By Athambile Masola The public education system is failing in South Africa. This is nothing new. As the year comes to an end we will soon be bombarded with the matric results that will confirm the consequences of an unequal education system. We will all lament, shake our heads in despair, point fingers at the […]
Mandela Rhodes Scholars
Mandela Rhodes Scholars who feature on this page are all recipients of The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship, awarded by The Mandela Rhodes Foundation, and are members of The Mandela Rhodes Community.
The Mandela Rhodes Community was started by recipients of the scholarship, and is a growing network of young African leaders in different sectors. The Mandela Rhodes Community is comprised of students and professionals from various backgrounds, fields of study and areas of interest. Their commonality is the set of guiding principles instilled through The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship program: education, leadership, reconciliation, and social entrepreneurship.
All members of The Mandela Rhodes Community have displayed some form of involvement in each of these domains.
The Community has the purpose of mobilising its members and partners to collaborate in establishing a growing network of engaged and active leaders through dialogue and project support
[The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship is open to all African students and allows for postgraduate studies at any institution in South Africa. See The Mandela Rhodes Foundation for further details.]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Shoot the boer’ our history
By Beth Vale A week ago, the equality court announced its verdict that the lyrics of struggle song “Dubul’ ibhunu” or “shoot the boer’ should be considered hate speech. The trial has evoked months of public debate and has not been short of media commentary. Despite this, it is only in the last few days […]
Posted inLifestyle
‘Eish, you’re not South African’
By Cano Ssemakalu It can be tough being a foreigner in South Africa, even if you are here legally. I have lived here for seven years now, during which I’ve been treated like a South African by the very generous government and its people. But my grievance is with the corporations in the private sector […]
Posted inGeneral
Silly season
By Lawrence Mashimbye The so-called “strike season” in South Africa is no longer funny. Day in and day out we hear one union after the other calling workers to riot. I know the complaints around conditions of employment and salary increases are pertinent and imperative, particularly in a country that survived apartheid and its bad […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Who belongs here?
By Athambile Masola I recently witnessed a disturbing incident: while walking through a parking lot in the shopping complex here in Grahamstown I noticed a young man approach a woman driving a Mercedes Benz with his hands cupped as though he were asking for something. The woman was already in her car and she rolled […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Towards a pan-Arab solution for Libya
By Zuki Mqolomba The decision by UN Security apparatus to step in militarily to resolve the “Libyan crisis” has raised serious legal, moral and political questions. Concerns have been exacerbated by the marginalisation of the African Union peace roadmap, as well as the actions of UN allies in Libya, which herald a different approach to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why Malema matters
By Andy Carolin I don’t like Julius Malema. Or, more correctly, perhaps, I do not like the Malema to which the mass media has introduced me. But that is really beside the point. The ANCYL, under his current stewardship, is undoubtedly one of the most militant political forces in recent South African politics. It is […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Who did the Indians vote for?
By Suntosh Pillay Race, place and identity are all at play during elections. The election circus has left town, new mayors make old promises and the mug shots we’ve been tortured with on street poles have finally been removed. The results were predictable: the ANC a little weaker, the DA gloating its victories, Cope nearing […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Oh leader, my leader…who will it be?
By Athambile Masola I have been following Julius Malema’s trial with half an ear. Much ink has been spilled and printed about the ANC Youth League leader and it seems almost useless to be writing about him at this stage of his leadership of the youth league. The great “Juju”, has never been without a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Give them handouts, keep them poor!
By Nkazi Sokhulu South Africans love poverty. For too long our government has come up with ill-considered policies for poverty eradication and then we as citizens empower it to carry them out. Yes, we love poverty! To illustrate my point I want to share a story about my grandmother. She was raised by uneducated and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Let the poor cover their own asses’
By Zukiswa Mqolomba Our inability to reach national consensus on questions pertaining the dignity of the poor raises very serious questions about the trajectory of South Africa’s moral economy. One wonders about the fleeting pipedream of “non-racism … and prosperity for all”, whether it even constitutes what I once believed to be the South African […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Could affirmative action be helping white people?
By Anton I Botha Talking about affirmative action has become rather hazardous in contemporary South Africa. One runs the risk of being labelled either a racist or, as the ANCYL would have it, a “counter-revolutionary”. What you are about to read is no doubt going to ruffle some feathers among both black and white audiences. […]