HeyJaredBarney Mthombothi
- Indexed articles, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Sep 12, 2026
- Outlet visibility, for TimesLive South Africa
- Top 50K sites
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- Jul 4, 2026
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BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI | The day America was changed forever (opens the original)
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US president George W Bush, hardly a year in office, was in Florida on September 11 2001 listening attentively as elementary school pupils read from The Pet Goat, when Andrew Card, his chief of staff, quietly walked into the classroom and whispered in his ear, “A second plane has hit the second tower.” Bush sat up instantly. “America is under attack,” Card told the visibly shaken president. When initially told that a small plane had crashed into one of the towers at New York City’s World Trade C
BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI | Politicians love a good free funeral (opens the original)
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Criticising the government for using taxpayers’ money to pay funeral costs for families who’ve lost loved ones may sound a bit callous or insensitive, but it would seem death has become the latest boon for politicians. Funerals of especially prominent individuals are granted so-called special official status — which means the government foots the bill — with such eager readiness it’s almost become a scam. And the beneficiaries of these freebies or handouts are often people or families who are we
BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI | Partisan politics has no place in the removal of a president (opens the original)
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The Western Cape High Court made the right call in granting President Cyril Ramaphosa the stay of execution that he sought last week, thus putting a pause to some MPs’ breathless eagerness to hang him. The ATM, a minuscule two-cent party, which nobody voted for, has led a headlong rush to the Constitutional Court for direct access to appeal against the decision. Not to be outdone, the EFF followed suit, at which point the herd mentality took over and the entire ad hoc committee fell in line. The
BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI | The deadly price of tradition that snatches young lives (opens the original)
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Every winter the country seems to go through an annual ritual of mourning, grieving for the young lives needlessly lost in so-called initiation schools. Every year, without fail, families and mothers bury sons they’d hoped would grow into useful adults. And each time, such atrocities are greeted with righteous indignation, but little is ever done to stop the carnage. There’s perhaps nothing more symptomatic of the worthlessness and utter ineffectiveness of a government than its failure to put a
BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI | Madlanga commission sick notes are enough to make you sick (opens the original)
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As a young reporter some years ago, I was sent on an assignment to go around soliciting sick notes from doctors in Durban. It turned out to be a fruitful fishing expedition. I collected a decent bundle. I didn’t have to claim to be sick nor ask to be examined. I simply asked for a sick note. The only question was: “How many days do you want?” Then the document materialised. At a price, of course. And I was out of the door in a shot, pleased as punch. Some doctors did get into trouble with the So
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