In 2004, the cabinet approved the adoption of a policy on indigenous knowledge systems, known as the IKS Policy. Pursuant to this, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) formulated a policy document on the protection and commercialisation of indigenous knowledge. This policy sought to recognise and protect indigenous knowledge as a form of intellectual property and to enable and promote the commercial exploitation of such material for the benefit of the indigenous communities from which the material originated.

The Protection of State Information Bill’s (POSIB) long passage through Parliament saw it emerge finally in April 2013. It then went to the President’s office for signing into law, where months later it remains in limbo. This is not surprising, given the Bill’s many flaws and its vulnerability to a constitutionality challenge. 

In our view, four of its flaws are fundamental:

• It sets up an access to state information regime parallel to that envisaged in the Constitution and given force by the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA)

Beginning with ubuntu, rather than the braai, puts a completely different spin on how we approach Heritage Month, says Thabo Makgoba.

Dear Colleagues:

We are a group of Palestinian, Israeli, and other oral historians and academics from Europe, South Africa, and North America calling on you to boycott the June 2014 ‘International Conference on Oral History’ organised by the Oral History Division of the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While all Israeli universities are deeply complicit in the occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is particularly noteworthy, as we explain below. 

Keynote Address to the IMBIZO ON
GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER:
ITS LEGACY AND LESSONS

Peninsula Technikon

Chairperson, colleagues and comrades

IN the aftermath of Zanu PF founder and former minister Enos Nkala’s death, debate has been raging about his role in Zimbabwe’s political history, particularly the liberation struggle, as well as his contribution to nation-building, and also repression in the mid-south-western regions immediately after Independence in 1980.

IN THE week when Pretoria University philosophy lecturer Louise Mabille had to resign her post after expressing racist views it was easy to feel depressed about the academic world. But at the same time, as news of Mabille’s disgusting racism was breaking, I had been through one of the most important books I’ve read in years – Gillian Hart’s Rethinking the South African Crisis.

Extracts from ‘The New Radicals, A Generational Memoir of the 1970s’ by Glenn Moss

The imposing figure sitting at the fire had a laugh that came from deep within his chest. He had consumed as much cheap red wine as the rest of us, maybe more. Chortling, he moved over, put his arms around my waist and lifted me up. ‘This one,’ roared Steve Biko, ‘this one understands.’

On Africa Day (25th May) we celebrate the hard-fought achievement of our freedom from European colonial powers, as well as African Unity. How important is our history to our unity? And what does being united entail? Some thoughts.

'The People Of Africa Are Crying For Unity' - Kwame Nkrumah. African Liberation Day was founded in 1958 when Kwame Nkrumah convened the First Conference of Independent States. He gave one of the greatest speeches of his life on 24th May 1963 when 32 independent African countries met in Addis Ababa to find ways to unite the continent.

The silent recolonisation of Africa is happening on a mass scale. To address this issue, the first Africa Conference on Land Grabs is set to take place in South Africa on 27–30 Oct. 2014. Land is the source of life and death, but it might not always be with us.