If I had to comment loudly and publicly about the play of a rugby match using the rules of golf, I would rightly deserve to be considered an idiot. Similarly anyone who uses the content of Leviticus as an argument against Christianity could with good reason be called the same. Yet I see this done […]
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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 inLifestyle
Why are public displays of sexual images so unacceptable?
This is a question I asked myself as my laptop froze while on a certain social media site and a particularly risqué photo filled my screen. As I fear judgment I must state that I had not purposefully clicked this link. The link title had been … misleading. I had been promised something far more […]
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 inNews/Politics
Why I will be voting EFF
1. More than two-thirds of our population is under 35. Out of the parties contesting the forthcoming elections, the EFF is the best-placed party to represent the majority of this sizeable demographic whose aspirations and frustrations will heavily impact on the future of our country. 2. More than 70% of unemployed South Africans are under […]
Posted inGeneral
The church encourages good
A response to Kagure Mugo’s “The church has more money than God”. By Philip Burnett I was going to call this piece “In defence of the church”, but then changed my mind as I don’t feel like entering into partisan discussions. My basic contention is that the good done by religion and “the church” far […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The A to Z of things we cannot blame on apartheid
At Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, President Jacob Zuma made the point that “he (Mandela) told us that the promises of democracy would not be met overnight … and we all agreed with him … ”. Was this a co-option of Madiba somehow to justify the slow pace of service delivery? While it is true that […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mandela the communist?
By Dr John Lamola Stephen Ellis’s approach in the brouhaha that has followed the SACP’s December 10 2013 statement that Nelson Mandela was a member of its central committee when he was captured in August 1962 exposes the enormity of the implications of this claim of the SACP. It places the matter within the context […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A black matric certificate is still worth nothing in SA
By Siphiwe Sithole I must congratulate the class of 2013 for achieving what is said to be the highest pass rate of 78.2% since 1994 in South Africa. It is always exciting to watch newly matriculated youths get into the real world, some get jobs, others further their studies while others journey to find themselves […]
Posted inEquality, General, Media, News/Politics
Be cruel to be cruel
It is May 1968. Raging in the streets of Paris, the (in)famous student uprisings. On the walls of the Sorbonne a slogan appears: “SOYONS CRUELS!” / “BE CRUEL!” Someone comes up to you and asks: “Have you seen this writing on the wall? What is it telling me to do?” Cruelty, by which I mean […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Africa’s Achilles heel: Global capitalism
In 2010, during the 50th anniversary of African political independence, I wrote an article which provocatively proclaimed that developmental states remain a pipedream in Africa. There is no consensus on what has constrained the further advancement of our troubled African continent. Could it be, fundamentally, institutions as some have argued or leadership as many have […]