Reader Blog

By Tim Bester The sexual adventures of the rich and powerful have always been the focus of public fascination when these are aired in the public domain. These peccadilloes make for good and lurid copy in our newspapers. The most recent of these, involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Arnold Schwarzenegger, are good examples. And they have […]

By Mthokozisi Nkosi Leaving the ANCYL was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. And once I became a member of the Democratic Alliance Students’ Organisation (Daso) at the University of Pretoria I endured endless insults from my former “comrades”. A few years ago I made a decision to build a better SA. On […]

By Faatimah Hendricks It’s just two days until plenty of youth, including myself, will be casting their vote for the first time in local government elections. Deciding on who to select as the caretaker of my neighbourhood and the perfect person to run my city has been giving me sleepless nights (well, almost) as I […]

By Emma Louise Powell He is sitting huddled up in a bundle with his knees drawn close for warmth, leaning listlessly against a cold concrete pillar while he exhales the last clouds of glueish haze encasing his lungs. His torn, brown rags resemble the hessian sacks that line the floors of agricultural warehouses. He looks […]

By Ayesha Jacub I sat on the edge of the bathtub heaving. Every organ system in my body felt as though it was being pummelled … and then some. I had a constant metallic taste in my mouth. And these drugs were supposed to be helping me? In 2009 I was on my second course […]

I work at a major Gauteng public hospital. During the course of the last three days, I have had the misfortune of witnessing two young adult patients suffer preventable deaths. Many South Africans will easily explain away these deaths with predictable explanations such as collapsing infrastructure, shoddy equipment, long waiting times and poor nursing care. […]

By Thabang Motsohi When I learnt that the police officers involved in the brutal and revolting killing of Andries Tatane in Ficksburg had been arrested by the Independent Complaints Directorate, I felt conflicting emotions. At one level I was relieved and encouraged that our nascent democratic institutions were fearlessly proving the value and role that […]

By Cedrick Ngalande A couple of weeks ago we saw French troops capture and hand over the embattled Laurent Gbagbo to the Ivorian government. For several months Gbagbo had refused to hand over power to the UN-recognised winner of the presidential elections. This stand-off resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. In North […]