South Africa fears a new wave of xenophobia
There are fears that a new wave of xenophobia is building in South Africa. Driving it as movement called Dudula, which is the Zulu word for drive-back. Current hot spots are Alexandra township, were people in poverty live in sight of the salubrious business and residential area of Sandton, and in Soweto. The two […]
I am betting the Kuwaitis won’t change their working week
It is said other Arabic countries will follow the United Arab Emirates in adopting a Western working week. From this year, the UAE has observed Saturday and Sunday as holiday instead of Friday and Saturday as is the case in most Islamic countries. If there are further changes, my money is that Kuwait will not […]
Is he really running out of road?
How did we move in four short years from the Ramaphoria of a new president to a man whom even sympathetic analysts say has run out of road? Cyril Ramaphosa has reached the critical half-way stage of his presidential term and he will have to show his mettle in Thursday’s state of the nation address […]
Sisulu accuses black judges of mentally colonialising South African
The over-achingly ambitious Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is standing by an incendiary article she penned criticizing South Africa’s world renowned constitution and black judges. The article is seen as an opening volley in her bid to win the presidency at the elective congress of ruling African National Congress in December. Her early appearance over the […]
Striving to become the anti-vax poster boy
He could have stopped the expulsion process dead in its tracks. All Novak Djokovic had to do was stop by a medical facility and get a COVID vaccination. He could have done this while being kept in a migrant detention facility at the start of his ill-fated latest visit to Australia.. He could have done […]
A diplomatic career spanning both sides of a historic divide
“African Viking,”by Pierre Dietrichsen. Dietrichsen is one of that dwindling band of diplomats who represented both the apartheid regime and South Africa’s new democracy led by President Nelson Mandela. His memoir contains gems of a unique history that includes the complex and often exasperating transition between the two. Dietrichsen writes in a detailed, discursive manner […]
Terrifying new COVID variant emerges from Botswana
South Africa’s National Institute For Communicable Diseases has confirmed that a new possibly vaccine-resistant COVID strain with 32 mutations has been detected. Virologists are calling it the most evolved COVID strain ever, and fear it could be worse that the Delta strain. A COVID expert says what has been dubbed the Botswana strain may have […]
Don’t shoot the pragmatist
The nation’s flags fall to half staff today as South Africa begins a four-day official mourning period for its last white leader F.W. de Klerk. President Cyril Ramaphosa calls this a mark of respect for a predecessor. A State memorial service for de Klerk will be held a date to be determined. The former president’s […]
When it comes to saving the planet, world powers need wriggle room
In mid October, I sat down and explained why I would not be at the Climate Change summit in Glasgow. Bottom line: I did not want to lie to my readers. And puffing up their expectations for COP 26 would be doing exactly that. A few paragraphs in, I was overwhelmed by deja vu making […]
EU top court bloodies Morocco’s nose over Western Sahara
The European Union has legally bloodied Morocco’s nose by annulling the North African Kingdom’s trade deals involving the Western Sahara it has illegally occupied since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations. Significantly the EU’s top court acknowledges that the government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is the internationally recognized authority over Western […]