Christi van der Westhuizen recently took part in the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) “Roundtable on Whiteness – Whites, Afrikaans, Afrikaners: Addressing Post-Apartheid Legacies, Privileges and Burdens” where thought leaders like former president Kgalema Motlanthe, Achille Mbembe, Mary Burton, Mathews Phosa, Ernst Roets and Nico Koopman disucssed topics like “Being White Today” and “The Place of Afrikaans”.

CapeTalk’s Aubrey Masango invited Van der Westhuizen, an associate professor at the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS & Gender at the University of Pretoria, on his Late Night Talk show to reflect on what was said during the event. Her topic on the day was “White Power Today”, following up on her 2010 book White Power: The Rise and Fall of the National Party.

“Apartheid has officially come to an end, but white power persists. Whiteness derives its power from operating invisibly. It is an unspoken regime of oppressive norms and so it is absolutely necessary to disturb whiteness by making it seen,” Van der Westhuizen wrote in an article for the Sunday Times after the discussion on whiteness, expanding on some of the things discussed at the event.

Read the article:

Whiteness is not skin pigmentation, but the meaning attached to pinkish, whiteish skin. People with such skin are seen as “naturally” belonging to the top, while darker-skinned people are racialised as black, to be placed as “naturally” at the bottom. This has a wide-ranging effect on the distribution of resources, resulting in white privilege and black deprivation.

Democracy has been good to white people in South Africa. The average annual income in white households was R125,495 in 1996 – in contrast to R29,827 for black households. White households’ average annual income rose to R530,880 in 2013, in contrast to R88,327 in black households. Out of 4.5million whites, only 35,000 live in poverty, according to StatsSA.

• Complete article: Sunday Times

Masango wanted to know more about Van der Westhuizen’s article and the MISTRA conversation in general. She opens the interview by explaining: “If there is anything like ‘an Afrikaner’ I regard them as part and parcel of the South African nation. Within the South African nation there is of course different ethnic groups and I regard them as one of them”.

Van der Westhuizen identifies three different groups of Afrikaners: Afrikaans African Nationalists, the Neo-Afrikaner Enclave, and Afrikaans South Africans. Listen to the podcasts to understand this differentiation and for Van der Westhuizen’s fascinating insight to Afrikaners and white power today:

Listen to part one of the interview:

• Not loading? Listen on SoundCloud

Listen to part two of the interview:

• Not loading? Listen on SoundCloud

 
For more about the MISTRA Roundtable on Whiteness, read here:

• Roundtable on whiteness – Whites, Afrikaans, Afrikaners: Addressing Post-Apartheid Legacies, Privileges and Burdens

• Roundtable on Whiteness, Afrikaans, Afrikaners: Address by Kgalema Motlanthe

Book details

• White Power: The Rise and Fall of the National Party by Christi van der Westhuizen
  EAN: 9781770073050
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Max du Preez, veteran journalist and author of A Rumour of Spring: South Africa after 20 years of Democracy, was threatened with a court order after sharing a link to an internal SAA memo that reveals the airline’s insolvent status.

Du Preez spoke to Stephen Grootes on CapeTalk/Talk Radio 702 about why he decided to share the link to a document he knew was subject to a interim court order, and why he chose to submit to SAA’s demands and delete his social media posts. He calls the airline management “a bunch of bullies”, and as a private individual he cannot take them on in court.

Although he has now deleted his posts, Du Preez is satisfied because the public has access to important information about an organisation being funded by their tax, and SAA’s court orders will likely be overturned anyway. He says: “Mission accomplished, actually.”

Listen to the podcast:

• Not playing? Listen on SoundCloud

Related stories

• Max du Preez Forced to Remove Social Media Posts Linking to SAA Documents

• Songezi Zibi and Carol Paton Discuss SAA’s Interdict Against Business Day, and Why They’re Fighting it (Podcast)

Book details

• A Rumour of Spring: South Africa after 20 years of Democracy by Max du Preez
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770225435
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Mac Maharaj, former politician and editor of Reflections in Prison, was recently invited to John Robbie’s Talk Radio 702 show to speak about South African politics.

In the interview, Maharaj speaks about OR Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. He says “this triumvirate, you cannot talk about liberation history without them; you cannot talk about present day South Africa without them”. He goes on to speak about his experience and relationship with each of them.

Maharaj then reflects on the recent Fees Must Fall university protests, and relates it to the Freedom Charter. He suggests that the present government would do well to consider the way the leaders of the past approached the Congress of the People: instead of politicians telling people what they should believe, they went out to discover what the people wanted.

“What people are expressing, even in a democracy,” Maharaj says, “is a sense of marginalisation and a sense of not being regarded as relevant.” He then explains why it is that he remains optimistic about South Africa and the future of its democracy.

Listen to the podcast:

• Not playing? Listen on SoundCloud

Book details

• Reflections in Prison by Mac Maharaj
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781868723546
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

“It changed my life in huge ways.”

These are the words of former Springbok rugby player Mark Andrews in an interview with Stephen Grootes on what it meant to win the Rugby World Cup in 1995.

Grootes asks: “The World Cup that you won, the 1995 World Cup, it was for South Africa about a lot more than just rugby. Do you think that that’s maybe made it harder for people playing for the Boks now, that there’s pressure on them that isn’t on other rugby players simply because of that particular history?”

Andrews replies: “You know what, I think probably 10 years ago that would’ve been true. The guys who are playing in the World Cup now, some of them were probably one or two years old in ’95, so it’s what they hear their parents talk about but it isn’t so real to them.”

For an insightful history of past Springbok players, have a look at South Africa’s Rugby Legends: The Amateur Years by Chris Schoeman.

Listen to the podcast:

• Not loading? Listen on SoundCloud

Book details

• South Africa’s Rugby Legends: The Amateur Years by Chris Schoeman
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770227880
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Warren Ingram, executive director at Galileo Capital and author of Become Your Own Financial Advisor: The Real Secrets to Becoming Financially Independent, was recently interviewed by Hanna Barry for Moneyweb.

In the interview, Ingram shares his wisdom about drafting a financial plan and how it helps in tough times and also gives advice for young people who are just starting out. His top three tips are: build an emergency fund, stay out of debt and build up your retirement fund.

Listen the podcast:

Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

• Not playing? Listen on Moneyweb

Read the transcription:

HANNA BARRY: Good to have you with us here this evening. To get us going, Warren, tell us what is a financial plan, and what does not count as a financial plan?

WARREN INGRAM: Well, to be a financial plan it should be quite a simple document. You can probably put it onto one page. Basically it’s your road map. What you would do is you would set an end goal, for example saying I’d like to be able to stop having to work for a living by the time I’m, let’s say, 60, and at that time, if we are talking about today’s money, I’d want to live on – whatever it is – R30 000 a month. In order to do that I would need, let’s pick a number, R8m of investments and that’s what I’d like to end up with.
So if you know your goal, you would work backwards from your goal to where you are today to say I probably need to save, whatever it is, R5 000 a month and it will probably mostly need to be insured because I’ve got a long time until I’m 60, and I should cut down on debt. If you’ve got children, how are you going to save for your kid’s education? Naturally I don’t think too much of cars, etc.
It’s really just a roadmap and, like any effective map, it helps you make decisions when you do come to difficult times. So when a life event happens to you, you inherit money, you lose your job or get married or something like that, at least you’ve got a plan as to where you’d like to go and then you can make more sensible decisions.
But if you’ve got no plan, it’s a bit like driving from Joburg to Cape Town and if you have no road map and no idea how to get there, you might end up in Namibia.

• Complete interview: Moneyweb

Book details

• Become Your Own Financial Advisor: The Real Secrets to Becoming Financially Independent by Warren Ingram
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770226180
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Esté Meyer Jansen het onlangs met Chris Schoeman gesels oor sy boek Die onbekende Van Gogh. Hierdie biografie van Vincent van Gogh se broer, Cornelis, het vanjaar by Zebra Press verskyn en is ook in Engels beskikbaar as The Unknown Van Gogh.

Die skrywer vertel dat daar nie veel in die geskiedenis geskryf staan oor Cornelis nie, en dit het hom geprikkel om meer uit te vind oor dié Van Gogh wat stil-stil in Suid-Afrika gewoon het. Anders as die meeste mans wat Suid-Afrika toe gekom het om goud te delf was Cor “nie ‘n gold digger nie”, vertel hy.

In sy soektog na Die onbekende Van Gogh het Schoeman die Vincent van Gogh-brieweversameling in die Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam geraadpleeg, asook spoorwegmaatskappyrekords oor Cor wat nooit vroeër bekend was nie.

Luister na die potgooi:

Chris Schoeman gesels oor Die onbekende Van Gogh Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

• Laai dit nie? Luister op Maroela Media

Boekbesonderhede

• Die onbekende Van Gogh deur Chris Schoeman
  Boek se tuisblad
  EAN: 9781770227941
  Spoor hierdie boek met BOOK Finder op!

• The Unknown Van Gogh deur Chris Schoeman
  Boek se tuisblad
  EAN: 9781770227910
  Spoor hierdie boek met BOOK Finder op!

Peter de Villiers, former Springbok rugby coach and author of Politically Incorrect: The Autobiography, has been called on far and wide to comment on current coach Heyneke Meyer’s selection for the world cup squad.

Of the 31 players Meyer selected for the squad, only nine are black. De Villiers regards this as a step backwards that will make it difficult to win support for the national team.

Wendell Roelf wrote an article for Rand Daily Mail about the issues of race and transformation that currently plague world cup rugby, and asked De Villiers for his opinion about the matter.

Read the article:

“You can have the best Ferrari, but if there is a roadblock and road works, you can’t go any further until you remove it,” he said. Players such as flyhalf Elton Jantjies and centre Lionel Mapoe had proven themselves during the Super 15 rugby competition between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, but were still not being given enough opportunities, he said.

“Transformation is being stopped by having all the white coaches there to push an agenda to stop it. They stopped a natural evolution of transformation, they never let it go on to become great and we would never have had this problem now,” De Villiers told Reuters.

• Complete article: Rand Daily Mail

De Villiers spoke to Sakina Kamwendo on her SAfm show The Forum@8 about the issue of transformation in sport:

• Not playing? Listen on Iono.fm

 
The former springbok coach was also featured on Tim Modise’s Power FM show about Meyer (the interview with De Villiers starts at 4:40):

• Not playing? Listen on SoundCloud

Book details

• Politically Incorrect: The Autobiography by Peter de Villiers and Gavin Rich
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770224216
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Tony Manning, author of What’s Wrong with Management and How to Get It Right, chatted to Bruce Whitfield on The Money Show on Radio 702 and Cape Talk recently.

Manning has been a consultant for almost 30 years, and says his new publication is “a management book with a bit of a difference”.

According to Manning, What’s Wrong with Management and How to Get It Right has a global focus, but is especially relevant to South Africa at the moment.

“I look at the crisis that’s facing management and the organisations that its operating in, and why it is caused,” Manning says, “and then present some solutions to the problems that managers sit with. So it covers a wide spectrum.”

Manning adds that the book is “very timely” considering the circumstances in South Africa at the moment, which he calls a “a management crisis of enormous proportions”, both in the government and private sectors.

Listen to the podcast:

• Not loading? Listen on Soundcloud

 
Book details

• What’s Wrong with Management and How to Get It Right by Tony Manning
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770229006
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Julian Rademeyer, journalist and author of Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade, recently spoke to Sam Cowen on her Talk Radio 702 show about the plight of rhinos in South Africa.

Cowen begins by asking Rademeyer to sum up the rhino poaching situation at the moment. He says, “It’s difficult to sugarcoat it; the situation is incredibly dire.” Since 2008, Rademeyer says, South Africa has lost over 4 000 rhinos, which is about 15 times the number that was poached in the preceding 27 years.

Rademeyer goes on to explain what is being done to combat poaching, and some of the ways that anti-poaching measures could be improved.

Listen to the podcast:

Standard Podcast [ 6:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

• Not playing? Download the MP3

Book details

• Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade by Julian Rademeyer
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770223349
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Dawie Roodt was recently asked to weigh in on the conversation about the Greek financial crisis on OFM.

Roodt, who is chief economist at Efficient Group and co-author of Tax, Lies and Red Tape, says that it will be very difficult for Greece to survive as a nation. In his view there are two ways for government to get money in the banks – ordinary deposits by citizens or funding from the European Central Bank. Neither solution is without its drawbacks.

Roodt says that debt is a serious economic problem and South Africa needs to treat Greece’s problem as a cautionary tale in order to guard against crippling debt.

Listen to the podcasts:

Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

• Not loading? Listen on Ofm here and here

 
Book details

• Tax, Lies and Red Tape by Dawie Roodt and Linette Retief
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781770224810
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!