OK, let me be brave and write about something I am not supposed to know much about, namely rugby. (After all, I supported the Springboks because of JP Pietersen’s sexy legs.) These are the facts: only two of the regular players in the World Cup-winning Springbok rugby team are not lily-white. At the same time, […]
News/Politics
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Spend the night in Kliptown
The historic area of Kliptown in Soweto was in the news on Monday when a swanky four-star hotel opened its doors — the first such establishment in Soweto. The Freedom Charter was signed in Kliptown in 1955, and the area — which includes Freedom Square — is now one of the attractions helping Soweto grow […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Ready for a new national identity
It strikes me that we are at present a country desperately in need of its national identity. During apartheid, South Africa was defined as such. Then came the “miracle years” of Madiba and 1994, and the next decade we held a national identity of the celebratory freedom of the rainbow nation. But this period is […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Wanted: A government that is not embarrassed by its people
It is nice to have a President who cares what the world thinks. It would be far nicer to have one who cares what the people of South Africa think. Thabo Mbeki’s desire to change the nickname of some national sports teams may seem like a frivolous diversion from our national challenges. In reality, it […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lucky and Patrick: Tale of two friends
They both grew up in small towns. Both had a burning vision. Both achieved acclaim on the stages of the world. But the manner of Lucky Dube‘s and Patrick Mynhardt‘s deaths told two very different stories about the South African reality. Patrick, who grew up in a small town half-an-hour’s drive from my home town […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Hidden from sight
Have you ever asked yourself where South Africa’s disabled are? According to the Casual Day Welfare Organisation, 3,5-million people in South Africa are disabled. That’s almost 8% of our total population. But where are they? Apart from the odd person in a wheelchair or on crutches, our streets seem to be surprisingly empty of anyone […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Amandla — the magazine
The broader left is seeing a revival in new forms of organisations, and in proposing alternatives in a complex world. A good reflection of this revival is Amandla — a new left South African magazine. As the website progresses I hope we will be able to claim the site as a “lefty” site that embraces […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
‘Bafana Bafana’ offends Mbeki
Thabo Mbeki, presumably in an effort to appear even-handed, has lashed out against the nicknames of our national football teams. Even though the people chose them.
Posted inNews/Politics
Hlophe to blame for damage to judiciary
Who is to blame for the stress placed on the judiciary and the legal profession by the saga around Cape Judge President John Hlophe? The National Association for Democratic Lawyers (Nadel) seems to suggest that those who had criticised the original decision of the Judicial Services Commission not to pursue the complaint against Judge Hlophe […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Another day, another journalist (or two) jailed
Two senior journalists have been arrested for leaking information about a criminal investigation into the alleged unlawful publication of a government official’s home address. Zimbabwe? South Africa? United States, actually. Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey of the Phoenix New Times were jailed last week when they revealed that they had been subpoenaed by a grand […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Development indicators: Has life improved for the poor since 2000?
When speaking about development indicators, I am reminded about how family problems are tackled. The mediators usually start from a position that there are three versions of this story — the two versions of the feuding parties, and the third the truth. In the case of development indicators, the government’s version of the truth is: […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Media dignitaries debating dignity
Racial dignity was a hot theme during the 2001 Human Rights Commission inquiry into media racism, and it emerged again at the SABC-South African National Editors’ Forum conference last week. Responding to my speech there, SABC CEO Dali Mpofu raised racial dignity as part of his opposition to the Sunday Times’s stories on Health Minister […]