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 inMediaNews/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 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 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 inGeneralNews/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 […]