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Author, journalist and communications specialist. Winner of the 2017 Recht-Malan Prize for Under Nelson Mandela Boulevard - Life Among the Stowaways. 2014 CNN Journalist of the Year, Business Category.

Searching for the source of the Jukskei’s pollution

Part 1: The upper river

Searching for the eye of the Jukskei

One doesn’t get many truly fascinating weeks, but I’ve just enjoyed one. I thought it would be a nice idea to walk the length of the Jukskei River.

More SA farm poetry

Part 2 of our selection of poems about life on the land in southern Africa.

SA farm poetry

In a few months it will be a hundred years since the coming into effect of the Native Land Act, and the universities are frothing with activity as Phd candidates submit conference papers on “social protection measures and labour markets in Oranjia,” “unfair use of secret carp bait on the Hennops River” and the like, and 99% of these papers, petitions and reports simply add to the confusion of the already convoluted and painful ‘land question’.

On being white:

A conversation with the author of a fascinating new book on Zimbabwe's commercial farmers.

De Doorns despatches – 2

Getting beyond appearances in the strikelands of the Western Cape.

De Doorns despatches – 1

Getting beyond appearances in the strikelands of the Western Cape

Revisiting Zim’s country clubs

In Zimbabwe for much of the 20th Century, the ‘sports club’ was at the heart of social life. I spent much of my childhood on the cricket pitch and clay tennis courts of Norton Country Club, about 40km south-east of Harare.

Coffee cup diaries – Part 2

The adventure continues...

Coffee cup diaries – Part 1

When I measured the distance from the centre of Johannesburg to the stain my excitement mounted – it was almost exactly 100km. The message was clear: drive around Johannesburg hugging this diameter as closely as possible.

Marketing meteors – Part 2

In A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson begins with a refreshing confession of ignorance.

Marketing meteors – 1

“Why do we speak of ‘meteoric rise to power’ when, in actual fact, meteors crash down to the earth, wiping out all life in the vicinity?” my mother asked from the back of the car, with a hand on each of the front seats.

Eskimo rolls and hyacinth stew

At 6am, heading south from Joburg on very little sleep, I began to ponder my relationship with water.

Rolling with a true blue SA truckie

After the 19 days of violent strike action, which hobbled several major agribusinesses, it’s unlikely the average South African farmer harbours many tender feelings towards the average South African truck driver.

A burnt arse, and other pitfalls of the post-carbon age

One of my favourite places to visit is Berg-en-Dal Farm on the outskirts of Ladismith in the Klein Karoo, home to the Klein Karoo Sustainable Drylands Permaculture Project.