Author: Sipu

Richard Dawkins loses the plot

I used to be a huge fan of Richard Dawkins. His masterpiece, The Selfish Gene, was massively significant in my life. When I read it in 1986 I recognised a man who was able to express in clear, concise and scientific terms, beliefs that I had nurtured for some years. Almost everything he wrote thereafter was eagerly consumed by me. He struck me as being a brilliant, gentle and humourous man who simply wanted to tell the truth without pushing any personal cause. So strong was my admiration for him that I would sometimes say in conversations about him, “Dawkins is wrong to say there is no God. Dawkins is God!” Childish perhaps; designed to provoke, probably; sincere, certainly. So when a friend of mine who had met him described him as a self-satisfied prick, I felt personally insulted. Continue reading “Richard Dawkins loses the plot”

Julius Malema, the Hutu and Eugene Terre Blanche

For those of you who do not know, Julius Malema is the 29 year old firebrand president of the ANC Youth League here in South Africa. The son of a domestic worker – a single parent – in the Limpopo province, he became politically active while in his early teens, since when his rise to prominence within the ranks of the ruling party has been swift.

Malema is renowned for speaking his mind and rallying the South African youth behind the leadership of the party. He steadfastly backed Zuma in the power struggle with Mbeki pinning his colours to the mast of popularism over intellectualism.

That he is corrupt both politically and financially is beyond a shadow of a doubt. Ostensibly he earns a modest political salary, but his position within the party has enabled him to win provincial contracts for companies which he owns and on which he serves as director. Thus his lifestyle is as lavish as any African tin-pot dictator, a role he seems increasingly anxious to fill. Continue reading “Julius Malema, the Hutu and Eugene Terre Blanche”