Thought Leader

  *** “How often he’s tried to touch death”   How often he’s tried to touch death Caress the cheeks    make them familiar Wipe away flecks of blood Or crumbs off death’s chin Perhaps he should shave death’s face Use lipstick and ear rings   make the gender a man One that prefers intimacy with other…

“I hope to arrive at my death late, in love, and a little drunk.” Atticus. “I will arrive at my death late, and drunk with love.” Charlie Mathews. I never thought I’d fall in love. I am not talking about that delusion that’s a bit like a moulded jelly dessert – which, when left out…

By Lawrence Kritzinger It is Sunday evening. For whatever reason, my subconscious has been regaling me with choice tidbits from my memory banks, not all of them pleasant. They disturb me, and so I write. I don’t know how else to process them. So permit me this self-indulgence, please. Sometimes, death wrenches someone from us…

You can upgrade your phone, your television, your car and even your vagina (see: vaginoplasty). It is all about the “up-to-date”, the next best thing. We have become a world that needs it young, fresh and new. The passing of poet, activist and Maya Angelou brought to the forefront of people’s minds the wealth of…

“A giant is about to depart, leaving political pygmies to divide his cloak and squabble about who is the rightful heir. The media will be wall to wall with plaudits, the world will groan with grief.” I wrote those words in a column some five months ago, as Nelson Rolihlala Mandela lay in a Pretoria…

I posted this on my Facebook profile, today. I figured I would share it widely on this worst of days. He held my hand for twenty minutes and told me of the vision he had for our country. No, I said, I was a journalist. It is all I ever wanted to be. I loved…

By Zimbini Ogle Death and dying is something we are certain of. However, we cling to a hope that our death will be delayed when we come into contact with healthcare professionals. This hope is soon shattered by the SECTION 27 report titled “Death and dying in the Eastern Cape: An investigation into the collapse…

“That man is as healthy as a horse and as tough as they come. He’ll live to be a 100.” It was 1978 and prisoner 46664, Nelson Rolihlala Mandela, had just turned 60. The speaker was a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who, by virtue of international law, was twice…

Invariably when a tragedy such as the Boston bombing occurs in the US, UK or any other “western” nation, the bloodshed is compared, quantitatively, with the violence in Iraq, Syria, or any other nation that is not in the “west”. Within minutes of the detonation of the bombs in Boston, my Facebook feed was producing…

Not that I have died before to profess on death, but events in my life and those I know have convinced me that death can be sweet and something to look forward to. After all if there is one thing we all are privy to, it is that one day we will die. Death is…