News/Politics

On Thursday, BBC News published an article titled “Bush marks two years from Katrina” where US President George Bush promises an audience at a New Orleans school flooded in 2005 that “better days are ahead”. Isn’t that the exact same message — now without the strong rhetoric produced by his republican spin machine — many […]

Since the end of the first decade of freedom in 2004, many political commentators have been looking for signs of that watershed moment when the ANC electorate stops voting solely for the party of their liberation, and starts voting for the party of their relevance. The ANC has traditionally gained from being the instrument of […]

I see in this week’s Mail & Guardian that the paper decided to take my post from Thought Leader and expand on it a bit, with some help of two of their journos (check out page four of the paper). While all that was going on, I was sent another screen grab from the president’s […]

As I read an article about the alleged racist remarks made by Badih Chaaban, a controversial Cape Town city councillor, I thought to myself: I have heard worse in Mitchells Plain and Hanover Park. Chaaban had apparently called mayor Helen Zille a “f***ing b**ch”, Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille a “coloured k****r” and said […]

One of the most disturbing aspects of how South Africans perceive Nelson Mandela and his role in bringing democracy to this country is the way he is crassly misinterpreted, leading to the serious blemishing of his legacy. It does not matter whether this is done deliberately, unwittingly or merely as a result of deep naivety. […]

It can only happen in South Africa. Where else would you see a sign saying “No white students are allowed to enter”? It is almost a throwback to the apartheid days, but in reverse. I am, of course, referring to a story that appeared in the local newspapers this week about an accountancy Olympiad that […]

George W Bush made a few important comparisons in his speech just before the weekend. Reading his speech, I find it hard to understand why people who describe themselves as “liberal” (or, for that matter, “democrats”) are so implacably opposed to the Bush Doctrine.

After watching this video for the fifth time it stops being funny and starts becoming very worrying … Of course, we shouldn’t be too worried, though — it’s not like beauty-pageant contestants run the most powerful country on the face of the planet (even if they can’t quite place themselves on a map). Surely American […]

America is fast learning that idealism is not always capable of being translated into a working reality. Moreover, as in the case of Iraq, the medication is killing the patient and the doctor. Democracy when prescribed to the Palestinians brought about a resounding victory for Hamas in their elections. Radical Islamic parties also showed strongly […]