I am a passionate and positive South African with a desire to inspire change in our country. Whether it is writing articles and blogs like these, working one-on-one, in deep rural communities, schools or boardrooms, my work aims to inspire all South Africans – and give them practical tools – to move from negativity to positivity; from violence to nonviolence; from passive to active; from armchair critics to co-architects of a better future.
I invite you to join me in creating the future we all dream of!
Alarmist Travel Advisories vs The Real Truth About Travelling in South Africa
Caution: If you are Australian you may find this post hard to believe (apart from all you lovely Saffers now living in Australia who know how awesome South Africa is - and of course our beloved Aussie family who travel to SA regularly and know the truth). This is...
Swansong for The Flipside Column
I recently saw a car with a bumper sticker on it that read Stop Crime Say Hello. This warmed the cockles of my heart because it was a campaign that I began nearly a decade ago. The message was very simple; at the end of the day, crime is simply a lack of love and...
Transforming Our Schools – One Principal At A Time
"We have not found a single case of a school improving its student achievement record in the absence of talented leadership.” Research finding from 180 schools across nine states in America. In an article published in the New York Times on March 12, 2018 entitled...
What If We Focused on Relationships Rather Than Land?
We recently had a dear uncle visit us from Singapore. He was surprised by the vast number of massive building projects he saw. The number of ‘cranes in the sky’ - a very good bellwether for the state of a countries economy - completely belied what he had heard about...
Thuma Mina – Send Me: A Toolkit Part 1
This monthly feature is my response to the President’s invitation: “Thuma Mina – Send Me”. It is a toolkit of ideas to help the public respond to that call. Connecting NGO’s We have a dear friend and colleague by the name of Cindy McNally. Cindy lives in Durban. She...
Inequality the Real Time Bomb
There is a very small lad that begs at the stop street outside our Estate on the North Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal. He is that small because of his severely contorted feet and legs that he drags along the tar whilst heaving himself forward on his crutches. He is 16 years...
Land Expropriation: Are We Asking the Right Questions?
"No one is going to lose his or her house. No one is going to lose his or her flat. No one is going to lose his or her factory or industry." EFF Leader Julius Malema. Calm is needed around the issue of expropriation of land without compensation. We run the risk of...
“Thuma Mina – Send Me” President Ramaphosa’s Brilliant Plea
“I wanna be there when the people start to turn it around, when they triumph over poverty. I wanna be there when the people win the battle against AIDS. I wanna lend a hand I wanna be there for the alcoholic. I wanna be there for the drug addict. I wanna be there for...
The Power of Mentorship and Partnership
Over the 8 years that I have written this column, I have interacted with many people who have shared with me some of the incredible things they are doing to make this country a better place. I have been very struck by the passion that people have to make a difference...
New Graduates Take a Big Hit
My wife and I recently attended the graduation ceremony of a staff member of ours who had completed a course in Early Childhood Development through Embury College. It was quite an affair. 300 odd graduates most of them with a guest, in a conference room at the old...
Staff Keep Their Cool in Home Affairs Hell
Under the watchful and ever-lazy eye of Jacob Zuma, they toil. His mug beams down upon them along with the unknown (to me at least) Fatima Chohan who serves as the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. It is not for the faint-hearted being a Home Affairs employee. Their...
In the Shoes of the Rock Throwers – Part 2
I recently wrote a post about the incidents of rocks being thrown off bridges on the North Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The theory - and I do state in the piece that it is a theory - put forward in the piece is that systemic social injustices – i.e. poverty, unemployment...