Thanks to a teething but hyped-about subgenre of music blandly known as Amapiano it dawned on me recently just how ignorant I’ve been. How artistically the world has progressed and I’ve seemingly remained behind; an outdated relic who missed the bus into this flagrant new age. All these decades music had occupied the more endearing …
Friday, 17 March. Hardly three months into the year 2023 of our Lord and The Rainbow Nation stands at the cusp of some profound events. Not to rub it in, as is the job description of any writer and journalist worth his salt, but that is simply the nature of the beast; to report on …
President Reshuffles, Premier Delivers SOPA and Red Monday Looms Large. Read More »
If there is a sacrosanct dictum that is religiously drummed at food-and-wine-pairings it’s that, unlike relationships, in cuisine and grog, opposites seldom turn out to be a match made in heaven. In fact the opposite applies, namely; species of a plumage – or in wine speak, cultivar – tend to hit it off like a …
Bordeaux, 1989; Colesberg’s Must-visit Restaurants Read More »
Go around a certain small town in Mpumalanga and you are likely to encounter residents who refer to it as eMkhondo whilst others will say it is Piet Retief. Down to a man, however, there will be unanimous agreement that one Pretty Yende is probably the best thing to have ever come from there. A …
The Sensational Pretty Yende and The Would-Be Superstars Read More »
On the best of days for tech illiterates, interacting with computers is, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, embarrassingly awkward. All some of us are certain of around a desktop is that when you double-click, something opens. “And the *##&$# thing,” an octogenarian friend of mine has been known to obscenely vent, “sometimes doesn’t even …
Around 2008 when Zimbabwe’s gradual descent from being “the bread basket of Africa” to a basket case, Charles Gavaza was almost 15 years into a teaching career and still piling the academic accolades to his resume. Little did the younger Gavaza know that things in his native land would deteriorate so drastically as to find …
With hundreds of athletes drawn from the Umsobomvu district converging on the Colesberg Stadium for this year’s schools athletics meet, this was always fated to be more than a worthy contender for Event of the Year. From the barefoot, barely-waist high u7s right up to the buff u19s all swag in running spikes, the battle …
Clash of the Titans as Umsobomvu Schools do Battle Read More »
Thursday, 8 February, 19:00 – Much of the country is glued to the box watching as President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation address (Sona), except he’s not. At least not yet. For now the yawning circus that has become par for the course amongst our “Honourable Members” wreaks havoc inside Cape Town …
SONA 2023: The Energy Crisis and Everything Else, The President Speaks. Read More »
Ask a random learner from a marginalised community what they wish to be when they grow up and the answers will almost always be one-dimensional. Teacher, nurse, restaurant worker, and yes, the ubiquitous doctor, of course. Can’t blame the children; their responses merely mirror a world in which dignified work readily presumes the stereotypical suit …
When Thulani Mankwenta, voice hoarse from unbridled singing at a traditional ceremony next door hobbles over and makes an unusual request, I quietly wonder whether the guy’s head is screwed on right. “Pour some wine,” he croaks, “and put on some Bowling for Soup.” Uhm…say what? My ears must be mucking about. At his age, …
