By Khanya Mathambo As a black girl attending a private school, where white people are the majority, I often find myself on the opposing side of controversial issues. I think that this is a result of my own bias and what I feel are the blatantly ignorant views that form the basis of the opinions […]
apartheid
Posted inNews/Politics
The spectre of apartheid lives on
In a kind of irony only found in the movies, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development John Jeffery was invited to speak on the “Rule of Law” before a Cape Town audience on the same day that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir fled South Africa in contravention of a court order. The room was filled […]
Posted inEquality, Media, News/Politics
Take it down USA
Nine African-Americans attending an evening Bible study session at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, US were murdered in cold blood last week. US news outlets say that South Carolina resident Dylann Roof, a young white man, has confessed to the killings. He hasn’t been convicted in a court of law […]
Posted inEquality
Black child you are on your own
The world doesn’t expect much from you as a child growing up in the townships of South Africa today. The private sector is looking to you to become their waiters, cashiers and shop assistants. The government is looking at you to clean the streets, lay bricks on construction sites and if you are vocal enough, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
How do we restore our common humanity, our human dignity?
I don’t know how to introduce myself anymore. I don’t know which hat to wear in public, or in identifying myself. Last week Friday, April 17, I wrote that “I’m not even sad or disappointed. I am pissed off and angry that there are South Africans who are attacking our brothers and sisters — fellow […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Understanding violent behaviour in South Africa
* Understanding does not mean condoning The current state of affairs across the world has made peace and security a pressing concern not just in policy circles, but also in public discourse. Issues of marginalisation and violence continue to plague numerous parts of the world, with often dire results: The rise of Isis in the […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
This article is for whites only
By Simeon Gready I would like to propose a challenge. This challenge is for the white people of South Africa, and it takes the form of a list. This list is a list of truths regarding the status of white in South Africa. I challenge the white person in South Africa to engage with this […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Public historians, this is your moment!
In the past few weeks, statues of male historic figures in public places in South Africa have been splashed with poo and paint of all hues. It has become a veritable underground movement. Cecil Rhodes’ statue has been removed from the University of Cape Town, but around the country, George V, Louis Botha, General Fick, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Rhodes Fell
Rhodes tripped on the steps and fell Rhodes skid on a piece of soap in the shower and fell Rhodes slipped from the window of the tenth floor of Caledon Square and fell Rhodes accidentally broke his ribs and cracked his skull in his prison cell and fell Rhodes drowned in the shower and fell […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
The national question in South Africa
It is not easy to ignore the national question in South Africa, particularly presently, both in the context of 20 years of democracy and also given the troubling discourse by certain seemingly regressive people and or institutions. It is also hard to overlook this paramount issue of the national question when one observes the socio-economic […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Poo-pooing the Rhodes historical narrative
In two years, Cape Town has experienced two rather rude awakenings in the form of “poo protests” in normally sanitised areas meant to represent the best of the Western Cape’s development. The first protest, organised by the disenfranchised Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement, was meant to highlight the deplorable conditions of toilets in informal settlements and […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
Access to white privilege equals freedom?
Since the mid-1980s, many black parents have sent their children to “white schools”. Much as they may have been criticised, they have not been bothered. In the first years of their schooling, these children would, unavoidably, be one of five children, at most, in a class. Some parents worried that this would make them lose […]