South Africa Archives

14 Sep

Of the Rugby World Cup and other homoerotic tales

September 14, 2023
By Ben Trovato
5 comments

South Africans are among the heaviest drinkers in the world in terms of both body weight and quantities consumed. We’re not quite top of the log yet, but the Rugby World Cup is pushing us closer to Zi...

19 Jan

Cut&Run

South Africa: Forward to the Past

January 19, 2023
By Ben Trovato
5 comments

After yet another wretched night without power, I bought an ounce of criminally overpriced data and turned to the internet for help. Dignitas seemed the most effective solution, but my bank balance sa...

05 Jan

Cut&Run

2023 – A good year for rabbits

January 5, 2023
By Ben Trovato
6 comments

Right, then. How are you all feeling? Can't wait to take the new year between your teeth and shake it like a terrier shakes a rat, I'll bet. Yeah, me too. This is going to be the best year in the his...

18 Aug

Cut&Run

Free drugs at the High Court Night Shelter

August 18, 2022
By Ben Trovato
7 comments

If superior beings on a distant planet had a listening device pointed at the Earth, all they'd pick up from South Africa is a dull whine. The sound of millions of people complaining, carping and criti...

17 Jun

Cut&Run

Municipal mayhem

June 17, 2022
By Ben Trovato
2 comments

There are few six-syllable words in the English language that fill one with more despair and contempt than the word “municipality”. Not in every country, obviously. There are parts of the world where ...

06 Jun

Cut&Run

A letter to the ‘General’

June 6, 2022
By Ben Trovato
1 comment

The high court in Middelburg on Monday convicted Harry Knoesen, the self-proclaimed leader of a group called the National Christian Resistance Movement, also known as the “Crusaders”, on five counts i...

19 May

Columns

An open letter to Nathi Mthethwa, Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture

May 19, 2022
By Ben Trovato
12 comments

Dear Comrade Nathi, Congratulations on your brilliant idea to spend R22-million on a flagpole! Some people say it's too much money, but they don't understand the price of everything has gone up. A ye...

08 Apr

Cut&Run

Falling away at midnight

April 8, 2022
By Ben Trovato
14 comments

When I heard President Ramaphosa had declared South Africa was no longer in a State of Disaster, I felt a roiling sense of unease. For 750 days we knew where we stood – mostly outside locked bottle st...

01 Apr

Cut&Run

Happier than a condemned kangaroo

April 2, 2022
By Ben Trovato
9 comments

I watched a video on Twitter from someone called Oleksandra Matviichuk. He was sitting behind the wheel of a van and looked like a rally driver – peak cap, teardrop sunglasses, overalls. Turning to th...

31 Oct

Columns

Happy Halloween, you filthy pagans

October 31, 2021
By Ben Trovato
2 comments

It's Halloween tonight and I, for one, cannot wait to put on my succubus suit and go creeping around the neighbourhood late at night banging on doors, shouting: “Trick or treat!” The real sport starts...

27 Apr

Columns

No safe harbour for Gigaba – a flashback

April 27, 2021
By Ben Trovato
5 comments

Here's a letter I wrote to the man of the moment two-and-a-half years ago after Ajay Gupta gave him the home affairs ministry. ........................................ Dear Comrade Malusi Gigaba...

16 Apr

Columns

A darkies’ guide to whiteys

April 16, 2021
By Ben Trovato
6 comments

White South Africans, much like white sharks, are one of the most misunderstood animals on the planet. They have a reputation for unpredictable behaviour and non-Caucasians are often afraid to venture...

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