MUSINGS
Sex in the City, well, almost city
I have been holed in Welkom since yesterday. To the uninitiated, Welkom is in South Africa. A small town in the Free State about 300km outside Johannesburg. In fairness, Welkom is a big town in the Free State. Probably the province’s second...
Huffing and puffing over cigarettes
It is easy to look at the cry for cigarette sales to be reopened as a cry from ordinary South Africans dying (no pun intended) out of nicotine deprivation. But it is not. It is the lobby of the cigarette industry in full motion. And let me say it up front, there is...
Diversity and inclusion
Let me tell you a story of Qondeni Ngcobo. She is a 50-year-old woman born in Zululand in KwaZulu Natal. She was born into abject poverty. Like most of her peers and those who grow up in villages, Qondeni never got an education. She grew up in a mud house. Lived from...
We Need A New Heritage
On behalf of my foundation, The Rams Mabote Foundation and the initiative we have established, Future Kings, it is my singular honour and privilege to be your guest speaker marking this Heritage Day. Greetings to you all. I promise not to keep you long here. Before...
Future Kings: Giving our boys new stories
Many times people ask me: “What is the end game of Future Kings? What do the boys take with them after the programme?” When this question is posed, I know what people mean: “Do the boys get some form of training? Do they get a certificate?” These questions are...
Babes Wodumo: It is about Mampintsha not Masechaba
Why now? This question must bother us as severely as we are bothered by the story of Mampintsha’s historical abuse of Babes Wodumo. He has admitted the abuse, hence I don’t call it alleged. Many have come out not necessarily in defence of the abuser, but disapproving...
Men’s Ego was largely behind #SandpaperGate
How we raise our young, especially the young men, has a major impact on what society we breed. Now that the ill-fated Australian cricket tour to South Africa has come to a shameful end, maybe it is time to reflect as to why the beautiful game of cricket made headlines...
Hefner: A beneficiary of a biased court of public opinion
Hugh Hefner is dead. Long live The Hef. Love him or hate him, Hefner captured the world’s imagination living his dream surrounded by a posse of women and living with them in his Playboy Mansion. The founder publisher of men’s magazine Playboy was admired by many,...
The good, the bad and the not-so-funny of #MbekiOnPower
Much has been spoken, written and whispered about last Thursday’s epic #MbekiOnPower – the Inaugural Chairman’s Conversation with President Thabo Mbeki conducted by PowerFM’s chairman Given Mkhari. Let me start at the top: this was a huge media and marketing coup by...
Helen gives Mmusi’s credibility a kiss of death
I am putting my head on the block. From a reputation and credibility point of view, Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance will never survive the crime Helen Zille committed. On Tuesday Mmusi and Helen addressed a joint media briefing where...
Prasa spokesperson chooses sickness over truth
If Nana Zenani comes back to work next week with a resignation letter or a requesting to be moved to any other department but media relations, I would understand. This spokesperson of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) had a bad Friday, 2 June 2017 not so much...