South Africa

By Imran Garda in Americas on February 4th, 2012
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not yield to the pressure of sanctions imposed by the West. [AFP]

A few months ago I had an email exchange with the former Deputy Director General of The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Bruno Pellaud. 

By Robin Adams in Africa on January 24th, 2012
Picture by GALLO/GETTY

A quick show of hands, if you will. Who, like me, is not a fan of the vuvuzela?

You know? That giant horn which featured over-abundantly in the 2010 football World Cup in my country, South Africa? The one that is making another appearance right now at the Africa Cup of Nations. And I have an interest in this – I’ll be going there in a couple of weeks.

I must admit, I sang the vuvuzela's praises in the lead-up to the first  World Cup on African soil. I believed the vuvuzela would give the biggest football event on the planet a uniquely African flavour.

That was until I attended two World Cup matches featuring the South American giants, Argentina and Brazil respectively, and got it in the ear from all sides.

Vuvuzelas blaring!

I thought the blowers were sounding it in my ears on purpose. They weren't being blown into the air. They were aimed a little lower - at my head.

By Haru Mutasa in Africa on September 12th, 2011
What was once a call to overthrow apartheid is being seen as a rally to target South Africa's whites. [Reuters]

South African judge Collin Lamont has ordered African National Congress youth league leader Julius Malema and his ruling ANC party not to sing the freedom struggle song 'Dubul ibhunu'.

Lamont called the song hate speech and ordered that the words not be used publicly or privately.

The Afrikaans interest group Afriforum seems pleased with the decision. They say the struggle song, loosely translated, means "shoot the Boer".

Another line in the song is also loosely translated as, "They are scared, the cowards. You shoot the Boer.

By Robin Adams in Africa on June 14th, 2011
Picture by GALLO/GETTY

Anyone who tells you South Africa's Springboks WILL win the Rugby World Cup again this year is wrong.

It's a sweeping statement I know. There is not a Bok supporter bigger than me.

I am proudly South African and I'll throw my weight firmly behind the World Champions. But the Boks don't have what it takes to repeat their heroics of France 2007.

Now, before my fellow countrymen jump up and down and accuse me of being unpatriotic, and before the Springbok supporters club of South Africa revoke my ambassadorship, indulge me just for a minute. Let me explain my position.

South Africa have a tattered record in New Zealand. And we don't have to look further than Carisbrook Stadium in Dunedin (The House of Pain - cue dramatic music), where scrumhalf Ricky January helped the Boks to their first win there in something like 813 years.

By Azad Essa in Asia on March 28th, 2011
Reuters

Think of cricket as you would Lady Justice: a blindfolded woman with a sword at her side, scales in hand, and an almost insatiable thirst for being the moral and material leveller of man.

Think of cricket as that nagging marriage: survival is based on partners seeking and successfully servicing the whims and petty needs of each other to maintain the grand mirage of compromise, partnership and long-term planning. 

Think of cricket as a return to simplicity where fancy footwork up and down tall orders takes you nowhere without a still head.

Whichever way you choose to look at it, cricket, like life, though unfair in itself, levels the playing field.  

In one form or another, fate, destiny, karma or sutra, short falls and quick fixes eventually catch up with even the most agile, a type of good riddance. Instead, it will always be discipline, technique and a balanced team that separates the sustainable winners from the one-hit wonders.

By Azad Essa in Asia on March 12th, 2011
Photo by AFP

 Walking through the corridors of Al Jazeera, I bump into our sports editor who immediately lowers his gaze and begins drumming his fingers on an imaginary key board only to peer up and give me the look: "Where is your new cricket blog mate?"

I defensively interject the silent Beethoven with "Dude, have you been watching the cricket ... I've been busy, you know with revolutions happening all around, people begging, dying for freedom, and well, the cricket has just been so dull," I try to argue, sheepishly.

"I don't know what you're talking about mate," he replies with a wry smile. "I was just practising my piano keys," and he continues playing his air-keyboard.

"Well - did you hear what happened today," he stops-states-questions. "Taylor made a 100 of 29 balls - is that even possible?"

"Twenty-nine balls? Are you serious?" I quiz back nonsensically.

By Azad Essa in Asia on February 25th, 2011
Sri Lankan cricketer Chamara Silva stretches during training [AFP]

Rewind some 10 months to June 2010 and Mexico is about to take on hosts South Africa, in the opening match of the Football World Cup in Johannesburg.

Despite being rated poorly, the South African football team turned on the style, courageously holding their own against a highly rated Mexican side. In what has since become one of the defining moments of the 2010 World Cup, Siphiwe Tshabalala in the 55th minute, pulled the trigger and sent the ball careening into the Mexican net.

All of South Africa erupted with an infectious ecstasy.

By Azad Essa in Asia on February 19th, 2011
Photo by AFP

It is being described as the most open World Cup in the competition’s short history. While the last four tournaments always began with the fair speculation on who would face Australia in the final, this year’s tournament has no clear favourite.

The current edition of the tournament is really a three-way throng of a race between South Africa, India and Australia.

Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka are the dark horses of the tournament.

Of course, if you had to put money on one team – as in – if you were hung upside down, a gun placed to your head and forced to make a bet – Team India would probably be your best option.  

By Jonah Hull in Africa on February 17th, 2011
Photo by EPA

The last roll of the dice? That's the assessment by one security expert of Thursday's announcement by Madagascar's deposed president Marc Ravalomanana that he plans to leave exile in South Africa and return home on Saturday.

Thomas Wilson, senior Africa analyst at Control Risks, told the Reuters news agency it was the last move of a desperate man. Wilson predicts the plane won't even take off.

Ravalomanana is sure it will, demonstrating his certainty by waving a clutch of commercial airline tickets.

"I wish to inform all who are watching and listening to me today, both in South Africa and Madagascar and the rest of the world, I will return home on the day after tomorrow, on Saturday, February 19th," he told reporters gathered for the big moment in a plush Johannesburg office park.

 "I will be returning to our beloved country.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on February 3rd, 2011

From our headquarters in Doha, we keep you updated on all things Egypt, with reporting from Al Jazeera staff in Cairo and Alexandria.  Live Blog: Jan28 - Jan29 - Jan30 - Jan31 - Feb1 - Feb2 - Feb3 -

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