By Glenda Daniels Sorry, in advance, to the politically correct who support sex work and to dentists who love their jobs. But in my subjective mind, while there are many torturous jobs, these two spring to mind first: selling sex to strangers and drilling into someone’s mouth. Right up there, however, has to be an […]
South Africa
Posted inGeneral
In pap we trust
I spent the last four months surrounded by tourists in the Transkei eating roughly 80kg of mielie pap at a rate of 1kg of pap per day. I ate the pap for breakfast. I ate the pap for lunch. I ate the pap for dinner. It was delicious. It was nutritious. I wouldn’t swop it […]
Posted inGeneral
Joburg and journalism: My journey
By Charles Mafa I am a journalist from Zambia who has worked in the media since 1999. I have a wife and three lovely kids. In 2002, I joined Catholic Media Services and six years later, I led a crew that filmed and edited a programme that won the CNN Award for the best HIV/AIDS […]
Posted inGeneral
Roll like your ancestors
We are a nation of bitches. I mean bitches in the sniveling dog sense, not in the be-nasty-to-ladies sense. We are constantly moaning and whinging. You can’t do this, you can’t do that, stop it, or I’ll throw you with stone. Yes, we whine a lot. I’m even whining now, about us whining. Oh god, […]
Posted inGeneral
A revolution of restitution
By Sharlene Swartz In President Zuma’s February State of the Nation address, he mentioned nine programmes dealing with restitution and redress that were to receive attention in the coming two to three years. Among these were (1) housing subsidies for those earning under R13000pa; (2) a retooling of the land reform process; (3) a new […]
Posted inBusiness
Why South Africa is not the world’s gateway to Africa
By Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa and Charles Wachira South Africa’s election into the Brics bloc of big emerging economies (along with Brazil, Russia, India and China) comes with many expectations and obligations. As Africa’s only Brics member, we need to ask whether SA’s inclusion is solely for its own benefit or as the gateway to the […]
Posted inGeneral
Embracing irrelevance is a bitter thing
In this week’s edition, the Mail & Guardian published comments made by former Democratic Alliance parliamentarian Raenette Taljaard on her growing isolation and ultimate separation from the DA in her book Up in Arms: Pursuing Accountability for the Arms Deal in Parliament. Reflecting on her last speech as a DA parliamentarian, delivered on November 9 […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
South Africa, the Rome Statute, Zimbabwe and torture
By Clare Ballard “Law is nothing unless close behind it stands a warm, living public opinion.” – Wendell Phillips So accustomed have we become to reports of atrocities in war-ravaged, post colonial Africa that I believe we’d be forgiven for associating the term ‘impunity’ with the perpetrators of these crimes, even though the nature of […]
Posted inGeneral
The sad state of our nation
There is a “thing” in the air. It’s not quite fear, not quite anxiety, not quite hopelessness, a tension, a deep crack in our society which is threatening to shift the ground we walk on together, separately. We can no longer afford to carry on living side by side, barely able to look at each […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The real cause of our constitutional crisis
By Ian Dewar At the end of the explanatory memorandum to the fully amended Constitution on the info.gov.za website our Constitution is described thus: “This Constitution therefore represents the collective wisdom of the South African people and has been arrived at by general agreement.” Now, nearly sixteen years since its promulgation, there is little evidence […]
Posted inGeneral
Saving our children by sobering them up
By Liezille Pretorius Dear Comrade Angie Motshekga, The problem I wish to address with you is the issue of alcohol misuse in schools. It is my opinion that the current contention around the alcohol-free schools campaign is flawed because it doesn’t take into account the child’s unique socio-economic/politic circumstances. In this letter I show that […]
Posted inGeneral
South African enough to take to lunch?
By Duncan Scott What’s in a nationality? In a country in which political rhetoric and common sentiment towards foreign nationals is often belligerent, quite a lot. A South African – let’s call him K – recently put it to me, “When it comes to nationality, like in every other civilised country in the world, there […]