Posted inGeneralNews/Politics

Pandering to apartheid

The DA has recently launched a poster campaign entitled “Know Your DA”. It attempts, I think, to bring to light the “untold” role that some of their founding members played in the fight against apartheid. Typical of South African politics, supporters of opposition parties countered these claims with a series of spoof posters, intent on revealing […]

Posted inLifestyle

The day I became a woman

I woke up in the morning feeling unsure of myself. It was as if the world had been watching and judging me as I slept. I got up and hurried to look in the mirror. Something was not right. My hair was an affliction, my eyes were not bright and my smile did not radiate. […]

Posted inNews/Politics

The realities of social mobility in South Africa

South Africa – the African continent’s largest economy and its only G-20 member – continues to display strikingly high and persistent inequality which has led to high levels of marginalisation for an upper middle-income country. The stark and at times obscene contradictions between rich and poor – a legacy of our country’s apartheid past – […]

Posted inGeneral

Is social equality an illusion?

Some people evidently thought that in my last post I was writing approvingly about Plato’s division of the community/society into three classes (philosopher-kings/queens — yes, he did allow for women in this category; protectors, and producers). Actually, I was not (as my response to Enough Said about classes indicated), although I admire Plato’s wisdom concerning […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Inequality, a direct link to political instability

Addressing the challenges of inequality around the world, specifically in Africa, is becoming increasingly paramount. Degrees of inequality at all levels of society negatively impact on poverty-reduction strategies, result in inefficient resource allocations by governments and policymakers, wasted productive potential, exponential growth in dependency ratios within society as well as impaired institutional development. In Africa, […]

Posted inGeneral

Substantive, not normative equality is what we need

By Elsabe van Vuuren In 1994 South Africa rejoiced at the ordination of a new government. South Africans also celebrated the end of deeply unjust apartheid laws. This was a new beginning for Southern Africa. South Africa joined its neighbours, namely Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and, Zimbabwe in the fight for more equal opportunities for […]