History Matters

Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, The announcement of your intention to form the Congress of the People (COPE) has affected our people’s lives in many ways – both positive and negative. I am however sad to report that, at times the negative looms as large if not larger than the positive. That intimidation and paralysing [...]

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The terrorist’s attacks on civilians and government forces by armed militants in Mumbai have once again spread mayhem and fear in the Indian sub continent. It is an attack that replicates the hundreds of conflicts across the world which continues to underline the fact how a small group of [...]

By Allister Sparks. IT IS a measure of SA’s isolationist mentality that we are preparing for the most important general election of our democratic era against a backdrop of the worst global economic crisis in nearly 100 years, yet that forbidding factor is hardly featuring in our political debate. Jacob Zuma, who is presumably going [...]

Max du Preez IOL October 23 2008 Amid all the confusion, perplexities and mixed messages coming from the political arena in recent times, one thing is crystal clear: we South Africans should drastically lower our expectations of our political leaders. It started with Thabo Mbeki, the once charming, warm-hearted diplomat and inspiring leader who became [...]

I’m not Julius Malema’s biggest fan, personally I find him rather far removed from the youth that he claims to speak on behalf of. However I think it is in poor tast for IOL to have published Malema’s matric marks – regardless of how stupid people think he is (because of his raging fascist  remarks [...]

How is it that the ANC – the same ANC which prides itself on discipline, the same ANC who fought for the right to protest freely – allows its supporters to run to ruin the name of the party? IOL reports on the recent disruptions at a rally organised in support of Lekota at Orange [...]

Zimbabwe’s parties are close to breaking a deadlock over a power-sharing deal and “history is being made” at talks between President Robert Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition MDC said on Wednesday. MDC chief negotiator Tendai Biti, asked by reporters when talks would be concluded, said: “If you pray hard, tomorrow. History is being [...]

If you were taken aback by Sunday’s news headlines of ‘Tutu won’t vote’ then please read the transcript of the full interview here. Newspapers thrive on sensationalism and enjoy cutting out half the story so that you can buy their paper to read the rest, so read the full interview here: tutu-transcript

Mark Gevisser – Businnes day 23 September 2008 IF THE goal of Thabo Mbeki’s resignation speech on Sunday night was to remind South Africans and the world at large what they will be missing when he goes, then he was successful. His is the type of leadership, he made clear, which is neither “gloomy” when [...]