Thought Leader

Sixteen days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children is upon us again this year. As usual it will come and go but very little will change for the majority of women and children in South Africa. The middle class will be a little more aware of the heinous gender-based violence statistics that…

By Ntombenhle Khathwane As a black woman, like other black women, I have it tough. Especially in the world of business, corporate and academia: black women have to work harder than any other, including black men, to gain recognition, promotion or even entry. Since I left formal employment and started building a business, I have…

Men seem to labour under the misapprehension that sex is about them. This is not a hastily made statement, there is some evidence behind it. Exhibit A: The idea that men think they’re “putting the D” to or “giving it” to someone. The rhetoric gives the impression that the rest of us come to the…

Men supposedly have a new weapon: sex. I am extremely uncomfortable with this because, I thought it was our weapon but according to Kenyan men it is on like Donkey Kong and women in the country are being denied sex. A men’s rights group in Kenya, Maendeleo ya Wanaume, called for a sexual boycott in…

The urgency of activism, although well-intentioned, can hide the ordinary, subtle, even banal nature of how societies become sick. The 16 days of activism, now quickly forgotten, reflected our uneasiness at how things are and had a desire to want to put things right. But change is a process, not an event. Our response to…

I still vaguely remember the first time I found out who Nelson Mandela was. My parents had an ANC sticker in their bedroom wardrobe that carried Mandela’s face. I did not know anything about him at the time, but it wasn’t until my mother caught me trying to remove the sticker that I would first…

On the eve of 16 days of activism for no violence against women, Percy Mabandu got his knickers — sorry, XXL boxers — in a knot. “Manhood is under attack”, was the gist of his protestations in his column (“Why give macho men such a hard time?”). He lamented that masculinity — well, the kind…

*Trigger warning I was shocked to see a tweet by controversial South African blogger Sentletse Diakanyo on the first day of 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence in South Africa. In the tweet Diakanyo says that: “We must not ignore the slaughter of unborn babies during this 16 Days of Activism.” He went on…

On social media this week there has been some outrage at Chris Brown holding a concert in South Africa. In particular the outrage is that this event is taking place during the 16 Days of Activism to end violence against women[i], and that Chris Brown is a confessed perpetrator of domestic violence against pop artist,…

Many South African music lovers will flock to see R&B star Chris Brown perform in December. A man who assaulted pop superstar Rihanna in 2009, she was his girlfriend at the time. Unless you’ve been living under a rock these last few years, you know a few vivid details about the assault. You may have…