Crucial Confrontations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler is by far the most refreshing and informative read as a follow-up to the internationally popular Crucial Conversations (2002). When I read this book  clear memories of the Cape Flats, the area I grew up in, constantly protrude and reflect suburban-bliss -- filled with the fashionable prevalence of domestic violence, crime, poverty, unemployment and divorce.

It is estimated that around 18% of South Africa’s population aged 15 and above is illiterate. According to Cheryl James, CEO of the sector education authority for the finance, accounting, management consulting and other financial services industry (Fasset), that sector is out of kilter with the rest of the economy.

With the peak summer holiday travel season at hand, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has put out a warning that the 2009/10 summer rainfall season saw an unprecedented increase in the number of potholes and associated accidents on national, provincial and metropolitan 'sealed' roads. The situation now is worse.

Midway through the 194-nation United Nations conference on climate change at Cancun in Mexico, which ends this coming Friday, the biggest news is that there has been no real news. But on the sidelines there have been some interesting events with huge implications for Africa among others.

In early 2010 two American experts on state intelligence and cyber security published a book under the title Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It. In it they warned about the prospect of a cyber Pearl Harbour. Was the highly embarrassing massive leak of American diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks just that?

Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of Cosatu and not generally  known as a  linguist, recently gave new meaning to the expression it’s no skin off my back. He is, however not unique in putting his own spin on this and other established expressions and proverbs.

A Springbok team depleted by injuries lost to a star-studded Barbarians side on Saturday, but demoralised South Africans fan must have taken heart from the remarks made by Nick Mallett after the game.

Spare a collective thought for the failed bids by England, Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and Belgium to host the 2018 Soccer World Cup, as Fifa faces a grilling and backlash from the international media, who are demanding a radical overhaul and reform of the body.

Plans for a major overhaul early into the 2011 legislative programme of South Africa’s Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) has taken on massive importance in the face of a ruling last week by the Constitutional Court in favour of the rights of a local community with respect to prospecting for and exploiting of mineral resources on land they own.

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This past weekend the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) celebrated its 25th birthday. While there was much convivial backslapping among Cosatu and its alliance partners, no-one could miss the signs of lingering tensions among them...the worst since Cosatu was launched on 1 December 1985.