A SMAC in the Face #86 – The Little Big Man

By Blaine McCleland in Opinion Pieces 0 Comment

Trump was riding high, surfing his personal tsunami after announcing huge reciprocal tariffs on every country in the world.  He then smugly boasted that 50 countries were now “kissing my ass.”  Given Trump’s penchant for hyperbole, it might not have been 50 countries but five piss ant countries.  Perhaps it even included a delegation of tuxedo attired penguins from the McDonald Islands who arrived to give him the bird and flip him off.  But it still played out well with his non-discerning Magalanders especially when Trump threatened to double down if anyone retaliated.  This was a tough guy script straight out of a Hollywood Chuck Norris screenplay.

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SMAC in the Face #85 – To Be or not to BBBEE

By Blaine McCleland in Opinion Pieces 0 Comment

Just about all South Africa’s economic woes of lack of growth, the highest level of unemployment and concomitant widening wealth gap amongst Blacks have their genesis in the race-based legislation enacted by the ANC since 1994.  But even after their parlous showing in the 2024 elections which forced them into a coalition government with the ‘white’ DA, they have doubled down on their employment equity and preferential procurement rules.  For SMAC’s take on this you can read on.

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A SMAC in the Face #84: The Almighty Cod

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces 0 Comment

The beginning of Trump’s second Presidency has been without precedent.  It has been characterised by extreme chaos as he has been all over the place like a demented squirrel on tik.  He has declared economic war on everyone (except his secret bff, Putin), threatened to own Panama, Greenland, Canada and Gaza and he is busy taking a chainsaw to the Federal system courtesy of his point man and ‘Tech Support’, Elon Musk.

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Korsten – the Shipping Magnet

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces 0 Comment

From 1819 onwards Korsten played an ever-larger role in the shipping trade of the Cape Colony. At one time or another, Korsten owned no less than 13 coasting schooners and cutters of various sizes, 12 of which ultimately came to grief. In the process, Korsten gained the reputation as the largest boat owner in the Cape colony.

As can be imagined, most of these vessels were the smallest size of ocean going vessels as they were merely used for servicing customers along the Cape coast. As such they probably weighed no more than between 80 and 140 tons. Whether the Helena, a 500-ton ship which Korsten owned while living in Cape Town and on which his family went on holiday to England in 1809 is included in the total of 13 vessels which Korsten owned over his life, is unknown.

Main picture: A schooner of the early 1800s

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Military Record of John Gilfillan Bunton in WW2

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces, Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Just over a century ago, the name Bunton was well known in Port Elizabeth as John’s father and grandfather in their day were both owners of the Grand Hotel in Belmont Terrace. When John’s father, Henry, changed careers in 1927 and went farming in the Selbourne district near Kirkwood, the name Bunton would never again resonate with the residents of Port Elizabeth.

John would attest to serve in the artillery. Later his younger brother, Peter, would join him in the same unit. It was during the opening stages of the battle of El Alamein on the 13th July 1942 that John would be mortally wounded, and Peter, who served in the same unit, would see his brother for the last time as he was stretchered away never to be seen again by him.

Such is the madness and futility of war.

Main picture: John Bunton in North Africa

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Visit by John Campbell in 1862

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces, Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Recollections of the town by visitors especially in its early days, provides an indelible record of how they viewed the town but more importantly, how it operated. Some of the descriptors relate to the residents’ industriousness and the consequential hustle and bustle whereas others refer to the stark bareness of the hill especially prior to the planting of trees.

These recollections of John Campbell, a surveyor, and passenger aboard the Eastern Province who visited the town from the 25th February 1862 to the 17th March 1862, adds a fresh layer of depth to the understanding of this bustling town.

Main picture: The first breakwater around 1866

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