ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has appealed for calm when discussing the ANC’s proposed media tribunal and not go on the offensive. On the contrary we all should, whether we are in and of the news media or not, forcefully resist this attempt to curtail freedom of speech. Let’s be blunt. Whether it comes in the […]
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Posted inNews/Politics
It stinks to high heaven…
The hypocrisy of the West that is what — particularly the type exhibited by the US. The leaked slew of military documents on the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks this week, was another stark reminder of the two-faced nature of Americans, who it seems, have become quite adept at the practice of preaching one thing and doing […]
Posted inGeneral
Gays, race and this institutional thing of marriage
Truth be told, I am not married and have never been married, now at the sweet, tender, gullible age of 47. That’s right, the Chook and I (the Chook being my missus Marion) have never stood under showers of confetti and their lovely, tasteful representation of great fertility: clouds of sperm pouring luxuriously through the […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Why this pale male is shutting up (for now anyway)
Six weeks ago I touched down in London: a born-and-bred Cape Town boy about to start a new job in another country. While the online smorgasbord of Politicsweb, the Mail & Guardian and Business Day still form a daily news staple, an inevitable sense of detachment from the roiling intrigue of South African politics has […]
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We need a nanny state
As Africa grapples with the strenuous task of finding lasting solutions to her problems under the mantra “African solutions to African problems”, we should perhaps retreat a little and adorn microscopic lenses to focus on particular problems, understand them and be able to suggest what could potentially set Africa on a successful trajectory towards development […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Do we really believe in diversity?
I’m not so sure we do. As South Africans we’re great at asserting our unity as “a people”, by quoting Tutu, Mandela and even Mbeki (though not Zuma — not yet, anyway) about rainbows or renaissances, and we’re especially good at performing our proudly South African brand of “unity through diversity” — just look at […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Towards a legacy befitting a post-world cup South Africa
One of my failings as an Optimist is that I have a disproportionate amount of faith in the goodness of people, particularly those who are entrusted to lead others. But having spent a little over three decades in this world, I realise that I am slowly losing my look-on-the-bright-side outlook as more and more I […]
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Facebook as cyber-architecture
Architecture is usually understood as the science, or art, of designing buildings with a view to constructing them, but among its current definitions one also finds concepts such as “network architecture”, and the structural interaction, behaviour or design of a computer system or programme, down to the attributes of particular components of the system. Seen […]
Posted inNews/Politics
ANC needs a media strategy, not a media tribunal
The undertaking by Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, in his address to the SA National Editors’ Forum in Johannesburg on Saturday night, that the government would not treat the media in the way it was done during the apartheid years is unfortunately of little, or no comfort. The apartheid regime could be lethal to those who […]
Posted inNews/Politics
I could die soon…
There is no strange car with tinted windows tailing my red Toyota. No tall and burly mafioso tracking my movements. My telephone has not been bugged (I hope). None of my three dogs have been slain and hung by my gate. No one, save my few friends and small family, know who I am and […]
Posted inGeneral
Five things to avoid on Facebook
And as an avid Facebook user these things really get on my nerves. I think the points should become part of acceptable internet behaviour on social-networking platforms. Listed in no particular order. 1) Avoid attention-seeking posts I’m really not a fan of posts which are obviously designed to draw attention to people’s sorrowful state. Posts […]
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Rugby World Cup at Kiwi cut-throat prices
The current furore in New Zealand about the country being a rip-off for tourists (so look out rugby World Cup 2011 tourists) should be taken seriously when a former All Black who played in 81 test matches says NZ is “really expensive”and suggests that pricing needs to be addressed. Former All Black Justin Marshall bases […]