News is not speculated Ferial Haffejee, maybe analysis

Last weekend South Africans and many across the globe witnessed a City Press newspaper screaming “Mbeki is back”. Without wanting to jump my guns, I read the report to reasonably make up my mind. It was after reading the entire report – and a related one – that I believed the report was speculative and misleading at best, to a reasonable reader, that is.

Was Sowetan’s Mathale “dare” Zuma claim misleading?

The ANC in Limpopo rejected a Sowetan newspaper report about two weeks back, alleging that its provincial leader and chairperson Cassel Mathale had dared the ruling African National Congress President Jacob Zuma to arrest him. The rejection of the allegation follows the newspaper report‘s headline line “Mathale Dares Zuma: Arrest Me”, followed by sub-heading “Defiant Limpopo Premier Lashed Out As Mangaung Fever Hots Up”.

Kalo Boof on embracing our ‘authentic’ African blackness

On 2 January 2012 – hours after a friend, Nyakallo Lephoto, on Facebook alerted us on his status to a statement a writer (she told me later on Twitter) and activist Kalo Boof (@KaloBoof) made about President Jacob Zuma having invited her to South Africa, and after I checked her Twitter timeline to confirm that claim – I googled her name. 

Why Willem Heath is heathering on dangerous grounds

President Jacob Zuma’s newly appointee and head of Special Investigating Unit, Willem Heath, might be messing up with the wrong man. Or rather, he might find himself in trouble for the defamatory allegations he made about former president Thabo Mbeki in an interview with City Press last week Sunday.

Has Mail & Guardian confused you on the Maharaj saga?

I could not help but suspect that Mail & Guardian had left many people confused this weekend after it was successfully advised by President Jacob Zuma’s spokesperson, Mac Maharaj – an advice that was also supported by its own lawyers – that publishing information not authorised by the National Prosecuting Authority would be a criminal offence punishable for up to 15 years imprisonment.