South Africa Archive
No Kitchen Sinks in Africa
Posted by jimheck in Health, South Africa on April 23, 2013
Today’s developing world health crisis is not malaria, or HIV, or infant mortality… it’s tuberculosis. And a University of Cape Town scientist knows what to do about it. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that most Americans associate with the pre-World War era. It attacks the lungs, essentially disrupting the normal physiology that keeps the lungs [...]
On Safari : The Spectacular Cape
Posted by jimheck in OnSafari, Planning Travel, South Africa on February 14, 2013
Table Mountain is cheeky. It’s one of the main reasons tourists come to Cape Town, but it only lets itself be seen about half the time. The mountain was truly spectacular for me this morning. I’ve been to Cape Town about a dozen times, but I had yet to take the funicular up the mountain. [...]
Line Up Punctures the Big Top
Posted by jimheck in Corruption, Politics, South Africa on December 20, 2012
Much like China’s communist party convention, South Africa’s ANC convention that ends tomorrow was supposed to determine who runs the country for as long as the next decade. South Africa’s African National Congress has run South Africa since the end of apartheid with its standard bearer and first president, Nelson Mandela. The ANC’s history goes [...]
Look Out! Peace & Prosperity!
Posted by jimheck in Egypt, Kenya, Politics, South Africa on November 12, 2012
Watch out! A period of political stability is looming, and with it economic stability. From South Africa to Kenya to Egypt and across the pond to the U.S. tranquility looms large for a while, perhaps the rest of the decade. I guess it’s the end of the Great Recession. Like a patient recovering from a [...]
Early Dinosaur in Africa
Posted by jimheck in Prehistoric, South Africa on October 8, 2012
One of the first dinosaurs to roam earth lived in southern Africa and the discovery announced last week raises considerably Africa’s evolutionary importance. It’s common knowledge that man and his broader family of primates arose in Africa, but until now it was thought that the myriad of the earliest land life forms – particularly reptiles [...]
Zuma is not Jefferson
Posted by jimheck in Corruption, Economy, Politics, South Africa on October 4, 2012
Tolerant, patient South Africans have basically given their leaders wide berth publically and privately since Mandala stepped down 15 yeas ago … until now. The current president’s buffoonery and corruption threatens the nation. Working every day under the threat of massive censorship, South Africa’s still vibrant press has systematically reported both the corruption of its [...]
Pop Goes the Weasel
Posted by jimheck in Economy, Politics, South Africa on August 17, 2012
The horrible killing of South African miners yesterday is less news than analysis of not just South Africa’s political legacy, but the whole wide world’s. Police conceded that at least 34 admittedly aggressive strikers at a platinum mine in the north of the country were killed when things got out of control. The number is [...]
The Undemocratic Election
Posted by jimheck in Corruption, Culture, Kenya, Politics, South Africa on July 30, 2012
South Africa like the U.S. allows unlimited campaign financing but Kenya has moved to severely regulate it. Which democracy is likely to last? These two democratic powerhouses both have progressive constitutions but differ radically on candidate funding. Kenya has yet to hold an election under its new constitution but South Africa is well along, yet [...]
And on The Other Side
Posted by jimheck in South Africa, Weather on July 16, 2012
Weather you kill me or not, the world is spinning out of control. 3 dead in South Africa from heavy snow and cold; more than 100 die in my Midwest from heat. I’ve had a lot of fun in my career surprising people with the facts of weather in Africa. Most Americans grow up believing [...]
Black and White
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Culture, Music, Racism, South Africa on July 13, 2012
Flip it, white man. What if you were, well you know, the other… color. They sang in London, but they were from Africa. The difference between black and white, between slaves and slave masters, is the ultimate difference between race, although I agree with many that it isn’t that much different than between Kikuyus and [...]
All Sparrows Are Weavers
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Culture, South Africa on June 28, 2012
Saturday South African flags will fly at half mast as a bushman of the Kalahari receives a state funeral, a fitting tribute to a noble but conflicted lifeway in an increasingly modern world. Did you laugh hilariously at the beautiful movies, “The Gods Must be Crazy”? The star and the cultural consultant for several of [...]
Africa Bails Out Europe
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, Economy, Global Relations, South Africa on June 22, 2012
How do you feel during the Holiday Season when you see a homeless person drop a coin in the Salvation Army’s tin? A deepening world economic downturn, caused mostly by Europe, is having violent effects in Africa even as poor Africa helps to bail out Europe. It was hardly two years ago that the American [...]
Zulu Kingman Zuma
Posted by jimheck in "Modern" Africa, African Traditions, Politics, South Africa on April 16, 2012
More wives and less freedom is the trend in South Africa as President Zuma marries for a fourth time and a draconian government secrecy law moves through the parliaments. There is a chilling connection. The press is all abuzz with Jacob Zuma’s marriage this coming weekend to a prominent businesswoman with whom he has a [...]
On Safari: The All Good Cape
Posted by jimheck in History, OnSafari, Politics, South Africa on March 15, 2012
I like to begin all southern African safaris in Cape Town, despite it being rather distant from game viewing areas and in spite of its constantly rising costs. As one of the most beautiful cities in the world it portrays so much of what young, modern Africa is becoming. We spent four nights and five [...]