Thought Leader

By Sol Maria Fernandez Knight Growing up, my mother always told me that I was a special child. But then again many parents want their children to feel unique and valuable, to instill a sense of pride in their identity, and to remind them of their heritage. As a child I did not think how being…

By Nompumelelo Zinhle Manzini It’s been two weeks of being at the University of Zululand (UniZulu) as a contract lecturer for the Philosophy Department. Perhaps these personal reflections are slightly premature but I think that they do bear some merit. I have only been on the main campus which is in Kwadlangezwa, which is in…

Post-1994 South Africa is founded on the principle of progressive access to privilege. This principle implies that those in the suburbs will continue to live there while those in shacks will be progressively admitted into the ranks of those with houses and amenities. It also implies that those that earn decent salaries will continue to…

By Tamsyn Woolley I recently blogged about why white people struggle to “get” white privilege. But what if, as a white person, you do manage to “get” it? What then? As far away as I am from understanding all the nuances of what makes me privileged, this morning underpinned just how truly privileged I am….

By Mfundo Radebe So, here’s the thing: I’m privileged; I’m under-privileged. As a grade 12 student at one of those affluent private schools which people complain reflect “privilege”, I believe I have had an incredible vantage point towards the social dynamics of our country. I’m not privileged economically per se; I’m just a township boy…

By Andrew Ihsaan Gasnolar We have seen the distractions all around us. We have been confronted with a great deal of flash but not much substance: from the protection orders urgently brought (and then discharged), to the newsletters from Helen Zille to the battle between a Chester and Ms Zille. However, this sideshow distracts us…

Ena and Julian Hewitt were both 15 years old in 1994. Ninety-four, that sluggishly revered year which we consider to be our glorious break from the horrors of the past. I imagine that they were brought up well. The comforts of a suburban white, middle-class life in check: a good education and great future prospects….

South Africa is a country riddled with extreme inequality, with the gap ever increasing. Last year it was found that “South Africa’s children still face apartheid-like inequalities with a black child 18 times more likely to grow up poor than his or her white counterpart”. The report went on to describe the differences in poverty…