2011

Hi, my name is Peter, and I voted for Cope in the last elections. And now I’m angry. Hopping, spitting, bang-my-head-against-the-wall angry. Not because I was gullible enough to believe Cope could provide a feasible alternative. Not because Cope effectively stole my vote and then proceeded to gleefully trample all over it. Not because the […]

A couple of months ago I interviewed Nkosinathi Biko the CEO of the Steve Biko Foundation, for The Daily Maverick. In an unreported part of our conversation, we discussed black consciousness and its place in post-apartheid South Africa. Biko said, “If under the old dispensation being black meant being oppressed, what does it mean today?” […]

By Judy Sikuza Is it just human nature that we need dramatic events to occur before we change? How long will we sit and listen to the woman next door being beaten up and say it is not our business to intervene? Until she is lying in her own blood? When it is too late? […]

There is the perception among some, especially right-wing intellectuals, that members of the ruling party are a tame and timid lot. They insist the organisation suffers from top-down Stalinist political baggage and thus neither affirms nor encourages independence of mind. Depending on how one looks at things, this could have some grain of truth. Unfortunately, […]

“God and Sons” is the illustrious name of one of the hundreds of small business enterprises scattered along the streets of Accra, Ghana, and its surrounding municipalities, villages and townships. En route from Accra to Akropong village one could not escape the merchandise battling for prime position in the narrow streets. Nor could one miss […]

By Sifiso Mazibuko So what is it with us black folks and our overwhelming need to be down, ghetto, hood or kasi. This is the quandary that seems to face a black person who achieves any level of success and then as a result, God forbid, decides to move out the hood. He is liable […]

By Petunia Mpoza “Please use your liberty to promote ours” has been the entreaty to the world at large by Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s democracy icon and the 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate. The country is also known as Myanmar, a name bestowed on it by its military rulers. The name is opposed by the […]

The municipal elections are here and with it voter apathy. Or translated: young people who don’t vote. To be fair, the word municipal has about as much appeal to a young person as a fun-filled evening playing bridge. Adding elections to municipal makes it even worse. To grab the attention of a young person you […]

Macias was deposed and executed by Teddy in 1979, who then reputedly had some Macias’ body parts removed for Constantia’s face creams and for when he, Teddy, got the late night munchies.