If you want to know why ANC policy won’t change dramatically whoever wins in Polokwane, take a look at the front page of one of our daily business newspapers on Tuesday morning, which features a photo of Jacob Zuma, Tokyo Sexwale and Zwelinzima Vavi at a meeting at Wits University. All three are laughing and […]
News/Politics
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
It’s too much about the colour of the critic
Racism, no matter how disguised or nuanced, remains one of the ugliest and most deeply entrenched dark sides of human nature. It’s been in society since time immemorial. And it was naive of us to dream it would ever disappear — least of all in South Africa. It has taken on a million faces and […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
To skill a mockingbird
It is a tragic human failing that we find it so easy to take our elders for granted. Maybe because I am easing into that category with alacrity; maybe because I massacred so many brain cells as a piece of furniture at the Fed; but all the hype around skills shortages and development and training […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Eating humble pie on Jacob Zuma
In June this year I wrote on my blog that Jacob Zuma was “fading fast” and that his presidential bid was “done for”. Now, less than a week before the Polokwane conference, it is perhaps appropriate to eat humble pie and admit that I was spectacularly wrong. Even if Thabo Mbeki manages to win — […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Where the truth lies: South Africa’s crime statistics
This week a guard starts patrolling the beautiful, tree-lined street in which I live. Since January there have been 13 criminal incidents, including five armed robberies and five house-breakings, in our block of 20 houses. A woman was badly beaten in one incident and needed 13 stitches in her head. There has not been a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cut or uncut?
Call it religious chauvinism, or perhaps just good taste, but I’ve always preferred cut. Granted, I lost my foreskin more than 40 years ago, presumably at a catered function where I cried (as did my mother) and everyone else chased mouthfuls of chopped liver with cola tonic and lemonade. Since then, I have not spent […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Could my wife replace me as president, please?
Two leading international magazines, the New Yorker and the Economist, ran articles in September on political dynasties. Unsurprisingly, both centred on the Bushes and Clintons who will have jointly governed the world’s most powerful country uninterrupted for 24 years if Hillary Clinton is elected US president next year and subsequently completes her term. The interesting […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
‘Naive and irresponsible,’ says former don
By Adam Kurtz The case of Llewellyn Kriel poses some intriguing questions for South Africa. Kriel (54), a fixed-term contractor to the Sowetan working as senior revise sub-editor (one of two end-of-the-line quality controllers), was found guilty of “gross misconduct” by an internal disciplinary hearing for “bringing Sowetan into disrepute” by criticising its management and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
No independence for Kosovo
The imminent independence of the province of Kosovo from Serbia is at present the topic of hot debate and flaring tempers up north. The United States and many European nations are solidly backing the call for an independent Kosovo, while Serbia and her long-time ally Russia are vociferously against such a move. The pro-independence faction […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mohammed: Bad News Bear
Oi! My fortnightly column, A Quiet Riot, runs again in this week’s Mail & Guardian, on sale from today (Friday, 7 December 2007). Here are the first 156 words: Does anybody know if Hindu fanatics have ever started a protest over Yogi Bear? It might surprise you that I’m on the side of the Sudanese […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
The Darwin awards: Panama is lovely this time of year
Ladies, has the latest bank rate hike been the final straw? Well, jack your straw and don your Panama because it’s time for hubby to go canoeing. While the world is aghast at the dastardly fraud committed by John and Anne Darwin, you have bigger fish to fry: not only the 50-basis-point increase, the Eskom […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
The Christian fundamentalist lynch mob is at it again
Having tasted victory against Tim du Plessis and Rapport, Christian fundamentalists have set their sights on a fresh target. According to Jacques Liebenberg in Beeld, a campaign is under way to organise a boycott of the film The Golden Compass, due to be released in South Africa on Friday. According to an anonymous message distributed […]