For Zimbabweans who cross into South Africa in search of work, the risk of robbery, rape and extortion at the border is just the beginning of their problems. Khadija Sharife meets a rightless underclass, who are both exploited and scapegoated, simply for wanting to feed their children

The words snob and blebs are really two sides of the same coin. Snobs are those people who regard themselves above most others, They won’t mix with and look down on those plebs whom they regard as  lesser beings. We ordinary plebs would call those who think rather too much of themselves as real damn snobs!

The controversial Julius Malema seems to be securely on his way to re-election as president of the ANC Youth League at its 24th national congress next week in Midrand, Gauteng. For South Africa the conference, under the theme Youth Action for Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime, and Malema’s likely re-election hold a number of important consequences in areas such as economic policy and who South Africa’s next president will be.

Available data is limited, but show that in an international context South Africa has a serious cyber-crime problem. According to the most recent figures from the South African Anti-Fraud Command Centre, South Africa was, after America and Britain, the country experiencing the greatest volume of phishing attempts.

Less than a year ago some analysts were still talking of the danger of a double dip in the recession that followed on the financial crisis of 2008. By the middle of 2010 recovery became the theme of the day, but after the dismal economic indicators emanating from the world’s largest economy, the United States, the dreaded word depression is creeping into the vocabulary of more and more serious economic analysts.

As increasing numbers of economic analysts are starting to predict that a depression is fast becoming unavoidable, with some indicators  falling to the levels of, or even below, the Great Depression of the 1930s, a book published at the end of May last year makes for some chilling reading.

It is time for the fat cats at the summit of world football’s governing body FIFA, the so-called executive committee, to retire with good grace and head off into the sporting sunset, leaving the organisation of Soccer World Cups to the different continents or to UEFA.

Even as president Jacob Zuma departed for his second African Union (AU) mandated peace mission to Libya last week one needed no prophet to know that it was doomed to fail. The NATO-sponsored rebels are clearly not interested in a negotiated end to the conflict and to expect the Gaddafi-regime to simply just surrender is at best naïve if not mere camouflage for sinister motives way beyond the borders of the African continent.

When President Jacob Zuma made a promise in the heat of the ANC’s recent municipal election campaign that irregularly nominated ANC councillors who are elected would be removed after the elections, he probably never foresaw the major problem he was creating for himself and his party and the disruption it could cause local governments.

Anybody who knows anything about Africa, knows that in Africa the dead never die. Those who have travelled on to better places simply become ancestors who continue playing a very real and important role in the everyday affairs of the living. No hell fire or heavenly angels here ... simply a higher state of wisdom and knowledge that exerts itself existentially into the lives of those who remain in the so-called real world. Their influence stretches far and wide beyond the grave.

The defeat of the Reds, the Highlanders and the Blues this past weekend has boosted the chances of three South African Super Rugby teams to feature in the play-offs. At this stage, it looks as if South Africa will have at least two teams in the play-offs.

The stalling of the passage of the Protection of Information Bill, or Secrecy Bill as it is also known, has shown that all is not lost for democracy in the country. When a critical mass of public opinion unites in resistance even the mighty ANC can be forced to change course.

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