News/Politics

I actually needed three sources (News24, the SABC and iafrica) to confirm that I hadn’t misread President Mbeki’s views on Zimbabwe, as given to al-Jazeera in Doha, Qatar. In essence it confirmed that the people of Zimbabwe were to solve their own problems and the rest of the world were simply there to assist. Staggering! […]

Jacob Zuma, president of the ANC, at the recent meeting of the Tripartite Alliance, praised the three members for unanimously condemning Mugabe and his destruction of democracy in Zimbabwe. They join the Pan African Parliament, African Union and even the Southern African Development Community who are now expressing the proper concerns at events in Zimbabwe: […]

President Mbeki can go some way towards restoring his legacy if he finally reaches the conclussion that Africa and the rest of the world arrived at weeks ago -– namely that there is only one result that is generally acceptable and that is the replacement of the current Zimbabwean president and parliament with the one […]

In the May issue of Vanity Fair, there was a telling exchange between its cover star Madonna –- resplendent in leotard and black knee–length boots –- and her interviewer, Rich Cohen. They were talking about David Banda, the child adopted by Madonna in Malawi in 2006. Understandably, Madonna is gushing about her adopted son and […]

One of the main accusations levelled against ANC president Jacob Zuma is that he has a tendency to tell people what they want to hear, flip–flopping his way through to whatever is expedient at the time of asking. In my book, his agreeing to meet former Sunday Times columnist David Bullard at his home and […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Burma, Tibet, Zimbabwe: What chance of meaningful intervention?

I have, at times, been rather scathing of some judges on our High Courts — including Judge President John Hlophe and Judge Motata of the Transvaal Provincial Disvision of the High Court. Yet I have criticised Helen Zille for saying that Judge Nathan Erasmus is allowing himself to be used by the ANC to smear […]

Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister Faisal Al–Hajji, Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasser Al–Sabah, Kuwaiti Prince Nawaf Al–Sabah, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Jordanian King Abdullah, Kuwait’s Amir Sabah Al–Sabah, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic, and many more heads of states and government ministers attended the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) in Kuwait from 29 April […]

President Thabo Mbeki utilised state machinery to frame an innocent Jacob Zuma to get rid of the political threat posed by his (then) deputy. This is an assertion that has been whispered privately for years, with a few brave souls uttering it out loud in public. My brain is simplistic enough to believe that there […]