Koos Kombuis's Blog, page 3

The African Renaissance for Dummies

I’m probably going to make a fool of myself publishing this column, as it is about the economy, and I know very little about the economy. Until very recently, for instance, I was still under the impression that the Eurozone was a trance state one reaches during deep meditation. Apparently, it’s not that at all,...

Hanging out with Zuma

Is it racism or is it art? What is this thing? What the hell has happened to us as a country during this last week? Whatever it is, I’m afraid there’s no going back. Never again would an innocent phrase such as “honorary member” be spoken in Parliament or anywhere else without someone in the...

The ANC is not a broad church but a narrow cult

One of the most frightening episodes of my entire life was the time when, years ago, as a young man, I got sucked into a bizarre fanatical religious cult. No, I’m not talking about the Dutch Reformed Church. Neither am I referring to Facebook. Neither of these organisations were quite as demented as the particular...

Would YOU let a bricklayer investigate your prostate gland?

According to a recent report, dentistry, as a profession, faces extinction. This is very worrisome. Much as we all hate dentists, we cannot live without them. Dentists do terrible things to our mouths, but we need them. We need their expertise. Without the art of dentistry, I would have looked much worse on photographs and...

Would YOU let a bricklayer investigate your prostrate gland?

According to a recent report, dentistry, as a profession, faces extinction. This is very worrisome. Much as we all hate dentists, we cannot live without them. Dentists do terrible things to our mouths, but we need them. We need their expertise. Without the art of dentistry, I would have looked much worse on photographs and...

Winds of change for the ANC

The winds of change have finally started blowing for the ANC government, just as they started blowing for the National Party government in 1960. In 1960, this event was formally announced by former British prime minister Harold Macmillan in his famous address in Cape Town on February 3 that year. In this Year of our...

The cutting edge of our collective madness

Why is it that I always seem to confront the nakedness of my own soul in airports? It happened again a few nights ago. On September 11, no less. I must have been crazy to brave the terrors of high-altitude traveling on a date so loaded with ominous precedents, but there I was, dead on...

Et tu, Tutu?

Dear Reverend Tutu,
I apologise for giving this blog entry such a corny name. I realised the phrase "Et tu" had been used at least twice before — once by some old Roman politician and once by Dr Bandula Kothalawala (not to mention the band by that name somewhere on YouTube).
Be that as it may. For [...]

Springtime for Cameron

Riots? In the UK? 
What shall we call this phenomenon, these marauders running riot with their Blackberries and bricks? The British Spring? 
After the widespread pro-democratic protests in predominantly Muslim countries, we were all wondering: who's next? What dictatorship is about to topple before the angry hordes? Secretly, some of us hoped for something similar to happen [...]

Secret letter to Jon Qwelane

Hallo, Jon, how are you? From riches to rags, you say? I empathise!
I decided to write to you on an impulse. I don't know you personally, I have never met you, but what the hell. I'm a columnist, too, and, as you know very well, column writing is a dangerous job, especially these days. Terrible [...]