On February 2 1990 ,the last president of the repressive nationalist regime FW de Klerk stood before parliament and made this important and long overdue announcement: “I wish to put it plainly that the government has taken a firm decision to release Mr Mandela unconditionally.” The announcement of the release of Mandela marked a crucial […]
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Posted inGeneral
When I am president
I often dream of running my own banana republic. Nothing too big. I am not a greedy man. Something about the size of KwaZulu-Natal. In fact, KZN would be perfect. It’s got the bananas and is sufficiently balmy to keep the populace in that happy stupor that will prevent any thought of an uprising. The […]
Posted inGeneral
How serious is the ANC on crime?
The South African public are inundated by calls for crimes to be overlooked, forgiven or — in some cases — not to be considered crimes at all. Unsurprisingly, the vast mast majority of these emanate from those at the very heart of power in this country. The number of judges, correctional services officials, politicians and […]
Posted inLifestyle
Who are you, really?
Although self awareness isn’t a safeguard against misery or a guarantee of happiness, Socrates’ guiding value has significant value. As the non traditional Latin inscribed on a plaque above the Oracle’s door in the Matrix film trinity advocates: “temet nosce” (“know yourself”).
Posted inBusiness
Control greed by all means but don’t strangle it
In the wake of the biggest financial apocalypse of our times, the media has loudly voiced concerns about corporate behaviour. Despite widespread condemnation, corporate incentives and bonuses are already returning with a vengeance now that there are strong signs of a recovery. Should they be rewarded already? And as generously as the media would have […]
Posted inGeneral
Africans do not (often) keep dogs as pets
Actually many Africans do keep dogs and it is not just the white Africans that do so. There are stereotypes that abound, but like many stereotypes they do not exist in a vacuum. Many Zulu people do not have dogs as pets. Some of the rural peoples do have dogs that they keep for hunting […]
Posted inLifestyle
I am quite positively in love with Agnes
Agnes is the lady who comes around every Tuesday to do our housework and make sure the house I share with a housemate, D-dog, doesn’t deteriorate to hygiene levels below that of an Eastern Cape farm’s pigsty. I think I have fallen for her and it took her being away for three months or so […]
Posted inGeneral
The Southern Kings: Where to now?
Over the course of today, most if not all South African rugby fans would have heard the news that the Southern Kings did not win the right to be the 15th franchise in the expanded Super 15 competition, set to kick off in 2011. To say that this news is surprising would be the same […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What drove the Aids holocaust?
A genocide which has claimed more lives than Adolf Hitler’s gas chambers: the 20th century African holocaust. Who is to blame this time? What devil lurks in the background wreaking such ruin on our people? The answer is plain and simple — party politics. A chapter in the long Aids death march has come to […]
Posted inLifestyle
The evil of meat
In a world buckling under economic recession, in a country of violence and crime and poverty, how can anyone find the time to care about the treatment of animals? The simple answer is: we have no choice. The very fabric of our humanity is being torn apart by the brutality and horrors being perpetrated, and […]
Posted inLifestyle
The strange phenomenon of eminent lady novelists
When it comes to the writing of novels, women have from the outset been able to go toe to toe with their male counterparts, producing from their ranks genuine literary heavyweights whose work is deservedly held in the highest regard. At least, this is true of those writing in English — my own knowledge does […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Where is our Ann Coulter?
I have never met Ann Coulter. I doubt that I’m important enough to warrant an invitation to an event of the Young Republicans, and certainly I’m not conservative enough to be considered “one of them”. On the one occasion that I invited Ms Coulter to an online debate on “liberalism vs conservatism — finding the […]