By Liesl Muller South Africa’s 1994 elections paved the way for all citizens to enjoy the human rights flowing from equal citizenship but rumours of the deficient pre-electoral registration of the previously disadvantaged have been wholly disregarded in the wake of apartheid’s fall. The effects of rushed registration policies have caught up with us and […]
Equality
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
We dare not forget Sobukwe’s legacy
A week ago, I decided to go to Kimberley in the Northern Cape to visit the house of the founding president of the PAC, the great Robert Sobukwe. Finding house number 6 in Naledi Street was easy. People of Galeshewe township know Sobukwe’s house. We found the gate opened and walked to the door to […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality
Rail services still treat us like cattle
Dear Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, I don’t usually write open letters and have tried to engage you in more direct ways. I was one of the groups kept back by security at your Pretoria Station not too long ago and I am a regular visitor at your customer care booth at Park Station. […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
An educated population is not a panacea but it’s the only way forward
I have always maintained that the only way for our country to achieve true prosperity, and for individuals and groups to achieve their goals, is through the education of all our people. This means that where there is a budgetary conflict, education takes priority over almost anything else. I would like to start off by […]
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, General, Lifestyle
Chess the thing for Joburg inner city
Indifference is a powerful weapon, easily injected into entire atmospheres, hearts and minds. Since the beginning of The Troyeville Bedtime Story, a never-ending Joburg tale that began with a stinking pile of neglected rubble in 2011, my eyes and heart tend toward what appears to be impossible, dysfunctional, overwhelming. I am long suffering from a […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Let them eat cake
This morning I crawled off an overnight flight from Paris, gave thanks for unlimited bandwidth, and started scrolling through Twitter. There I found an opinion piece by Peter Delmar on the Times Live site. I paused to read it because he had obviously been to Paris for a family holiday, just as I had. I […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, News/Politics
Marikana: When neoliberalism negates human rights
It is one year to the day that the Marikana massacre unfolded on the Wonderkop koppie and was witnessed on national television. The trauma of this spectacle still hangs heavy in the air for many who are unable to make any sense of this heinous occurrence, because there is no making sense of it. There […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality
A world where time replaces money as currency
Isn’t it amazing how a huge money-spinner of a film, made on a budget of millions, obviously in anticipation of making a sizeable profit in moviehouse-attendance and on DVDs, can tap into something that goes diametrically against the grain of its own production rationale? What it taps into, is the latent desire on the part […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Survivor Mamelodi and the limits of empathy
Ena and Julian Hewitt were both 15 years old in 1994. Ninety-four, that sluggishly revered year which we consider to be our glorious break from the horrors of the past. I imagine that they were brought up well. The comforts of a suburban white, middle-class life in check: a good education and great future prospects. […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
How poor is poor?
Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. — James A Baldwin Poverty and hunger remain a global challenge. However fewer people live in extreme poverty in the 21st century compared to previous generations. According to the World Bank, between 1981 and 2008, the proportion of people […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence
Why Trevor Noah’s Semenya tweet matters
By Gcobani Qambela The former secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, says: “All the cruel and brutal things, even genocide, starts with the humiliation of one individual.” I was reminded of this quote this past Friday when I logged into my Twitter feed to find the mixed reactions to South African comedian Trevor Noah’s […]
Posted inEquality
Private schools: Reminders of white supremacy
Recently I attended a high school debating competition for some of the schools in the Western Cape. The event was hosted by Bishops Diocesan College, a private school for boys neatly tucked away in Cape Town’s southern suburbs. While I marvelled at the facilities and the remnants of British colonialism in the architecture, I was […]