News/Politics

Long, long ago, animals from all corners of the earth gathered in one place for a big indaba. Conspicuous by their absence from the great gathering were chicken folk. As animals big and small made their way to the meeting place, chicken folk were seen making their way in the opposite direction to attend to […]

The Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday overturned certain parts of a North Gauteng High Court order granted against the South African government et al in favour of Crawford von Abo, a farmer whose land in Zimbabwe was the subject of invasions. “Von Abo is a South African citizen and businessman who held various properties […]

Geographically isolated and politically marginalised, the struggle of the Malagasy people against exploitation never manages to catch the world’s attention for quite long enough to make a difference.

The decision by the Cape Bar Council — to request advocate Nehemiah Ballem to refrain from practising law pending the outcome of an investigation into his crude remarks to Western Cape High Court Judge Lee Bozalek — is hardly surprising. Ballem, while being questioned by the judge about his late arrival at court, replied in […]

The word gives me the creeps. Starting with its eerie “fr” alliteration (like the hiss of a dangerous beast), leading through to its flat “a”, which sounds like something is stuck in your throat, ending in a hideous “ck” sound as if trying to spit out, but something is in the way, blocking the deposit […]

Analysts and a good number of US politicians are singularly unconvinced by the casus belli presented by President Barack Obama for intervening in Libya. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Republican John Boehner, said : “The speech failed to provide Americans much clarity to our involvement in Libya. Nine days into this military […]

By Bernadette Sesay* At age 18 I was told the time had come for me to go through female genital mutilation (FGM). I didn’t want to. It was my mother and maternal grandmother’s idea: they’d also been responsible for the initiation of all of my female siblings. My mother cried and pleaded with me, begging […]

By Zukiswa Mqolomba Our inability to reach national consensus on questions pertaining the dignity of the poor raises very serious questions about the trajectory of South Africa’s moral economy. One wonders about the fleeting pipedream of “non-racism … and prosperity for all”, whether it even constitutes what I once believed to be the South African […]

It was a lack of good form rather than a threat to freedom of speech that sparked the SA Human Rights Commission’s pique over the booing of Patricia de Lille.

The kaleidoscope of power is spinning wildly in the Arab region. While most of us rejoice at the blossoming of the crescent democratic movements from Tunis to Amman, others are asking if the fragile balance of power in the region could be recast. Have decision-makers considered the consequences of if the “Arab Awakening” turns rouge? […]