History Matters

Its Time for True Transformative Justice in SA Suren Pillay Cape Times 2010-05-06 On a recent visit to a government agency- as a citizen, not a researcher- I began chatting with an affable front desk consultant. After some general conversation on the dire state of the world, she – of Afrikaner descent – confided to [...]

by Omar Badsha and Jon Soske During the latter half of 2010, a series of events commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the first Indian indentured laborers in Natal will take place across South Africa. The preparations have already inspired wide-spread debate; individuals from a variety of communities and political perspectives have raised similar questions: to [...]

by Allistor Spark, March 2010 As Julius Malema’s misdemeanours multiply, one of the most egregious has been allowed to go unchallenged for months. This was his misrepresentation of ex-President Nelson Mandela’s position on nationalisation. In punting his own populist campaign for the ANC to adopt a policy of nationalising the country’s mines, Malema has sought [...]

By Mondli Makhanya – Sunday Times 21st February 2010 At the height of the battle between Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky, the former was doing everything in his power to ensure that Lenin’s mantle passed on to him. In later years, having won the struggle, Stalin went to the extreme lengths of airbrushing Trotsky out [...]

Seelan Naidoo Representations of the Robben Island Museum in the public domain have over the past five months been characterised by confusing commentary, accumulating unanswered questions, significant omissions and even serious misrepresentation.  This opinion piece is in the interest of a beleaguered institution that continues to incur reputational damage that it emphatically does not deserve. [...]

The Times – 8 September 2009 Yusuf Dadoo’s legacy is our tradition of non-racialism, writes Yunus Momoniat AT A conference last week, delegates mulled over the legacy of Yusuf Dadoo, a leader of the Transvaal Indian Congress, a communist leader and respected activist. The key theme of the conference was the question of non-racialism and [...]

Keynote Address by SACP General Secretary and Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande at the Yusuf Dadoo Centenary Conference University of Johannesburg 4 September 2009 The chairperson, Cde Omar Badsha University of Johannesburg Vice Chancellor, Professor Ihron Rensberg, Honoured guests and conference participants, Comrades and friends, At the outset let me take [...]

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 [...]

allAfrica.com: South Africa: False Narrative Feeds a Potentially Ruinous Respect for Unions (Page 1 of 1) Michael Kransdorff And Marian Tupy Business Day (Johannesburg)17 July 2009 Johannesburg — WHETHER under apartheid or democracy, SA’s politicians have always liked to admonish the country’s businessmen. Apartheid politicians believed corporate profit-making undermined white baasskap, while SA’s current rulers [...]