History Matters

From ibharu to amajoin: living among other languages

by Charlyn Dyers One of the untold stories about language is the large percentage of Xhosa learners in former coloured schools and the ways in which they adapt their language skills. Research done at Wesbank, one of the newest townships in Cape Town, showed that the ongoing migration from the rural areas to its cities [...]

Report of the Task Team for the Review of the Implementation of the National Curriculum Statement

What’s wrong with our schools and how can we fix them?

Nick Taylor, JET Education Services Presentation to the CSR in Education Conference, TSiBA Education, Cape Town 21 November 2008 1.     Introduction There are many teachers and schools who provide their learners with the opportunities to become skilled and confident citizens able to sustain their families and contribute to building a new society. While most successful [...]

Jansens Inaugural Speech

Inaugural Speech of the 13th Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS) For such a time as this Jonathan D Jansen In Honour of Adv. Bram Fischer Preliminaries Welcome, welcome, welcome. I thought this would never happen. In fact, many of you told me it could never happen because of my [...]

Criticising the Crisis in Education

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 [...]

The Times – Mine the precious asset of history

The Sunday Times July 4th 2009 Too much emphasis on suffering and sacrifice can leave a hard residue of victimhood and entitlement We Are a nation-in-the-making and we cannot afford to squander our assets. Our knowledge about ourselves — our identity as a nation — depends on our understanding of our past and how others [...]

The Times – Cool heads and maturity needed to break impasse

July 1st The Times THE gloves are off! It is very disturbing that the politics of demonisation and threats have replaced common sense and understanding in the dispute involving the department of health and doctors. — Dr Lucas Ntyintyane, by e-mail # Doctors strike despite new wage offer Such brinkmanship is counterproductive. The loud noise [...]

Doctors claim wage offer is misleading

Chandré Prince Sunday Times June 27 Most packages are ‘small change’ Militant South African doctors, angered by the government’s “Mickey Mouse” wage offer, are now intent on shutting down the country’s public health system. Strike action, which this week crippled medical services in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, is set to intensify and spread throughout [...]

VICTORY FOR BIOWATCH IN LANDMARK LEGAL CASE

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President Zuma State of the Nation Address

State of the Nation Address by His Excellency JG Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, Joint Sitting of Parliament, Cape Town 3 June 2009 Honourable Speaker; Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces; Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP; Deputy President of the Republic, Kgalema Motlanthe Former [...]

The Elections Are Over – The War on the Poor Continues

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 [...]

Two fronts of anti-Apartheid struggle: South Africa and Canada

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 [...]

Development as Freedom ? Conversations with David Webster and Amartya Sen

Edward Webster Professor Emeritus: School of Social Sciences University of the Witwatersand It is a great privilege to pay tribute this evening to our colleague, valued teacher and friend, David Webster His assassination twenty years ago on 1st May 1989 by the apartheid policeman Ferdi Barnard has not silenced him. I would like this evening [...]