Ecclesia de Lange, a minister axed by the Methodist church because of her sexuality, has embarked on a David and Goliath-type battle in taking the church to court for discriminatory actions. By doing so she is holding the church to account — in the eyes of both the public and the law — for its […]
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Posted inGeneral
Hands of Honour
Paul Talliard knows just how devastating drug addiction can be. A former fireman, Paul lost everything he owned due to his addiction to drugs. For a while, he started visiting soup kitchens. Paul explains his experience: “After visiting one particular soup kitchen, I observed that the people running it not only dished up food, but […]
Posted inNews/Politics
No future for white South Africans?
Do white people have a future in South Africa? According John Simpson, the world affairs editor of BBC News: Yes, there is a future for the prosperous white middle class and the upper-class whites (who remain shaded from poverty by their apartheid booty). This is not the case for the poor whites and white farmers. […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Sadtu must pull up its panties
The first thing I came across on SADTU’s website when I visited it on 18/05/2013 is an announcement on “improvements in the working conditions” of teachers. This particular improvement relates to annual cost-of-living adjustments for educators. This is all well and it is needed, and granted SADTU is a union for teachers and not the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why the rhino poaching issue matters
I’ll bet my Friday was more interesting than your Friday. If you want proof, here’s a photo: That’s me in the screaming pink Hello Kitty cap. Next to me is my friend Mbekezeli Khumalo. The guy in the shorts at the end is Mark Boucher. The story about how the two of us came to […]
Posted inGeneral
Loving on Mugabe’s lap
By Gcobani Qambela May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (Idaho), presents an opportunity for us young people, the so-called “future leaders” of the continent, to reflect deeply about what we are going to do differently to our many ageing African homophobic and misogynistic leaders when it comes to our treatment of non-heterosexual […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Guptagate, a scientist’s point of view
In the past few weeks of politics in our country, it transpired that politics can be a dirty playground meant not for the fainthearted. Since the dramatic saga hit the news, and still receiving immense attention in popular media, some friends perhaps sensing that I am “mum” about the issue have asked what my reflections […]
Posted inGender violence
On not just walking past
It’s Sunday. I go to a mall to get some art supplies. It’s an ordinary mall, outdated even, with strange linoleum flooring and an assortment of second-hand stores and haberdasheries. It’s the type of mall your gran goes to for wool, or other assorted items needed when growing older. So imagine my surprise when I […]
Posted inGeneral
South Africans present their papers at the Theoretical Psychology Conference in Chile
Here in Santiago, Chile, a number of South Africans have made thought-provoking contributions to the International Theoretical Psychology Conference at the Pontifical Catholic University. Almost without exception, the South Africans’ presentations were of the critical-psychological variety. Claire Haggard of UCT, for instance, explored the spatial situatedness of human bodies in phenomenological terms through the work […]
Posted inEquality
Blacks must stop sucking up to whites
I would have loved to write this article in my own native language, but Thought Leader does not make allowance for its black columnists to write in a language understood by most of the 42 million blacks in our country. It is a guideline of the blog that we must write in a language historically […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Africa falling short on millennium goals
Despite Africa’s exponential economic growth and development over the past decade and additional support from the international donor community, progress and the realisation of achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been slow in progress. Greater gains have been made over the past 15 years, however Africa’s performance overall continues to lag on health […]
Posted inGeneral
Resurrecting the water tribunal
By Wayne Ncube The dissolution of the Water Tribunal nine months ago created a fair amount of controversy and now that the water and environmental department is reviving the administrative body, the question is whether it will be any more effective than it was before. The Tribunal is a specialised administrative body meant to provide […]