Kevin Ritchie

Yesterday, 32 years ago, Nelson Mandela and millions of his countrymen and women cast their vote for the first time in their lives, bringing an end to hundreds of years of racial discrimination and minority rule.

The administration of our towns and cities has been getting worse but fewer and fewer of us are even bothering to register to vote.

There is not much difference between some anti-migrant lobbies in South Africa and Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists almost 100 years ago.

Poor behaviour on South African roads is not confined to politicians or blue-light convoys, as incidents from Kruger National Park to Nampo show.

Northern Cape legend chronicled province from birth to adulthood. Editors trusted him without question while politicians feared his facts.

From monopoly to irrelevance, Sapo lost parcel delivery to couriers and couldn't even modernize car licence renewals for citizens.

Retailers have made it easier for supporters to back Bafana, just as in the case of the Boks, without relying on cheap counterfeit merchandise.

Two wholly contradictory things can be true at once; Johannesburg is a basket case but it is still the financial capital of Africa.

Protests are a hard-won right earned through blood, but that right gives no licence to loot, terrorise, maim or kill today.

High ticket prices, safety concerns and poor value are keeping many Springbok supporters away from the stadium despite the team's success.