The most powerful memory of my father is the last one. I was starting to walk from our home to school on a large plot in Boksburg when I heard him calling me, “Rod, Roddy, Roddy!” Age seventeen, angry and rebellious, I was annoyed because he would often imperiously call me, summons me, without giving […]
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Posted inGeneral
The backlash…quapissssssssssssh
I’ve made a mistake. How silly of me. Women’s abuse isn’t important. How naive of me — democracy is about equality, about sharing the rights granted in the Constitution. So of course women’s rights are no longer something to consider — I mean they’re already achieved in some pretty paper in some high office in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zille must walk the talk on Max
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille is treading a very fine line in claiming that Western Cape Community Safety MEC Lennit Max’s alleged extra-marital affair is a private matter and that until allegations of sexual harassment have been proved against him no action can be taken. In terms of her statement of February 5 2010 Zille […]
Posted inGeneral
Arts, literature integral to a child’s development
The recent South African matric results are no cause for celebration — that much is clear. The question is: what should be done to improve them, assuming that this can be done without dropping intellectual standards so drastically that the description “improved results” would be meaningless. An improvement in the quality of teaching would certainly […]
Posted inGeneral
Google’s Buzz and the culture of invading privacy
It was Chinese New Year here in Shanghai this Friday night. Sitting in our apartment on the 22nd floor was like being in a high-tech Star Trek movie. The fireworks started during the day and by 10PM our home in Shanghai was aglow with spectacular fireworks. Whistling skyrockets, massive explosions like gushing waterfalls, gigantic chandeliers […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Screwing around matters less than screwing up
Righteous public wrath can be a laudable thing, particularly when it is harnessed to compel political accountability by government. A pity, then, that it is being squandered to force President Jacob Zuma to stop screwing around, rather than to force him to stop screwing up. The past fortnight has seen a tsunami of outrage and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The state of the state
If the state is judging the state of the nation, then it’s up to the nation to judge the state of the state The shower head is back: and this time it’s super-sized. I’ll be interested to see its proportions and position after yesterday’s State of the Nation Address. Last night President Zuma was in […]
Posted inGeneral
…And the very real abuse of men by women?
In about 1991 I remember having some female friends when living in Cape Town. Some were divorced or going through one. Two in particular one evening were discussing how they were going to wangle more money out of their “ex’s”. They were laughing and putting down their poor ex-sods. I was most indignant, made a […]
Posted inGeneral
Keeping it REEL
By Marius Redelinghuys As Mandela Rhodes Scholars in residence, living the legacy of Nelson Mandela and delivering on the promise of leadership is a central element of the scholarship and also of every individual scholar. In reflecting on the promise of leadership, by asking the question, how Mandela Rhodes Scholars contribute to delivering the promise […]
Posted inGeneral
Looking through a different lens
Yesterday a friend of mine implied that I was racist. It all started because I received this joke Click to enlarge on email. I’d seen it before, it gave me a little bit of a chuckle and so I forwarded it. To me it was no more than another joke about the jokes we have […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Mandela can make a bomb from a spoon’
Twenty years ago when Nelson Mandela was released from 27 years of incarceration for fighting for his right to fight for the right to be a free man, I was too young to know what was happening. I knew that whatever it was that was happening was a significant event. Why it was I was […]
Posted inLifestyle
Avatar’s message is clear…stop the destruction
By Roger Diamond A few nights ago I went out with a friend to the Labia Theatre, the only independent cinema in Cape Town, where we typically watch depressing environmental documentaries, the seats filled with liberal, erudite and pensive types. A few nights ago, however, my friend Rob suggested we see Avatar, which I keenly […]