Didn’t your mother warn you to never, ever, ever take a photograph of your private parts and give it or send it to anyone, let alone a complete stranger who asks for it? But this is exactly what happened when Donn Edwards, an old school friend of mine, submitted a claim for specialised wound care […]
General
Posted inBusiness, General
The microfinance delusion: who really wins?
I’m always amazed at how many students show up each year in the classrooms of the London School of Economics, where I teach, quivering with excitement about microfinance and other “bottom-of-the-pyramid” development strategies. Like eager young missionaries, they feel they’ve stumbled upon the One Idea that is sure to save the world. Would that it […]
Posted inBusiness, General
Read Yanis Varoufakis’s “The Global Minotaur”!
Until recently, Yanis Varoufakis was the Greek Minister of Finance, who resigned after the Greek populace voted overwhelmingly against the imposition of more austerity measures against them in order to service the country’s crippling debt — resigned, because he believed that would give Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, more negotiating space with the representatives of […]
Posted inGeneral
Add reality to the instructional core
By Lehlohonolo Mofokeng There are ample traditions of educational change, that is, how we can make every school function. One can think of the school effectiveness, social movements and markets, among others. The proponents of each one of these traditions argue convincingly that there isn’t a better way in which every learner in a school […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
Is trying good enough? A reflection on motherhood
By Hameeda Bassa-Suleman I have learnt a lot about mothers and mothering in the past seven years of studying, training and then practicing as a psychologist. For the most part, I knew what would theoretically make a “good enough mother”, according to Donald Winnicott, and what would make a “not-so-good” mother. When I began seeing […]
Posted inEnvironment, General
What the trees and their friends try to tell us…
The sound of leaves in a wind is my earliest memory. When I was strolled in a pram, the branches above, bursting with leaves, were my first gift: consciousness. I emerged from this moment, long before recognising my mother or sister’s touch or my father’s voice. The moment was electric, a drawn-out hiss as gunpowder […]
Posted inGeneral
This is why I don’t want to be a lawyer anymore
Unemployment is at its highest in SA at the moment, and even worse for the youth. Graduate unemployment is at an alarming rate. For those who are fortunate enough to be employed, there are times when you reach a point and have to say “deuces” to your employer. This could be brought on by a […]
Posted inGeneral
Angola’s saga of repression
With its totalitarian government and a president in power since 1979, Angola stands out as one of the most repressive countries in the southern African region. Dubbed a “psychological prison” in the words of one activist, Angola’s constrained civil society environment has recently gotten worse. Last month, several concerned citizens were rounded up by Angolan […]
Posted inGeneral
Charlize Theron, Caitlyn Jenner, and the Eternal Recurrence of the Same
I am not a thought leader. I am not qualified to lead anyone, or for that matter to have anyone follow me, in thought. To be honest, I don’t know of too many people qualified for that job. I certainly don’t think this guy is one of them. Is this … irony? If it is, […]
Posted inGeneral, Health
Public health in SA: Crying out for help, but who is listening?
By Louise Carmody I was one of over a hundred people who gathered last week in the University of the Free State auditorium, as communities shared their experiences with an independent panel of three commissioners. Treatment Action Campaign and Section 27 convened the panel to investigate the real situation of public health care services in […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
Time for a truce between Art and the Public
Is a truce needed between art and the public? Art is often criticised for being elitist, a “luxury” enjoyed by collectors, art aficionados and the bourgeoisie. Art is perceived to have some quality, some distinction that prevents it from pleasing mass palates. There is some truth to this view when one thinks of commercial art […]
Posted inGeneral, Health
Circumcision SA style – the unkindest cut of all
It demands a certain je ne sais quoi for someone of apparently sound mind to allow a man clad in animal skins to slice off their foreskin with a rusty assegai. And that in an isolated bush camp in the dead of winter, nogal. Especially since this rite of passage to manhood comes parcelled with […]