haired, expletive-laden “authenticity” he apparently brought to the discussion about global […]

As racial tensions continue to rise over the murder of Eugene Terre’Blanche, and renewed concerns about the ability of black people to host thousands of visiting white people for the WC in June flourish, the South African Muslim and Halaal Authority (SAMHA), report that they have been inundated by calls from foreigners asking “if it […]

A hat tip to Mphutlane wa Bofelo for pointing out the subtext to the ANC’s claim to the “shoot the boer!” song: For is it not the case, as wa Bofelo points out, that the attempt to establish a heritage status for the song locates the struggle in the past? And what of the new […]

In March of 1991 after months of nationalistic propaganda and other divisive rhetoric from Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman, a small group of Serbs and Croats clashed in the Plitvice Lakes National Park on the border between these two countries. Serbs had moved into the park and expelled the park management. Zagreb viewed this as […]

If I ever feel tempted to write about Julius Malema — aka Droolius, the Jelly Tsotsi, JuJu, Kiddie Amin etc — please remind me of this post. Remind me that I took a vow never to write about him again, because writing about him would make me complicit in fueling his continued rise to a […]

As we gather here today to reflect on the passing of an unfortunate soul and tragic enigma of our collective South African history, very few words can adequately capture the impact of this his actions and ideas on countless South Africans throughout the span of his public and private life. Eugene was an anachronism, not […]

It is understandable that when one of South Africa’s best-known racist is murdered on his farm, that there are some people who will read racism into his murder. It even suits the political agenda of some people who campaign against the murder of white farmers by black people. But no matter how racist AWB leader […]

My first reaction to reading about ET’s death was that it was an April Fool gag. But the news had already been reported worldwide, and I realised it wasn’t. And felt nostalgic. Let me speak for the good guys, people like me. Good guys, regardless of political leaning, seem to need people we love to […]