The notion that a person with no formal education possesses no intellectual faculties and thus must be dismissed as a hapless intellectual zombie is so antiquated and unscientific such that even those who once held it as a basis to oppress Africans are now embarrassed when reminded of such nonsensical views. Seemingly Prince Mashele harbours […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Why I’m scared of the police
The Audi R8 that crashed on Oxford Road last week, breaking into three fascinatingly horrible twisted lumps of metal, was always going to be one of those stories that captured the imagination. On talk radio, in the comments on news websites and on Twitter, it dominated conversation. At a client meeting later that day, it […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Dance with your madness
On Saturday January 5 I woke up on a beautiful Cape Town morning and picked up the local morning newspaper. The headline left me chilled. “No parent should ever have to see his child lying on a tarred road.” These words were uttered by Charles Stander, father of Burry. I do not know the Standers […]
Posted inNews/Politics
If whiteness can’t be unlearned then black oppression is permanent
Many arguments have risen out of Gillian Schutte’s “Dear White People” perhaps the most progressive provided by Jackie Shandu in “Black people, fight your own battles”. Shandu argues that because Schutte’s letter is addressed to white people, it ought to be dismantled and dissected primarily by the white community who it seeks to engage in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
After Kevin Bacon, the class struggle
As an analysis of our society race is still, to borrow a phrase from the mafia, the “boss of all bosses”. It’s a prefix, a subtext and for not an insignificant number — a totem pole. But there’s another heavy hitter — a rival explanation — that maintains that class increasingly matters. Most do not […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Rescuing whiteness
Well before Gillian Schutte’s letter to white people calling on them to reflect on their whiteness, its invisibility and centrality in the reproduction and edification of white power, the very experience of blackness has been characterised by this same demand. Yet, as is wont to be the case, it would be Schutte’s, a white woman, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Stadium deaths spotlight ANC dysfunctionality
Many will agree that the death of 34 miners in a hail of police gunfire at Marikana in August last year was a disastrous indicator of the African National Congress’ governance failures. A competent, modern administration does not mow down its citizens en masse. Nor does it run them to death. In an incident that […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Have we forgotten Mohamed Bouazizi?
Two years ago last Friday, a young man from Tunisia named Mohamed Bouazizi died of burn wounds after literally igniting what the world has come to know as the Arab Spring. Bouazizi, a fruit and vegetable vendor immolated himself after suffering humiliation at the hands of a police officer who confiscated his goods, ostensibly because […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Black people, fight your own battles
By Jackie Shandu Was Steve Biko over-optimistic when he said ”blacks are tired of standing on the sidelines and witnessing a game in which they should be participating”? It seems to me black South Africans do not want to be involved in the struggle for their own liberation. How else does one interpret the frenzy […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Nine New Year’s resolutions for Parliament
Many of us make New Year’s resolutions as a sign of a fresh start or courage to reach a specific goal. This year I decided to write a few for Parliament. 1 Forgotten (or to-be-forgotten) reports Our legislature has become very comfortable with writing comprehensive reports but does not implement them. Dusty reports include the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What are vile white practices?
Forgive me for only waking up to this now. I’ve been away in a place where it was hard to find a 3G signal, so missed the opportunity to spend the tail end of the festive season arguing about the same thing we argue about the rest of the year, the incurable condition known as […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Score 2012 as a bad year for good business
Billionaire Cyril Ramaphosa, President Jacob Zuma’s new understudy, is perceived by big business as the potential rescuer of what passes here for the market system. Hope so for their sake, since a scorecard of our industrial and commercial titans reveals they had a bad 2012. The local strain of capitalism has become dank and unpleasant, […]