It was a sunny day in Shanghai on Nanjing West road, apparently the longest shopping road in the world. We ex-pats were doing what ex-pats do on a day off, sitting in a favourite pub, The Long Bar, fronting the Ritz-Portman hotel. While we sipped our...
Here's the question: can we rightfully critique oil companies for their environmental impacts while we continue to fill up on their oil? Does our reliance on their products mean that we have no space to critique the manner in which that production oc...
Examine the latest available Human Development Index (HDI) figures -- a measure of education, life expectancy and standard of living -- and you will find that the 2010 World Cup hosts are ranked 129 out of 182 UN member states. Or a whole 19 places b...
The deep rumbles of discontent that have exploded into violence and property destruction teach us clearly that the government has not, exactly, succeeded in speaking to the people.
Instead, it urgently needs to address its messages to the people w...
Retired former liberation heroes (like Nelson Mandela) and struggle stalwarts now turned into government ministers (like Trevor Manuel) cannot enjoy the sight of upheavals like those in Sakhile township near Standerton, Mpumalanga or Khutsong in Carl...
Recent shocking images of the police shooting at South Africa's poorest citizens were beamed around the world as people in poor communities were protesting. The damage to the country caused by these images that looked like a flashback to the 1980s is...
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has blamed councillors elected during former president Thabo Mbeki's time as the reason for the latest wave of protests sweeping the country. He then goes on to suggest that it has to be the former government'...
Most of my regular readers will know that I have stood squarely behind former National Prosecuting Authority boss Vusi Pikoli in his bid to regain his position at the head of the NPA. I have done so because Pikoli is a man of unquestionable integrity...
This week's Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online:
What does the government need to do to improve service delivery?
Read more
SA govt 'will not tolerate violent protests'
SA hit by service-delivery protests
Protesters vent...
Britain's recently been shocked by the "news" that avaricious members of parliament have been fleecing the taxpayer royally. But their MPs are mere amateurs compared to those we've elected in South Africa who have their snouts so deep in the trough t...
