By Ryan Peter Many Thought Leader and Mail & Guardian readers might recall an article last week on Stephen Hawking, the world-renowned physicist, remarking that there “is no heaven” and calling the idea a “fairy story”. Here’s a quick quote from Hawking: “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its […]
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Posted inGeneral
Exiling the poets
Many of us were shocked on Sunday last when we turned the front page of the Afrikaans Sunday paper Rapport, to see the horrific image on page two of the Yemeni poet, Walid Mohamed Ahmed al-Ramisi, who had his tongue cut off as a result of his criticisms of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) — the opposition coalition in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Ballots, not bullets
It wasn’t guns and bullets that woke me from my writing slumber, it was the ballots cast peacefully across SA today, May 18, which made me jolt from my seat and announce myself once again on these pages. Dear reader, nothing makes me happier than a peaceful, free and fair election in Africa. This because […]
Posted inGeneral
Notes on a genocidal scandal
The memories of the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia Herzegovina in the mid-nineties must never be extinguished from our hearts. The reason why the ending of one was successful, and the failure to end the other is the darkest page in post-war US foreign policy, is banally simple. Bosnia stirred the conscience of the West, […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
I feel ripped off
Bruschetta with Parma ham, brie and preserved fig. Not the most revolutionary combination of flavours and textures the culinary world has known. Nice enough, but as canapés go, not God’s gift to cocktail parties. And yet bruschetta with Parma ham, brie and preserved fig can take on an urgent and insistent significance, especially when one […]
Posted inGeneral
The rise of unemployment, inequality and poverty in SA
Seventeen years into our democratic dispensation we seem to be making little progress in devising and successfully implementing growth strategies and policies that can have a sustainable impact on our structural problems of high unemployment, increased inequality and pervasive poverty. These problems are in fact a legacy of the apartheid period and the biggest challenge […]
Posted inBusiness
Africa in the aftermath of the recession
Many African scholars and politicians have repeatedly made the point that Africa remains behind other regions or continents as a result of the historical injustices it endured for centuries. Disturbingly, though, the injustices have taken a different form over the years, particularly by the so-called developed world. This is not to say that part of […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
SA needs more entrepreneurs
In South Africa, the phrase “no quick fix” is often associated with the black box phenomena we accept when mulling unemployment — labour market inflexibility, competitiveness and regulatory reform are but a few. Small business development is another such a cure for unemployment for which there is — you guessed it — no quick fix. […]
Posted inGeneral
A nation divided against itself cannot stand
Since the dawn of democracy, I have met, shaken hands and embraced many people who respond to my greeting with the refrain: “Why complain? Nobody listens.” It’s an expression of frustration towards their leaders in political organisations, companies, churches and government. This expression is not only about disappointment, but also borders on cynicism. They feel […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Willow pollen and Llewellyn Kriel abused by SA cops
Amazing grace … The pollen twirls around me, brightening the canal with an extra layer of sparkle. They are clots of whitish-grey and pucker against my skin. Tiny elven fingers and thumbs, they are silent, as if they are hands clasped over tiny furry mouths. If they could make a sound it would be children’s […]
Posted inGeneral
The role and place of struggle songs in post-apartheid SA
AmaBhunu bangabantu. iBhunu ngumuntu ngabantu … and they too have rights under our Constitution and the Freedom Charter. Tata Madiba said in 1994 that “never again will we be at war with one another”, why chant about killing and shooting? Is the bank of our history so bankrupt that we have to dig deep into […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Beware of election ghosts, goblins, witches and evil trolls
Flanked by the Dracula Princess, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, to stress his Struggle authenticity, Malema gleefully exploited the moment to proclaim that it was not he who was on trial, but the Revolution itself.