By Simamkele Dlakavu We all know apartheid history too well but unfortunately it persists in the present. As Zwelinzima Vavi said: “Apartheid will not end and black people will not have real freedom until free and high quality education becomes a reality.” I am a product of township education like most black youth in SA. […]
Equality
Posted inEquality, General
Ungrievable life
Aragorn was almost five years old. A few days ago, on a dark-ish evening, he was crossing the street to get to his home in Plumstead, a residential area in Cape Town’s southern suburbs. Based on the way he was found lying in an awkward position, in the street, it seems he was killed by […]
Posted inEquality
Language survival, some harsh truths
The definition of a dying language is not a complicated matter. It is not even a semi-complicated matter. But it is certainly quite a sensitive matter for many middle-class Africans living in the era of globalisation and neo-colonialism. It is threatening what many consider their “African identity” so intimately there appears to be no escape. […]
Posted inEquality, General
Vuyo Mbuli treated everyone equally
When I saw the report in the Mail & Guardian about the death of Vuyo Mbuli, I could not believe my eyes — he still seemed so young, and life-loving. But then, death does not really discriminate between the young and the old. Still, it was saddening to learn that Vuyo, who has always come […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Marikana and the hypocrisy of corporate social responsibility
When the mass strike action hit the Rustenberg Platinum belt in August 2012 mainstream South African public was quick to write off the striking miners as an unruly bunch who were ungrateful for their employment and unworthy of the social development that the mining companies were investing into their communities. Indeed this is exactly how […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Methodist in the madness
Ecclesia de Lange, a minister axed by the Methodist church because of her sexuality, has embarked on a David and Goliath-type battle in taking the church to court for discriminatory actions. By doing so she is holding the church to account — in the eyes of both the public and the law — for its […]
Posted inEquality
Eureka!
I recently joined a new department at work and found myself at yet another empty desk begging to be adorned with baby pictures, perhaps plastic flowers and any other paraphernalia that attempts to bring a sense of belonging to a place that you would rather not be in. If not to only placate the nudity […]
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle, News/Politics
There’s plenty of youth leadership to go around
Many of my close friends and the people I hang out with are under 35. According to local definitions, we’re “the youth”. By accident, I have a great deal of experience on youth matters – being one myself, working with youthful colleagues, enjoying long palavers with youthful friends, and being part of global youth networks. […]
Posted inEquality
The black ‘middle class’ and its white tendencies
There are two groups of people that I have a serious problem with in this country: white people and the black “middle class”. I won’t discuss my problem with white people because that could take forever as there are actually many problems I have with that group of people. What I want to discuss today […]
Posted inEquality, General
Nolwazi, HIV and the people she left behind
My daughter’s nanny died today, 10pm on the 12th day of December. The day of her passing is 11 days after December 1, World Aids Day, and 10 days after December 2, the day I was born. We celebrated her birthday two weeks after she had tested positive for HIV. Because *Nolwazi lived thousands of […]
Posted inEquality, General
Five years on and no closer to solving xenophobic hatred
By Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh May marks five years since the xenophobic attacks that shocked the nation. But what has happened since then? Are we better prepared to deal with criminality of that scale than we were five years ago? The simple answer is no. South Africa — in its 19 year democratic history — had never […]
Posted inEquality
Blacks must stop sucking up to whites
I would have loved to write this article in my own native language, but Thought Leader does not make allowance for its black columnists to write in a language understood by most of the 42 million blacks in our country. It is a guideline of the blog that we must write in a language historically […]