Mr Mpshe needs to be reminded of a little fact about South Africans this week — we are not a people born of cowards, nor men who place personal ambitions above what needs to be done for the people. We are born of men who stood up when it was more comfortable and beneficial to […]
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Posted inGeneral
The more Cape arts change, the more they stay the same
Recent events in the Western Cape region reveal the smug face of white middle-class cultural activity and consumption that refuses to transform. There was the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, for instance, which revealed the unchanging “whiteness” of the event with only one African nominee on the list, Mwenya Kabwe, winning best actress in leading […]
Posted inGeneral
Bureaucracy – the way to strangle a nation
I interrupt the series of pieces that I have been writing on the “twelve big questions of science” in order to address something that has obtruded itself so frequently in recent weeks that I feel constrained to say something about it. I hope that the minister of education, Naledi Pandor, whom I have met, and […]
Posted inMedia
Where is the media’s tipping point?
What is the “tipping point” which sees the media deliberately shift from passive reporter to active crusader? What pushes the media into pro-active campaign mode deliberately making the news and not merely the quasi-objective spectator telling the world what’s happening, when, where, to who, why and how? Precedents, great and small, exist galore. When I […]
Posted inGeneral
Africa’s socio-economic conundrum
Things could get worse. The world economy is at a crossroads again, if not in a mess. As some have said before, certain challenges present opportunities — this is, in my view, one of those challenges (ie the current global financial crisis), which presents another opportune moment for humanity as a whole. The gist of […]
Posted inGeneral
Other people’s kids
People assume that just because one is a parent, one loves kids. Rubbish, I can’t stand kids that are not my own. And there’s nothing I hate more than parents who can’t stop jabbering on and on about their kids and how smart they are and how “little Sizwe said the sweetest thing the other […]
Posted inGeneral
Of crooks, improprieties and betrayals in the ANC
The holy book has got an account of a certain Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who driven by greed betrayed his divine master and sold him to the Roman authorities. It was an act of betrayal of the brotherhood of men, which is premised on mutual trust and respect. For […]
Posted inGeneral
Tony Leon leaves parliament a bitter man
In his farewell speech this week, Tony Leon stood before parliament and reflected on his tenure in the legislature as leader of the opposition; a tenure that no sane man can proclaim to have been inspiring. His was two decades of disappointment. Under the false pretext of fighting for justice, order and good governance, Leon […]
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics
Between impotency & bosoms: the other news
Good day! [Director’s note: friendly smile] Welcome to Insignificant News International, where all the news that should make news, becomes the other news (unlike the furor news of the other woman would make (*wink wink* nudge nudge*) Yes, we know we’ve been away and you’ve missed us, but we’re confident that you’d understand that ever […]
Posted inLifestyle
Chopsticks and impromptu slapstick
I always love watching an unfortunate situation sneak up on an unsuspecting victim if it is going to be for my pleasure and amusement, but often it is only in retrospect that you realise just how utterly terrified the unfortunate victim was during the sequence of events leading to his comedic demise; only at the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
This is about etiquette, not equality
There are persistent rumours that Prince Harry is not his father’s son. But he is certainly his grandfather’s grandson. Like Prince Philip, the undisputed king of making racially-tinged gaffes, Harry has landed himself in hot water for referring to ethnic minorities in derogatory terms. Philip, married to the Queen, has insulted the Chinese (“slitty eyed”), […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A dawn of a new era — towards a unified South Africa
South Africans remember December 16 as the day of extraordinary courage on part of thousands of Zulu warriors under the command of Dambuza and leadership of Dingane kaSizangakhona who, armed with spears, launched an offensive against Voortrekkers, with the advantage of gunpowder, in the battle that historians coined as the Battle of the Blood River […]