I SHOOK my head in amazement at Isma’il’s antics. Street savvy and outgoing with a rough-edged charm, Israelis seemed to instinctively like him. Israel is a brash country anyway, and my extrovert Memen friend never seemed to offend the Israelis – even when bargaining for an Orthodox Jew’s hat at[…]

IT comes as a surprise to discover that Ebrahim Rasool, former Western Cape Premier and next ambassador to Washington, is only 48 years old. It seems as if he’s survived a hundred years in politics. A Young Turk from the UDF, a key member of the Call of Islam, one[…]

THE appalling news that a young Mitchells plain cleric, Maulana Sharief Hendricks, and Fazlin Isaacs (whom he was counselling) had been shot by her estranged husband, Igshaan “Gaddafi” Isaacs, distressed and angered me greatly. Here was a man who had two outstanding charges of domestic violence against him. The magistrate[…]