My previous column elicited a wide range of public and private responses that have caused me to reflect again on my decision to vote for the EFF in 2014. Having considered most of these arguments — and more — before stating my intention to vote for the EFF, I think that I owe it to […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Figures point to a culture of police impunity
By Lukas Muntingh and Gwenaelle Dereymaeker Since the start of service-delivery protests in Mothotlung in the North West, four people died at the hands of the police. On several occasions, the police ministry has made statements defending its corps. The government’s arguments can be summarised as follows: (i) There is no culture of impunity in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Election ecstasy: Old foes kiss and make up
Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Julius Malema. Helen Zille and Jacob Zuma. When traditional foes start making nice towards one another or echoing one another’s opinions, it’s clearly the end of the world as we know it. Or else, it’s a general election year and they’re scrambling to ingratiate themselves with voters. Inkatha Freedom Party leader Buthelezi […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Latvia and the politics of permanent austerity
In 2008 Latvia was hit by the economic crisis that saw its economy shrink substantially. In the fourth quarter of 2008 alone, Latvia’s GDP slumped by 10.5% compared to the same period in 2007. Prior to the financial crisis, the Latvian economy had been growing rapidly for a number of years. In response to its […]
Posted inNews/Politics
EFF skating on thin ice
Over the past few weeks, I have watched with great alarm as an organisation that occupies a special place in my heart, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), sinks into the abyss of gutter politics that have come to characterise our country’s political milieu. It started with the opening of a house built for a resident […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The struggle against fear is permanent
If there is anything we learn from Nelson Mandela is that an important yet normally overlooked facet of struggle is the struggle against fear. In his prison cells Mandela realised that the liberation movement could not win if it did not defeat white fear of a black government. He rightly realised that had he been […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Distinctions and defeat: The scramble for universities
The dust has finally settled. Most schools (at least those which have textbooks and teachers present) are back into the routine. The matric results frenzy has ebbed. I’ve always been disturbed by the country’s obsession with matric results every year as though we will discover something different. Every time I think about the frenzy I […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
South African mediocrity vs Mbalula’s hypocrisy
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, the “Razzmatazz” himself, has caused a furore by going off like a dirty bomb at Bafana Bafana. “The two-legged Goats” — as I call them — were brutally booted out of the African Nations Championship (Chan) by the Super Eagles of Naija. This is maybe the gazillionth time that the Goats* […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
An activist’s manifesto for 2014: Ten social justice issues to champion
The fanfare at the beginning of a new year is usually celebratory and full of hope. This celebration is a way for people to wipe the slate clean and begin anew. But last year, 2013, was a particularly tumultuous year in South Africa when we were besieged by problems. In reality, these problems have been […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, News/Politics
Now for the 21st century round of South African sex panic
Twenty years into democracy and the battles to capture and define South African identities are at fever pitch. Race seems to have a new lease on life and, unexpectedly, so does sexuality. Some say that South Africa’s future is black, in the sense that state power will never be in the hands of a white-defined […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Your homophobia is un-African
The average gay African is no stranger to torture, rape, prison or terror. Thirty-eight countries in Africa now oppress LGBT individuals in one way or another, and although a recent wave of anti-gay legislation is gaining massive media traction, the dignity of these people has never really been embraced in all corners of the continent. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Thou shalt worship no other ANC
Scripture reads that there once was a prisoner who went to a president and told him: let my people go. The hypocrite that was the president, a man lacking in compassion, a leader of his people, rebuffed: don’t push us too far. Over the course of time, after a series of small fires in the […]