Thomas Johnson - The Blog

In The Guardian yesterday director of South Africa’s National Prosecutions Authority Shamila Batohi writes writes that now more than ever “prosecutors need to show empathy for the vulnerable and be vigilant against corruption and organised crime”. She has very little to show in terms of corruption prosecutions, particular crimes allegedly committed during former president Jacob Zuma’s administration, now himself getting his day in court . Her appointment was greeted with “ Ramaphoria ”, Panglossian support for incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa who his supporters believed would overnight correct all the country’s problems. But as the extent of the dysfunction of the NPA became apparent to her, including it being “captured” by political patronage and prosecutions influenced by ANC politics, hope faded of seeing the corrupt – even small fry – behind bars anytime soon. And with that, hope dissipated that she personally could and would make a difference. Under her pr...

The South African chapter of the Trump fan club – Biznews, Politicsweb, Daily Friend, columnists Simon Lincoln-Reader, John Kane-Berman et al and commentators – try very hard to explain Trump’s outrageous actions. Mostly, they just ignore it ostrich-like (BN banned me when I wrote they ignored Black Lives Matters protests that Trump had inflamed). Ironically, with the  shocking revelations  in US’ former national security advisor John Bolton’s new book  The Room Where It Happened , Trump has done what they accuse the ANC of doing: kowtowing to China, ignoring human rights abuses by China and other countries, halting criminal investigations to favour dictators and nefarious people and doing business deals with them. 1.       Trump pleaded with China’s Xi to help win the 2020 election. 2.       He suggested he wanted more than two terms in office. 3.       Trump offered favour...

Media site BizNews (BN), edited and published by Alex Hogg, banned me on Tuesday from commenting. I don’t know the reason but it follows an exchange on Monday and Tuesday with two commentators about civility, criticism, freedom of speech and right of reply.   One of them, Geoff Coles from Somerset West, a retired accountant and expatriate Brit originally from Durham, is a troll and irritant on BN and Politicsweb (PW). Almost each time he comments, it is to insult and criticise no matter what is discussed, even if he agreed with one. Last year he alleged, without evidence, Politicsweb columnist William Saunderson-Meyer accepted bribes to write positive pieces about government. In an unusual riposte, Saunderson-Meyer called him an “offensive man”. This is the way of the right-wing, though, 90% of commentators. They attack and defame, more for sycophantic approval than making a contribution to debate. They hate independent minds that don’t follow the herd. On PW and...

At the moment a momentous story is unfolding in the US that has pushed even the coronavirus pandemic from top story:  nation-wide protests and riots over the death of George Floyd after he was choked by a policeman . It's the lead or second lead of international media. This weekend there was another event that in normal times would've been the top story: SpaceX's launch taking US astronauts into space, a major event for American technology and space exploration after the closure of shuttle programme. But the riots pushed it into other news including in the US. This morning I did a roundup of a few local media - Biznews, Daily Maverick, News24, Timeslive, IOL - to see if and how they're covering the riots. BN had none and the others relegated to a minor story down their site. I didn't see it on IOL but perhaps it was there lost in the usual verbiage. Local media's omission is so typical - mediocre. But BN had a news brief of the SpaceX launch under t...

The Institute of Race Relations’ (IRR) media site Daily Friend fired columnist David Bullard after he posted a tweet making light of the offensive racial word “kaffir”. On Wednesday he tweeted: “I realise this is risky (but when have I ever cared?) but maybe we need a new word to replace the K word to describe the people (not all) that we described as K's. Help me out here.....This ain't racial; it's K specific (sic)."  The IRR’s head of media Michael Morris said the tweet was inconsistent with the IRR’s principles. “We have decided to bring an end to his column and his association with the Daily Friend”. Unrepentent, Bullard tweeted in response: "I'm prepared to bet that most of the sanctimonous bedwetters getting so excited now that I have Friday afternoons free never even knew I had a column on Daily Friends. Gotta love the leftards (sic)". In 2008 the Sunday Times fired him after he wrote an “extremely racist” column. It de...