History Matters

The birth of the African National Congress a century ago, on January 8, 1912, was a landmark in the history of Africa, marking the beginning of the end of centuries of exploitation and humiliation of the continent. It received hardly any attention at the time internationally or from the white establishment in South Africa. M.K. [...]

by Raymond Suttner With Ma Albertina Sisulu’spassing, many feel they havelost a political figure, but alsosomeone who meant much more thanthat, who sensitively but where necessary firmly, guided others on a path thatwould help them as human beings.Ma Sisulu was warm and generallysmiling while she hugged and kissed allher children. She combined this withstrict ethical norms [...]

The temptation to deploy identity politics is always tempting, but should be resisted, writes Mamphela Ramphele May 29, 2011 Sunday Times The contest for power in the run-up to the May 18 local elections raised a very sensitive issue of the ownership of national symbols, including former president Nelson Mandela. I had hoped that the [...]

by Ferial Haffajee news24 The first reason it lost the coloured and Indian vote is that the ANC sees it as a coloured and Indian vote – when it didn’t, the ANC was much more successful in these former strongholds. I’m black, as defined by Steve Biko, but apartheid meant that I spent my childhood [...]

by  Blade Nzimande – Jeremy Cronin 17 May 2011 – Tomorrow’s local government election Tomorrow, South Africans will be going to the polls for the third, non-racial local government election in our country’s history. Much is at stake. As the SACP we are confident that once more the ANC, supported by its Alliance partners, will [...]

By Dr. Saleem Badat Reflection on how far we have come requires us to clarify our notions of ‘subject’ and ‘citizen’ and subjecthood and citizenship. First, as with notions such as democracy and development, there are ‘thick’ and ‘thin’, notions of citizenship – notions that reduce citizenship to the formal, legal and primarily political dimensions [...]

Simeon BlackOctober 18, 2010 at 11:24am Subject: IS ANC DIVIDED ON MEDIA CLAMPDOWN? Democracy in South Africa is currently at a crossroads with locaql and international resistance still building up against the ANC’s efforts to impose a clampdown on press freedom in the country. While numerous groups and actions are dedicated to protect our constitutional [...]

“Every time we debate organizational renewal and review, we must always bear in mind that ANC must at all times be fit to the tasks of the day. As we said in 1997 that, “the character of the ANC must be determined by the nature of the care tasks that confront the National Democratic Revolutions [...]

 Chris Thurman 2010/09/08  A FEW weeks ago, I attended a colloquium at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research from which I gained new insight into the history of “the left” in South Africa. As it happened, it was held on the first day of what would become the most disruptive strike this country [...]