History Matters

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 [...]

KWANELE SOSIBO for the Mail & Guardian  | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Apr 21 2011 00:00 Chalk inscriptions still mark Voortrekker Street in Ficksburg’s Market Square where Andries Tatane died after police allegedly beat and shot him during a march to the Setsoto local municipality offices on Wednesday last week. Phillip Selokoe, his former high [...]

Mar 5, 2011 11:42 PM | By Mamphela Ramphele Mamphela Ramphele May 5th Sunday Times Successful societies focus on ensuring that future generations perform better than past and present ones. The crisis of underperformance of our education and training system lies at the heart of the growth of inequality, continuing poverty and dependence on welfare [...]

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 [...]

What makes a history exam? Published in the Cape Times, 27 January 2011 (p.11) “After yet another disappointing set of results for… History I am wondering what more we can do, and whether anyone else has the same experience? Some excellent and hardworking students have got at least a grade lower than they should have, [...]

by Rob Siebörger Published in the Cape Times, 27 January 2011 (p.11), under the title ‘Examining exams: History is not what it used to be’. “After yet another disappointing set of results for… History I am wondering what more we can do, and whether anyone else has the same experience? Some excellent and hardworking students [...]

Together with ten of my comrades, I was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on Robben Island in April 1964 for allegedly conspiring to commit sabotage with a view to overthrowing the apartheid regime. Leaving aside the details of the background to this case and the real, as opposed to the court, version of what actually [...]

The notion of democracy, like national, is an evolving concept which can be enriched in its meanings over time, as our understandings were enriched during the people’s power period when crime control and other elements were dealt with on a community level. One of the most notable places of popular power was in Port Alfred, where broad representatives united to ensure that popular action [...]

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 [...]