News/Politics

While the political ping pong ball that is Zimbabwe’s future is knocked backwards and forwards across the negotiation table I thought that a sing-a-long might cheer us all up; something that would be appropriate while you’re watching the population being brutalised and murdered on television. Most of you will know the tune to Where do […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Who would you like to see as premiers of the Eastern and Western Cape?

Afriforum, the civil rights arm of Solidarity, has laid a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice against a senior superintendent of the SAPS forensics laboratory in Pretoria. This genius has allegedly refused to receive evidence in over 50 cases because the covering letter was in Afrikaans. Regardless of whether he likes it […]

Cosatu is planning another protest, a core domain of this useless trade union movement; a protest apparently against escalating food, electricity and oil costs. By some miracle this idiotic protest is intended to alleviate the plight of the poor who are enduring greatest strain during these testing economic conditions. Protest marches in the past have […]

Last week I cried – in public – for the first time in a long time. Years of working in the field of HIV/Aids and access to healthcare have made me tough, perhaps even cold. But as Robi, Ali and Rami recounted their stories of loss, the tears flowed. I wasn’t alone. Robi Damelin is […]

Déjà vu — again. And of a particularly nasty variety too. After refusing to apologise for inciting violence by saying he’d “kill” for ANC president Jacob Zuma, ANCYL president Julius Malema promised not to use the word “kill” in public again. So, now he’s gone and used the word “eliminate”. The last time we were […]

The winds of change are sweeping in their full might across America. From west to east, from south to north; from the curvaceous peaks of California to the heightening Allegheny Mountain ranges of Pennsylvania; from desert dunes of Texas to lakes and rivers of North Dakota — the soul of America reaches out for change. […]

When a man the rest of us expect to possess an above average intellect, such as the learned Professor Makgoba, goes on to concur with the rubbish uttered by Julius Malema and Zwelinzima Vavi about killing for Reverend Kangaman, then we have a very big problem. While I continue to hold in esteem the studies […]

A so-called satirical cover of the New Yorker magazine, depicting Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife as an armed terrorist, has created a huge storm among the media, politicians and religious leaders. While the publication tries to justify it as a reflection of right-wing views of Obama, it is at best a stretch, […]

According to the headlines in the Sunday papers, scattered among the usual hysterical rantings of the Sunday media (Eskom bonuses, the ANC firing premiers and so on), was the news that Kgalema Motlanthe has been put on to the Cabinet by the ANC NEC. This has been touted for some time and has now finally […]

Travelling around Sydney promises to be fun, fun, fun this week. Half the roads in the CBD are being closed to traffic, bus services are being rescheduled and trains will be heaving with the sweaty bodies of both bad-tempered commuters and young Catholics fired with religious fervour. Yes, the pope is in town for World […]