There is a Bible story about a fearless, stubborn, “non-citizen” outsider-woman who demands the intervention of Jesus in the “small matter” of her child’s sickness. When Jesus rejects her request, she becomes so insistent that a heated debate ensues. During the debate she (her like and kind) are likened to “dogs” that do not have […]
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Posted inNews/Politics
Good cop, bad cop
After more than a decade of denial over SA’s eye-popping incidence of crime, the ANC under its new president, Jacob Zuma, decided to smother the problem with a blanket of blue serge. It simultaneously slipped the leash of civilian oversight of the police.
Posted inGeneral
Our day, our land, our country. We did it!
I was on Long Street last night in Cape Town, and the scenes that greeted me were utterly fantastic. Germans, Australians, Greeks, Chileans, English, Americans, Uruguayans, South Africans and Frenchman were all over the show doing their best to inject their own particular national brand of energy into the evening’s proceedings. Even outside the Grand […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma can be prosecuted, even as president
The submissions being made by the senior counsel for the president in the Pretoria High Court are, in my humble opinion, wrong and need to be clarified. Kemp J Kemp SC The counsel for President Jacob Zuma, Kemp J Kemp SC, has again stated that the Democratic Alliance could not force the director of public […]
Posted inGeneral
Missing out on the African adventure
There are a lot of players who are ideal for the Soccer World Cup but won’t be participating this year. Instead they will be joining the ranks of the magnitude of other footballers who didn’t make it to South Africa and they will even be harbouring grievances as they watch their fellow countrymen and club […]
Posted inLifestyle
Blame the tokoloshe
Years ago I went through something of an alternative phase. I burnt incense. I learned to read tarot cards (long story. Don’t ask). I also bought into notions of positive thinking and visualisation, which in many ways prefigured that most malign of publications, The Secret. In many ways, what triggered all of this was an […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Mis-leaders: Understanding homophobia in Africa
We give too much power to our leaders in Africa. We invest them with god-like status and then feel disappointed when they deliberately disregard the public good, or stray from the path we hoped we’d be on. Worse though is the fact that we influence who our leaders are, so African leaders’ (in)action is a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Vavi the bonfire to Malema’s vanity?
Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, on Tuesday warned of the possibility of a split in the tripartite alliance if the ANC were to proceed with disciplinary charges. Vavi, who is an ordinary member of the ANC as well, told the SABC that this has the potential of breaking […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Who’s afraid of the big, bad moffie?
What is it about homosexuality that inspires such hatred in others — and most frequently on the part of men? I mean often the degree of hatred, and the violence it often inspires, seems completely out of proportion to whatever threat homosexuality seemingly poses. Recent events in Malawi are a case in point, though such […]
Posted inGeneral
Teen breeders targeted by do-gooder DA
SA should turn East for inspiration in fertility matters. No namby-pamby, touchy-feely, wishy-washy nonsense from the Chinese: one child per family and that’s that.
Posted inNews/Politics
Prophet cartoon: Welcome to the ‘clash of civilisations’
Two incomplete and complicit strands of thought characterise South African responses to the publication of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the Mail & Guardian. The first strand of thought rooted in the Muslim community explains the offence caused by the cartoon through explaining that Islam has a problem with the depiction of […]
Posted inGeneral
Where is SA going?
Nuruddin Farah, one of the extraordinary novelists of our times, succinctly captured — in his novel entitled Secrets — the beginnings of Somalia’s civil war. Kalaman, the protagonist, relates what he was going through as the tragedy unfolded: “I sat in the car. I was a storm-beaten, lonely man. I was sad. I was mournful. […]