Some blame the politicking in current affairs on paranoia by the president. In his suspicion about plots, he is said to have engendered a climate of smear, rumour and leakings. It’s comrade vs comrade, and spy vs spy. With a couple of criminal elements seemingly mixed up in it all. The analysis points to selective […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Dear Mr Mbeki: You have been well and truly Bush-whacked
Dear Mr Mbeki You will have noticed, I am sure, that when you dismissed Mr Zuma from his post as deputy pres of our country, I did not presume to give you any advice. Nor did I join the ranks of that phalanx of cheeky buggers who insisted on telling you what to do when […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
Web 2.0 has voted: Zuma for president
An analysis of the names on the lips of the chattering elite who inhabit Web 2.0, or at least the world of blogs, Facebook and user-generated content, shows that it is really a one-horse race: Jacob Zuma versus not Jacob Zuma. Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa barely feature in the succession debate in blog content. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What’s in a name?
Grahamstown, the city which I call home, is in danger of losing its name. This has been in the pipeline for some time, but the whole thing flared up again when President Mbeki called Colonel John Graham, after whom the town is named, a butcher; and the excellent local newspaper Grocott’s Mail has been running […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Dear Robert Macdonald (and your boss) …
Robert Macdonald Spokesperson for the mayor of Cape Town, Helen Zille Dear Mr Macdonald I have taken note of your comment posted to my open letter to mayor Helen Zille. Thank you. I felt that, rather than replying via a comment, I should give you the honour of a fuller reply in the form of […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Fear and loathing at ESPN
Ever since I devoured Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on a plane ride between Perth and Melbourne in Australia and followed that up with a couple of reads of The Great Shark Hunt, I have been a Hunter S Thompson fan. Having read almost everything he has had published, I was relieved to find […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Who do YOU want to be the next president?
In my book I have a chapter entitled “Let the masses eat pap” in which I publicly declare my voting record since 1994 when FW de Lincoln said people with my melanin content could. My rationale for revealing this great secret was based on two observations: 1. Figuring out that a black male who grew […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Figures of speech
So I have been told that I’m the new recruit on Thought Leader and, wow, what a privilege it is to be among such people. I’m actually taking over from the previous M&G Online Dutch intern and I have big shoes to fill. So, as reference — the original three blog post are not mine […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics, Sport
Go, Bokke … (Well, most of the time)
Rugby bamboozles me. It must be passing the ball backwards and running forward at the same time. I have also never played rugby — if you exclude a couple of games of that sissy sport touch rugby. Of course, that qualifies me to write an article on rugby. And that’s being more ambitious than wanting […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
‘Unauthorised’ Mbeki doccie screened
The “unauthorised” documentary about South African president Thabo Mbeki has finally been screened on the SABC, after more than a year of to-ing and fro-ing.
Posted inNews/Politics
Goodbye rule of law, hello national security state?
It suddenly struck me this morning that we might be living through another HIV/Aids denialist moment. Has the president, in his all-knowing wisdom, decided that his police chief (who has admitted to a friendship with a confessed murderer, “finish and klaar”) is being framed by the Dark Lord Syron or other forces hell-bent on destroying […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Jacob’s ladder
Regular readers will know that I believe the president will be regarded by history as one of our finest leaders. I’ve dealt with this in a number of previous articles that you can source elsewhere on this blog. While I disagree with many of Mbeki’s (ANC) policies and his approach to certain issues (as set […]