A bunch of intellectual crybabies
18 April 2012
Credibility is somewhat like virginity, I told interns at my weekly class not so long ago. Once it's gone, it's gone for good.
Aakash Bramdeo is a former colleague from e.tv news who moved on to the SABC before being offered the editorship of Post in Durban — which was the newspaper which published my first story back in 1980. Before accepting the job, Aakash picked my brain as to what he could do to make the paper relevant to a wider readership. "Get a columnist who reflects the audience you're trying to attract," I said.
Shortly after accepting the position of editor, Aakash called me and asked, "when can you start?"
"View from the Top" ran in Post every week from 1 May 2011 to 9 April 2014 (which coincided with Aakash's departure from Post to edit the Sunday Tribune).
Drop bullying, bring back the brains
25 April 2012
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan made a couple of noteworthy points in an interview with Bloomberg last week. He commented on the fact that government expenditure on social spending had jumped from 49 percent of the budget to 58 percent over the past ten years.
Tall stories and tall buildings
2 May 2012
There was a joke doing the rounds during the 80s which PW Botha and Desmond Tutu holding a meeting a rowing boat in the middle of Zoo Lake in Johannesburg.
So, who fed the wolf . . . ?
9 May 2012
I HAVE said it before and I will say it again: I'm a kaffir and proud of it. The word comes from Arabic and is used by the Islamic world to refer to infidels and I am firmly in the ranks of non-believers. But I digress.
Well, is their indecision final . . .
16 May 2012
In June 1998 the United Nations General Assembly convened a five-week diplomatic conference in Rome to finalize and adopt a convention on the establishment
The truth is a lot less complicated
23 May 2012
I keep a copy of the Constitution close to hand at all times. It's a useful reminder that contrary to what people might think the highest law of the land says about things that are close to their hearts, the truth is a lot less complicated.
Sorry Mr Musk, we were too busy...
30 May 2012
During the 14th and 15th Century, the Minister of Science and Technology was known as the Pope. To speak out against the Pope was heresy (as Galileo
Face it, the book value’s not so great
6 June 2012
Here's a very simple quiz. If you want advice on how to lose weight, do you ask a fat person or a thin person? If you want advice on how to quit smoking, do you ask a smoker or an ex-smoker? If you want advice on how to get rich, do you ask a rich person or a poor person?
For those who play, make them pay!
13 June 2012
Figures released by the Department of Basic Education this month show that 18 pupils in Grade 3 became pregnant in KZN in 2008 and 2009.
Nationally, 94 875 pupils between grade 3 and grade 12 became pregnant during that period.
Go for it ma’am. With intelligence!
20 June 2012
Jacob Zuma left me pleasantly surprised this week. It's only the second time that this has happened since he became our president.
The first time was when he appointed General Siphiwe Nyanda as Minister of Communications.