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Friday 5 March 2010

Zimbabwe sanctions

By Andy on Friday 5 March 2010, 09:19 - Politics

I was invited to participate in BBC World Service 'Africa have your say' call-in programme to discuss Zuma's request to Gordon Brown that sanctions be lifted. I was given 30 seconds very near the end of the programme, and I handled it poorly. This post is to make up for it :)

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Monday 1 March 2010

Kiwix install at Kwena Malapo school Johannesberg

By Andy on Monday 1 March 2010, 12:47 - Computers

Kwena Computer lab Kiwix, an offline wikipedia selection, is installed at Kwena Malapo school.

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Wednesday 3 February 2010

Jacob Zuma: president of South Africa

By Andy on Wednesday 3 February 2010, 17:00 - Politics

Jacob Zuma has made no meaningful stamp on the history of South Africa.

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Wednesday 25 November 2009

Offline copies of wikipedia

By Andy on Wednesday 25 November 2009, 09:23 - Computers

I have been involved for a number of years with Hilton Theunissen and the Shuttleworth Foundation and their efforts to bring computers to township schools. A part of that software suite was an offline copy of wikipedia.

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Monday 23 November 2009

What is a racist?

By Andy on Monday 23 November 2009, 14:57

Living in South Africa, this is a much-overused term, derogatory, harking back to the Apartheid era. In my opinion, it indicates a strange paucity of the English language in a very necessary area.

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Sunday 1 November 2009

Gugulethu taxis

By Andy on Sunday 1 November 2009, 13:46

Toyota Cressidas are nursed into longevity serving as taxis in Gugulethu township, Cape Town.

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Thursday 25 June 2009

AIMS Graduation 2009

By Andy on Thursday 25 June 2009, 17:31

The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences held the graduation dinner for the class of 2009 at the Muizenberg Pavilion on June 25, 2009. Present were Vice-Chancellors from three of Cape Town's Universities, and the Kenyan Ambassador Tom Amolo.

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Tuesday 16 December 2008

Splitting South Africa's ANC party

By Andy on Tuesday 16 December 2008, 13:03

The African National Congress has led South Africa since 1994 - the start of majority rule. Disaffection with Jacob Zuma's recall of Thabo Mbeki has set an unwanted ball in motion - a potential split of the party before the next election.

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Thursday 19 June 2008

Xenophobia in South Africa

By Andy on Thursday 19 June 2008, 17:30

At the end of May in South Africa, a lot of violence erupted, apparently targeted against other black africans by fellow black South Africans. Meeting other Nigerians, almost all of them, given a little time, bring up the subject. I found myself having to apologise for the violence, and make some explanation of it.

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Monday 14 April 2008

Zimbabwe - Thabo Mbeki and Aziz Pahad

By Andy on Monday 14 April 2008, 17:27

Since the election itself, we have watched, in slow motion, the frantic backpedalling of ZanuPF to steal the elections after the fact.

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Thursday 20 March 2008

Habeni Primary

By Andy on Thursday 20 March 2008, 16:09

Habeni Primary school is in Zululand, and has recently acquired a computer lab. Courtesy of Kelsey Wood and Wizzy Digital Courier, it also has Internet.

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Friday 7 March 2008

Khekhekhe's First Fruits ceremony

By Andy on Friday 7 March 2008, 13:18

In 1999 I visited Khekhekhe with Graham, to negotiate a price for National Geographic to do a piece on him. I wrote up that encounter at the time. Khekhekhe held a ceremony on the 23rd of Feb every year - which he called the First Fruits ceremony. It seemed really to be a time for the old Mthethwa Sangomas to get together, Khekhekhe to show his prowess with snakes, and some beasts to die for the table.

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Monday 24 December 2007

Aftermath of Polokwane

By Andy on Monday 24 December 2007, 10:29

The Polokwane conference was a triumph of process, and a disaster for results. Much negotiation remains to be done during the last 18 months of Mbeki's presidency.

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Thursday 29 November 2007

Zuma for President!

By Andy on Thursday 29 November 2007, 09:12

All the indications are that Jacob Zuma will be elected as ANC president at the 52nd annual ANC conference in Polokwane from December 16 through December 20.

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Wednesday 14 November 2007

ANC elections - the Eye of the Needle

By Andy on Wednesday 14 November 2007, 19:32

ANC Logo The next president of South Africa will be chosen this December at the December ANC conference in Limpopo. This is a tiny subset of the electorate that make this important decision.

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Tuesday 23 October 2007

Wikipedia fund drive

By Andy on Tuesday 23 October 2007, 14:44

Wikipedia has started its regular fund drive with a video from the founder, Jimmy Wales. He starts by expounding the knowledge-for-everyone mantra of wikipedia, and in particular promoting wikipedias in third world languages like Swahili.

The video finishes up with clips of people around the world talking about wikipedia, how it has benefited them, and how they contribute, including people typing articles in on cellphones ..

There is a clip of me, at Lavender Hill Secondary school (at a township close to Muizenberg more renowned for its gangs) talking about my placement of a complete copy of wikipedia down at schools that have no daytime internet access, and also the Lab administrator Shanaaz talking about her wish for more content on the Afrikaans wikipedia.

Check it out, at the Wikimedia foundation or the Youtube mirror.

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Schoolwan

By Andy on Tuesday 9 October 2007, 16:42

As an update on the Wizzy project, a fair bit has been happening. Panel Antenna

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Sunday 3 June 2007

Mzoli's Meat

By Andy on Sunday 3 June 2007, 17:55

Guguletu has a gem of a restaurant tucked away off Klipfontein Rd. Directions can be a little tricky in the townships, so here is a Google Maps URL And for those of you with a GPS that translates to -33.976415 S 18.569694 E.

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Tuesday 15 May 2007

African Institute for Mathematical Sciences

By Andy on Tuesday 15 May 2007, 00:47

I have been working at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences since December 2006. It is a pleasant work environment, the work I do has direct applicability to the work I do with Wizzy, and I get to listen to some really great lecturers from universities around the world. I have taken an interest in Cosmology and Quantum mechanics, a field that has changed so drastically in the last 10 years that I can happily forget most of what I knew before ..

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Tuesday 20 March 2007

Leadership in Africa

By Andy on Tuesday 20 March 2007, 11:16

The continent still has a way to go to transition from Kings to Leaders, and South Africa's president will change before the 2010 Soccer World Cup. On Human Rights Day, some thoughts on the process.

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