By Loammi Wolf On July 6 2011 the Cabinet issued a statement in which an amendment of the Judges’ Remuneration and Conditions of Employment Act 2001 has been announced. The envisaged amendment Bill has been published on July 7 and is currently open to public comment. In terms of the Cabinet statement, the Bill seeks […]
Reader Blog
On our Reader Blog, we invite Thought Leader readers to submit one-off contributions to share their opinions on politics, news, sport, business, technology, the arts or any other field of interest.
If you'd like to contribute, first read our guidelines for submitting material to this blog.
Posted inGeneral
Tunnel vision
By Sandi Caganoff Last night my friend dragged me to a debate on the Palestine/Israel issue. She thinks I need exposure to such debates. I was promised it would be an extraordinary panel and the subject matter “will be riveting” she said, as I stifled a yawn. The subject of the debate was Israel and […]
Posted inGeneral
Niqab — a close encounter
By Sara Gon France has banned the wearing of the niqab and other European countries are considering doing the same. It is a strange response to the failure of European multiculturalism. A truly democratic, confident society should reinforce the principles and culture that characterise that society without removing rights to follow religion or culture. Banning […]
Posted inGeneral
How not to think Africa from the Cape
By Harry Garuba How does one think Africa from the Cape in this post-colonial, post-apartheid moment? First, let me explain the rise of the notion of thinking from a place. The idea of location and locatedness saturates contemporary academic life. In the humanities and social sciences, the shifts in contemporary theory have made an awareness […]
Posted inGeneral
Obama taps into our battle cry for a born-free generation
By Andile Dube “I’m going to see Michelle. I’m going to see Michelle.” I had to motivate my frosty mind as I dragged myself out of bed before dawn on June for the dark and chilly drive to the Regina Mundi Church in Soweto to see the first lady speak. This was not an opportunity […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Oprabama and the corruption of ubuntu
By Mahmood Sanglay Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey were in South Africa in June and wowed South Africans in an unprecedented way. Obama was here on a visit to meet our youth. Oprah came to receive an honorary doctorate conferred upon her by the University of the Free State. The two women met for dinner […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Thinking Africa from the Cape
By Suren Pillay Growing up in the Cape, we were taught that we were “Western”. How do we explain and undo this colonial sensibility? From my location at a university, there are two realisations from which to proceed. Firstly, the history of knowledge production, and the history of the organisation of knowledge — the ways […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zille owes us a speech on race
By Mike Mathabela A day before the recent local government elections, a racial incident occurred that almost derailed my resolve to, for the first time, vote for the DA. I was almost run down by a burly white male who proceeded to hurl demeaning expletives including the K-word at me after I had run to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Manyi, Manyi, Manyi…it’s a rich man’s world
By Hannine Drake Sanef called it bribery. The DA called it a gross abuse of power. Zapiro called it a metaphor (sort of). The already beleaguered media received yet another blow recently when Cabinet in true Machiavellian fashion approved the centralisation of the spending of its estimated R1 billion yearly advertising budget under the Government Communication […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Greece: Who wants to be in Giorgaki’s shoes?
By George Karasaridis Last week’s political events in Greece could be described in two words, high drama, or if you prefer soap opera. Living in Greece today, it’s clear that our country is experiencing historic yet challenging times. Pressure is part of a modern lifestyle; if we could tap and package the stuff we could […]
Posted inGeneral
Embrace the pain my a@#e
By Gavin Moffat A week or three ago I read these words from Scott Martin, which meant little to me at the time. “To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain … at cycling’s core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn’t matter if you’re […]
Posted inGeneral
The English Premier League, how I saw it
By Chester Thomas It has been two weeks since the Premier League wound up but the memories will linger on until the new season starts unless you are an Arsenal or Chelsea fan, you might have forgotten about the 2010 / 2011 season already. My best comeback (a split) What most thought was a routine […]