The turmoil surrounding basic education in South Africa has reached fever pitch and president Jacob Zuma could soon find himself at the eye of the storm after an off-the-cuff remark in a radio interview. The issue, which runs much wider than just the textbook fiasco in the Limpopo province, is becoming increasingly politicised and a risk to social stability in the country. 

A friend complained bitterly last week about the heavy burden that bureaucratic rules and their rigid implementation by bureaucrats, in the proliferation of modern-day bureaucracies, place on the smooth running of an ordinary man’s life. His immediate gripe was with a bank but the roots of bureaucracy lie wide, deep and very far back in history. 

The highlight of Women’s Month celebrations will be National Women’s Day on 9 August when one of the biggest protest marches in the country's history, staged by more than 20 000 women on that day in 1956, will be commemorated. On some fronts the country is in the top league and has a proud history in matters affecting women, although on others there is some way to go. 

“South Africa has the necessary policies and resources to improve human resource indicators such as under-five mortality and maternal mortality. However, it lacks the implementation capacity to translate these policies into broad-based results. Decline in both measures of human welfare has been slow. Substantial progress, however,has been made in fighting malnutrition, mother-to-child transmission of HIV, as well as increased immunization coverage and access to free health care. The national mother-to-child HIV transmission rate fell to 3.5% in 2010 from 8.5% in 2009.” 

Both England and South Africa emerged from the drawn second cricket test at Headingley in Leeds with some credit and some legitimate questions about their ability to win the vital third test at Lord’s to determine who would end the series as the top test-playing nation in the world. 

At long last, after nearly three and a half years of hiccups and disagreements at an estimated cost of US$ 45 million, the team assigned to draw up a new draft constitution for Zimbabwe have completed their task. If all goes well with the remainder of the process, it will go to the Zimbabwean people in a referendum for adoption. 

For South Africa, and the rest of the African continent, the youth population demographics should be a global competitive advantage. However, since the relatively high economic growth rate on the continent is mostly “jobless growth” the youth of the populations create socially explosive burdens for African societies and pressure on the middle-aged productive sectors in the economy. 

Disappointing performances by a trio of potential podium finishers, LJ van Zyl, Cornel Fredericks and Khotso Mokoena, could not dampen the festive spirit amongst South African Olympic fans after the magnificent swimming feats by two golden boys in the pool. The country is now in the 13th position overall and first in Africa on the medals standing on seven, of which three are gold.  

The Chiefs claimed their first-ever Super Rugby title on Saturday with an emphatic 37-6 victory over the Sharks in Hamilton. On two previous occasions, the Sharks were defiant when critics feared they would slump to defeat because of the excessive traveling they’ve had to do, beating the Reds in Brisbane and then the Stormers a week later at Newlands during the playoffs. This time they just lacked the sharpness and freshness and instead faded after a promising start.