(As published in the NY times Readers Forum June 8 2004) I live 5000 miles away in Southern Africa. I am not an American, but I have admired Ronald Reagan for most of my life. I admired him because of his extraordinary charisma, his joie de vivre , his immense capability, his faith in himself, and, most of all, because he had faith in others. This amazing person was able to charm the likes of my Queen, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhael Gorbachev. It is said that he called the Queen “Liz” an...
Dateline: Luanda, June 8 Once Google announced that it was about to launch G-Mail (A 1 gig e-mail service), mailers and bloggers have been in a frenzy. What made it worse was the Google announcement that a test run would be initiated with mailers chosen by invitation only. Let me tell you, those invitations (selling for quite a sum on E Bay), are becoming as sought after as Brad Pitt's last cigarette. In fact, children from ages 4 up to grown men and women (1 gran in her 80s),are beggi...
Dateline: Luanda, June 7 2004 “We’ll beat ‘em up, boy. Show ‘em our way.” I normally comment on the trials and tribulations of Africa. I digress this week because I have been shaken and disturbed by two coincidental “sightings” on TV. Each one relates to Abu Ghraib prison. Two weeks ago I watched a Ruby Wax program about the Hill-Billy people in Appalachia. The program showed the Appalachians in their homes, their stores, their church. These people did not seem normal (ask Ruby)...
Dateline: Luanda, 2 June 2004 Some of you will know that President Aristide from Haiti is arriving in South Africa soon for an extended holiday. You may also know that 70 so-called mercenaries are being held in Zimbabwe on all sorts of trumped-up charges. The main charge is that they were on their way to Equatorial Guinea (A Pariah state without a Shoprite store), to instigate a coup de tat. Our dear President Aristide will have all the comforts of home while our “mercenaries” will be ...
Mr Jean Paul Aristide, erstwhile leader of the beautiful Caribbean Island of Haiti, has his sights set on retiring in South Africa. His welcome is being planned and I have no doubt he will retire there. Perhaps the Mbeki government will settle him near the sea. Umhlanga Rocks would be nice, so would Amanzimtoti. On the other hand he might like East London or Port Elizabeth. “ We could give him a little parkhome,” the East London Mayor said. “ We only have a caravan left,” said the Mayor ...
(Please note: All opinions carried on this site are my own)Read a shocking e-mail this morning. It was from a friend of the distinguished headmaster of the finest private school in Zimbabwe. Said head had been locked up because his school was (supposedly) not toeing the line on fee reduction---an order that came from the Great Pariah himself. In fact the authorities (and, in Africa, we are never sure who the "authorities" are--could be a traffic cop), had made a mistake as the school had alre...