There is the perception among some, especially right-wing intellectuals, that members of the ruling party are a tame and timid lot. They insist the organisation suffers from top-down Stalinist political baggage and thus neither affirms nor encourages independence of mind. Depending on how one looks at things, this could have some grain of truth. Unfortunately, […]
Sandile Memela
Sandile Memela is a journalist, writer, cultural critic, columnist and civil servant. He lives in Midrand.
Posted inNews/Politics
Egypt’s empty revolution
The people of the land of pharaohs will not find what they are looking for because they do not know what they want. It has been 30 years now that they have lived under one man’s dictatorship. In fact, all these three decades they have willingly collaborated with a leader who regarded himself as successor […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The (mis)education of the black child
It seems the current generation of black youth will be the first to turn its back on the liberation movement and the little gains of its struggle. This is likely to happen anytime between the forthcoming local government elections in 2011 and 2020. There is reason to believe that we will see an increasing number […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
The uncaring black middle class
It’s time middle-class blacks owned up to not loving their people and setting this nation up for failure. I cannot imagine how those who do not love their own people can serve this nation. Hard as I try, I find that there are very few instances where the middle-class blacks demonstrate a love for the […]
Posted inGeneral
Black South Africans are more European than African
Not too many years ago I used to call some black people, especially those of African descent, “coconuts”. And, of course, this got me into trouble with people who felt insulted by this label. It suggested that they were, essentially, white people inside who were cursed with black skins outside. In practical terms, it meant […]
Posted inNews/Politics
New beginnings
Now that a decade has ended, it is tempting to go back to the beginning. The beginning goes back to when the first president of the democratic South Africa, Nelson Mandela stepped down. It is not exactly the beginning but it is always useful to focus on some aspect of our history that has a […]
Posted inGeneral
Raising the black bar
I did not applaud the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) when they called for the lowering of marking standards for black students especially in matric. A strong regional branch in KwaZulu-Natal asked that examination markers understand that black students are not only taught in a foreign language but come from poor backgrounds. Why? That […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Winnie had no business criticising Mandela’
Recently, we had the privilege to witness what could be called a catfight between two legendary women. The one, Nadira Naipaul — a writer — had the pen and the other, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela — a symbol of resistance — had the word. Between the two lies a truth that has only been whispered for the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema can’t claim a history that belongs to no one
The most depressing part of the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre wasn’t the political mud-slinging between the two leading former liberation movements. Both reveal the predictable inability of most black politicians and activists to engage in constructive engagement and decent discourse. Rather, what was most disturbing was seeing Pan Africanist Congress members tearing into […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
An ANC that speaks the language of the people
The deep rumbles of discontent that have exploded into violence and property destruction teach us clearly that the government has not, exactly, succeeded in speaking to the people. Instead, it urgently needs to address its messages to the people who put it into power. It was none other than the minister of cooperative governance and […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
SA artists must stop embarrassing themselves and the country
It is inconceivable that the soccer fraternity would demand Bafana Bafana be featured in the Fifa 2010 World Cup final without proving themselves. There is no sane person, including die-hard supporters of Bafana, for instance, that would support demands that they be in the final without proving their merit against international counterparts. It is a […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Floyd’s right about partisan journalism
My intuitive connection to friends, rivals, enemies and colleagues in the media tells me that many of the powerful ones will curse me after they have read this piece. After all, this is not intended to protect them against the onslaught by ANC Youth League’s Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu. As I understand after many […]