When historian Dr Rob Turrell stuck his hand in the lens of an SABC team outside the Richtersveld land claim hearing last week, the manne set about mooting explanations for his pique. Vrot Snoek reckoned Turrell had been watching Indiana Jones flieks and just wanted to butch up his mousy profession a little. Dok Rabie put his money on agoraphobia. But Lemmer wonders if it didn’t have something to do with Turrell being distracted by a tricky ethical question: If someone (let’s call him “Rob”) is an adviser to the minister of education, can he appear as an expert witness for a community (let’s call them “the Richtersvelders”) that is claiming R2,5-billion from the government? Oom Krisjan reckons that’s enough to make anyone punchy.
Play it again
Lemmer knows that selling is all about repeating oneself, although tautology can also be helpful. Indeed, when it comes to free gifts, there’s nothing like reversing to the beginning and starting again. And in the end it becomes a knee-jerk Pavlovian automatic response, as demonstrated on Marketingweb this week: it seems that the Loerie awards in Margate “are going to be more inclusive, and less exclusive than before”.
Back to the future
Lemmer enjoys the Afrikaans content on SABC2, but had to wonder this week if the channel is trying to appeal to a more verkrampte demographic with its new slogan, “Here’s to 10 more years of freedom.” Ja nee, the AWB must be thrilled to hear that the state broadcaster only gives our democracy another decade before we presumably return to a white theocracy.
Taken on faith
In our Godless world, it’s good to know that people still perform acts of blind faith. Like sending valuables through the Post Office. But it seems not all Christians are as certain as South Africans of their packages being delivered. This week a believer from Mpumalanga wanted to order material from the Christian Book Clearinghouse in the Unites States, and asked about surface-mail shipment. “Sorry,” came the response, “due to the rampant fraudulent activity in that region we do not desire to ship to South Africa at this time.” The meek shall inherit the Earth, presumably from postal workers who’ve nicked most of it.
Forgive and forget
Local novelist Wessel Ebersohn revealed a strong penchant for reconciliation on SAfm this week, as he provided a brief history of the 1980s and explained that people were being necklaced in the townships, “some of whom perhaps shouldn’t have been”. As for those who should have been, well, they were.
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