The discovery of a Goldilocks planet known as Gliese 581g, a mere 20 light years from Earth, has occasioned much excitement among scientists. The planet, which is found in the Libra constellation orbits a low-energy dwarf star called Gliese 581 and is called a Goldilocks planet because it is roughly the size of Earth and […]
Michael Trapido
Mike Trapido is a criminal attorney and publicist having also worked as an editor and journalist.
He was born in Johannesburg and attended HA Jack and Highlands North High Schools.
He married Robyn in 1984 (Mrs Traps, aka "the government") and has three sons (who all look suspiciously like her ex-boss).
He was a counsellor on the JCCI for a year around 1992.
His passions include Derby County, Blue Bulls, Orlando Pirates, Proteas and Springboks.
He takes Valium in order to cope with Bafana Bafana's results.
Practice Michael Trapido Attorney (civil and criminal) 011 022 7332
Posted inNews/Politics
Can police search you at a roadblock?
In light of the arrest of Atul Gupta, for allegedly refusing a search at a roadblock, as well as the police searching vehicles seemingly without warrants, one of my readers, Graham Bailey, asked if I could have a look at the powers of the authorities in these circumstances. At the outset always bear in mind […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘It’s the ANC that decides, not the youth league’
After a national general council, which can only be described as a triumph for South African and African National Congress President Jacob Zuma, the party returns to business-as-usual on Monday. It goes without saying that the ANC has done a lot of soul-searching — following the insurrection that was gaining momentum within the party — […]
Posted inGeneral
Shoot to kill: Cops need all the help they can get
Approximately five years ago I argued an appeal in the North Gauteng High Court where the conviction and sentence of a police sergeant, who had been convicted of murder and sentenced to 12 years, were overturned and replaced with culpable homicide and a suspended sentence. In brief — responding to calls from people, whose houses […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Secrecy bill could harm the ANC more than the media
The Sunday Times headline story by Stephan Hofstatter and Mzilikazi wa Afrika — how the government spent R4.2 million buying and furnishing a plush home for police commissioner General Bheki Cele — is the perfect example why certain parties are adamant that the Protection of Information Bill (POIB) should be implemented and why South Africans across […]
Posted inNews/Politics
I’d like to challenge Cwele to a live debate
While State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele was suggesting that the controversial proposed Media Tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill will not suppress the media, Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi Wa Afrika was appearing in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Wednesday where charges of fraud, forgery and uttering were withdrawn against him. Wa Afrika had been […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Secrecy bill: Why bother salvaging a draconian piece of legislation?
Themba Maseko, the spokesperson for the Cabinet, today confirmed that the government is committed to accommodating the views expressed during public hearings on the Protection of Information Bill “as far as practicable and reasonable”. Maseko told a media briefing — following Cabinet’s regular Wednesday meeting — that they welcomed the representations received from interested parties […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Friedman wrong on secrecy bill
Professor Steven Friedman in an article in Business Day says that the media has it wrong about secrecy law’s victims and that the failure of the media to analyse the bill accurately may be the only reason it has received so much attention. He basis this, primarily, on the following : “Media coverage of the […]
Posted inGeneral
What prospects for a second Obama term?
On Saturday, Pat Boone, a conservative political commentator, Christian activist, writer and preacher, put the entire American cat population among the pigeons with his article entitled “The mosque at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue”. This comes at a time when more Americans believe that US President Barack Obama is a Muslim than was the case over a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Selebi: A triumph of justice?
As the National Prosecuting Authority bask in the afterglow of having obtained a conviction against former top cop Jackie Selebi in Johannesburg on Wednesday, the time has come to put into perspective the price that was paid by South Africans in order to obtain it. As things stand the former police commissioner is facing 15 […]
Posted inGeneral
What you can’t see doesn’t mean that it does not exist
Once upon a time in a land at the southern tip of Africa, there lived a people so adept at making the rest of the world scratch their heads until their hair fell out that it became known as the Kingdom of Alopecia. Like most countries on the continent it had undergone a period of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Media tribunal smacks of an ANC cover-up
African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe in a report in The Star newspaper on Friday called upon newspaper editors to join the debate on setting up a media tribunal rather than act defensively. Mantashe said the invitation is in order that the media engage in the debate constructively and exchange ideas rather than defend its […]