When South Africa won the right to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup many of us danced in the streets (in a manner of speaking). Finally, we had won the right to host a really major international sporting event (no offence to rugby and cricket, but those World Cups were Micky Mouse compared to the [...]
Posts from ‘January, 2010’
Nationalisation of the Reserve Bank?
I was rather intrigued by news reports that Gwede Mantashe, Secretary general of the ANC, has hinted that the ANC-led government should consider nationalising the South African reserve Bank (SARB). Mantashe said that the “South African Reserve Bank is one of less than five central banks in private hands in the world”.
My first thought was [...]
More questions on the AbaThembu King
Very few people – least of all anyone in government – seem to be taking seriously the claim by Votani Majola, lawyer for King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, that the AbaThembu tribe had seceded from South Africa. This is curious, given the fact that Dalindyebo was confirmed as the only King of the AbaThembu in 2008 by a [...]
BLA in need of a PR makeover?
Some people who have not come to grips with the notion of substantive equality and think that equality is about the equal treatment of everyone under all circumstances, get very cross about the existence of organisations like the Black Lawyers Association (BLA). “It’s racist!” they shout. “It’s discriminatory!” “How very dare they!”
I am not one [...]
A lot of hot air about section 205
Minister of Police Nathi Mthetwa and members of the police force (including the Police Commissioner) are – not surprisingly – talking a lot of rubbish and making idle threats against journalists who happen to belong to an independent (as opposed to a pro-government) news organisation.
Sadly for them, but luckily for the rest of us, these [...]
Open letter to President Jacob Zuma
Dear President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma
The media is reporting that you may appoint Jon Qwelane as South Africa’s ambassador to Uganda. I trust these reports are wrong and that the rumours about the imminent appointment of Qwelane were started by your enemies. Surely such damaging rumours have been spread by those who wish to re-enforce racist and Afro-pessimistic [...]
Why no investigation of the “abuse of power” by NPA
When President Jacob Zuma was still being investigated by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), his supporters often claimed with some conviction that there was a conspiracy against him. Although they never claimed that the evidence – on which basis his then financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, was convicted of bribing him – was in fact fabricated, they did [...]
Why the Rule of Law matters
A news report this morning sadly reminded me of the novel, The White Tiger, in which Arivind Adiga provides a cunning and often brutal depiction of India’s class struggles. The fortunes of the main character, Balram Halwai, a cynical, foul-mouthed, but witty narrator, rise after he murders his boss.
In the novel Balram, a chauffeur, recounts his transformation from [...]
A short lesson on Presidential pardons
Ok class, listen up. A short lesson on Presidential pardons seems to be called for. The lesson is required because seldom has so much nonsense been spoken by so many different people with different political convictions, than recently on the granting of Presidential pardons.
First the President claimed wrongly that Schabir Shaik had not applied for [...]
Our own Sarah Palin?
During the USA Presidential campaign, vice presidential candidate Sarah “Barracuda” Palin was rightly lambasted after giving a disastrous and laughable interview to Katie Couric. The most quoted section dealt with her lack of foreign policy experience and went like this:
Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you [...]
