Daniel Gross, financial columnist for online magazine Slate, bumped into Jacob Zuma at Davos this week and nominated him as “the world leader with the most aggressive bodyguards“. It seems that Mr Zuma’s paranoia is not limited to the remote possibility of being molested in the Swiss Alps. He also believes the media in his […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Turf out the ANC liars
Isn’t it time to fire the liars, for a start, and then revisit the notion that government is capable of delivering services? Isn’t it time we rely on the energy, innovation and hard work of ordinary South Africans to make a better life for themselves?
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Yes, Mr President! The media are out of touch with the society in which they exist!
Perhaps South Africa is the only democracy on the continent and the whole world that allows an oppositional press, especially print, to operate in a way that undermines the goals and gains of almost 400 years of liberation struggle. This black government (sic) is the only one that I know in contemporary history that allows […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma amnesty a breakdown of law and order? Are we still in transition?
When Mail & Guardian editor Ferial Haffajee speaks, I listen. This gutsy lady has a proven track record on the hard but fair approach to journalism with an in-built radar that steers her towards doing the right thing at the right time. When she went on SABC television just before Polokwane, her assessment of President […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
My one’s better than yours — on politicians and potholes
Durban, I think, leads the way with load-shedding, and I’m not speaking of the power failures foisted upon us by those corrupt, inept, travel-voucher peddlers who deign to rule us. I’m talking here about bakkies losing their cargoes and even passengers when they run into the thousands — literally — of enormous potholes littering the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tribalism is the word that must now be spoken — to avoid its perils
Tribalism is the word that must now be spoken. It is being used across Africa to gain political power, to pillage wealth, and it ultimately results in genocide. The politically correct resist use of the word — though they are least likely to rush to pick up the bodies and heal the wounded when conflict […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Has Oprah chosen race over gender or are Hillary’s supporters being sexist?
The Times of London headlines with “Women turn on ‘traitor’ Oprah Winfrey for backing Barack Obama“. Oprah.com retorts with “Calling Oprah racist = SEXIST“. Whatever your read on this, America’s biggest talk-show host is paying a huge price to support Obama’s campaign. Her website has been flooded with personal attacks that may have led to […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Song for Ashley — Barack Obama shows us how it’s done
If Barack Obama can live up to the promise of this speech, then the United States has a great new president in the wings or, like Adlai Stevenson, a great potential leader that voters lack the wisdom to elevate. These words speak of the singular importance of working together. What divides us is about serving […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
The Budget Game
Trevor Manuel once remarked that “to budget is to choose”. The Budget Game puts participants in the position of being a decision maker, and making choices with a defined set of possible programmes and a defined budget. The intention of the game is for participants to make choices and then motivate them. In addition, it […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
The first time I met Mandela
The first time I met Nelson Mandela I learnt some important things. The second time I met him those things were confirmed. Like all journalists I’ve met presidents, prime ministers, legends and numerous real celebrities, but I didn’t meet Madiba as a journalist. I’ve met Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, John Vorster and PW Botha […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Planet Huckabee
It’s a slippery slope. First, you change the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. Then, before you know it, you’re seeing marriages between “a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal”. Welcome to Planet Huckabee, the perfect antidote to Eskom-induced depression, where one does not even need to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Eskom, Zuma and some people’s nightmares
What do the election of Jacob Zuma and Eskom’s power cuts have in common? Both bring out the racial demons buried just beneath the surface of the minds of many white South Africans. It was only a matter of time before the power cuts brought the racial creepy-crawlies out of the woodwork. And so, on […]