I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Bheki Cele and heard him speak informally about the state of crime in South Africa. I don’t know how much of the conversations in private meetings like that are appropriate to disclose, but suffice it to say the man’s impromptu speech gave me hope for this country.
There seem to [...]

Last week (Thursday, 10 September 2009) Percyval Matji was found guilty of the murder of Bernadine Kruger. Today, a week later he was sentenced to 12 years in prison
For those who don’t know what this is about, Percyval Matji had driven into the back of Bernadine’s scooter while she was on her way to school [...]

The situation in Zimbabwe is precarious to say the least. Peaceful resolution doesn’t seem possible – either way blood is going to be spilled. Should South Africa invade? Do we even stand a chance?

Evidently a number of motorists are filling up and then speeding off without paying. Fin24 says so… so believe it coz it’s true! Peter Morgan, chief exective from the Fuel Retailer Association (FRA) said that there were at least 10 similar incidents in the past month.
The latest one involved a Durban man driving into and [...]

I don’t really watch a lot of television. But there’s a secret cache of talkshow programmes on South African television on Sunday nights that are quite interesting to watch if you’re in a, thinking, inquisitive, open-minded mood.
The first I watched was Asikhulume, and the second Interface. Interface did a pretty cool piece on the deregulation [...]

A New Zealander nominated to receive the highest honour from South Africa that a foreigner can receive, the Companion of OR Tambo Award asked for the nomination to be withdrawn. To put things in perspective, this award has been given to Mahatma Gandhi, Kofi Annan and Martin Luther King jnr.
As we say in South Africa: [...]

Loadshedding (n): Describing the state of being load-shed. Rolling blackouts, beurtkrag (directly translated: turn-power). Also commonly referred to as “An economy-crippling, job-destroying nightmare of galactic proportions initially thought to be only due to government and Eskom’s short-sightedness regarding the retention of skills.”
I say “initially” because Carte Blanche has opened a nice big, juicy can of [...]

Dirk Hermann from the Solidarity trade union said that South Africa is becoming increasingly race-obsessed. This was reported by Fin24 almost a month ago in reference to the responses to Jimmy Manyi’s call to have white women removed from the “Previously Disadvantaged” list in Affirmative Action (AA) legislation.
I’m going to cleverly avoid the topic of [...]

The title of this post is a term coined at the MyBroadband forums.
Unlike most of the broadband-deprived masses of South Africa I’m not a Telkom basher. Allow me to qualify that, lest I be misunderstood. I’ve received bad service from them before and complained. But I haven’t ever delivered statements like “Telkom is crippling the [...]

So I found myself sitting next to an American on the train the other day. Just to refresh your memories: I’m in Sweden where the use of trains is a practical thing.
Upon discovering that I’m South African the American expresses a desire to learn more of South Africa as he will be visiting the place [...]