He might have written his name in lights in this newspaper group, but his work extended far beyond that; as a precocious young journalism student drafting the business plan for what would become The New Nation, doing pioneering training work on the Weekly Mail on his return from Oxford where he’d been a Rhodes Scholar and even doing radio journalism on the legendary Capital 604 radio station.
Those in power choose to remain powerless to lift SA from poverty
The mayor of one of South Africa’s biggest metros joined a march by the residents of one of Eskom’s biggest defaulters – against the cash-strapped power utility this week.
Why this is not simply a Cyril spring
We are living in incredible times. One day we’ll be able to look back and ask ‘where were you when…’ about the events of the last two months.
We dare not forget, we dare not trivialise the suffering under apartheid
Apartheid was a crime against humanity. It is not measured solely by the body bags of Sharpeville, Soweto, Boipatong or all the others, but because of the fact it dehumanised millions of South Africans across generations for the benefit of a minority, aided and abetted by the many collaborators within and without the Bantustans.
‘Hammer and tongs’ and the consequences on social media
Last week’s storm in the Twitterverse of a video showing a naked man going at it hammer and tongs with a woman in a yellow dress atop a desk in a Sandton office seems to have subsided.
Load shedding sheds light on our divisions
The throbbing of generators has become the white noise of the lived reality of South Africa’s affluent suburbs, a bizarrely more comforting accompaniment to the early morning discordance of burglar alarms. In the townships, it’s the stench of burning rubber and armed militias around the illegal reconnections at Eskom substations.
Should rapists be chemically castrated?
League president Bathabile Dlamini, who isn’t perhaps a natural standard bearer for gender sensitivity, wants rapists jailed, denied parole and – and chemically castrated.
Baggage issue an allegory for state of our SOEs – no one gives a hoot
Veteran consumer journalist Wendy Knowler discovered her bag had been tampered with early this week when she picked it up from the carousel after disembarking from her flight. Perhaps the only surprising thing for the rest of us was that she hadn’t been flying from OR Tambo International Airport.
Kick-ass boets in Beemers more fun than ANC anniversary
Fighting in real life just isn’t like it is in the movies, which is a bit of paradox when you think of the proliferation of martial arts movies and the suburban dojos, gyms and Fight Clubs underpinning this fascination all over Gauteng at least.
Cadres on a jol at ANC 108 celebrations before Moody’s puts the boot in
The ANC is in Kimberley, the spiritual home of Sol Plaatje, this weekend to deliver its January 8 address. It’s an important moment, presaging what the president of the party who also happens to be the president of the country will say at the State of the Nation Address next month when he opens Parliament.
Kevin Ritchie 