A homophobic columnist is still avoiding responsibility, eight years on. The Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) – a friend of the court in this matter – is shocked and dismayed at the outcome of last week’s court hearing at which Jon Qwelane was granted an indefinite postponement in a hate speech case concerning an […]
hate speech
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Blacks ‘portraying’ victimhood: Gwen Ngwenya’s tall (reckless) ask of a nation
Unfortunately I am about to do something that I’m not often a fan of doing, namely engage in debate on the internet. One thing I’ve learned about the online space is that it is where people often come to take a mental dump due to its accessibility. God bless us all if Twitter decides to […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
White people must stand up against white racism
When I was in high school, my headmaster used to say that evil triumphs when good people do nothing. It was not till I matriculated and grew older that I could fully comprehend and appreciate the gravity of his words. Racism, of any nature, defeats the ends of the reconciliation project we’ve been working towards […]
Posted inEquality, Media, News/Politics
Hitler in Potchefstroom
We need to talk about the young people at North West University (NWU). The university residences at NWU that made their first years pledge allegiance with Nazi salutes and a sieg heil have either perplexed people (with many wondering why this was even taking place – fascist symbolism hasn’t ever caught on in South Africa) […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Is #whitegenocide funny if corrective rape isn’t?
Brace yourself. Some of you are not going to like this piece. Possibly quite a few of you. That’s the only predictable thing when it comes to jokes: somebody, somewhere is going to be offended. For years I’ve studied comedy from various angles: academically, from the trenches in the ad industry and as an occasional […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The politics of political hate speech
By David Smith Freedom of expression is an absolute. Unless, of course, the politics of South African president Jacob Zuma‘s re-election are in play. On Wednesday the governing African National Congress (ANC) promised to stop singing the anti-apartheid ditty Dubula iBhunu (Shoot the Boer) to avoid hurting the feelings of white farmers and inflaming racial […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Dear ‘K-word’ and ‘K-the-boer song’
I know not everybody likes a letter, and when I think about it, you two surely don’t spend a lot of time reading either — but I love a letter, so here goes: Nobody can say that you two haven’t had your fun. You’ve shown your faces at some of the greatest and lowest moments […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Shoot the boer’ our history
By Beth Vale A week ago, the equality court announced its verdict that the lyrics of struggle song “Dubul’ ibhunu” or “shoot the boer’ should be considered hate speech. The trial has evoked months of public debate and has not been short of media commentary. Despite this, it is only in the last few days […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema misguided on judicial transformation
African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema selected the decisions in his case before the equality court in Johannesburg and those of Robert McBride and Bees Roux to draw the conclusion that the South African judiciary has failed to transform since the end of apartheid. This, like many of his other utterances, is not […]
Posted inNews/Politics
To Messrs Scott, Malema, Cliff and AfriForum
Well lads, you seem to be in a fine mess, and we’re all right behind you. As South Africans, we love to polarise. As you know, we come from a place of black and white and, as much as we say we want to, we’re just not ready for the mental exercise required to build […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The cutting edge of our collective madness
Why is it that I always seem to confront the nakedness of my own soul in airports? It happened again a few nights ago. On September 11, no less. I must have been crazy to brave the terrors of high-altitude traveling on a date so loaded with ominous precedents, but there I was, dead on […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Reaction to Lamont shows South Africans have lost the plot
The decision handed down by Judge Colin Lamont in the Equality Court in Johannesburg, regarding the matter of AfriForum versus Julius Sello Malema et al, should have been well received yet it is coming under fire from the African National Congress, the African National Congress Youth League and even Professor Pierre de Vos. Judge Lamont’s […]