For ages, the country today known as South Africa was no more than a loose band of separate communities. The Nguni tribes, which settled on the Southern tip of Africa around the 10th century, neither considered themselves a single nation, nor did they consider the Khoisan people already inhibiting the area part of their collective….
On March 17 1992 the National Party, under former president FW de Klerk’s leadership, asked white South Africans a difficult question in the form of a referendum. The question was: “Do you support the continuation of the reform process which the state president began on February 2 1990 and which is aimed at a new…
I have a friend and she is one of those annoyingly smart people. She always says the right thing, knows the right thing and does the right thing. She has learnt to be very sure of her own opinion and nobody likes her. Not even me. What has this got to do with you? Nothing,…
Violence against women is a moral-turned-physical plague, and it has bedridden South Africa. Our mothers, daughters, sisters, children and friends are sitting ducks. They are targets of the male ego. Violence against women is the patriarch’s last stand. He is gripping on to his illegitimate, undeserved “entitlements”. The howling storm of change brings with it…
The imperial ghost is alive and kicking. The big, bad, ugly angel of darkness is gearing-up to roam the streets of South Africa and has apparently found itself an unlikely host … Mamphela Ramphele. The imperial ghost, as you might know is sometimes based in the US, sometimes the UK and sometimes the European Union….
I recently came across George Orwell’s 1984. Orwell is known for his insight into the behaviour of revolutionary governments. What I found in the book had me gasping for air. 1984 is set in a post-revolution world divided into three regions: Oceania, Eastacia and Eurasia. Winston, the protagonist, is based in Oceania. Oceania is ruled…
Transparency and accountability are vital pillars of democracy. Without transparency there cannot be accountability and without accountability transparency is redundant. Our Constitution recognises and entrenches principles of transparency and accountability in government. Section 41(1) (c) provides that “spheres of government and all organs of state within each sphere must provide effective, transparent, accountable and coherent…
Yesterday (Friday) I decided to simmer down after a busy week so I got two movies. The one was titled Mama Flora’ Family (1997) and the other The Help (2011). Both movies are about the American south and the plight of the ”Negros”. They trace the personal trials of the protagonists within the larger suppressive…
Laura Fitzpatrick in a Time Magazine article explained the phenomenon commonly known as “the Stockholm syndrome”. She explained that the syndrome is ”the phenomenon in which victims display compassion for and even loyalty to their captors”. Sound familiar? It’s been over a year since our unrelenting saviour put Julius Malema’s political career to rest. Even…
Pictures of labourers with raised fists, chanting liberation slogans are now commonplace in South Africa. We’re notorious for industrial protests, dubbed “the protest capital of the world”. For many, the only serious cause for concern is the unsightly violence of industrial protests. The world watched in awe as the police showered (allegedly) armed Marikana miners…
