News/Politics

The closing ceremony to the Sydney Olympics ended with an artistic performance by the next hosting country. China and its main city, Beijing, will be hosting the Games later in 2008. The display that China put on was breathtaking. It felt, at the time, that having to wait for four years for China’s opening ceremony […]

When does freedom of speech and expression trump the right to respecting people’s beliefs or religion? Are we finally reaching the point where no boundaries remain that we will not overstep? Can we honestly just keep kicking down the fences guarding our morality and then expect people to put up new ones, only to have […]

These six simple words are widely acknowledged as one of the greatest short, short stories. Ernest Hemingway wrote it, and with it won his barroom bet to that end. A Cape Town tabloid once came close with “Man dies kak death”, but I think you’ll agree that, despite its gain in brevity, it lacks the […]

To understand the effectiveness of President Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy, we need to understand that, sometimes, finding African solutions to African problems is a phenomenon that cannot be put into words. In fact, most people cannot grasp or conceptualise it. Here is a made-up attempt to explain what has been happening over the past few […]

Submitted by Phaphama Dulwana It’s certainly not Thabo Mbeki’s dazzling smile on the ballot papers, or the great service delivery in our country. It’s certainly not the unity inside the African National Congress either. So why are the majority of voters throwing away their votes to the ever-crumbling ANC? Fear! This is the only reason […]

Submitted by Takwana Makaya Quiet diplomacy was seen as a failure, but it also was a venomous snakebite that left Zanu-PF splattered into pieces, divided and with nowhere to hide. If President Thabo Mbeki forced Uncle Bob to adopt radical changes in reforming the electoral system, the vampire regime would have told Mbeki to go […]

Submitted by Bryony Green “We hope the transition will be a peaceful one, relatively peaceful, and that Mr Mugabe will step down with dignity, gracefully.” — Archbishop Desmond Tutu Desmond Tutu, in his uncompromised integrity, has continually called for peace and unity in Zimbabwe. His latest call, however, begs the questions of what exactly a […]

Does that make me a bad person? I know that one does not say these things in polite company. Even in less-than-polite company, I suppose. But I do wish he would die of old age and not wake up in the morning. I think it would be better for him and for Zimbabwe. I know […]

If ever a country and a continent needed one man to display superhuman courage and fortitude, then that country is Zimbabwe and that man is Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. Victory in Zimbabwe’s presidential election, undiluted by side-deals and concessions to Mugabe, will signal to other African tyrants that the will of the people, regardless of their […]

Hawaiian native Thomas Beatie, formerly a woman who underwent gender reassignment surgery but retained his reproductive organs, is now expecting a child. Mazeltov! May you only know simchas. I can only imagine the nachos of raising a daughter, marrying her off to this genius and then finding this story breaking out across the globe. (The […]