It is time that we asked the question whether the non-racial struggle has, ironically, delivered its anti-thesis of black racism. In a strange way, there is an unconscious disposition among privileged black Africans — now called the “black diamonds” — to be unkind in a racist way towards fellow South Africans who happen to be […]
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Posted inGeneral
Sacred cows on the spit
Sigh. The lot of the writer is a difficult one. The comments on my previous offering have prompted me to write a follow-up post to another piece I wrote about six months ago. For the record, I receive at least three emails from irate readers chastising me for my callous disregard for sensitivity around most […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC guide to truncating democracy
What is happening to the ANC? Raw power politics has replaced principle. Where are the women and men of heart and reason to raise their voices within the party now? Too few; too overrun by a new brand of leadership that has tasted state power and wants more of it, unfettered. Maybe this is why […]
Posted inGeneral
What about my rights?
I know this one is really going to open a flood of responses, most negative, but I have to ask this question. For the past couple of years, I have seen much reporting on the work of Afri-Forum. According to some news bulletins on mainly SABC2, it is a “rights-based group” doing sterling work on […]
Posted inSport
Proudly South African again!
Just when we need it most, hope has burst on to the South African scene in the form of the sunshine start of the 2008 rugby season. While our politicians are indubitably the scum of the earth, a malignant, avaricious cANCer and the archetypal kakistocracy, and our organs of the state are terminally leprous with […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Dishonourable discharge
The proposed pledge of allegiance for schoolchildren has already received voluminous comment from contributors to and diverse readers of Thought Leader. Minister Naledi Pandor said she could not see why people might have any problem with the pledge. Here’s an angle from the perspective of the Khulumani Support Group, the national non-party political membership organisation […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Water: Dreaded déjà vu bug strikes
“I can categorically say that we are not facing a water crisis, or a water-contamination crisis,” Lindiwe Hendricks, the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry told a media briefing in parliament yesterday. “The water that comes out of our taps is among the best in the world.”
Posted inLifestyle
Freedom of movement
I have it! Uh huh. After a whole month of being transport-less (after the debacle of my scooter being stolen and then dropped off the back of a truck), I am now, once again, a scooter girl! Hallelujah! These are a few of my favourite things about being mobile, and, in particular, mobile on two […]
Posted inGeneral
Apartheid versus the new South Africa: Nothing is black or white
I would rather live in the new South Africa with its non-stop power failures, crime-riddled society and (who changed the f***ing climate?) monsoon weather than return to the “good old” days of apartheid. To my mind it’s not even worthy of debate. Notwithstanding, I figured that with just over five months of Thought Leader having […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The people shall govern? Perish the thought!
More than 50 years ago, in Kliptown, thousands of people adopted a Freedom Charter which proclaimed that “the people shall govern”. How might they have felt if they could imagine a day when the leadership of the African National Congress would insist instead that the people are not ready to govern? An interesting aspect of […]
Posted inLifestyle
We reward bad behaviour
Listening to the UK’s Classic FM today, a dramatic and thundering rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto by the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Herbert von Karajan and pianist Yevgeny Kissin gave me goose bumps. It also reminded me of a recent article on Von Karajan in the newspaper. Celebrations of Von Karajan’s 100th birth-year […]
Posted inLifestyle
I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day …
… what with all the cheesy red and pink decorations, fluffy animals, shiny hearts and over-priced roses. I’m in the “It’s too commercial for a real emotion” camp. That said, I can find a few redeeming factors about the day of love … So (gulp) here are a few of my favourite things about Valentine’s […]