By Caroline Ncube Amid the calls for radical transformation at the University of Cape Town (UCT), there are many voices seeking to be heard. That must be heard. I am compelled to speak too. I am a black African, non-South African, female associate professor at UCT. As a foreign national I make no bones about […]
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Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Give Rhodes to the artists
By Jordan Griffiths When I first heard of the #RhodesMustFall movement my response was simple, the statue must come down. For me it wasn’t even a question. I was privileged enough to have spent two years on the student council at the University of Pretoria (UP). I saw how aggressively transformation was fought at the […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Breaking out into the African institution: Rhodes University
By Nedine Moonsamy As a young postgraduate student I opted to study in India despite Darwinian warnings about the culture and academic institutions. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and rigour of Indian intellectual pursuits and soon became enamoured by the idiosyncrasies of their postcolonial academic culture. Unlike South Africa, Indian […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
The battle for public memory: Why #RhodesMust(Not)Fall
By Marlyn Faure Don’t get me wrong I don’t think colonial symbols like the statue of Rhodes should be left uncontested. But blanket calls for the removal and sometimes the destruction of all colonial symbols could perhaps be working against the very issues being fought for: transformation, recognition, acknowledgment and justice. The protests at UCT […]
Posted inEquality
Anti-gay attacks on the rise in Swaziland
By Jabu Pereira Kaylo Glover a young lesbian from Nhlangano, Swaziland, stepped into a bar with her friends on the early hours of Sunday morning. She was killed by an enraged man who did not want to be in the presence of lesbians. He left the bar, fetched an axe from his car, returned and […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Rhodes University needs a new name
By Welcome Mandla Lishivha The recent incident at the University of Cape Town with students protesting to have the statue of Cecil John Rhodes removed from their campus has sparked debates among Rhodes University students. The discussion about changing the university’s name has resurfaced, at least among students, and the university can’t ignore this discussion […]
Posted inHealth, News/Politics
Becoming a man…and losing something on the way
By Olga Bialostocka As South Africa celebrates the first, successful penis transplant in the world, with much-deserved public awe, the question we should ask is why there’s a demand for this sort of specialist treatment. The results of the medical efforts of Stellenbosch University surgeons should be praised but the reasons why young men lose […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence
Africans have a responsibility to ‘make it happen’ for African women
By Rhulani Thembi Siweya March 8 was International Women’s Day, which has been celebrated throughout the world since 1911. This day is marked by various events from one country to another with young and old women at the forefront of these celebrations. This year the women’s day was celebrated under the theme “make it happen”. […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
I am Team South Africa, not Team ANC, EFF or DA
By Ntombenhle Khathwane What happened during the State of the Nation Address hopefully serves as a catalyst to push us as a country to re-examine how our democracy works. To say that our democracy is in decline because of the events leading up to and including events on Thursday evening would be naïve of us. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Sona: Did you hear Zuma chuckle?
By Michelle October Last night, did anybody else hear that laugh? It was a long, satisfied, deep-throated chuckle. Just moments before, half of the parliamentarians elected to govern the country alongside Jacob Zuma and his party had rose up against him, in a last resounding, powerless attempt to make him see reason. The renegades in […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
#ChapelHillShooting: Lives lost, senselessly
By Shireen Mukadam Ever heard of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha? Probably not. Two days ago, they were killed, execution style, in their apartment in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on the east coast of the US. Deah (23) was a second-year dentistry student at the University of North Carolina. He was married to […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Excellence in education should be part of our daily discourse
By Busani Ngcaweni All the learners who passed their grade 12 examinations in 2014 should be applauded without reservation. The scores who were unsuccessful should be encouraged by Confucius who, centuries before the birth of Christ, correctly pointed out that “our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising each time we fall”. […]