Features & Columns

Travel: Ghana’s Slave Coast

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:35:28 +0100

A history forgiven but not forgottenPeople come to Ghana’s slave forts for one reason: to shed tears while decrying the monstrosity of slavery. The Westerners are here to cry for the sins of their forefathers. The African Americans and Africans are here to cry about the inhumanity of it all. “To imagine the grave horror that our ancestors went through caged in small cells as they waited for ships that would take them away from the motherland, never to return,” as Kwame the tour guide booms ...

Undercover Geek: Science and technology in Africa

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:16:06 +0100

Director of Corporate Services at Sci-Bono Fikile Mapela shared her insights with us on the advancement of Science and Technology in Africa. How did you get involved in Science? Growing up in Kwa-Mhashu Durban, I was always interested in how things work. In my teens I used to assist my uncle who is a motor mechanic. He made me his spanner girl, which gave me an opportunity to learn and not to fear technical “stuff”. This fascination led me to take an interest in maths and science at school.Pl...

The African Dis-Union

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:22:43 +0100

Over the years the youthful and enthusiastic leaders turned into power-hungry old men who seemed to lack the ability to take decisive action, opting instead to hide behind statements, dialogue and committees. While civilians are being killed by government armed forces, they meet and discuss. As children die from cholera the AU forms committees and deliberates.Propelled by what was perceived to be the success of the Organisation of African Union (OAU), 53 African member states convened in July 199...

Lessons Africa can learn from Africa

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 07:57:44 +0100

NIGERIALearning from Nigerians...by Moky MakuraTAKE A RISK AND LIVE YOUR LIFE WITHOUT FEAR!Nigerians are arguably some of the most enterprising people in the world. Amongst our better-known home grown exports are our movies, our churches, our oil, three very specific digits from our penal code and of course, ourselves - there are millions of Nigerians dotted across the world and we make up the largest group of African diasporans. Nigerians are inherent risk takers, who naturally spot opportunitie...

The Great Debate: Am I African?

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 07:26:31 +0100

Who is African?Chester Higgins, Jr. said: “We are not Africans because we are born in Africa, we are African because Africa is born in us.” In 1906, an African intellectual Pixley ka Isaka Seme made this rather profound statement, “I am an African, and I set my pride in my race over against a hostile public opinion,” and nine decades later on occasion of the adoption of the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the then deputy president Thabo Mbeki delivered a goosebumps-induc...

My Brother's Killer

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 07:09:58 +0100

Many of us are not in South Africa because it is our preference. Circumstances such as extreme hunger, political persecution and desperation drove us to cross borders and attempt to make a life for ourselves hereIn all I have loved most of the 10 years I have spent in this culturally rich and diverse country. However, my love has become tainted by fear. A feeling which was initially a vague and distant sensation, but it has become more dominant in the wake of the xenophobic attacks which erupted ...

Birds, bees and being African

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:31:12 +0100

My first awareness of how “bad and dirty” sex was came when I realised that any time there was a “kissing scene” or any hint of intimacy on television, my father subtly hinted to my mother that we should be sent on a random errand, or, in extreme cases, to bed. I shudder to think how my parents would have handled all the “soft porn” being shown so early on television these days. My parents’ reluctance to expose their little angel to anything so vile taught me that some...

Undercover Geek: (Hyper) text in the city

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:46:14 +0100

It’s not so hard to imagine that an industry that exploits our most base and animalistic sexual desires and generates billions of dollars in revenue annually (even our local TopTV wants in on the action) could be responsible for driving some of our most important digital advancements. Allow me to elaborate... From affiliate marketing to e-commerce, seemingly innocuous everyday technologies that allow us to do things such as transact online owe their being and perfection to the nascent onli...

Sex scandals

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:32:39 +0100

PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA – ROCK STAR The president of South Africa’s personal life has been in the spotlight for many years and as many reasons. From rape trials and polygamy practices to fathering a child out of wedlock, it reads like a soapie. The latest involves American-Sudanese model-cum-hostess/novelist and actress Kola Boof, who is best known for her affair with Osama bin Laden or “Somi”, as she apparently affectionately called him. I...

One man's child, another man's slave

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:13:42 +0100

The majority of the world’s population of almost seven billion people are minors who are not yet at a legal age to work. Reports have shown that these minors – both male and female – are being recruited by organisations to perform the kinds of tasks that adults would generally consider as immoral and that aren’t fitting for the mental or physical state of children. WHAT IS CHILD TRAFFICKING? Trafficking in children is generally held to mean the recruitment, transportation, tra...

Travel feature: Skeleton Coast, Namibia

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:54:24 +0100

Legend has it sailors would be able to make it there through the dense fog and heavy surf, but like in the classic tune Hotel California, they could never leave as that very same surf that had thrust them to shore made it virtually impossible to launch their boats back into the ocean, leaving them stranded. Once they had beached with no hope of getting back to sea, daylight would reveal to them the frightening realisation that they are in fact surrounded by nothing but thousands of ...

The other side of sex

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:41:23 +0100

But as an HIV doctor I see people die needless deaths simply because they did not test for HIV. This is a serious problem within certain pockets of our society and drives my passion to save people’s lives. There are three blind spots to highlight when it comes to the diagnosis and treatment of HIV: the elderly and HIV, racial stereotyping and HIV, and the closest to my heart – pregnancy and HIV. THE ELDERLY October 2010 saw me working in Orange Farm on the outsk...

CULTURE - Even the Philistines had one

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:23:40 +0100

In the last few centuries, my immediate Irish, English and Afrikaner ancestors did agree on one thing – that the white “race” was more intelligent, moral and deserving than all the others. This created a traditional culture, at best condescendingly paternalistic, at worst savagely intolerant, of white supremacy. I managed to outgrow that culture. Probably because I read, rather than getting my worldview from scared old drunk fellow whities. (They’re the only ones who still bang on about t...

Undercover Geek: What the future holds

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:14:43 +0100

Of course there is always the remote possibility that the Mayan scribes responsible for documenting the Mayan apocalypse of 2012 slipped up and allowed a typo to creep into their ornate jungle font and the “0” in 2012 was actually meant to be an “8” or something. Phew... I’d be so relieved. I’d have to equate a mistake of such game-changing magnitude to be in the same league as the colossal mistake made by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, the maverick ex-Microsoft honcho who de...

Travel Feature: Mauritius

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:58:35 +0100

For those who have never had the opportunity to experience the gem that is Mauritius, here is some background information. Officially discovered in 1507, Mauritius (named after Dutch Prince Maurits van Nassau) is off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 900 kilometres to the east of Madagascar. Dutch occupation under Admiral Wybrand van Warwyck ended in 1710, when sugar-cane production and animal breeding on the island failed to turn a profit. A few ye...

No continent for old men

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:20:20 +0100

Their tenures are characterised by an inability and unwillingness to adapt to changing political circumstances and respond to the needs of their people. Deeply rooted in the patriarchal system of governance within which despotic tendencies emerge, these men have entrenched themselves in the conscience and very fibre of their nation and every sphere of life. Their image exists in tandem with that of their own countries. It is generally in the nature of these leaders, whose egos are...

Marrying Black Girls for Guys Who Aren’t Black

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:01:49 +0100

And then actually date them and start going out in public together and stand in the queue at movies with them and all that? Go to braais and say, “This is my girlfriend, Letsego?” or Lonwabo, or Sibu, or Kate because she grew up with a white family. Or whatever. If this sounds like you, and you follow things through to their natural conclusion, you may even end up marrying her, differently coloured as you might be. It happened to me, so I have prepared a li...

The Gaddafi I Knew

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:39:22 +0100

Backing Idi Amin: Idi Amin came to power in 1971 with the support of Britain and Israel because they thought he was uneducated enough to be used by them. Amin, however, turned against his sponsors when they refused to sell him guns to fight Tanzania. Unfortunately, Gaddafi, without first getting enough information about Uganda, jumped in to support Idi Amin. He did this because Amin was a “Muslim” and Uganda was a “Muslim country” where Muslims were being “oppressed” b...

The Badge

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:25:16 +0100

Siener in die Suburbs was, before rehearsals even began, a massive hit. With the censors. “How,” they asked, “can you have a character who has only one line?” “How,” they spluttered, “can this character’s only line be, ‘Ma, I’m preggers’?” Life is not like that! When it was explained that the whole narrative revolved around this line, the character and her line were allowed to remain in the play, and it is on the actress who would interpr...

Power to the people

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:35:17 +0100

To understand how we got to this dire situation where climate change threatens the very continuation of human civilisation as we know it, let’s start at the beginning. Back in the murky shadows of time, a curious, hairless and unique primate emerged that had developed a unique ability to manipulate and change its environment. Once Homo sapiens arrived on the scene with our big problem-solving brains, opposable thumbs and our desire to explore, Mother Nature has not rested much. ...

Kaburu: Sudsy Malone’s and the washing of the soul

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:23:33 +0100

“From Holland. You know, Europe? No, no, not Europe, Nebraska. Oh, never mind.” Besides the fact that all you had to add onto the word “Dutch” was “man”, and I’d be nailed, the good folks of Ohio bought it hook, line and sinker. Now, what Afrikaner, you may well ask, would deny the Springbok? Well, the way I went on you’d swear I’d never even heard about rugby, never mind the “Sprungbox” or whatever ya call ’em. You’d be amazed how quickly you learn to ...

African talent withers under a corrupt sun

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:27:19 +0100

In Africa, news that the continent would host football’s 2010 FIFA World Cup was greeted with joy at home and not a little sour scepticism abroad. History will show the optimists had it right. The tournament was a spectacular success, with one caveat – the dismal showing of African teams. While apologists point to the long established professionalism and/or wealth of “international” leagues and bemoan the lack of commitment of foreign-based players, the evidence points el...

The Magic of Madikwe

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:09:10 +0100

Situated on the Botswana border, Madikwe is one of the largest private game reserves in South Africa. You would never imagine that this unspoilt world that is just a four-hour drive away from the city showcases the Mother Nature’s sheer creative brilliance. A large bull elephant is the first to proudly welcome our arrival as he walks the lone dirt track that leads us further into a thriving hub of wildlife. The vast plains and rugged hills are adorned with strange-looking trees that resemble...

Undercover Geek: Apple vs PC

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:46:51 +0100

In the English language, apples have unrivalled antidotal properties. As the saying goes, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, and when it comes to looks and favour, it is the ultimate compliment to be considered “the apple of somebody’s eye”. And just to reinforce the iconic association this fruit has with epochal human endeavour, it was not a banana, pear or orange that fell on a young Isaac Newton while he was slacking off in the orchard, but an apple that landed on his no...

Our greatest export has been a lie of a miracle reconciliation

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:16:58 +0100

The pursuit of national unity and reconciliation was at the core of the African National Congress agenda throughout the struggle, but the apartheid nationalist regime brainwashed the majority of whites into believing that black people were not concerned with the welfare of the nation and its property. It took the leadership of Nelson Mandela in the aftermath of the assassination of Chris Hani to placate primal fears of whites and calm the seething anger of Africans. The world took...

Somalia: To repair or not to repair?

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:52:52 +0100

To begin, a brief background on the country. Somalia has been plagued by conflict and poverty for many years. It has the misfortune of topping the Failed State Index (FSI), ranking first out of 177. Failed states are generally unsuccessful at the basic duties, policies and structures required of a sovereign government. In its 2011 FSI report, the Fund for Peace ranks Somalia as the number one failed state for the fourth consecutive year. Reasons include ineffective central governm...

Afro Travel: Kenya - The Jewel of East Africa

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:06:24 +0100

Other streets here are named after Africa’s liberation heroes including Kwame Nkrumah, Eduardo Mondlane and Kenneth Kaunda. The city is proudly and boldly African. Nicknamed Nairoberry Nairobi is also worldly, thanks to its status as African United Nations (UN) headquarters. Besides the UN, multinationals and a thriving economy have ensured the presence of a significant number of foreign workers. The most stable country in East Africa, Kenya has communities from Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda,...

Women in the arts: A stereotyped lot?

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:56:48 +0100

Many black female South African musicians have also not had easy lives. Thandi Klaasen carries scars on her face, arms and body, and the late Brenda Fassie faced many demons as we know so well thanks to extensive coverage in the press. Female artists – and black ones in particular – face serious challenges that include abuse, exploitation and oppression. Women in the music industry often end up as back-up singers rather than taking centre stage, and their salary expectations are also...

The Evolution of Women

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:27:19 +0100

Society speaks expectantly and awaits the complete evolution of women in the political sphere and other such sectors of leadership, with baited breath. It is with this same anticipation that women themselves look to a day when their rise to influence will be realised in the dark, musty yet heady corridors of power. This, it is suggested, will be the true expression of freedom, when women enjoy active participation in key positions of political influence. This school of thought al...

Kelli Givens: Social entrepreneur with a mission

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:53:21 +0100

Born in a sporting family, her mother was a softball player and her father a professional baseball player. Both parents taught her and her sister strong family values such as care for others, personal responsibility and a strong work ethic. “Hard work is something that cannot be replaced,” she says. “It is critical to one’s successes.” She says both parents taught her and her sister strong family values such as care for others, personal responsibility and a stro...

KABURU: The End of the World

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:07:19 +0100

A nobly Calvinistic tribe, the Afrikaner is renowned for what could generously be described as having a rather conservative view of heaven. It’s a place reserved for souls who religiously refused to have any fun on the sinful earthly plane. According to the true Afrikaner, there were extremely personal relations between the tribe of Ham and non-NG Kerk draadsitters and hensoppers, thus resulting in the heathen Patricia de Lille. Patricia and her ilk (and by this the Afrikaner refers to all...

Kaburu: IF...

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:03:30 +0100

A republic of truly monumental monuments, it contains precisely two edifices. The first is a rendition of HF Verwoerd, in every sense a Dutchman. Perched on the only hilltop in the republic, the great architect’s intimidating four foot five tall sculpture gazes across the end result of his great vision: a dorp. This dorp’s grand dust-road avenues (Kerk and Voortrekker) lead to a central plaza at the centre of which is located a monument unique in the world.It rears a towering 2.5m over Schal...

Afro Travel: Tau Game Lodge – ‘Place of the Lion'

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:41:30 +0100

Deep in the heart of South Africa’s fourth-largest game reserve, you are simply surrounded by beauty. The Groot Marico not only boasts the rolling hills of the Tshwene-Tshwene but also offer the dramatic ridge of the Dwarsberg Mountains. The whole area is alive with the sweet scent of Mother Nature and teeming with an abundance of wildlife. Before even reaching the Tau gates we were met by a majestic pair of giraffe who almost seemed to usher us in.The lodge manager, his wife and our very own l...

Technology for Africa

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:17:17 +0100

Having recently watched The Social Network, a movie that chronicles the story behind the launch of the world’s largest and most influential social network, Facebook, I am absolutely certain that “facilitating African revolutions” was furthest on the minds of the Facebook founders as they avariciously went about building this technological monstrosity from their Harvard University base, comfortably ensconced in the trappings of their unimaginable privileges.The use of technology in the p...

African visual arts: perpetuating negative stereotypes or reflecting the continent’s grim reality?

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:33:55 +0100

They have love, joy and happiness or anger, jealousy and rage. But they are, mostly, dehumanised and reduced to victims of colonialism, apartheid, racism and the betrayal of African politicians and government.What I find disappointing and frustrating about African arts is two patterns. Firstly, Africans are, mostly, portrayed as less than human because of degrading material circumstances. Secondly, they are always portrayed as poor, unequal, corrupt and engaged in war and political crime. In fact...

Unearthing Africa

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:14:38 +0100

For instance, a formerly war-ravaged state like Rwanda, whose economy was teetering on the brink of collapse 17 years ago following a genocidal war, has put its tragic past behind it and is emerging as a formidable leader in East Africa’s financial services sector as well as the information and communications technologies (ICT) market. Through sheer hard work and setting up ICT infrastructure necessary to facilitate the mobile-phone industry and internet access, the Rwandan authorities have tur...

Kaburu: "Een, Twee"

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:46:20 +0100

“One of the most misunderstood, indeed under-valued forms of music is sakkie-sakkie, an iconic concertina-driven genre widely associated with braaivleis, rugby and two-tone shirts. It is musically and mathematically speaking lethally difficult to play. It was only when I tried to play it myself that I understood why certain extremely complex events occur when it is played. Here I speak not of the sudden mass eruption of the two-step, which requires lurching with outstretched right arm and upw...

Personal Reflections on the value of an MBA

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:43:23 +0100

The programme made me a more rounded business person with a much greater understanding of the business world and how the pieces of organisations fit together. For me the area that was most beneficial was getting a better understanding of financial principles and applications. I got a good grasp of the finances within my own area of work. Furthermore, I believe in setting myself apart from my colleagues. This was my motivation for joining the programme in the first place.I planned to maximise the ...

Arts and culture: will the real leaders please raise their hands?

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:02:59 +0100

In most instances, we find that too many people who hold top management positions are mistaken for leaders. With the rise of majority rule in the last 17 years, one would expect blacks, if you like, to assert their power and influence in leadership. There is no doubt that the ruling party, the African National Congress, has long unveiled a clear manifesto on the way forward.That manifesto is to create jobs, fight unemployment and crime and make inroads into a meaningful stake in the economy throu...

South Africa: A Global Leader

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:51:50 +0100

After all, for many years the country has played a pioneering role in many fields, ranging from mining to medicine. It was here that the world’s first heart transplant was performed in 1967 in Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town. Twenty-three years later Groote Schuur played host to another historic “transplant” when two “surgeons”, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk signed the Groote Schuur Minute on 4 May 1990 to remove the heart of apartheid rule and chart a progressive path towards a peac...

A nation without artistic heroes?

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:04:50 +0100

The Top 20 Afropolitans

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 07:38:51 +0100

Both plays earned Kani and Ntshona the prestigious Tony Award. In the early 80s, Kani wowed international audiences again when he co-starred alongside the late Zakes Mokae in another Tony Award winner by Athol Fugard, Master Harold And The Boys. Through an autobiographical play like Nothing But The Truth and his executive roles in various cultural and corporate bodies, Kani continues to play a critical role in the development of local theatre.His big screen credits include The Native Who Caused A...

The national democratic resolution

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:46:23 +0100

I’d never seen nor drunk so much vodka and Coke in my life. The next morning, while I was in a barely functional haze, it hit me: What comes between socialism and full communism? Alcoholism. Bugger! The imperialist press was right! One of the first lines of The Internationale howled through my head as I poured coffee with a shaking hand... “Arise, ye wretched of the earth!” Why was I suddenly confused? I thought to myself: capitalism is defined as the exploitation of man by man. Communism i...