In light of the judgment of Judge Chris Nicholson in Pietermaritzburg on Friday the National Prosecuting Authority was left with little choice but to appeal the decision. As things stand a prima facie case on the merits exists against the ANC president and if the NPA were to fail to proceed with it, it would […]
News/Politics
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
White people can be among the most racist
The response to my last blog on black racists proves what I have known for a long time: South Africans are still heavily divided along racial grounds and they find it difficult to have a discussion on the issue without losing their tempers. I have never had so many white people agreeing with what I […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Zapiro, Zuma and us – Part 2. Using rape against rape
Recently Dr Mamphela Ramphele astutely observed that the problem with African leaders is their inability “to envision their roles as agents of fundamental transformation of their societies”. I want to extend her point to those in the business of manufacturing public opinion, in particular journalists and cartoonists. Ramphele uses the example of Zimbabwean President Robert […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
The day Percy pitched me onto the street
I’m pretty damn sure I was the first white person in South Africa to be fired by a black person. I am revealing this little-known truth now in the hope that such credentials might earn me a place at the back of the queue behind those gay, disabled, half-Chinese women standing in line for some […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Our councillors: the Champagne-glass-toting illiterates
It has always been difficult to understand why our local government structures have performed so poorly over the past decade. Sure, re-building a country on the micro-level is no easy task, but the rate at which things happen and the attitude with which local municipal councillors have approached improving their designated wards has left much […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
In memory of Deon Basson, a great forensic business journalist
South Africa lost one of its greatest investigative journalists and a fine thinker when Deon Basson died this week. What endeared him to me, aside from my admiration of his understanding of insurance companies and the determination that made him one of South Africa’s finest investigative business journalists, was a lack of obvious vanity. The […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zimbabwean sanctions must end and Bob should do children’s parties
While cabinet posts are being allocated and the constitutional amendments prepared, two additional issues of critical importance come to mind. The end of sanctions allied to whatever investment (is there anything left out there after the Lehman implosion?) can be made available and the rebuilding of the Zanu-PF as a credible party. I do not […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Right-wing Zapiro, or a guy who gets it right?
The country’s visual conscience corrected his balance with his revised cartoon on Sunday that switched the Jacob Zuma rape of justice image, with members of the Thabo Mbeki camp. Both, according to his accompanying caption, are valid. I analysed this development for the Daily Dispatch as regards his basic message. Which is: South Africa needs […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Hurricane Lehman occasions bloodbath on Wall Street
Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the bunker following the CERN Laboratory experiment, along comes a financial storm so severe that you start thinking that it might have been better if those black holes had swallowed us up after all. I mean FFS what was the point in celebrating the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
As Zimbabwean politicians sign a power-sharing deal, expectations build for the new prime minister
They have no choice but to work together if indeed they believe in ending the political deadlock and ending a decade-long recession. It is supposed to be a landmark agreement ending a decade of political crisis and economic downturn. It is September 15 2008 and the venue is the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare. The […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What is ‘genuine white racism’ anyway?
And how do we know it “runs rampant”? I am prompted to ask the question by this comment by Carlos Amato in a very scholarly and thought-provoking article about that Zapiro cartoon: “Genuine white racism remains rampant in this country,” he writes, “but such indiscriminate accusations will not help to defeat it. Zapiro, who was […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Snakes alive! An appeal against the Zuma decision?
Beeld this morning confirms that the NPA is currently weighing up an appeal against the decision in favour of Jacob Zuma handed down in Pietermaritzburg on Friday. The judgement, which will set the scene for many interesting tripartite alliance meetings this week, rendered the charges against the ANC president invalid. Of course, as the unnamed […]