SOUTH AFRICA  [Phillip de Wet] Nearly three months after he was shot by Libyan government troops near Brega, a ceremony in Johannesburg remembered photographer Anton Hammerl and reflected on his life and work - and his quest to tell the truth about conflict, despite the dangers.
|
SOUTH AFRICA  [Phillip de Wet] The media is used to being lied to, the public perhaps only a little less so. There are some things you don't lie about, though - even if it is a lie that created only by the passage of time and your inaction. And if you absolutely must lie about such a matter, say, the health of Nelson Mandela, don't you bloody dare blame the victims for the consequences.
|
SOUTH AFRICA  [Phillip de Wet] On Tuesday, 10 August 2010, journalists were told the ANC's proposed media appeals tribunal wouldn't limit freedom of speech (because it is impossible for the ANC or Parliament to do so), and would, in fact, be a great help to editors who are powerless to control their journalists. And seeing as everyone, except newspapers, think it's a good idea, it's time for the media to get with the programme.
|
SOUTH AFRICA  [Phillip de Wet] Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika and a co-accused were on Friday, 6 August 2010, granted bail of R5000 each, and had to turn in their passports before walking free. Which at least keeps them out of jail over the long weekend, but hardly explains the events of the past two days.
|
SOUTH AFRICA  [Phillip de Wet] Sunday Times investigative reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika was en route today, Wednesday, 4 August 2010, to hand himself over to police when, in the words of his editor Ray Hartley, "somebody decided they wanted to make something more dramatic out of it" and six police vehicles rushed in to make the arrest. His crime? Either fraud and conspiracy, or just being a thorn in the side of powerful people.
|
SOUTH AFRICA  [Phillip de Wet] In any other country it would have been just a gathering of fans to wish their team well, albeit a very large gathering. In Europe they may have sung a mournful tune, and in the Americas they would have waved flags. In South Africa, they did permanent damage to the hearing of passengers in jet airliners passing 20 000 feet overhead.
|
SOUTH AFRICA  [Phillip de Wet] More than a few whities got a tour of a township for the first time in their lives on Saturday, 22 May 2010, and South Africa is perhaps just a little more united than it was before that. But God help us if we don't figure out how to get crowds to and from stadiums within the next couple of days.
|
SOUTH AFRICA  [Phillip de Wet] When The Daily Maverick last week published a 17-second video of ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema kicking BBC journalist Jonah Fisher out of a news conference, we expected slightly more than normal interest. Instead it's gotten almost 180 000 so far people viewing the clip, most of them within two days. [video]
|
SOUTH AFRICA [Phillip de Wet] South Africans aren't interested in buying tickets for the World Cup? Tell that to the guy who rushed the doors of the Sandton ticket office shortly after it opened this morning, Thursday, 15 April 2010, got thrown back with considerable violence - and then got up to try again. [video] |
SOUTH AFRICA [Phillip de Wet] Most companies have to work to get attention when they think they're launching something cool. First National Bank has hired Joburg's Turbine Hall for a joint even with PayPal toward the end of March. It may find the cavernous space a little cramped. |
Angola
Botswana
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Cote D'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
Kenya
Uganda
Tanzania
Mauritius
Seychelles
Algeria
Egypt
Morocco
Zambia
