Despite being prone to regular attacks of the giggles, President-by-Omission Jacob Zuma is an astute guy. In fact, the giggles are all part of the show. The appointment of Mac Maharaj as his spokesperson shows he’s still on top of his game. The media speculate that this move is all about former presidential spokesperson Zizi…
I recently resigned as monthly columnist at Media24′s daily newspapers after one of my columns was censored. The offence that led to the censorship? As a proponent of the position that the media’s allergic reaction to self-criticism is to its own detriment, I had dared to do exactly that: employ critical examination of the media….
Has Jacob Zuma registered his multiple marriages? This question is vital as the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998 does not apply to “indigenous African” marriages that have not been registered. Its safeguards and benefits, therefore, would have no force in such cases. The choice whether to register a customary marriage in terms of…
A year or so ago a “gentleman’s club” — or, more specifically, a club where women take off their clothes for men in return for money — plastered large promotional posters all over bus stops in Cape Town. The exhibited draw card was a stereotypical arrangement: a group of gaudy women propped up around a…
A while back I had the disconcerting experience of receiving a spontaneous ovation from an audience consisting mainly of Afrikaners. The statement that led to the unexpected explosion in enthusiasm was that ANC members seem not to be promoted despite alleged wrong-doing but because of it. The statement was based on my analysis of the…
Jolly. Jovial. Man of the people. This is how presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma has been projecting himself to South Africans. Here and there reality interfered – rape trial, corruption charges – but Zuma kept up the singing and dancing. When asked about policy issues, he would hide behind the usual “ANC collective” excuse: a mere…
Recently Dr Mamphela Ramphele astutely observed that the problem with African leaders is their inability “to envision their roles as agents of fundamental transformation of their societies”. I want to extend her point to those in the business of manufacturing public opinion, in particular journalists and cartoonists. Ramphele uses the example of Zimbabwean President Robert…
With his latest Sunday Times cartoon, Zapiro has ventured where angels should fear to tread. I am saying “should” because it shows that journalist-cartoonists can be as desensitised as other South Africans about the social crises that beset us. I am talking about his shameless use of rape as metaphor. South Africa has been staggering…
Déjà vu — again. And of a particularly nasty variety too. After refusing to apologise for inciting violence by saying he’d “kill” for ANC president Jacob Zuma, ANCYL president Julius Malema promised not to use the word “kill” in public again. So, now he’s gone and used the word “eliminate”. The last time we were…
This is us. No miracle nation. No rainbow nation. Just us: violent; intolerant of difference — hitting where it hurts. Let’s not try to sweet-talk ourselves. This is who we are. Let’s look ourselves in the eye. We are lurching from crisis to crisis at every level of our society, the latest being the extremes…
