African feminism is engaged in the project to recoup indigenous knowledge systems and to salvage identities that were destabilised by foreign incursions
Mamphela Ramphele
Posted inEquality, General, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Was Helen Zille done in by her race obsession?
Helen Zille’s shock resignation as leader of South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) has triggered intense speculation as to who will replace her. Given the party’s federal congress is less than a month away, palace intrigue dominates all discussion. However, most suggest that Mmusi Maimane, the party’s parliamentary leader, is the hot favourite to win. Zille’s […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Elections 2014: Everything and nothing remains the same
By this time next week, the election dust will have settled. One doesn’t have to be clairvoyant or even wait for the results, to discern the shape of the future. Everything will be the same. Nothing will be the same. The ANC will again form the government and the DA will again form the official […]
Posted inNews/Politics
How the ANC’s gravity-defying levitation is achieved
As South Africa’s political parties approach the final straight it’s yet another one-horse race, if the bookies are to be believed. The African National Congress, says the latest polls, is set to achieve close to the two-thirds majority that it has maintained for the past 20 years. The opposition Democratic Alliance will apparently be fortunate […]
Posted inNews/Politics
An interview with Agang’s chief operating officer
Andrew Gasnolar, a youthful 28-year-old from Gardens in Cape Town, is the new chief operations officer for Agang SA. A lawyer, Mandela-Rhodes Scholar and World Economic Forum Global Shaper, I chatted to him about his new job, politics, and whether I should vote for Agang SA. What made you take up this post? I have […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma’s muti leaves the opposition wilting
Not in two decades – not in 66 years, come to think of it – has South Africa’s Official Opposition had better prospects of landing the ruling party a bruising body blow. As things stand, however, it might well botch the opportunity. The African National Congress is, after all, in unparalleled disarray. It has squandered […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Cheese, crackers and taking women in politics seriously
In light of the rumours of trouble in the Agang camp and the elections racing towards us, one would understand Mamphela Ramphele’s need to find a bedfellow in the depths of political winter. It is a time-honoured political move. The ANC has its sheets full while the smaller parties bundle together. But sometimes one does […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Ramphele debacle reflects DA’s double standards
For the Democratic Alliance, this was to be the “game-changer”. With a credible black face as its presidential candidate, the ANC would no longer be able to use the race card to dismiss the DA, went the reasoning. Yet, no sooner had the DA announced Mamphela Ramphele as its Number One candidate, the ANC was […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zille and Ramphele – long live assimilation, long live!
Black power is long dead. If Mamphela Ramphele and black consciousness meant anything, that dream has been dissolved into the DA. The most recent example of this assimilation: Ramphele joining the DA. While watching the images of hugs and what was described by Ramphele as “the moment of greatness”, I was torn. Is this really […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The DA-Agang arranged marriage
By Judy Sikuza As folklore will tell you, arranged marriages have always been a contentious matter — whether you are for the idea or against it. But politically, this old concept of an arranged marriage may have some fascinating consequences for the political landscape of South Africa 20 years into democracy. What is one supposed […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Trading old chestnuts for new – young, angry and black
“It would make an am-a-zing scarecrow, don’t you think?” asks a friend. Save the dull narrative of South Africa’s miracle, another chestnut has crept into South Africa’s discourse. This time around, there’s no Shosholoza humming or rainbows. “Young, angry and black” and its variants has become a phrase dished out with little thought. It passes […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
The private is political: Ramphele and the Biko affair
I tried to play devil’s advocate in a conversation where Mamphela Ramphele’s affair with Steve Biko came into question. I was stunned that in a group of black women Ramphele was not the hero or the role model of what it means to be an example of a woman to be reckoned with in the […]