Reitz 4 ‘pardon’: In defence of Prof Jansen’s decision

By Dr Colleen Aldous
Professor Jonathan Jansen has demonstrated a form of emotional intelligence that South Africans should be looking to as being exemplary. As a South Africa however, I hang my head in shame and disappointment, as I did when the Reitz racial incident occurred. Because instead of being him being revered and held in [...]

‘Proudly South African’

Daniel Airey wrote this optimistic letter to IOL:
Let us not look at the past, but to the present and most importantly the future and realise where we stand. The world is in disarray and yet here we are standing firm and proud. Economies are falling, banking systems are crumbling and again we are standing Firm. [...]

Virgin mogul conquers the Lion

Shafiek Hassan and his sister, Shihaam, bumped into business mogul Richard Branson as they were hiking up Lion’s Head in Cape Town on New Year’s Day - and he has the pictures to prove it:

Richard Branson and Shihaam Hassan on Lion’s Head

According to Shafiek, Branson was “very friendly and greeted everybody”.
Anyone know who the other [...]

‘Paper will not separate the sheep from the goats’

The debate around Outcome-Based Education (OBE) has a quiet roar.
We’ve received a letter from an English teacher in Tokai and, even though I was initially reluctant to publish it because of the “analyze” and “Dear Sir”, it does not dilute the argument.
Read on and let me know what you think.
Dear Sir
My reaction to the English [...]

Home affairs did a good job - really!

We received the email below from an IOL reader:
WELL DONE TO DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS!
Can you believe this headline??
My daughter is 17 years old and desperate for her ID Book so that she can get her drivers license.
Even though I will climb mountains for this girl, and swim the deepest sea (and I can’t swim), [...]

Dial H for Hero - Part 4 (Final)

This is the final episode of a short story by IOL reader Gareth Pike - the first three episodes are available on this blog
All too soon, the Gecko and I found ourselves barreling back into the burbs, with nothing but a dream catcher, some guinea fowl feathers and a crate of Shouting Dassie Brewing Company [...]

Dial H for Hero - Part 3

This is the third part of a short story written by IOL reader Gareth Pike … Parts 1 and 2 are available on this blog…
Surely somewhere beyond Obs, in the wilds of fruit country, we’d be able to find some sort of fiend, up to something ungoodly. It would also give us a chance to [...]

Dial H for Hero - Part 2

This is the second episode of a short story sent to IOL by reader Gareth Pike. Episode one is here
Now crime-rattled citizens could sleep in peace, knowing that evil would be thwarted whenever I, Power Pigeon, and my trusted sidekick, The Gecko, were on patrol (including most evenings, apart from when Strictly Come Dancing is [...]

Dial H for Hero

IOL reader Gareth Pike sent us this short story, which we are going to serialise over four days this week… so here’s episode one:
The other night - I forget which night; it may have been a Tuesday - while watching Tim Burton’s Batman for the umpteenth time, I had an epiphany. Well, two actually. The [...]

Durban? Cape Town? Can’t see past that mountain…

At IOL we’re used to robust feedback from our readers about our mistakes - so what a pleasure it was to find this in our inboxes. It’s an article written by reader Gareth Pike and we loved it so much we decided it should go on the blog… enjoy!
Postcard from the Peninsula
Several months ago, my [...]