News/Politics

Turns out the head of South Africa’s blue-light loony brigade is feeling a bit unloved. Sniff. Sob. Let’s all cry him a river. “The South African public doesn’t respect the vehicles of the VIP Protection Unit,” sniveled Commissioner Mzondeki “Sean” Tshabalala this week. Then, his voice cracking with bewilderment and emotion: “They simply refuse to […]

The ANC’s election strategy and tactics have assumed striking similarities to those adopted by Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF prior to the controversial March 29 elections last year. Zanu-PF used fear and political violence to demoralise and make it difficult for the MDC to challenge their political hegemony. That the ANC is desperate is an open secret […]

One of the greatest deceptions of World War II was the concentration camp established at Terezin (renamed Thereisenstadt by the Germans) near Prague in then Czechoslovakia. Though the Nazis gave it a pleasant looking facade, in order to fool the Red Cross, diplomats and world media, it was nothing more or less than a collection […]

Reality television seems to have really caught on. If you look hard enough, you will find a show where someone’s doing something you’re into and is being followed around by a production crew. I’m surprised no-one has come up with a show that gets a dysfunctional family to represent the African continent. The show could […]

MM died in August 2006. Four months before his death, as an inmate at Westville Correctional Centre (WCC), he joined 15 others in taking Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour to court. That case resulted in Balfour and others being compelled to take reasonable steps to ensure access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment at WCC. MM only […]

The decision by the MDC to join the Zimbabwean government of national unity is both vexing and understandable in light of the conduct of the South African government and the elitist club known as SADC. Tsvangirai and his elected party were sold down the river and given little choice but to accept a deal which […]

Robert Mugabe has no intention of relinquishing power. He’s even said as much. And this is merely confirmed by the ongoing abduction, incarceration and torture of opposition activists and a bloody-minded refusal to share key ministries in the proposed unity government. The SADC (Southern African Development Community) is only too aware of the Zanu- PF […]

Responses to this post: Sentletse, be careful where you dip your pen Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have abounded for centuries In 2002 Mark Weber, a director of The Institute for Historical Review wrote an article about the powerful Jewish Lobby in the United States (US). What Weber articulates in his article is very relevant to the […]

Anyone who saw Zimbabwe’s acting Minister of Finance Patrick “whose fooling who” Chinamasa deliver his budget, to roars of derision and laughter from the MDC members of Parliament on SABC 3 News last night, would immediately have begun phoning around to see if this genius does children’s parties. None of your one-liners or knock knock […]

There is a reason why 15th century explorers conveniently divided Earth into the “New World” (including North America) and the “Old World” (including Africa). They might not have intended it in this sense, but there is much the New World can, nay, must, learn from the Old World. After all, age implies experience and experience […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Was Israel’s response to Gaza too heavy-handed?