Rest in Peace, you champions

It was with great sadness that the world woke up to the passing of boxing legend Muhammad Ali last Saturday. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr in 1942, The People’s Champion was actually more than just a boxer. He was a poet, an activist and to those who knew him well, a dear friend.

Unfortunately he wasn’t the only great sporting legend to pass on this past week. Stephen Keshi, a Nigerian footballer and former coach of Nigeria - and arguably the most successful African coach of all time – had died in Benin City on Tuesday. He was only 54.

Kimbo Slice, a 42-year-old MMA fighter who died from congestive heart failure makes it a sad trio. Like Ali, he overcame the odds to make a success of himself, starting out as a backyard brawler and posting his fights on YouTube before hitting the big time.

Wherever they may be now, we hope they’re teaching each other a few moves.

Hillary for US President?

There is the running joke of a kid standing next to an open plug socket with a metal fork asking which hole he should stick the fork in. One is for Donald Trump, the other for Hillary Clinton.

It sums up the current mood in America – either one will get your fried. But let’s put that idea to one side for now. This week, Hillary Clinton was named as the presumptive nominee for the Democrats. That means that there is a strong possibility of her being the first women US president (chances are good that it’s going to happen if you consider who she’d be up against…)

That is a huge step in the right direction for gender parity in American politics. It’s also a silver lining, if ever there was one.

And then there is the fun in deciding what they’ll call her husband, Bill Clinton. Would he be known as the ‘first gentleman’ from now on? It would be fun introducing him to dignitaries then.

Event announcer: “Ladies and Gentlemen, would you please welcome Madame President and the first Gentleman.”

Oh Hlaudi, stop it now, please!

It seems that a week can’t go by without Hlaudi ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ Motsoeneng making a couple of confusing decisions. The 90% local content on all SABC radio stations is a great idea – we aren’t knocking that. It’s just everything else that he’s said seems – well let’s put it nicely – very strange.

This week, Motsoeneng disappeared mysteriously from a radio interview during an ad break after coping flack. He also lambasted a radio host for not kotowing to the SABC. The SABC has also placed a ban on reading newspaper headlines or discussing the front pages on air.

The latest is that he wants all SABC employees to wear uniforms as it will bring unity to the broadcaster. Okay, then.

Terror Alerts

This past week, South Africa was rocked by reports that that there would be an imminent terror attack in the country.

Fortunately, things have gradually calmed down since initial reports. In fact, now there is confusion as to the actual source with some saying it wasn’t credible. By Tuesday, the South African government was saying that South Africa was in no danger. Let's not be naive, hey!

According to SAFM, Cabinet has distanced itself from a joint media statement by the Department of International Relations and the State Security Agency on the terror alerts. Both departments slammed the US by saying that the information was “sketchy, and unsubstantiated”.

Current mood? Journalist and author, Alex Eliseev, can have the final say with his tweet.

That’s enough craziness for one week. Go relax. Forget about your worries and enjoy your weekend. We’ll chat to you next week.