News/Politics

On April 8 2009 Judge Shira Scheindlin of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Khulumani Support Group and others permission to proceed with litigation against corporations accused of aiding the apartheid government to perpetrate crimes against humanity. This non-governmental organisation is submitting claims against multinational giants such as General […]

Having spent two-and-a-half hours wandering, lost, dazed, misdirected and alone, through the confusing labyrinthine catacombs of Ortia (m.c.k.a. Johannesburg International Airport) last night, I beg some wealthy and wise entrepreneur to urgently begin marketing a “Survivor SA” kit to save body, sanity and soul. The airport ordeal followed a horrendous 110-minute hellride from the West […]

One line of comments stood out for me as I reacquaint myself with Thought Leader. It stood out because of its callousness. In response to an article by David Saks a commentator called Michael Liermann writes: Yes, surely there will be no peace in the Middle East until Palestinians stop ruthlessly damaging IDF rifle-butts with […]

Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s inane giggle (testified to by those who have seen him up close and nervous) came straight to mind when I read the Presbyterian-sounding judgement of Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary. The ruling paved the way for the stomach-churning scenes of Lockerbie bomber Mr al-Megrahi returning to a hero’s welcome in Tripoli. […]

Virtually every person I know who has left South Africa has done so because they could not find work in SA due to BEE and AA and/or they had been traumatised by violence and were extremely uncertain about their and their loved ones’ future in South Africa. Except for those above the age 60, every […]

Why didn’t former Capetonian Brandon Huntley get off his skinny backside and apply for permanent residence in Canada through the normal channels like everyone else? Oh, for sure, the emigration process involves spending a lot of money, filling in lots of forms, and spending a lot of time in queues at home affairs, which is […]

Brandon Huntley claims he has “opened people’s eyes” to the problem of crime in South Africa. For those not in the know, Huntley was recently granted refugee status by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada on the basis that he has given “clear and convincing proof ” that he was a “victim of his […]

The images of demonstrators brandishing placards along Durban Club Place, the street that runs outside the IFP head office in Durban, evoke the atmosphere of the pre-1994 city and country where so much that mattered to the people on the ground had to be proclaimed on the periphery of the formal decision-making processes. Why do […]

It’s a no-brainer, surely? The ANC was founded as long ago as 1912, making it today by some way the country’s oldest extant political party. The old National Party could at least claim to be close to that status, having set out as a breakaway from the ruling South African Party in 1913, but even […]

Seems the whole country and beyond is abuzz with the granting of refugee status to one Brandon Huntley, by Canadian immigration, on inter alia the grounds that he is the target for persecution by “African, South Africans”. Considering that this plays out as black South Africans picking on white South Africans for being white, it […]

I must admit that I was never a fan of ANC Youth League President Julius Malema. I used to criticise many of his statements, both in private and in ANC circles. When I hear of another Malema dilemma, I tend to ask myself, “Oh God, what has he done now again?” But I really fail […]

A while back I had the disconcerting experience of receiving a spontaneous ovation from an audience consisting mainly of Afrikaners. The statement that led to the unexpected explosion in enthusiasm was that ANC members seem not to be promoted despite alleged wrong-doing but because of it. The statement was based on my analysis of the […]