In doing some research on New Zealand rugby, in advance of the Springboks playing the All Blacks on 5 July, I discovered that the New Zealand Maori rugby union team actually came about primarily as a result of those New Zealanders of Maori descent who could not tour South Africa because of the colour bar. […]
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Posted inNews/Politics
Zimbabwe Violence reminiscent of Gukurahundi massacres
This was a difficult contribution to make for a number of reasons. First, I am very close to the events that I am about to describe. In early 1982 to the late 1980s, Zimbabwe experienced an ugly period called Gukurahundi (a Shona word meaning, the early rain that washes away the chaff before the spring […]
Posted inGeneral
Irony that is music to my ears
Submitted by Dylan Edwards The news that Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday will be celebrated with a concert in Hyde Park would have been exciting news for many South Africans. Unfortunately, the Hyde Park in question is not the northern Johannesburg suburb; in fact, it’s in London. And the excited South Africans are not the 40-odd-million […]
Posted inGeneral
Violence is not a game
There has been an exponential increase in the rate of reported cases of violence in our schools of late and this time the focus is not on the violence brought about by drug dealing gangsters terrorizing our young ones with a promise of something rather ‘ighry to puff on or snort. No, the violence that […]
Posted inLifestyle
The freedom of not having a car
I love the freedom of not having a car. No monthly payments, no ruinous splodges of wonga on the garage card. No insurance, no tracking device, no monthly subscription for said tracking device.* In South Africa, I drove a RunX, which, I reasoned, was solid and practical and easier to sell than the Fiat I […]
Posted inTech
Fun toys or maybe the next big technology thing
Watching what my younger daughter gets up to in geekland is always interesting. She is one of the early adopters of digital technology. Thanks to her, I have been a Twitter member since January 2007, months after she had joined, of course, and had a page on Facebook before most other old-timers. An iPhone made […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The day after Mugabe: What then? What now?
Submitted by Bryony Green “We hope the transition will be a peaceful one, relatively peaceful, and that Mr Mugabe will step down with dignity, gracefully.” — Archbishop Desmond Tutu Desmond Tutu, in his uncompromised integrity, has continually called for peace and unity in Zimbabwe. His latest call, however, begs the questions of what exactly a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Sometimes I wish Mugabe were dead
Does that make me a bad person? I know that one does not say these things in polite company. Even in less-than-polite company, I suppose. But I do wish he would die of old age and not wake up in the morning. I think it would be better for him and for Zimbabwe. I know […]
Posted inLifestyle
I’m a coconut and I’m proud of it — say it with me
A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece entitled “Of racists, kaffirs and coconuts” in which I wondered out loud if such a thing as a kaffir actually existed. That was at the height of the “Khoza fingers the kaffir” row. In that piece, I promised that I would return to the subject to complete […]
Posted inLifestyle
I could of danced all night but not of begged for more
At the risk’ve sounding like Henry Higgins trying to get Eliza Doolittle to speak proper English, I could of sworn English was a different language when I was a kid. I lay the blame firmly at the door have our schoolteachers, who don’t seem to be able to see the would for the trees any […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
The funniest thing I’ve read in weeks
Is all of South Africa reading Hayibo (www.hayibo.com)? We all should be. It is by far the most hilarious piece of writing I’ve come across in as long as I can remember, and it comes out every week! What a pleasure. With the tag line “Breaking news. Into lots of little pieces”, Hayibo takes on […]
Posted inMedia
And they said it couldn’t get any worse
The plague of rancid undesirables unleashed by Zuma Simpson’s rise to power and now squirming out of the woodwork took another dangerous leap forward yesterday with the announcement by a shady clandestine black racist group calling itself the Forum of Black Journalists that it was to be addressed by old Showerhead himself. Joining the ranks […]