It has been formally announced that the direct descendants of its invention have formally redefined Ubuntu, the concept formally defined, as: “We only exist because of each other” and similar. The new definition has been proclaimed as follows: expedience ownership heartlessness industrious stupidity abuse of the elderly, infirm or powerless homelessness (also homes that are […]
News/Politics
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
The Madiba Roadshow
Reality TV is funny business. Everyone in the industry knows that you score massive ratings, sometimes even in spite of viewer scepticism, when you allow an audience a window into the so-called real day in the life of a celebrity. As spectators we have a love-hate relationship with reality television precisely because it allows us […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Freedom without responsibility a recipe for failure
By Erik de Ridder Freedom Day is a useful focal point to consider efforts at making freedom a lived reality for all. Moreover, it is an opportunity to reflect on the need for a different type of engagement in South Africa. On the part of those who enjoy different freedoms, Freedom Day is an opportunity […]
Posted inNews/Politics
NYDA salutes you Mr Chinyamurindi
By Yershen Pillay Dear Sir, Your open letter gives me hope. If we are to engage openly, honestly and constructively around the issues facing us as the youth and the country at large then we are certainly on the right path towards consolidating our democracy and building a better society. Let me then engage the […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Angie’s panties, really Sadtu?
I am aware of how my children’s behaviour comes about from modelling mine. I see it all the time, from when my son gets hurt and his sister “kisses it better” to the way they conduct themselves in general. More than what I ever say to them, my children learn from my own conduct. I […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
A vision for an African infrastructure agenda
The recognition that the African continent’s infrastructure gap still remains a development challenge has reached consensus among the international development community and African governments alike. Not only is Africa’s level of endowment low, but the continent also faces higher access costs for all infrastructure services compared with other developing regions around the world. When all […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
On systemic lawlessness in South Africa
What we have in South Africa today is systemic lawlessness. The parking meters around the mall I often visit have not worked in more than two months. The last time I visited, everyone seemed fully aware of the malfunction, but nobody seemed to care. Some people were quite gleeful about there being free parking. Others […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Afrikaans shows some unexpected mettle
For the past two decades Afrikaners have been struggling to find a new identity. Specifically, one beyond the cliché of Boertjie as a thickset, thick-skulled, knuckle-dragging, racist Neanderthal whose simple pleasures in life are slugging Klippies-and-Coke and dancing lang arm around the braai. That is, when the Baas is not otherwise engaged dragging errant farm […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We drink, sing and pray the witchcraft away
By Mlilo Mpondo There is a witchcraft of sorts hovering in between the air we breathe, the dust roads we tread upon, in the pages of policy and the government it serves, the price of brown bread and the distorted reality between the rich and poor. This is of course a metaphor; witchcraft itself is […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Muslims no longer ‘own’ their Islam
*Name withheld It’s 10am on a Tuesday morning, and routinely, I browse through the web for the morning news. I know that I will come across the article soon, because my partner texted me late the night before saying: “Have you heard about Mars1? They’re making a reality show … and after eight years, whoever […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Why workers can survive on peanuts
By Roshila Jarosz At around 12.20pm last Wednesday afternoon I was stunned. Actually, for a brief moment I thought my ears were deceiving me, then I realised there was no such luck. In part it was my fault — I was listening to student radio station Tuks FM (what’s an alternative rock girl to do?). […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Chester Missing’s more real than the NYDA
By Willie Tafadzwa Chinyamurindi Dear Yershen Pillay, the chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency Yershen, youths like kids often say the darndest things. I challenged my students during a class to think radically concerning issues on employability and the insurmountable challenges facing youths in our country. The usual answers ensued, “government must provide a […]