History Matters

What to make of the war of words that has erupted between Jonathan Jansen and Jessie Duarte? Briefly, ANC spokesperson Duarte is demanding that recently installed University of the Free State Rector Jonathan Jansen apologise for calling Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga a “lazy and incompetent minister, if one takes into account her record as [...]

Comfort Ero and Piers Pigou.All Africa News 29 June 2009 Just ahead of this week’s African Union summit in Libya, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has advocated an old and discredited approach for dealing with African heads of state facing international justice, write Comfort Ero and Piers Pigou.When a leader of South Africa’s ruling African [...]

Sokari Ekine and Firoze Manji 2009-06-11, Issue 437 http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/56914 With Shell having agreed an out-of-court settlement of $15.5 million with the families of the Ogoni Nine activists killed in 1995, Sokari Ekine and Firoze Manji argue that a victory should not be confused with justice. Though representative of an emerging movement in bringing a multinational [...]

SACP Press Statement Malesela Maleka, 24 May 2009 The SACP Central Committee met in Johannesburg on the 22nd and 23rd May 2009.This was the first plenary CC meeting after the April 22nd elections, and the Political and Organisational Reports and ensuing discussion devoted considerable time to assessing the election campaign and the way forward. The [...]

May 19, 2008Dear Mr. Moreno Ocampo:The organizations listed below write to draw your urgent attention to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gbaramatu Kingdom in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. We request that the Office of the Prosecutor open an immediate investigation into those responsible for what appears to be a systematic and widespread campaign [...]

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement Tuesday, 19 May 2009 Now that the election is over and the politicians have finished hunting for positions they are running away from the people. It is impossible for a poor community to get a meeting with a politician. They only send in the police to break the people’s homes and [...]

John Saul I have been, for most of my adult life, a student of southern African, including South African, affairs, I was pleased but also intrigued to receive an invitation from Ingrid and the South African Association of Canadian Studies to come to SA to give several talks and seminars in this country (and also [...]

Sokwanele – Enough is Enough – Zimbabwe PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch (ZIG Watch) is tracking articles and reports which provide examples of violations of the agreement between Zanu PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Formations signed in Harare on 15 September 2008. This report reflects a [...]

A friend sent me an sms as she was going into the voting booth on April 22nd. “Going to hold my nose and vote”, she said. She was voting for COPE nationally and ID provincially only because she was sure they would not be in government. She detested many of the personalities in Cope, disagreed [...]