The passing of Nelson Mandela has found the country without the iconic leader that served as the glue that held the fragile, fragmented pieces of this rainbow nation together. His death had the world mourning but also nursing a somewhat morbid curiosity as to what will happen now. It has the people asking: “Did reconciliation […]
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Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Nine things white people can do to help transform South Africa
In tribute to Mandela’s vision for a world that is rid of racism, I have created this list of nine things white people can do to assist in the transformation of South Africa. “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, Health, News/Politics
Gogos under siege: Let’s put an end to it
It should be concerning to every individual when a newspaper headline sates: “Dead woman (80) sexually assaulted with a fork”. Actually everyone should be filled with anger. This was the headline in the Sowetan today (December 4 2013). The story tells of the gruesome murder, and possible rape of Gogo Anna Ntsane of Hennenman in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The Democratic Alliance does the Time Warp again
The normally smug and steady Democratic Alliance has over the past month metamorphosised into South Africa’s political equivalent of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. This dizzying plunge through a Verwoerdian time warp was triggered by the Employment Equity Amendment Bill (EEAB), which prescribes swingeing penalties for private sector companies that don’t meet the government’s rigid […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Sanco must leave the ANC-led alliance
My mother introduced me to civil-society politics at a very young age. Throughout my childhood, she worked for progressive NGOs that tackled social-justice issues. It was when my mother worked as the communications support officer of the South African NGO Coalition (Sangoco) that my passion for civil-society politics was born. My first taste of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Should Germany protect Edward Snowden?
By Christoph Tometten Asylum for Edward Snowden in Germany? The federal minister of the interior has ruled it out. But is it really impossible to grant protection to Snowden? A thorough reading of the law calls for a more differentiated answer. The asylum procedure is an assessment of whether an asylum seeker is entitled to […]
Posted inGeneral
The Malema conundrum
Julius Malema is such a polarising figure. We loathe and love him in equal measure. He shakes us in our comfort zones by confronting the compromises of our leaders. He makes us discuss, yet again, what the liberation struggle was about. Did political power for the black government mean an end to apartheid and the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Face to face with democracy
Being South African forces one to reflect and re-evaluate, sometimes daily, how to identify, in some general and particular ways with who we are. Sum of parts, or a sore thumb, the nearly two decade’s span of freedom is a precarious space for identity. Too black, too white, not quite right, we continue to grapple […]
Posted inGeneral
Familiar places and foreign spaces
After a particularly strenuous semester, particularly regarding postgraduate students’ work, and on the eve of a much-needed overseas trip to a conference in Europe, I am reminded, again, of Michel de Certeau’s wonderful exploration of spatial practices in The Practice of Everyday Life (University of California Press, 1988), on which I have written here before […]
Posted inEnvironment
COP19 – the cathedral and the bazaar
The people in suits want to talk and nothing will stop them from listening to the sound of their own voices. COP19, the global climate-change meeting, might seem far away in Warsaw, Poland, this week but like a massive weather system migrating the globe its impact will be felt in Africa for sure. Africa knows […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We are no longer placated by empty assurances
As loyal South Africans, who have made a disproportionate contribution to the well-being of South Africa, I and my colleagues at the Cape Board of the Zionist Federation, wish to voice our dissatisfaction with the consistent attacks on Israel’s internal policies, and on it alone being singled out for failure to reach an accord with […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We need a national development plan for the soul
By Russel Botman Close on 20 years after South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy through a negotiated political settlement, our country finds itself at a crossroads again. Progress in many areas has been commendable, but in others the pace of change has been far too slow. And in some areas things have actually deteriorated. […]