History Matters

Recent calls for nationalisation of mines and expropriation of land  without compensation have  evoked a sense of anxiety  and discomfort in  sections of  South African society,  the international financial sector and observers of South Africa’s policy processes. These ideas are said to be to be based on the Freedom Charter, adopted by the Congress of the People, on [...]

Some people are so indistinct, its difficult to imagine that they are there, even when alive.  Others have so much presence, that its impossible to imagine they have gone, even when dead.  Kader Asmal was irrepressible, wonderfully so, at times unrestrainedly provocative.  He engaged lustily with life.  Ever full of spirit, he fought the battle [...]

Newspaper article from Daily Dispatch: Xolobeni – red card greed by NOMBONISO GASA Uhlohlesakhe-khe-khe-khe-khe….! The big voice boomed from the wireless radio of my childhood signalling the beginning of a radio drama about a man who only stuffed his own stomach. That voice had the authority of ringing bells of a Christian church calling believers to pray on a Sunday morning. We, [...]

By Jane Duncan Christopher McMichael is a PhD candidate in the politics department of Rhodes University. His research investigates the ways in which the international governing body of football, FIFA, used the security arrangements for the 2010 World Cup to cannibalise public funds to the benefit of the Association and its sponsors. South Africa had [...]

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 [...]

WISER, University of the Witwatersrand Monday June 13 2011 Venue WISER Seminar Room* When Lewis Nkosi passed away on September 6, 2010 at the age of 73, South Africa lost an intellectual and literary voice as unique for its lucidity as its peerless range. Novelist, essayist, critic, playwright, editor, journalist, and scholar, Nkosi earned each [...]

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 [...]