So the working class is angry and rightfully so. The pace of change is too slow and in many ways the quality of their lives has deteriorated. The middle class is angry because they see their hard-earned tax money being squandered by an uncaring political ruling class. This same scenario is visible in most democracies […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Cry (wolf racism) the beloved country
There is probably nothing as tiresome, irritating and reactionary in contemporary South African discourse as the knee-jerk accusation of racism in response to anything critical of the ANC government, of any black person or of any institution that happens to be managed by black people (in the broadest, Biko-esque sense of “black”). Ironically, this knee-jerk, […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
One billion bodies reclaimed
In the past few years there have been waves of feminine revolution that have been directly rooted in body, art and the carnivalesque. Not essentialism mind you, but with the clear mandate of deconstructing the patriarchal hold over language and behaviour which defines feminine sexuality and controls, oppresses and destroys the combined woman. The Slut […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Anene, Reeva media frenzy reveals a nation’s shallowness
For the past three weeks we have been treated to a feeding frenzy around the deaths of two women due to violence in South Africa, by the media, by politicians and by commentators (myself included). But I am wondering if we are not losing sight of what is really at stake here. As a commissioner […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Stealing rooibos
It has recently been reported that an unidentified French firm is attempting to register a number of trademarks including the terms “South African rooibos” and “rooibos”. It is not the first time a foreign company tried to trademark rooibos tea. I have two problems with the fact that the French want to trademark rooibos. Firstly, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A letter to Mamphela Ramphele
I have a friend and she is one of those annoyingly smart people. She always says the right thing, knows the right thing and does the right thing. She has learnt to be very sure of her own opinion and nobody likes her. Not even me. What has this got to do with you? Nothing, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Where were you when you heard the news?
I was somewhere outside Frankfort on my way to the Clarens Craft Beer Festival when I heard the ruling. I can’t be sure exactly, but I know I was on the R26 and there were potholes, and SAFM was the only station I could pick up. 702 had kept me company from Johannesburg, onto the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is Oscar’s attorney really a star?
Why is the defence advocate, Barry Roux, considered a star by the faceless social media when a defenceless woman was killed? One realises there are sub-editors, and part of their jobs is just to make a sensational headline. But the story in reports like these celebrate Roux as if he were a chess grandmaster. The […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Innocent ’til proven guilty…
I, like many, have been following the Oscar Pistorius saga on Twitter. The plethora of tweets on one topic is something that I have not seen before. Almost everyone seems to have an opinion, a view on what happened and how it went down, and some, maybe even most, have a verdict. Yesterday Pistorius was […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Let’s face it, we’re a nation of hypocrites
When we wear the right colour T-shirt and then forget to wear our activist hat when the girl on the street gets harassed. When we’ve been following the news with bated breath because we care about violence against women, but we really want to see if pretty boy goes to lock-up or goes home, or […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Public interest in Ramphele’s movement stems from despair
Dr Mamphela Ramphele this week launched Agang, not quite the long-awaited political party that has been the focus of so much speculation, but rather a “consultative platform” that is yet to morph into one. The assessment of political commentators so far has been mostly delivered with barely stifled derision. There’s widespread agreement that Agang – […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Education the key pillar in Madagascar’s development agenda
Sub-Saharan African countries are increasingly recognising the contribution of post-basic education to economic growth and social development. However, policy makers in many developing world nations struggle to balance expansion and upgrading of post-basic education reform against competing development priorities. They must consider how — and sometimes whether — to fund post-basic education in the face […]