Russel Ngubo has an unusual curriculum vitae for a man who is deputy director of a provincial correctional services department Paul Kirk Russel Ngubo earned the nickname of “The Incredible Teflon Man” from his colleagues in the prison service. Nothing sticks to him, he never chips, he is completely indestructible. Which perhaps explains his sanguine […]
Ebrahim Harvey MY REVOLUTION Something big, historic and numbing has happened to socialists and activists the world over. Since the dramatic collapse of the Soviet empire and other Eastern European Stalinist regimes in 1989, many have turned away from political and community involvement and toward themselves, friends and families. So pervasive is this inward trend […]
Neal Collins SOCCER It makes you proud (sob) to be English. True grit in the face of stunning mid- table mediocrity (sigh). It was (simper) marvellous to watch. Last Sunday we saw Southampton, safe and sound above the relegation zone, hold mighty Liverpool 0- 0. On Monday, mid-table Everton had two sent off as they […]
Stephen Gray LIFESTYLE Once, for my sins, a man whose name really was Paul von Blixem approached me. He ran a mampoer distillery and his mission was to widen the appeal of his product, an important patriotic beverage, to English- speakers, not just to lying, lazy louts in the backveld. And to tourists, that was […]
Howard Barrell OVER A BARREL Looking to a bureaucrat to stimulate entrepreneurial activity is rather like asking a journalist to forget his or her sense of superficiality. It is about as well-directed an expectation as striking to persuade your employer to create more jobs, or calling on millions to hate capitalism in order to attract […]
Barry Streek If the fight against rural poverty is to be won, the government has to ensure a “national lifeline tariff” of 50 litres of clean water a person a day, the Rural Development Services Network (RDSN) said this week. Its research has shown that about 40% to 60% of rural people do not have […]
Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH The speed and efficiency with which Britain has deployed forces to evacuate its beleaguered citizens from Sierra Leone has been admirable. But to many Africans the British action raises a very worrying question: why didn’t Britain place its forces at the disposal of the United Nations, so that everyone […]
Brenda Atkinson When someone whom you love, and who is close to you, is raped, your heart’s selfish poems become so much emotional litter. The way your heart feels the world is as if it had never really beaten before this moment, when the phone rings, and the voice breaks: she was raped. She is […]
Michael Vlismas GOLF Harvey Penick, the legendary golf teacher, once said: “No pretty woman can miss a single shot without a man giving her some poor advice.” It is for this reason that a certain golf correspondent kept his mouth shut while watching Joanne Norton practice her putting earlier this year. Norton was struggling to […]
David Beresford ANOTHER COUNTRY A dreadful weekend, spent worrying over whether President Thabo Mbeki is a fool. One is used to describing politicians as fools, just as the referee is always blind – at least until he or she sees things the same way as oneself. But just as one does not expect to see […]