In many parts of the world student radio stations are bastions of progressivism and staffed by active, engaged students who lead discussions against injustice and stand up for persecuted and vulnerable groups and communities. In the US, where I spent several years teaching at university, radio stations typically get involved in progressive causes: LGBT issues, […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
SAPS’ rogue cops hide behind a faltering watchdog
An annual report – be it corporate or government – is less about telling stakeholders what’s happened, than glossing over failures and organisational cankers. When it documents the activities of a paramilitary, the public relations varnish hides the stench of real corpses. The annual report of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), tasked with controlling illegal […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Investment flows back into Africa
Over the past 10 years, foreign direct investment (FDI) has helped boost sustainable economic growth in many African countries. In theory, FDI can assist to accentuate productive capacity, employment and exports. When properly managed, it can also bring secondary benefits in the form of transfers of technology, management expertise and marketing skills. With continued liberalisation […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
The white man’s dog
I was invited to be a Thought Leader blogger in the same half hour that I gave our vet the go-ahead to euthanase our big German Shepard, Chow mix – Sphinx. He was an epileptic and had experienced multiple chronic seizures the previous morning. While my heart contorted with pain and tears streamed down my […]
Posted inNews/Politics
How to start a child survival epidemic
By Susan Shepherd Taking your infant to the paediatrician for a check-up and shots may seem like just another chore but, last week, Nigeriens mothers, nurses and doctors reminded me just how powerful and important these simple actions are. I’m just back from southern Niger where Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has worked for more than […]
Posted inNews/Politics
If Brazil can do it, we can
These are not happy times for our country. Political violence is becoming normalised, the strike wave shows no sign of letting up, education remains in crisis and corruption has reached the point where people are making comparisons between contemporary South Africa and Mobutu’s Zaire. And our economic crisis, with mass unemployment, seems more or less […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We’ve been lied to
I wrote To Tell the Honest Truth late Saturday night after returning home from the funeral of Zwelakhe Sisulu, a former activist, journalist and editor turned multimillionaire businessman. That afternoon I had joined family and friends at a reunion party to celebrate the return home of the 30-year-old son of a former freedom fighter from […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Kgalema (anyone but Zuma) Motlanthe
By David Smith There are two gestures now essential to understanding South African politics. One is a rolling hand motion as practised by football fans when calling for a player to be substituted. The player they want yanked off is the president, Jacob Zuma. The other is the cupping of a hand at a downward […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Save the lions ad ‘censored’
By Emma Ruby-Sachs This year the poaching of more than 430 rhinos in South Africa has rightly dominated the news. The massacre of these animals has forced the government to respond with more rangers in Kruger and stronger surveillance at the airports. Sadly the energy and hand-wringing to protect one species is not extending to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC: Standing on the shoulders of pygmies
How inspiring it is to watch one generation building on the achievements of another. In this case, an African National Congress (ANC) government embracing the jurisprudence of secrecy so finely spun by its predecessors, the National Party (NP). One can just imagine the worried frowns in President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet when City Press revealed that […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Africa’s 2040 employment problem
Over the last decade, six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, there are troubling indicators that this exponential growth has not resulted in robust growth of “good” jobs. In other words, those offering higher wages and better working conditions – especially for the young. Exacerbated by a delayed demographic transition, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tsvangirai: Zimbabwe still needs Mugabe
By Leo Cendrowicz Morgan Tsvangirai is a man under pressure. Ahead of next year’s elections the Zimbabwean prime minister is trying to deliver a new constitution, revive a troubled economy and manage a difficult relationship with the country’s president, Robert Mugabe. Yet one of Tsvangirai’s main concerns right now is keeping his love life from […]