South Africa’s primary and secondary education system is breeding a culture of mediocrity and entitlement that will ultimately undermine the growth of the country, both socially and economically. This culture of entitlement is not simply limited to the education system however, but has been surreptitiously reappropriated by our rights-based discourse so that it has become […]
South Africa
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
SA a key player in regional trade and development
South Africa has succeeded to reinsert its economy back into world trade following a long period of internal political difficulties and international reactions to the apartheid regime. The ratio of trade in goods and services to GDP rose from 41% in 1994 to 53% in 2011, indicating that the international exchange of goods and services […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Europeans must leave South Africa!
For ages, the country today known as South Africa was no more than a loose band of separate communities. The Nguni tribes, which settled on the Southern tip of Africa around the 10th century, neither considered themselves a single nation, nor did they consider the Khoisan people already inhibiting the area part of their collective. […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Beyond symbols, we need substance
“The unexamined life is not worth living” Plato says in line 38a of The Apology. The thoughts of an ancient Greek philosopher personally grappling with self-examination and intellectual exploration. But how do we examine ourselves today? What happens when you critically interrogate yourself? What are the consequences when you and I begin to call in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Stealing rooibos
It has recently been reported that an unidentified French firm is attempting to register a number of trademarks including the terms “South African rooibos” and “rooibos”. It is not the first time a foreign company tried to trademark rooibos tea. I have two problems with the fact that the French want to trademark rooibos. Firstly, […]
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 inNews/Politics
Should foreigners vote?
I recently dealt with at least three queries about the voting rights of permanent residents in South Africa, and specifically the change in their status and recognition. The first time I had to deal with this concern was in the run up to the 2011 local government elections when a Centurion resident told me his […]
Posted inGeneral
How much money is enough?
By Mario Meyer Aristotle, in The Nicomachean Ethics, makes the following assertion: “The life of money-making is one undertaken by compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.” One of the intractable questions of moral philosophy is the question of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Youth employment, training outlook bleak
Sub-Saharan African countries show high rates of informal employment reaching up to 95%, while existing and interacting with relative weak economic development in the region. In addition, youths find difficulties entering into formal employment. Yet, unemployment rates and youth unemployment are only one indicator of the vulnerable position of young people in these labour markets […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Disgrace in our winelands
Out of South Africa’s nine provinces, the greatest number of farm workers reside in the wealthy and fertile Western Cape. Despite their fundamental role in the success of our country’s valuable fruit, wine, and tourism industries, farm workers benefit very little, in large part because they are subject to exploitative conditions and human-rights abuses without […]
Posted inGeneral
Yes, there’s more to Africa than poverty
By Zdena Mtetwa Let us be wary of becoming blindly defensive Africans who deny the challenges faced by our continent, sweeping the dirt under the rug, as though it did not exist. But with the same breath, let us also be brave Africans who stand for the brand Africa, highlighting the hard work of our […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Understanding state-society connectedness
Today a general consensus prevails that sustainable development and security rely on legitimate and effective governments that can provide basic services to their populations and be held accountable both to their citizens and to the international community. In fragile situations, where state capacity is weak or has broken down, the international response in most cases […]