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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

ADOPTED BY THE FIRST NATIONAL CONFERENCE 20-23 January 2011 Post-apartheid capitalism is leaving a trail of hunger, poverty, anger and misery. The wealthy elite, the bosses and their hangers on refuse to concede a single inch to the urgent needs of the majority. They label even the most modest reforms as the thin edge of [...]

 Nalini Naidoo Natal Witness 15 Nov 2010   It’s funny how celebrating a historical landmark can become fraught with anxiety. This could only happen in a country like South Africa where, it appears, nothing is simple. Then again, we cannot make light of these anxieties as we come from a past of divide and rule and [...]

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 [...]

  13 October 2010  By James Muzondidya, Research Manager – Zimbabwe Institute  This essay is part of a new initiative by the Trust that aims to open up the intellectual debates on current politics in the country, and to provide more extended discussions around key issues of central concern to the Trust, such as the [...]

 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 [...]