On the evening of Thursday April 14 2011, I took part in an excellent discussion panel organised by the Steve Biko Foundation at Wits university in Johanneburg. Driving back to Pretoria later on, a journalist friend called and asked me if I had watched the prime news on national television. Of course, I had not […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Whose struggle songs?
I would like to add my two cents’ worth about issues pertaining to the so-called “hate speech” trial of ANC Youth League President Julius Malema. The complainant, AfriForum/Solidarity, called as one of their witnesses a music academic, Anne-Marie Gray, who calls herself a “liberation struggle song expert”. Come on, does that sound right? She is […]
Posted inNews/Politics
For Andries Tatane
Paper rights with blood splatters over them. The new Rorschach test. What do you see? I see black empowerment. I see Strange Fruit falling from the tree of Ubuntu. I see blue is the new black. What did I do to be so black and blue? I see Tumi singing “My black president does me […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ICC isn’t international enough
Luis Moreno-Ocampo is a hero for many in Kenya. For others, he represents the worst manifestation of the West’s holier-than-thou attitude towards Africa (this notwithstanding the fact that Ocampo is an Argentinian by origin). There isn’t a shadow of doubt that this famous prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a man who holds […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The year of jobs, jobs and more jobs?
Despite the promises made in the last State of the Nation address, the giant funds set up, the economic growth path outlined, the Obama-like bailouts and incentives to certain industries, it’s not about to rain jobs. It is the fourth month of the year and the job opportunities created remain invisible. South Africa has, admittedly, […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Another day in the shattered dream that is SA
Driving back from an appointment at the state-run Helen Joseph Hospital — how she would cringe at the “place of weeping” that bears her name and which most people call the Hell & Joseph — I see the massive traffic jam snaking back a kilometre down Hendrik Potgieter Road in Roodepoort. The words of a […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Artists are entrepreneurs
There is great promise for the creative industries now that a platform has been created for the media, practitioners, public and government to discuss the role of the arts in the economy. Obviously, this is a long-overdue development but no one can deny that the national consultative conference on the role of the arts in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
McBride’s drunk-driving conviction is the least of his problems
The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday convicted Robert McBride on charges of drunk driving and defeating the ends of justice while acquitting him of fraud. This however was the least of his problems — as well as others granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) — after the Constitutional Court upheld the Citizen […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The lesson today is from the Book of Mammon
Would messages from atheists denying the existence of a deity have to be balanced with messages from fundamentalist militants calling for the death of non-believers?
Posted inGender violence, Media, News/Politics, Tech
#itisrapeif
I feel the need to repost this statement here. I hope that all of the survivors of rape who read it feel supported. 8 April 2011 Rape Crisis Statement on the #itsnotrapeif Twitter phenomenon We heard via the online grapevine about a revolting Twitter hashtag topic — #itsnotrapeif — and due to some masochistic compulsion […]
Posted inNews/Politics
White South Africans aren’t free
This month South Africa celebrates the 17th anniversary of its freedom but many white people will always struggle to appreciate what that means. People who go to the mall on Freedom Day really do not know what they are missing. The thing is, whites as a group have never been really free on African soil, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Give them handouts, keep them poor!
By Nkazi Sokhulu South Africans love poverty. For too long our government has come up with ill-considered policies for poverty eradication and then we as citizens empower it to carry them out. Yes, we love poverty! To illustrate my point I want to share a story about my grandmother. She was raised by uneducated and […]