Do you remember the Godfather book by Mario Puzo, which was masterfully turned into an iconic film by the same name by Francis Fred Coppolla? If not, shame on you! This is one of the greatest films ever made a film that defined the Mafia Genre of film. Sorry I’m getting distracted, just watch the film if you have not. There is a scene in this film in which Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, who had recently become Godfather tells his brother-in-law, Carlo, that he is settling family business.  He subsequently goes on to have Carlo killed. Carlo was killed because he sold out the family. Unbeknown to Carlo, Michael knew of his betrayal and just waited for an opportune moment to avenge Carlo’s betrayal. On the same day Carlo was killed, the other 4 heads or Dons of the 4 largest mafia families in New York were killed. This paved the way for Michael to settle old grudges. Read the rest of this entry »

Well another Shaik, Mo Shaik to be precise, was in the news this week. According to the Sunday Times, Mo Shaik plagiarised his way to a post-graduate tertiary institution qualification. I can’t say I’m surprised by this; well his brother is Schabir and is in prison right now for fraud and other related crimes. However, what is interesting is that this family is one of Jacob Zuma’s biggest supporters. Potentially the future president of the Republic has some interesting friends. The same could be said of the currently suspended SAPS Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi who shared many a meal with organised criminals. Jacob Zuma’s much documented and publicised business and personal relationship with Schabir Shaik has been a huge thorn in the Zuma for National President Campaign’s backside. Read the rest of this entry »

Black people we are sorry that some of us acted without thinking when those Free State students urinated on food and gave it to Black workers. We did not mean to go that far but understand that those Free State students had good reason to do what they did, they just got carried away. It was meant to be a joke, well I think it was. I don’t know the Free State students but I think it was just a bad practical joke. Why the fuss? De Klerk responded quickly, even though he does not represent all us Whites anymore, he reacted and even the Freedom Front Plus was against this. Why are the Blacks so angry? It’s not like this has not happened before, during Apartheid this was acceptable if not encouraged. Read the rest of this entry »

I am a 29 year old white woman, I work for an Advertising Agency, I stay in Lonehill, Northern Johannesburg and I have a pretty good life. But one thing I don’t have is safety, well at least according to the newspapers and television news stations. The newspapers and television news shows only talk about crime in South Africa as the Blacks or Coloured people robbing, car jacking, raping or killing White people. Read the rest of this entry »

A report on the news today said that fuel stations across South Africa may run dry as most consumers rush to fill up their tanks before the fuel price increases on Wednesday. I will be the first to say that I will be trying to fill up my tank before Wednesday as that would save me a couple of rand before the big increase. But now almost everyone is thinking like I am and obviously we are all going to rush out to the nearest fuel station but we may find that the station has no fuel as everyone has gobbled it all up! Read the rest of this entry »

Here we go again! Nationwide power cuts are set to resume again today, 3 March 2008. I like it when Johannesburg power distribution company, City Power, say that a new load shedding plan will ensure customers are ONLY hit twice a week. Twice a week is once to often for my liking. We had gone the last few weeks without any load shedding but I guess it was too good to be true. Worse still, it is said that the outages could last up to four hours at a time. Now what if the outage happens during business hours? One can easily right off a half days work.

What is also shocking to me is that, Hospitals will not be protected from load shedding under this new plan by Johannesburg’s City Power. Surely every hospital in South Africa should be exempt from load shedding but it seems like this is not the case.

Let us brace ourselves for more blackouts and hope that a solution to all of this is reached quickly.

Well I’m sure you have heard, read or talked about what happened at the University of the Free State. If you where on the Moon or Mars or outside the country, well this is what happened. Four White University of Free State students urinated on some food and gave it to Black workers and then video taped the Black workers eating the food. WOW!!!! Yes, a state of shock is an acceptable reaction or is it? South Africa is a place in which race is the most defining part of our identity as a people. So when there are overt acts of racial hatred should we be surprised? I think not, we are shocked because we are always being told that we are a ‘Rainbow Nation’, a melting pot of cultures and race living in harmony. All nonsense! Read the rest of this entry »

El Commandante, the Commander-in-Chief of the revolution, the last revolutionary standing Fidel Castro resigned recently as the leader of Cuba after 49 years. Castro is a giant in history whether you like him or not, this man is a giant in world history! So who is next? Is there anyone out there who could step into the huge gap left by this man? Who will talk back and disrespect the United States Empire? Could it be Hugo Chavez? Could it be Jacob Zuma? Please don’t laugh, it’s not that funny, well maybe it is. Jacob Zuma has been called the saviour of the masses in South Africa, a popularist who will take from the rich and share with the poor.  A man who could emulate Castro who violently arrested power from Baptista and gave it back to the people. Can Zuma be the next Fidel Castro, well at least for South Africa? Read the rest of this entry »

So the oil price is hovering above US$100 per barrel and that means that we in South Africa will have to pay more for our fuel. Apparently, the petrol price may go up next week and it will be over R8 per litre. FLIP!!!! I can’t believe it, R8 per litre, that’s madness! So what’s going on? Firstly, I hate globalisation, secondly, I hate that we have no say in the fuel price and thirdly, what’s happening with Bio-Fuels? So globalisation/market related forces help set the fuel price but in the last 10 years the oil price has gone up from just over US$10 per barrel to US$100 per barrel. What has happened in the last ten years? Read the rest of this entry »