There are lessons for South Africa from last week’s Al-Shabab terror attack on a Nairobi shopping mall. Unfortunately the lessons that this government chooses to draw from the tragedy are all the wrong ones. African National Congress Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe says that the Kenyan attack ‘highlighted the need for tighter immigration laws’. There was also […]
News/Politics
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle, News/Politics
The braai or shisa nyama is not heritage
By Unéné Gregory We brand our beautiful country as a rainbow nation, one with people of various backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities. We are a country unlike any other and one of the days to acknowledge our diversity and actively learn about one another is Heritage Day. Formerly celebrated only in KwaZulu-Natal as King Shaka day our […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, News/Politics
The terminal nature of poverty
By Gillian Schutte As academics, journalists, social commentators and activists we have a sense that we know the poor. We are outraged by poverty and inequality and advocate for equity and a life of dignity for all. We look for ways to bring the voices of the poor into the public debate and ask questions […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lessons for Kenya after Westgate attack
By Jillo Kadida Ever since a bunch of terrorists lay siege at Nairobi’s upmarket Westgate mall, resulting in a three-day-long standoff, Kenyan security forces have been working hard to bury their shame in an avalanche of messages promoting national unity. But three factors show they slept on the job. During the operation there were glaring […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tribal identity vanishing fast
Recent debates on tribalism and other related matters have generated more heat than light. Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele has reportedly accused the government of sponsoring tribalism to divide the country. At an address to students at Unisa in April this year former president Thabo Mbeki uttered similar remarks that rang alarm bells on the […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Breaking Bad: An epic for our time?
*Reassurance: Does not contain spoilers* Best description of the last episode of Breaking Bad: “Tense, witty, violent, oddly tender.” So last night I saw the conclusion of Breaking Bad, a major pop culture event and the end of a television series that has excitedly been called “the best of all time”. I must […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
I must confess, I miss Thabo Mbeki
Today I found myself nostalgic for a man I had little appreciation for while he was still the president of our country. I found myself missing former president Thabo Mbeki. I was sitting at a table in Dime Todo lo que Sientes in Mexico City with a group of young idealists who, like me, have […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Pathetic SABC-TV exposed by Nairobi terror siege
‘Africa’s News Leader’, that’s SABC-TV’s boast. It’s at least as brassy a lie as the Johannesburg metro’s assertion, ‘Joburg: A world-class African city’. The only difference is that the Advertising Standards Authority called out the metro on their misleading claim, while SABC-TV continues to get away with it. However, the Kenyan shopping mall siege, played […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Does terrorism work?
The dust has settled now at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. I am not going to list the numbers of dead or expand upon the horror of it all; it is an all too common occurrence for there to be anything significant to add. I won’t give you a detailed explanation of who al-Shabab is; […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
What’s feminism got to do with Samantha Lewthwaite?
“At least she’s done something for feminism.” This is what a friend said to me when she told me that one of the identified leaders behind al-Shabab is a woman, Samantha Lewthwaite, known as the “white widow”. My knee-jerk reaction was to defend feminism by saying that feminism is about non-violence and even when a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Where is Somalia’s Marshall Plan?
On the bright side, the Nairobi Westgate mall tragedy must bring Kenyans together again and perhaps even go some distance to heal the wounds from their recent internal conflict. Conflict, in general, including the very thing that has just happened to the Kenyans at the hands of al-Shabab, has been a prolific source of underdevelopment […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Who is black and who is not?
There has not been a time in the history of racial identity in this country when the number of people who describe or define themselves in terms of their race or language group or tribe has been so low. Far too few people continue to see themselves as black (or white even) (8.8%) compared to […]