News/Politics

As a regular visitor to Alexandra as a criminal attorney, I decided to go in there yesterday and find out from the guys on the ground why they were so angry, and put the allegations of xenophobia into some form of context. As we all know, nothing happens in a vacuum and people who are […]

Submitted by Boitumelo Magolego The inside cover of my Oxford English dictionary features a word with which I have become all too familiar: the word is kwerekwere. (It may be more familiar to you with one of its vernacular language–dependant prefixes prepended — the Sotho singular being le– and plural ma–, the Nguni singular being […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: The rise of xenophobia: Is the govt supporting foreigners at the expense of locals?

The US has declared the polar bear to be a threatened species. So from today, global waffling alarmists will be able to cite the doomed polar bear for their doctrinaire opposition to energy production, industrial projects and economic development.

I am often baffled by what makes the news and what doesn’t. I mean let’s just assume for argument’s sake, we have a showdown between the longstanding chair of a legislative committee, and a member of the executive. Oh well, ok, it was Chauke and the Minister of Home Affairs. There is a whole ‘he […]

South Africans have in the past always prided themselves on being gracious hosts to the many tourists and people from around the world who choose this country as their destination for a holiday, or even a place to live. Currently, however, we are witnessing an outbreak of xenophobic attacks on a scale unprecedented in our […]

On 21 April 2008, the American Defence Secretary Robert Gates, told the West Point Military Academy’s cadets that they could expect “years of persistent, engaged combat all around the world” for — note well — “there are no exit strategies”. At the Academy, much is made of their claim that “the history we teach was […]

British prime minister Gordon Brown, having just led his party to its worst local election’s showing in 40 years, witnessed its most dire polling since records began in the 1930s and having had a brief glimpse of what the Cherie Blair and John Prescott’s sure–to–be–bestsellers have in store for him, could be excused for thinking […]

A tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the DA was in desperate need of a branding overhaul was met with a broad spectrum of responses — from “DA who?” to indignant rebuttals from DA activists. The reality of the situation is that that the official opposition is severely stigmatised. Negative emotions towards the party — from mistrust to […]