In case you were not aware, the white nation is dead in South Africa. It does not exist, not anymore. In fact, there has not been a time in over three centuries when so-called white people have been so on the defensive and their superiority complex shattered. After all, the only thing that made most […]
Sandile Memela
Sandile Memela is a journalist, writer, cultural critic, columnist and civil servant. He lives in Midrand.
Posted inGeneral
Why Africans cannot tell their own stories
African writing and publishing has been systematised to be an extension of Western or European thinking and imagination about the continent and its people. An African writer is not encouraged to come up with a new variation or interpretation of what happens in Africa. Over-simplistic as it may seem, I will tell you what kind […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Brett Bailey must choose – respect Africa or be damned!
There is a lot of consternation in some quarters following the cancellation of Brett Bailey’s visual arts show, Exhibit B, which purports to give insight into the dehumanisation and violent brutality of Africans by colonialism. Many of the supporters are aggrieved that the work of this over-rated and provocative white African artist has allegedly being […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Don’t talk to me about race or blackness!
It was one of those easy and relaxed days over the weekend. I was in a group of family and friends enjoying drinks, snacks and good company. After all, we had been invited to hang out and just catch up. I was aware that this was an exclusive black group in a so-called former white-only […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The beautiful ones are corrupted
If ever the struggle was to deliver the promise for justice, equality and a world with a “more human face”, it would have been brought about by those of us who were born during the interregnum, that is between 1960 and 1980. The former is the year of the banning of the liberation movement following […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The right to insult
I am just a government funk and perhaps have no business to be talk about the much-vaunted right to artistic freedom of expression. Working for the state, it is presumed that I support the Secrecy Bill and desire to suppress freedom of expression. But I, too, am a citizen of this nation-in-the-making with rights. Also, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Pallo Jordan is no fraud
Clarity of thought and articulate intellectual leadership is neither a product of holding a PhD nor the result of spending years to acquire one-dimensional professionalised knowledge to be an expert or a guru. Rather, it comes from a deep-seated passion and love for what America’s leading thinker Cornel West defined as the “life of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Let the youth take over the ANC
The duty of the young is to improve upon the past which is, largely, a world created or messed up by their parents. What we are witnessing now is that moment when the great grandchildren of Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko and others must make a choice in terms of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Majority still support ANC
The majority will, again, vote for the ANC in the forthcoming elections. It is unavoidable as that seems to be the only party of choice that will gain more than 61% of votes, according to a voter poll. The C-Voter poll says 70% of citizens think the ANC will win at the polls on May […]
Posted inGeneral
We are not all intellectuals
South African artists seem to be outraged by anyone who questions or challenges intellectual capabilities in the sector. I allegedly made a provocative comment about the distinction between an artist and an intellectual. I argued that, generally, local artists are good in what they do and have won awards all over the world. I suggested […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
An apology to my fellow countrymen
To: Dr Piet Mulder The Freedom Front Plus The FW de Klerk Foundation And everyone who was offended My recent article on the Mail & Guardian’s Thought Leader website on Tuesday, March 4 2014 has hurt, embarrassed and insulted fellow countrymen. In the article, I questioned whether Oscar Pistorius would be on trial if he […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Mrs Khumalo, your daughter is not Reeva
Am I the only guy in this country who is fed up with black agony, pain and suffering being reduced to a sideshow? What is happening here is that black people are increasingly becoming invisible. Where is the outrage? We should be screaming prejudice, discrimination, unequal treatment and racism when the trial of the State […]