News/Politics

Forgive me for resorting to the following hackneyed, worn-out story. Shortly before I met my wife some six years ago, she was dragged screaming and gibbering down the driveway by a gang of strong young men so that they could have the pleasure of her and perhaps leave her for dead in the fields near […]

History is beset with illustrious men whose ascendancy to power owe to the employment of manipulative schemes intended to provoke innate emotions of the general mass of desperate people. The presence of particular conditions is requisite for the purpose of aspirant leaders to capture the imagination of people and inspire hope. When society is torn […]

Paragraph 195 of Judge Chris Nicholson’s judgement deals with the overall conspiracy allegations of Jacob Zuma in somewhat fishy terms. In essence, it’s the old sprat-to-catch-a-mackerel routine in that the conspirators, via the NPA, would use Thint (sprat) as bait to nail Shaik (mackerel) and once he was convicted they could bring down the big […]

The pronouncements relating to President Mbeki as made by Judge Nicholson in his judgment in the matter pertaining to the president of the ANC, Jacob Zuma, are serious and troubling. Judge Nicholson inferred in his judgment that there had been political interference in the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) case against the president of the ANC. […]

Judge Chris Nicholson ruled in favour of Jacob Zuma in the application before the Pietermaritzburg High Court, in that the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to prosecute the ANC president was held to be invalid. His judgment flowed from a procedural failure by the NPA as opposed to any decision on the merits of the case. […]

It was with no little relief that we are hearing that Zimbabweans have finally reached an agreement on power sharing. While the exact details shall be released on Monday and there are bound to be many who are still unhappy, it offers the people of that country a vehicle with which to begin the journey […]

In my last offering entitled ‘The scourge of reverse sexism’ — thoughtleader.co.za/silwane/2008/09/07/the-scourge-of-reverse-sexism-in-south-african-society/ — I listed aspects of the gender relations in this country that I presumably disagreed with. I invited you, the reader, to come in and point out all the flaws in my rationale. What I didn’t share with you is that the post […]

The reaching of an agreement between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai is a momentous occasion. After months of the egos and selfishness of these two leaders’ overwhelming reason and deep concern for the people of Zimbabwe, the people of Zimbabwe can now finally sigh in relief as there appears to be hope on the horizon. […]

Paul Kruger (1825-1904), a symbol of Afrikaner resistance against the British, said, “One who wants to create the future must not forget the past.” If we, as South Africans, are determined to sweep away the perverse vestiges of racialism that afflict our society, we ought to appreciate the past in order that we do not […]

Do you have to brown skin, a Muslim moniker, a beard, and a passing or preferably detailed knowledge of the Koran in order to be angry about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the denial of statehood to Palestinians? Here in Britain, you could be forgiven for thinking so. Many argue, or at least […]