By Duncan Scott What’s in a nationality? In a country in which political rhetoric and common sentiment towards foreign nationals is often belligerent, quite a lot. A South African – let’s call him K – recently put it to me, “When it comes to nationality, like in every other civilised country in the world, there […]
Reader Blog
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Posted inBusiness
An open letter to Minister Pravin Gordhan
By Ian Dewar Minister Gordhan, I write to you because I find myself deeply disappointed by the centralist orthodoxy of your budget speech. I live in a small rural town where 25.9% of the local workforce is unemployed and 45.9% of local households earn less than R1600 per month. This means that our local Gini […]
Posted inGeneral
Whose land is it anyway?
By Kgomotso Mamello Motshidi When I think of the land debate, I wonder how far back in history we are willing to go in order to resolve this thorny issue. Sparks have been flying subsequent to Deputy Minister Pieter Mulder’s presentation in Parliament regarding his version of history. The Khoisan group recently made a request […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Farm workers’ plight: Talk is cheap, Minister
By Isaac Mangena A 2011 Human Rights Watch report revealed shocking details of human rights abuses against farm workers in the Western Cape’s fruit and wine industries, and the appalling conditions under which they work and live. Titled Ripe with Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa’s Fruit and Wine Industries [PDF], it documents “conditions […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Protection of sources: M&G is fighting solo
By Akanyang Merementsi From 2009, the Mail & Guardian has revealed shocking details of corruption in tenders awarded to Bosasa by the department of correctional services. This was also at the same time the company was investigated for other corruption-related activities dating back to 2004/2005. This week, the newspaper has been fighting a court battle […]
Posted inGeneral
An open letter to Verashni Pillay
From Neil Pretorius Dear Verashni, As an avid Mail & Guardian reader, and as one who has on many an occasion appreciated the wit of some of your past opinion pieces, I feel somewhat dismayed at having to write this open letter to you. You state that Lindiwe Mazibuko is not the role model that […]
Posted inGeneral
Racism in schools: a teacher’s perspective
By WR Terblanche Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying […]
Posted inGeneral
Men, dogs, violence and fear
By Nadia Sanger The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) is a public hospital in Bridgetown in the Western Cape that provides services to sick animals. There are always queues at the PDSA; the staff are over-worked and the hospital is under-resourced. Most animal guardians who cannot afford private vet fees visit the PDSA or […]
Posted inGeneral
The Facebook failure
By Wicked Mike Let’s face it: Facebook withholds information so that fact and hype are difficult to differentiate. With Facebook aiming for a $10-billion initial public offering (IPO) in 2012 that would value the company at $100-billion, and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, a media celebrity even before The Social Network was released, it’s easy to […]
Posted inGeneral
“That’s what you get when you mix with the blacks”
By Charles Leonard Every year on this day I think of my riot policeman – the one who tried to kill me the day then-president FW de Klerk announced the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party and the Pan Africanist Congress, and that he was going to release ANC […]
Posted inGeneral
The dilemma of race
By Guy Chennells This article is in continuation of a debate that I must admit I’ve only partly followed. It’s about race and being South African. If you know what you’re going to say in response already, this is not for you. If you feel a gnawing hunger for an unsure offering, like it’s a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
One continent, two African Unions
By Takura Zhangazha The failure of the African Union (AU) to elect a new chairperson for its commission on January 30 points to a seriously divided continental body. Had this been an election based merely on the popularity or campaign skills of the two candidates Jean Ping and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, it would not warrant analysis […]