When the National Prosecuting Authority decided against charging two boys aged 14 and 16 for the gang rape of a 15-year-old Jules High School girl the public were outraged. The general view being held was that the criminal justice system in this country had gone to hell and was a major cause of the unacceptably […]
News/Politics
Posted inGender violence, News/Politics
Statutory rape screws the Jules case over
Hearing that the girl who was allegedly drugged, then gang raped, while being filmed by her peers had now been charged with statutory rape alongside her alleged rapists, I almost gave up hope. But then I realised that the sheer scale of this injustice is important because it will hopefully rally us to demand justice. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Government works for us and we should never let it forget that
By Candice Holdsworth As an avid politico I have in recent months been completely captivated by the run-up to the US mid-term elections. Political campaigning in the US is somewhat of a media spectacle, of which the candidates are acutely aware, and as such, usually perform accordingly. It’s often highly entertaining with classic soundbites such […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Scavengers gather in the Mandela twilight
All the would-be heirs of Mandela flounder. They can parrot the words, but they can’t hold the tune.
Posted inNews/Politics
‘People just don’t know this water is bad for you’
By Mara Kardas-Nelson To say that Mariette Liefferink is eccentric is a gross understatement. Before visiting her small Tuscan villa in Randburg, Johannesburg for an 8am Saturday interview, my colleague, photojournalist Sam Reinders, and I had heard of her impeccably matching outfits and over-stuffed house displaying an array of furs, French portrait books, and brandy […]
Posted inNews/Politics
I’m 50 and I’m tired
By Jonathan Marsden (With apologies to Robert A Hall who is the actor playing the coroner on the TV show CSI and who prepared a similar statement regarding the US.) I’m 50 I’ve worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite three self-owned companies failing, being let down by people who should have known better, I […]
Posted inNews/Politics
SA, a place I call home
By Anthony Lekhuwana I have nothing against the ANC. It is the party I voted for in past elections, with the hope that they would make South Africa a better place for everyone to live in. A place everyone can be proud of to call home. But some things concern me about the way they […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Block court case: Thumbs up to ANC for expressing confidence in judiciary
The statement released by the African National Congress in respect of the granting of bail to ANC Northern Cape Chairperson John Block should be warmly welcomed. It is a document that every member of the African National Congress Youth League should read after their Northern Cape Youth League attacked National Prosecuting Authority head Menzi Simelane. […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
My greatest fear
There’s a new author that started publishing stuff in America recently. His name is spelt almost exactly like mine, but with the “u” and “i” in a different order: instead of “Koos Kombuis” he calls himself “Koos Kombius”. This is not where the similarities end. He also looks a bit like me: overweight, greying, bald. […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
What the report on SA violence overlooked
A new study, reported on yesterday by the M&G, looks at the nature of violent crime in South Africa. Although the report attributes our high levels of violence to a number of factors, the core problem being a “subculture of violence and criminality”, it seems to have missed what I would argue is the most […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Things have changed since 1957
The Sexual Offences Act of 1957 is old, outdated and has been amended. Preliminary findings of a research project presented at the National Working Group on Sexual Offences this week show that the police are blissfully and dangerously unaware of their new roles in relation to the Sexual Offences Act 32 of 2007. The new […]
Posted inNews/Politics
No safe spaces any more
A woman was allegedly raped while working in a hospital. A young girl was allegedly gang-raped and filmed on school property during school hours. Women, girls and boys are raped on their walks to public transport, to their jobs and schools. Men are assaulted walking to and from work, are mugged and beaten. There are […]