Matters of life and death – the death penalty Issues  |  Ferdinand Berkhof Capital punishment, more popularly known as the death penalty, is as old as mankind. At the moment, of the 194 United Nations member states, 98 have abolished the death penalty completely, 7 have retained it for special circumstances such as war and 49 have officially maintained it but have not prac... Posted on: Wednesday, 31 October, 2012

Human beings are never satisfied On The Flipside  |  Keletso Thobega Human beings are never satisfied. Many people are almost always trying to change their looks, wealth, social status or lifestyle, and yes, wait for it, the sizes of their penises and vaginas, which though, hush hush, is a craze in our social landscape! Posted on: Tuesday, 30 October, 2012

Minister, teach me, please! Speaking of Which  |  Chekwane Have I not once told you that Ministers have all the fun? Have I not once told you how I would like to be a Minister one day when I grow up? If I haven’t, I am still doing my best to befriend guys in the ruling party, especially those with Ministerial portfolios. I am not going to hang with ruling p... Posted on: Friday, 26 October, 2012

The Women’s Inheritance case gives hope to gay rights Talking HIV and Human Rights  |  Uyapo Ndadi I couldn’t help but celebrate the outcome of the Mmusi and Others v Ramantele and Another case. This is the case in which a progressive High Court judge, Dr Oagile Key Dingake, declared that the Ngwaketse customary law inheritance rule, which hitherto allowed men, to the exclusion of women, inherita... Posted on: Friday, 26 October, 2012

Matters of life and death – abortion Issues  |  Ferdinand Berkhof Quite regularly, we find reports in our local media regarding newborn children found in pit latrines, sometimes still alive. Reports about newborn children found left in the bush or on the edge of the village, sometimes partly devoured by dogs or other animals. Reports that shock us. How could any m... Posted on: Thursday, 25 October, 2012

And you just keep on ripping us off akere! Maya Roze Dialogues  |  Maya Roze They say great ideas come up in the morning while counting the sheets on the toilet paper roll. I realized that I wasn’t having a writer’s block - I am just confused, no, angered, infuriated and plain darn dumb-founded as to how it is humanly possible that promoters are able to do to artists what th... Posted on: Wednesday, 24 October, 2012

Are we getting rather too close to the red line on good civil-military relations? Crossroads   |  Lawrence Ookeditse The Botswana Defence Force (BDF) is considered a professional military; small, yes but efficient and professional. It takes commands from its civilian principals and does not meddle in politics. The budget aside, the politicians also tend to leave it alone. Duma Boko is a brilliant lawyer- if in tro... Posted on: Wednesday, 24 October, 2012

Whose President are you, Your Excellency? Ruffling Feathers  |  Kealeboga Dihutso With the State of the Nation Address (SNA) not too far off we are all curious as to what exactly President Seretse Khama Ian Khama is going to say. Ok maybe that is not entirely true. Very few people would be curious. In the time since he became president HE and /or his speech writers have overused ... Posted on: Wednesday, 24 October, 2012

And now for the way forward YoungManPal Uncut  |  Thuso Palai We seem to be at a crossroads with regards to our senior National team. And as they would say, ‘we have to get back to the drawing board’. This is a cliché that some people are fond of but once they go back to the drawing board they talk about, they do the same mistakes. I hope this time around we w... Posted on: Tuesday, 23 October, 2012

Lekunutu ke la mongwe le mongwe On The Flipside  |  Keletso Thobega I think by now everyone is aware of one minister’s alleged sexual exploits that became gossip fodder and wound up as tabloid front page “news”. Considering that most Batswana have skeletons in their closets, I think many are tjatjarag (uppity) because it is someone else in the spotlight, and not the... Posted on: Tuesday, 23 October, 2012