In a matter of days Zwelinzima Vavi was accused of rape and had the grievance against him dropped. I’m not surprised by this spectacle. What makes me concerned is the question of a rape accusation being simply attributed as a ploy in politics. The woman who dropped the charges demanded R2 million from Vavi in order […]
Athambile Masola
A teacher in Johannesburg.Interested in education,feminism and sometimes a bit of politics (with a small letter p).
Posted inLifestyle
Are you hopeful about your country’s future?
This is one of the questions posed in a questionnaire answered by 12 000 young people (between the ages 14 and 25). The idea of the survey is to get a better sense of the issues young people face. If I had been part of the survey I would have answered “I don’t know”. It seems […]
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle
The hair debate must end
While watching Gillian Schutte’s documentary “It’s my hair … I bought it”, I thought the hair debate must come to an end. It’s banal and redundant. Talking about black women’s hair needs to stop being a question of national importance. Our hair is not all of who we are. Why have I never seen a […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Whose land is it anyway?
It’s no secret, 100 years later and we are still living with the effects of the 1913 Land Act. While watching the news clip with President Jacob Zuma opening yet another exhibition “commemorating” the Land Act, the idea of marking the dispossession of land an occasion to be commemorated by exhibitions makes me wonder about […]
Posted inGeneral
Giving meaning to the youth voice
I was planning to ignore Youth Day until I accepted an invitation to the Youth Radio Awards on Sunday evening, June 16. Instead of a march or yet another speech-making event, I found myself in a hall buzzing with youth exuberance as the work of young reporters was celebrated with a programme filled with music […]
Posted inEquality, Health
Teenage pregnancy a crime?
Ever heard of the “30cm rule”? This unwritten rule is popular in many co-ed high schools and it stipulates that a boy and a girl should not be closer than 30cm of each other. That means no hugging, kissing and gevoefeling while under the watchful eye of teachers. The students I teach have also been […]
Posted inHealth
Masculinity under siege?
Every year young boys die in the process of “becoming men”, ulwaluko. Recently Mpumalanga made news when 27 boys died at an initiation camp. When such stories are reported I’m reminded of the imigidi I have attended, celebrating the return of ikrwala (a new man). Growing up, the deaths of amakrwala (the “new men”) were […]
Posted inGeneral
The teenager
I hate being associated with people born after 1990. I was born in the late 1980s but people often think I am part of the “born-free” generation — the most misunderstood group of young people. They are often accused of being entitled, lazy, narcissistic, lost, apolitical, apathetic and confused. Young people — who are not […]