Western Cape farm strikes: A new project may reveal the full picture

A new research project kicked off this week which aims to establish, over the course of nine months of interviews and study, exactly why and how the Western Cape farm strikes happened. ...read more

Parties should not run themselves like businesses

‘We make it harder to solve problems because we ignore the politics that decides whether solutions will work’ ...read more

Why Obama wasn’t sexist after all

Verashni Pillay thinks telling a woman she’s good-looking should not be called sexist, and here’s why. ...read more

The People Shall Obey

In his speech at the memorial service for the soldiers who were killed in the Central African Republic Jacob Zuma presented us, and not for the first time, with the idea that we should receive another accumulation of bodies – of black bodies – as a tragedy, as a cruel consequence of the random movement of the wheel of fortune. ...read more

Getting away with murder

Many were shocked by the judgement in the case of Andries Tatane , who was killed by police rubber bullets in a service delivery protest in Ficksburg, and are even more shocked that the National Prosecuting Authority has decided against appealing the judgement. ...read more

Bangui falls off national key points wish list

The state prefers the intelligence of its people to remain at the level of children in a kindergarten," wrote Yan Lianke in an article headlined, On China's StateSponsored Amnesia, published in last Monday's International Herald Tribune. "It hopes people will follow instructions, just as children follow their teacher's instructions - they eat when they are told to eat, they sleep when they are told to sleep. When they are asked to perform, these innocent children enthusiastically recite the script prepared by adults. ...read more

Karabus family facing massive financial toll

South African paediatric oncologist Cyril Karabus has been held in the United Arab Emirates for 234 days. Acquitted of manslaughter a fortnight ago, he was subsequently informed that the prosecution will appeal. ...read more

Mandelia is the name to unite South Africans

SOUTH Africans always find ways to divide themselves along racial lines. Take a simple case of white-on-white violence. ...read more

Scared out of their Wits: Sex predator scandal stalks university

Following an expose about a professorial sex pest published in Wits’ Vuvuzela last year, and Sunday Times’ front page lead at the beginning of March 2013 about alleged abuse at the drama school, the institution has reeled. ...read more

Pope Francis and the war on sex abuse

Because Pope Francis is new in the role, this is the time at which his every gesture and statement comes under scrutiny for what it might tell us about the direction in which the Catholic Church may travel under his leadership. ...read more

Rasta: ‘I have a right to be at school’

Activists cite dreadlock case as the latest example of government’s lack of clear direction to schools. ...read more

Defence Minister's theatre of CAR absurd: We were protecting our military equipment

In a wholly unsatisfactory Thursday meeting of the parliamentary joint standing committee on defence, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was adamant that the only “assets” South African troops were in the CAR to protect were some military equipment. ...read more

Decolonising the humanities

Scholars should not plead ‘academic freedom’ to avoid critiquing their discipline’s apartheid legacies. ...read more

In this week’s ‘no surprise’ news: White men still the top earners

This week, the SA Institute of Race Relations distributed a press release detailing the results of Statistics SA figures on national income, which had been analysed by the institute. ...read more

Wasp could help to whet SA’S appetite for a new political menu

THE Workers and Socialist Party (Wasp), launched last week, is expected to register with the Independent Electoral Commission. The party is planning to contest next year’s elections, but building an organisation from scratch is always difficult.

...read more

The woman who said ‘no’ to Madiba

Before he got married to Graça Machel on his 80th birthday on 18 July 1998, former president Nelson Mandela proposed to a fellow struggle stalwart and an old friend, Amina Cachalia — but she turned him down. ...read more

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and the ghosts of crimes past

Kenneth Good examines the TRC's hearings and findings on the Mandela United Football Club's reign of terror. ...read more

Reflections of an ex-Christian at Easter

MY journey with Christianity has been a robust one. I was born and raised in a fairly ordinary Christian home. By this I mean that we went to a little parish church within walking distance of our house. ...read more

The great NGO funding crisis, Part III: Adapt or die

Respected political think-tank Idasa, the Institute for Democracy in Africa, has become the latest casualty of the funding problems hitting South African civil society. ...read more

Achebe's life a living sermon on opposing autocracy

THE DEATH of Chinua Achebe has closed one of the most interesting chapters in the literary world and African politics. His meteoric rise as an African intellectual was not a coincidence, but a deliberate result necessitated and dictated by the dynamics of the times. ...read more

The problem with whiteness: Ferial Haffajee

White people still accrue benefits from their whiteness, even if they claim victimhood. ...read more

Sim’s City: Standard Bank’s co-CEO on Brics, business and banking

Although most of the focus at the Brics summit naturally fell on whatever the leaders of China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa had been saying about that Brics bank of the future, there were other opportunities to learn interesting things that were not part of those group photo opps and the leaders’ anodyne joint statements. ...read more

Social entrepreneurship – The new community engagement

Social entrepreneurship should be the new engagement for individuals and the public and private sectors, with implications for university training – especially in Africa – according to Goos Minderman, public governance professor at Vrije Universiteit in The Netherlands. ...read more

Luck is knocking on your door

“DO not despise your own place and hour,” wrote naturalist John Burroughs. “Every place is under the stars, every place is the centre of the world.” ...read more

DA to Zuma: Get the troops out of the Central African Republic

The DA cannily chose a slow news day on which to announce its intention to compel President Jacob Zuma to withdraw South African troops from the Central African Republic. ...read more

True leaders will put people first

It has been my privilege to spend time with many national and international leaders from many walks of life and a range of sectors of business and civil society. Each has shared something that has assisted us, through this column, to improve and grow as leaders. ...read more

Universities were conspicuously absent from the truth commission

TEN years ago on Human Rights Day, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) handed its report to then-president Thabo Mbeki. Much has been written about the shortcomings and achievements of the TRC, which tried to fill the gap between Nuremberg-style hearings and blanket amnesty. ...read more

Amanda Knox to stand trial once more

The faces of American Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito dominated newsstands around the world between 2007 and 2011, as they were convicted and then sensationally acquitted of the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher. ...read more

Give and take needed if poverty is to be tackled

If we want a sense of why we need negotiation across our divisions, the shape of our cities provides it. An ideal example of the issues about which our interest groups need to bargain, if we are to make a serious effort to tackle poverty, is city land and housing. ...read more

Policing the Neo-colony

All societies are managed with a mixture of force and consent. But in South Africa like, say, India or Mexico, violence, or the threat of violence, is woven so tightly into the banalities and intimacies of day to day life that it is part of the deep structure of things. ...read more

Summit to shed light on SA's place in Brics

THERE is little doubt that South Africa, as host country of the Brics summit in Durban today and tomorrow, will grasp the opportunity to project itself as an emerging economy and take pride in its association with this prestigious club. ...read more

Sharpeville’s history not the PAC’s sole heritage

Cape Town has been my home for nine years. A few weeks ago, when I took the dog to the vet, the stand-in doctor kept asking where I was from. Cape Town, I said. ...read more

Brics through the media's eyes

THERE is little doubt that South Africa, as host country of the Brics summit in Durban today and tomorrow, will grasp the opportunity to project itself as an emerging economy and take pride in its association with this prestigious club. ...read more

Sun sets on Nigeria’s literary giant

Chinua Achebe’s death at 82 is an enormous loss to African literature. REBECCA DAVIS explores the significant debt we owe him for his work challenging offensive Western portrayals of Africa and helping generations of African writers find their voice. ...read more

SABC crises serve the interests of power elite

Once again, another SABC board has been dissolved, the second in five years. What explains the broadcaster’s ongoing instability? ...read more

Surviving the varsity avalanche

A revolution is urgently needed to transform higher education in a rapidly changing world. ...read more

A man of principle: The life and death of Imam Haron

Human Rights Day seems an apt moment to reflect on the life of Imam Abdullah Haron, murdered by Apartheid police in 1969. ...read more

Unisa attracts luminaries of African scholarship

It was a diverse group of luminaries in African scholarship who congregated in Unisa’s ZK Matthews Hall on 14 March for an open session of the Thabo Mbeki@70 Colloquium, engaging in crucial discourse on 50 years of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and key concepts for Africa’s future. ...read more

Nearly 40% of municipal water lost en route to customers

Almost 40% (36.8%) of the total municipal water supplied in South Africa is lost before it reaches municipal customers, from industry to households, according to research released by the Water Research Commission (WRC) on Wednesday. ...read more

SA's national water week & dry reality

As South Africa marks National Water Week, news stories and studies show that our country’s water affairs is in a deep crisis... and things won't be getting better any time soon. ...read more

UN women’s session: Xingwana's excellent adventure and the real issues of rights vs culture

The 2013 UN Commission on the Status of Women ended last Friday, with a declaration on the matter of gender-based violence finally being agreed upon after two weeks of tense wrangling between liberal democracies and conservative governments. ...read more

Oh Bensim

Standard Bank's new management structure works for the tightly knit management team — but investors are wondering whether it will work for anyone else. ...read more

SABC shambles: And then there were none

In an utterly farcical day’s proceedings, the board of the SABC was dissolved and the process to appoint an interim board begun. ...read more

From Lusaka to Marikana

On Friday night Thembinkosi Qumbelo was gunned down in a local bar where he was watching a football game on television. ...read more

Time to make the high seas our business — for our future

When the world you inhabit is beset by economic ills, the last thing a sensible society should do is ignore a valuable resource. ...read more

Corruption not as simple as we make it out to be

‘All these causes ensure there are networks that gain from corruption and will fight hard to protect their turf’ IF WE really want to get serious about corruption, we will have to accept that it runs much deeper — and that taming it will take much longer — than many of us believe. ...read more

Hero of education’ shines a light for Alex schoolchildren

The winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Teaching Awards, Bilkes Vawda, tells the M&G what it takes to be a good leader. ...read more

Analysis: Zille sees politicians, not farmers, as villains in Western Cape farm strikes

Helen Zilles latest DA Today newsletter, released on Sunday, is devoted to Zilles analysis of the Western Cape farm strikes. And the provincial premier hasnt packed any punches, seemingly seeking to shift responsibility for the labour unrest from Western Cape farmers to unionists and the ruling party. ...read more

Lessons for SA in Venezuela and Latin America

THE death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez unleashed a tidal wave of economic and political commentary. To his supporters, Chavez performed an economic miracle and championed the cause of the developing world in global forums. ...read more

Mpati: Thorny road to top

Judge Lex Mpati relates the story of the sometimes thorny journey he has travelled in his life, until he finally made his mark as one of the?country’s foremost legal minds. ...read more

Pupils demand better norms and standards for schools

A number of Gauteng pupils have demanded that Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga rewrite her recently published draft norms and standards. ...read more

Policy think-tank set up ahead of annual BRICS summit

Academics from the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – this week established a policy think-tank ahead of the fifth BRICS summit to be held in Durban. ...read more

The education MEC, children's heads, and a knobkerrie

Under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma the patriarchs are, once again, on the rise. Over the weekend MEC for education in the Eastern Cape, Mandla Makupula, reportedly said that no children under the age of 21 who are still dependent on their parents for food and shelter have any rights. ...read more

Trouble of finding new voting system

There's good and bad in electing members of parliament in constituencies. Another View CHANGING the way we elect parliament won't magically change our politics. But it could create openings which will make democracy work better. ...read more

Hear ye! Hear ye! Print is not dead, long live digital

The delivery of news has moved on since town criers rang their bells and cried “hear ye, hear ye” to the mostly illiterate masses. But never before in the shifting media landscape has there been so much choice in the way in which the masses receive their news. ...read more

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, now at a university near you

Khadija peddles words on street corners, in polite company she's known as a journalist. Words are her only defence against impending doom, old age and iniquity - spurring her interest in what language tells us about where we are from, what we are doing and where we are headed. Don't mind the headscarf, she don't need no liberation. ...read more

WHY DO MEN HURT, RAPE AND KILL THE WOMEN THEY LOVE?

I’m driving in the car, listening to Five FM. Yeah, to 2 Chainz and his boyz Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky rap that song F***in’ Problem, the lyrics in the background while I’m thinking things, what we gonna have for dinner, hope the kid isn’t late, that sort of thing. ...read more

E Cape education minister says children have no rights

The Eastern Cape minister of education has said that children who are dependent on their parents do not have any rights, a newspaper has reported. ...read more

In black and white: the truth about ‘unconstitutional’ race quotas in universities

It is understandable (if not ethically acceptable) that some (but not all) white South Africans (who all continue to benefit from the effects of past unfair racial discrimination) would try to protect their unearned privileges by fighting to retain the status quo. ...read more

Retrenchments, recession and rape

The struggle against gender violence must not focus only on changing male attitudes. It must focus on the conditions that allow these attitudes to flourish MANY South Africans have decried the recent, terrible cases of rape. ...read more

BEE season in the sun must end some time

I am watching two bulls in the same kraal. If these were animals, I would accuse the BBC of cruelty to animals, but the men I am observing are the literary equivalent of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. One is a prolific Israeli writer, AB Yehoshua, and the other a go-anywhere journalist, Tim Franks. ...read more

Forgotten schools of the Eastern Cape left to rot

Overcrowding, too few teachers, not enough furniture or appalling toilets seem to have become the norm at some of the Eastern Cape's schools. ...read more

Wanted: university vice-chancellors

Best candidate is not one with many degrees, but one with insight, good judgement and courage FOUR of the country's universities will soon begin the arduous task of finding new vice-chancellors. ...read more

Death by a thousand pinpricks - South Africa’s ever-vanishing right to protest

A great deal of media coverage has been given to ‘violent’ protests. But it’s a narrow view just to assume that the protestors are being violent; abuse is a two-way street – especially if bureaucracy is being used to quash dissent. ...read more

Towards a Political Economy of Rape

Many South Africans have decried the recent, terrible cases of rape. South Africa’s pervasive culture of hyper-masculinity has been blamed for the problem, as has the patriarchal nature of its society, where men remain the central figures around which society is organised in spite of the country’s constitutionally enshrined commitment to gender equality. ...read more

Wealth tax mooted to help disadvantaged students

Cape Town — Residency fees are still unaffordable for many South African university students, hence a “wealth tax” mechanism has to be explored to increase disadvantaged students’ access to such facilities, Parliament was told yesterday. ...read more

‘A cappella moments’ in Katlehong

There are welcome surprises to be found in schools in Katlehong. For the project Schools That Work, my brief is to visit institutions to document the academic success of schools serving disadvantaged communities. ...read more

Absentee teachers are a thorn in our side

Teacher absenteeism is a problem, and seems to be the latest target for both President Jacob Zuma and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga. ...read more

Inside Rustenberg's banned protests

Labour and social conflict forced its way into the public consciousness last year when scores of people, mainly miners, were killed and injured in Marikana. ...read more

Doctor proves art is good medicine

In the tiny hamlet of Hamburg in the Eastern Cape on the Keiskamma River, a small community ravaged by poverty and HIV offers living proof that art is good medicine.
Healthcare and hope became intertwined when doctor/artist Dr Carol Baker (Hofmeyr) moved from Johannesburg to the Eastern Cape in 2000. ...read more

Tackling the challenges of righting the past fairly

THERE is a simplistic logic to race-based affirmative action that remains attractive to many South Africans 20 years after the official scrapping of race-based discrimination. ...read more

Students debt weighs heavy on universities

Universities are owed millions of rand by students, with some of the debt dating back to the early 1980s. Even though some institutions feel the pinch more than others, the debt mountain takes a heavy toll because tuition fees form a significant part of the income of universities. ...read more

Why consumer inflation feels higher than it is

NO ECONOMIC statistic attracts as much interest as the monthly consumer price index (CPI). This is partly because many other important economic measures are understandable only to economists. ...read more

Better data for varsity success

PhD thesis shows state’s university profiles are not detailed enough to help poorer students. ...read more

Researchers unite for SA policy push

Education research doesn’t inform policy enough, but a new umbrella body has plans to change that ...read more

Making life easier in the first year

In the autumn of 2004 a young woman came to my office, clearly very distraught. I recognised Gloria* from a session with struggling students earlier that week. The session focused on preparing students for their mid-year exams. ...read more

No plan yet for education reform

If the state really believes education is an ‘apex priority’ it needs to act, not just talk about it. ...read more

Mentors are changing pupils’ lives

‘I really enjoy giving a little of my time to try and encourage a youngster to succeed,” says electrical engineer Yvonne Motsoko. ...read more

2013 budget: The social services spend

A whopping chunk of the government’s expenditure for 2013/14 will go on social services. But ahead of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech on Wednesday, civil society groups indicated that they would be watching closely to see if political outrage expressed about violence against women in particular would find reflection in this year’s financial provisions. ...read more

Knowing who funds politics

There are certain pros and cons on the issue of understanding where the money comes from ARE we inching nearer to knowing where political parties get their money? ...read more

'Common vision' will do more than reshuffling revenue and spending

COMMENTATORS who believed substantial structural changes in government spending and revenue would be needed for the 2013-14 budget to provide evidence of the government's commitment to achieving the goals of the National Development Plan (NDP) will be disappointed. ...read more

South Africa’s fisheries credentials are in jeopardy

South Africa is fast losing its status as one of the world leaders in sustainable fisheries management, with considerable consequences for an industry that, according to Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries figures, has an annual turnover of about R80bn and contributes 0.5% to the gross domestic product. ...read more

Violence against women: Can outrage translate into action?

For the optimistic, there are signs that South Africa may be at a watershed moment when it comes to responses against violence against women. ...read more

Oscar Pistorius's online spin

As the media scrutinise every detail of the Oscar Pistorius trial, his publicity team has tried to salvage a portion of the online conversation. ...read more

ANC can’t control its campaigning

Competition is inevitable and forbidding it does not make it go away FOR the next five years, ANC members will, no doubt, continue to compete with each other for posts. Whether the ANC will admit that this is happening is unclear. ...read more

Beyond the tired stereotypes

Media outlets, part of the flow of capital between africa and china, helping to present a new picture ...read more

Lost in Oscar Pistorius frenzy, the horrific violence against women and children continues

While the media (including the Daily Maverick) fed the public appetite for Pistorius-related news over the past two weeks, life continued as normal for many. ...read more

Upping the ante at SA’S universities

New Wits University vice-chancellor Adam Habib emphasises the need for balance in running SA’S universities, writes Sarah Wild. ...read more

Pretorius saga shows up the folly of our obssession with celebrities and status

Not so long ago the middle classes in the world created by British colonialism used to cloak their claim to privilege in the stifling rituals of bourgeois respectability. ...read more

A ‘monster of racism’ at Potch

Tensions are simmering at the North-West University since the dismissal two weeks ago of its executive adviser on transformation, Ingrid Tufvesson — coincidentally just after Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande announced an already controversial permanent committee to oversee transformation at all 23 universities. ...read more

Making way for a new view of reality

It was a sight that demanded interpretation. Athi-Patra Ruga, wearing stilettos and stockings, his upper body and head hidden under a cloud of balloons, was stuck outside a revolving door. ...read more

Pistorius bail hearing: Defence emerges on top after roller-coaster day

If you had been in a deep sleep for the last week, and had awoken to immediately dip into the action of Courtroom C at the Pretoria Magistrates Court on Wednesday, it’s likely that you would have assumed that what was going on was a full-scale criminal trial. ...read more

Success of drive to end violence against women hinges on attitude change

THE STATE of the Nation address occurred amid a national outcry and introspection on gender-based violence (GBV). Public debate around the murder of Anene Booysen had not yet abated, when South Africa awoke to news of the killing of another woman, Reeva Steenkamp, allegedly shot dead by her sports celebrity boyfriend Oscar Pistorius. ...read more

Sponsors flee Oscar Pistorius

Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was estimated to receive endorsements totaling more than $2 million a year. ...read more

Tonight will tell if the hard bargaining is about to begin

‘The ANC has decided the NDP is a useful vehicle for addressing the twin pressures on it and the government’ ...read more

Money makes the McUniversity

Academics are worth more than profits and can't be lumped into corporate 'staff development' groups. ...read more

‘In Whom Can I Still Trust’: The Holocaust’s pink triangle

An important new exhibition at Cape Town’s Holocaust Centre reminds us of the sometimes under-acknowledged persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany. ...read more

Come up with plans, not pleas

Should a movement which has been in government for almost 20 years react to business in the same way as one fighting for freedom? ...read more

Tonight will tell if the hard bargaining is about to begin

How do you turn a broad, longterm vision into a government programme? A few bits at a time. ...read more

Can community television go the distance?

Community television has huge potential in this country – or does it? The media is potentially about to experience a boom in community television, but the future of this – considering the stations that exist – is uncertain. ...read more

Zuma is closing down our society

It seems more than likely that Jacob Zuma will be elected president of the ANC in December, which will undoubtedly see him remaining president of South Africa for another five years. What will South Africa look like after 10 years of Zuma's rule? Will society have become more open, or will growing authoritarianism lead to democratic spaces being closed down? ...read more

Responsibility is key for our future

Steve Biko, of course, did not live to see the way politics and black business have connected since 1994. But he may well have been horrified. And he would no doubt have seen a key role for black consciousness (BC) in fixing the problem. ...read more

Review: JM Coetzee: A Life in Writing

The first authorised biography of South African writer JM Coetzee, by the late Afrikaans literary critic JC Kannemeyer, who died shortly after completing the book last year, has just been published. Coetzee’s reputation for reclusiveness means the work is certain to attract a great deal of interest. REBECCA DAVIS found the biography revealing. ...read more

Time to go back and hit the books

Some progress has been made in access to education but just because you have bums on seats doesn't mean students are actually learning anything. The 2011 Census shows enormous improvements since 1996 in access to education but leaves persistent questions about quality largely unanswered. ...read more

Politics is not rocket science but it helps if you know a little

Derek Hanekom has taken over the department of science and technology after eight years as its deputy. A small department, it sits at the heart of much of South Africa’s research apparatus. The Mail & Guardian sat down with Hanekom for a cappuccino. ...read more

ANC has failed comrade in arms for 25 long years

The 25-year struggle of Mrs Jeanette Mulobela continues. ...read more

Free our universities from Nzimande’s blade

The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, now seems set to upset that carefully balanced apple-cart. He ought to listen more carefully to the CHE, and be slow to discard such advice. ...read more

The night owl catches the field mouse

I would like to protest. The world is clearly biased towards morning people. I realised this again with biting clarity as I reached to silence my alarm for the fourth time this morning. I have one requirement when buying a cellphone, and one requirement only: it must have a snooze function. ...read more

On the move: South Africa and migration

Last week, statistics from Census2011 indicated the extent to which South Africa continued to be shaped by migration. This is a country still on the move. Khadija Patel spoke to Wits University’s Professor Loren Landau about the impact of migration on the economy and development. ...read more

Today's loan shark feeding frenzy, tomorrow's revolution

Hlomela Dlamini* has been working for the Makana Municipality in Grahamstown for some 15 years. He gets paid about R4,800** gross a month, but only nets little more than half of that. Each month he has the usual government deductions and there’s money that must be paid to his trade union, SAMWU. He also has repayments taken off his salary for Old Mutual, Sanlam and three funeral policies. The deductions off his municipal package total R2,270.00**, which means that after 15 years of working for government, his net pay is R2,530.00**. ...read more

School corridors of power

The escalation of problems affecting our schooling system has led the basic education department, the ANC and Cosatu to plead for “greater community involvement”. ...read more

Eastern Cape rolls out desks slowly

The province says putting furniture in schools is difficult without sufficient funds. ...read more

War is Upon Us

When COSATU and the Communist Party have to rely on the police and their stun grenades, rubber bullets and, by some accounts, live ammunition to force their way into a stadium against the opposition of striking workers it is clear that their assumption of a permanent right to leadership is facing a serious challenge from below. It's equally clear that the ruling party and its allies intend to force obedience rather than to seek to renegotiate support or enable democratic engagement, that the police aren't even making a pretence of being loyal to the law rather than the ruling party and that this is the way that Blade Nzimande likes it. ...read more

Census 2011: Not enough progress in education

What is clear from the 2011 Census results is that more South Africans are getting some education compared to 2001, but not enough of it. Troubling gender disparities persist too – twice the number of black women than black men aged 20 and older had no schooling. ...read more

Resist calls for lower rates and bigger fiscal deficits

THE National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) resolved in August on "rolling mass action in the form of a national strike", targeting the "National Treasury and related government departments". ...read more

On the third force

The National Union of Mineworkers has informed us that workers organising their own strikes are being covertly 'manipulated' and their strikes and protests 'orchestrated' by 'dark forces' and other 'elements' that amount, of course, to another manifestation of the infamous 'third force'. 'Backward' and even 'sinister' beliefs in magic consequent to the rural origin of many of the workers are, we've been told by an array of elite actors, including the Communist Party, central to this manipulation. Frans Baleni, horrified at the insurgent power of self-organisation, has not just informed us that his union is trying to “narrow the demands” and persuade workers to “return to work”. He has also called for “the real force behind the upheavals” to be “unearthed” by the state on the grounds that “It is completely untrue [that] the workers are responsible” for the ongoing revolt. ...read more

DA’s ‘unity’ dream will have to wait a little longer

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will get part of what it wants. But not now. And not because of anything it does. The DA’s call for a political realignment has been seen as a move to unite opposition parties behind it. But unity is neither a new idea nor one that is likely to strengthen opposition parties — the electoral system means that the vote is not split and a combined opposition will do no better than the present one. In fact, it may do worse. ...read more

Jeff Radebe on Traditional Courts Bill: Don't think twice, it's all right

Justice Minister Jeff Radebe’s visit to UCT to address students on Tuesday night comes at a time when he is presiding over a number of pieces of controversial legislation. Little surprise that he was met with a picket organised by students concerned about the Traditional Courts Bill. But they need hardly have bothered – Radebe was giving almost nothing away. ...read more

Will the one-year salary freeze hold?

Can it be that last Friday those who hold power here agreed that the events of the past few weeks will be a turning point after all? ...read more

Armstrong: Cheat or victim of can-do-ism?

While Lance Armstrong, former international cycling superstar, has not owned up to doping allegations, the evidence has become too compelling to continue denying. This raises a difficult question: is he simply an immoral cheat? Or is he also a symptom - perhaps even a victim - of unhealthy American can-do-ism? Armstrong, it would seem, represents the best and worst of American competitiveness. ...read more

A high-seas education

In January last year Martinique Stilwell was well into her memoir of a childhood at sea. In fact, she was nearing the end of it, writing about her 18-year-old self who was preparing to go to medical school — an astonishing feat considering much of her learning came from a few hours of maths and English a day. ...read more

The great NGO funding crisis, Part II

Rebecca Davis studied at Rhodes University and Oxford before working in lexicography at the Oxford English Dictionary. After deciding she’d rather make up words than define them, she returned to South Africa in 2011 to write for the Daily Maverick, which has been a magnificilious decision. ...read more

Self-organisation, not magic, the drive behind mine action

The National Union of Mineworkers has informed us that workers organising their own strikes are being covertly “manipulated” and their strikes and protests “orchestrated” by “dark forces” and other “elements” that amount, of course, to another manifestation of the infamous “third force”. ...read more

No room for slippage in fiscal obstacle course

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan tried hard in the medium-term budget policy statement to reassure sceptics that South Africa will achieve its goal of fiscal-deficit reduction. The deficit will fall, he projects, from 4.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year to 3.1% in 2015-16. Government debt will peak at just less than 40% of GDP, up from 23% in 2008-09. ...read more

Nkandlagate: DA vs. the Ministerial Handbook

As Parliament refuses to debate the alleged expenditure of almost R250 million on Jacob Zuma’s private homestead in Nkandla, the DA is taking the gloves off. On Monday, DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko announced a raft of measures that they want to see taken to ensure Nkandlagate doesn’t happen again. ...read more

Simply having a female president will not rescue the ANC

A recent edition of City Press carried an article “The time is nigh for the ANC to have a woman president” (City Press, October 7) by Thenjiwe Mtintso, the veteran ANC leader and Umkhonto weSizwe commander who now occupies the position of South African ambassador to Italy. ...read more

The state against the people

When Cosatu and the Communist Party have to rely on the police and their stun grenades, rubber bullets and, by some accounts, live ammunition to force their way into a stadium against the opposition of striking workers, it is clear that their assumption of a permanent right to leadership is facing a serious challenge from below. It's equally clear that the ruling party and its allies intend to force obedience rather than to seek to renegotiate support or enable democratic engagement. ...read more

The myth that we did it by ourselves

If we want to understand how many in this country’s middle class see the world, we need to turn to a Canadian philosopher. And if we do, we will begin to realise how some attitudes make it much harder for this to become a country for all its people. ...read more

A R60m 'African solution for an African problem'

A R60-million "African solution for an African problem" is set to benefit two-million pupils across South Africa over the next three years. ...read more

Perlemoen poaching racket

They see themselves as the Robin Hoods of the sea, redistributing income to a community left destitute by what they perceive to be unfair government policies in a highly organised, multimillion-rand industry that has plundered the perlemoen reserves of the Eastern Cape. ...read more

Navigate SA’s linguistic minefield with tolerance

Separate conversations on recent flights have underlined for me the important role that language will play in our search for cross-cultural unity and harmony. ...read more

Hebron: The capital of ugly and keffiyehs

The keffiyeh has been a powerful political symbol for decades. But Hebron, where it is manufactured in bulk and worn as a statement of courage, is the broken centre of a fast-unravelling region. ...read more

Judge is right: politicising courts is a mistake

At last, a judge has reminded us of what many politicians and jurists have forgotten — that democracy is rule by the citizenry, not lawyers and judges. ...read more

Western Cape farm protests: further trouble beyond the horizon?

Groups representing Western Cape farmworkers have said that if their wage demands are not met by 4 December, the winelands will face renewed labour unrest. ...read more

Know the rules, drop the spin

None of us would take seriously a football reporter who didn’t know the rules of the game. Why, then, must we take seriously reporting on Mangaung which does not know how the ANC chooses its leaders? ...read more

Dreaming of Our Own Lula Moment

We need to draw a clear distinction between redemptive fantasies that, while they may be comforting, ultimately function to legitimate injustice and, on the other hand, redemptive visions that can inspire collective action against injustice. ...read more

Union poster: 'Feel it! Western Cape Marikana is here!'

The Western Cape labour conflict is being contested in more arenas than merely the farmlands. ...read more

E Cape pupils: Teachers hit us until our hands bleed

Horrendous hostel facilities, physical abuse by teachers and inconsistent recording of marks are some of the pupils' complaints. ...read more

Students are putting us in the picture

In one of the photographs set to be displayed at the upcoming My Body My Choice exhibition, a young woman stands staring at the camera defiantly, her stance that of a prize fighter. ...read more

Death of a lion of the law, Arthur Chaskalson

Former Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson died on Saturday from leukaemia. ...read more

People were central to Chaskalson’s endeavours

The apartheid government tried to keep apart, on the basis of skin colour, people who have a common future and destiny. ...read more

Politics won't change Africa - her children will

It isn't just struggle heroes who have earned the right to offer solutions for our continent, argues Verashni Pillay. ...read more

Unflinching fight for human rights

Chaskalson had a soft manner, but a formidable and exceptional legal mind. ...read more

Time to take performance monitoring seriously

Professional footballers and rugby players are today fitted with GPS devices that monitor their movements around the field. Coaches and managers analyse the data obtained to determine the distance run by individual players during a match. ...read more

‘Service delivery’ isn’t the problem

Our problem is not that we have too little “service delivery”. It is that we have too much. ...read more

We must stop using wealth to measure worth

We are beginning to understand that the gap between what many earn and what they need is a cause of some of our problems. We now need to understand the changes we must make to fix this. ...read more

DAs new member: more whimper than bang?

When the DA announced that it would present a former ANC Premier and NEC member who was joining their ranks on Tuesday, frenzied speculation began as to who it would be. The answer – former Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela – was greeted as a let-down by many, though the DA continues to hail her arrival as a major coup. ...read more

The day the Cape winelands burned

By Wednesday, the Cape winelands had morphed into a battlefield. As fires smouldered across the famously scenic fruit-growing region, in the embers of the ongoing labour dispute we found ordinary people who were tired, angry, injured and frightened. ...read more

SA’s policy response to global crisis not sufficient

Economic policy was a key issue in the US elections. There was heated disagreement on whether President Barack Obama’s policies were ...read more

Western Cape protests: calmer day, thicker plot

Thursday was a day of marginally less violence in the Western Cape’s week of ongoing protest. For one thing, there were no reported fatalities, though by nightfall it seemed that tensions were escalating. ...read more

Nzimande’s blade’ must cut where it is mostly needed

The debate on the Higher Education and Training Laws Amendment Bill 2012 which were passed by the National Assembly, giving Minister Blade Nzimande more powers to intervene in universities. A lot has been said in opposition to and in support of these Bills. ...read more

Western Cape protests: Bloody hands in private security firms?

The weekend brought another fatality resulting from the Western Cape farm protests. Police have stated unequivocally that his death was not the result of their actions. Now there are rumours that Bongile Ndleni may have been shot by one of the private security firms brought in by winelands farmers to protect their land. ...read more

Cape winelands: Whose protests are they anyway?

The DA says the ANC deliberately fomented dissatisfaction among farmworkers to destabilise the Western Cape. It also says the treatment of workers from Lesotho lies at the heart of the protest. ...read more

Even the Dead

And then, despite the fear, I set off
I put my cheek against death's cheek
? Roberto Bolaño, 'Self Portrait at Twenty Years', The Romantic Dogs, 2006
...read more

POIB: The Sound of Secrets

Wednesday saw the beginning of the last round of Parliamentary deliberations on the controversial Protection of State Information Bill, from the ad hoc committee which has been considering it for almost exactly a year. After over five hours of occasionally heated discussion, some concessions were won – but other aspects of the Bill remain troubling. ...read more

Judge Davis on 'No confidence': Debate must happen, but cannot be rushed

On Thursday in the Western Cape High Court, Judge Dennis Davis squashed opposition parties’ hopes of forcing a parliamentary no confidence debate in President Jacob Zuma that same afternoon. ...read more

Language of war festers in the ANC

Books show party disgraces dead, says Richard Pithouse. ...read more

Pupils win as court case is settled

They've just won a major legal victory, but for Equal Education the battle has only begun. ...read more

Remembering Jakes – Chancellor, our chancellor

The death of Rhodes University chancellor Jakes Gerwel will leave a big void in many people’s lives. ...read more

Strikes risk huge job loss

South African Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus yesterday warned South Africa risked major job losses if the trend of violent wildcat strikes and high wage settlements continued. ...read more

A political Economy of South Africa’s Digital Broadcasting Transition

How many South Africans are aware of the massive changes in the pipeline for free-to-air television? Not many, it would seem. ...read more

What drives a woman to abandon her baby?

The abandonment of babies was brought to the public’s attention in an article published in this newspaper last Saturday “200 babies abandoned”. ...read more

Opposing factions may spoil ANC poll

The question seems designed to spread needless alarm: a split in the ANC may well be at least five years away. But the possibility that ANC votes have become so contested that an election for president might not produce a result which everyone accepts, looks much more real now than it did a couple of weeks ago. ...read more

Rise in police violence a symptom of social ills

Last week, the world was confronted with the horror of South Africa’s first post-apartheid massacre. Over thirty striking Lonmin mineworkers were killed by the police, who turned semi-automatic rifle fire onto the workers after claiming that they were shot at first. ...read more

New World Bank chief is committed to the poor

Do global financial institutions suffer from a "democratic deficit"? Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan recently suggested that the election of an American, Jim Yong Kim, as the new president of the World Bank is evidence of a "democratic deficit" in the global financial institutions. This followed the failure of respected Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo, to be elected, despite having the support of most developing nations. ...read more

Not enough to look for scapegoats for Marikana

We are far more likely to beat poverty if we stop trying to peddle fantasies about what our economy can achieve. ...read more

DA’s witch hunt is no substitute for a diagnosis

Witch hunts happen when it is easier for people to blame an enemy for problems than to look at the real causes. Which is why the witch hunt against trade unions prevents us dealing with our challenges. ...read more

Marikana: The matter of embedded journalism

As police fired on miners rushing towards them at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, local media captured the bloody battle from a vantage point that saw them in the safe embrace of our country’s boys and girls in blue. What does this perspective mean about news, truth and events that could shape our very history? MANDY DE WAAL spoke to Rhodes University Journalism Professor Jane Duncan about media coverage of the Marikana massacre. ...read more

Infrastructure meant to reduce, not raise, costs

It is clear the government sees the announced public sector infrastructure spending programme of R845bn over the next five years as the key driver of economic growth and job creation in SA. ...read more

On the Marikana massacre and intellectual self-defence

South Africans are still reeling from shock after a clash between the police and striking mineworkers that left dozens of workers dead. The dominant narrative up to this point, supported by camera footage and other media accounts, has been that armed workers attacked the police, who retaliated in self-defence after at least one mineworker shot at them. ...read more

Hysteria will complicate search for solutions

Welcome to the season of breathless commentary, when the gulf between political noise and reality becomes ever wider. It is a time to look beyond the loud sounds to what may be really happening. ...read more

Racist, Racist South Africa

In the wake of the Marikana massacre, information is trickling into the public domain, which suggests that the police killing of workers was more premeditated than initially thought. Workers who were released from police custody have confirmed accounts of unjustified police violence against protestors, and these accounts have challenged the dominant narrative of the police having acted purely in self-defence. ...read more

On Corruption

Corruption in South Africa is not nearly as ubiquitous as it is in countries like India or Italy. But it is becoming an increasingly ordinary part of the texture of everyday life. It is certainly a serious issue and its certainly obscene that even state projects with as urgent a social function as providing school books and housing to the poor are taken more seriously in some quarters as opportunities for personal enrichment than as collective social obligations. Its equally obscene that corporate power has colluded to fix the price of a commodity as basic as bread in a country where its not unusual for people to get through their day on little more than a cup of sweet tea and a couple of slices of white bread. ...read more

It needn't take a catastrophe to pull us together

Are we able to try to fix our problems without going through a disaster? This odd-sounding question is raised by Mandela Day, which provided its annual evidence of the strangeness of South Africanness. On every other day of the year (barring world cups and sporting victories), we yell at each other, confirming how little we have moved from the divisions of apartheid. And yet, on this day, many of us show not only that we are capable of finding common ground but that we can do it by focusing on the needs of the poor. ...read more

Solutions to educational decline to come from us

THE dimensions and details of the education crisis South Africa finds itself in are well known. ...read more

The ANC’s ICT Techno-fix

Recently, the African National Congress (ANC) released a discussion document on communications, entitled ‘Building an inclusive society through information and communication technology (ICT)’, in preparation for its elective conference in Mangaung. ...read more

The Danger of the Blindly Obedient Soldier

Many South Africans are worried about the mounting evidence of abuse of security cluster resources, and rightly so, as it is a highly sensitive area of government that could easily be used against political opponents of the ruling elite. Without investigative journalists drawing on sources of information inside the cluster, these abuses may not have come to light. ...read more

The Turning Point for Internet Freedom

Media freedom in South Africa has been receiving bad press recently, although most of the attention has focussed on threats to print and broadcasting freedom. Little attention has been paid to creeping censorship of the supposedly most democratic medium of all, namely the internet. ...read more

The Wages of Violence

It was June 16, 1992. A number of us had been to hand out pamphlets at a rally to commemorate the events of the day in 1976, as we generally did on that day. I returned home in the afternoon, and decided to phone my mother to discuss a favour I needed to ask of her. I phoned her at 3.30pm, when I knew she would be home. ...read more

The Dangers of Crying Wolf on Press Freedom

Recently the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications held the third in a series of public hearings on print media transformation. Many in the print media industry have been sceptical about the Committee’s motives in calling the sector to account on this issue, and understandably so.
...read more

South African Television's Accumulation by Dispossession

Last month, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) released draft Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) regulations for a second round of public consultations. The DTT transition provides South Africa with an opportunity to address the uneven development of television, given the enhanced capacity for more broadcasters to offer more channels. ...read more

Corruption has even become means of social control

Corruption in South Africa is not nearly as ubiquitous as it is in countries like India or Italy. But it is becoming an increasingly ordinary part of the texture of everyday life. It is certainly a serious issue and its certainly obscene that even state projects with as urgent a social function as providing school books and housing to the poor are taken more seriously in some quarters as opportunities for personal enrichment than as collective social obligations. Its equally obscene that corporate power has colluded to fix the price of a commodity as basic as bread in a country where its not unusual for people to get through their day on little more than a cup of sweet tea and a couple of slices of white bread. ...read more

The Education Crisis and the Politics of Contempt

In 1987, in the midst of a Cape Town winter, Jeremy Cronin wrote a poem about being on the run under the state of emergency, his picture on the walls of the police stations that still squat, square and fenced, across the country like forts on the borderlands of some incompletely subdued colony. The poem speaks of the “snuffling soul” of his newborn son as he stretches out his fist in the afterglow of the timeless pleasure of an infant at the breast. “In the depths of their emergency”, Cronin wrote, this fist became his flag:
...read more

On the Return of the Political

When the African National Congress was founded in Bloemfontein in 1912 Sol Plaatje, then a newspaper editor, was elected as its first Secretary General. Plaatje, along with some other mission educated African intellectuals, had been optimistic about the new country that had come into being with the Union of South Africa in 1910. But within a year it was clear that segregation was going to be at the heart of the union, the white union, that followed the Boer war, its concentration camps and the English success in seizing control of the gold-fields. ...read more

No simple solution to SA’s inequality problem

SOUTH Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. The richest 10% of the population earns 58% and the poorest 10% just 0.5% of national income. The poorest 50% of the population earns 8% of income. ...read more

Without a vision, we’re at the mercy of the world

THE Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates by 0.5% last month reflects heightened concern about the growing weakness of SA’s economy. This concern is echoed in the recent World Bank report on SA and its lowered forecast of our gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year to just 2.5%. And that isn’t all. SA, the World Bank noted, is especially vulnerable if the economies of the European Union or China weaken more than expected. This is because Europe is SA’s largest export market, while weakness in China could trigger further falls in the prices of commodities that make up the bulk of our exports.
...read more

Problem with economic pie is it may get smaller

THERE are many reasons economic debate in SA is frequently so heated.
Protagonists lack common histories or yardsticks against which to judge each other's arguments. In such circumstances, real debate and agreement are impossible.
...read more

ANC's mining report makes a foolish assumption

A central theme of discussions at this week's African National Congress (ANC) policy conference will be state's role in the economy. Mining will enjoy particular attention when the report, State Intervention in the Minerals Sector ( SIMS ) is discussed. ...read more

The Left's failure to resolve global crisis gives fascism room

LAST year Rhodes University academic Jane Duncan warned of "proto fascism" emerging in South Africa. At the same time, in an article for a local publication, I wrote that "the first loud trumpet calls to fascism in modern South Africa have been sounded". ...read more

Marikana’s shadow will engulf whole economy

The wildcat strikes on SA’s mines that inevitably followed the wage settlement at Marikana have important implications for the economy and for the future of mining. Lost mining production from strikes comes as the economy is already running a very large deficit on the current account of the balance of payments. We rely on inflows of "hot money" — foreign portfolio purchases of bonds and equities — to fund this deficit. Foreign investors are large owners of South African mining shares. The risk is growing that they will take fright and sell their shares just as our exports shrink. The combination of a high current account deficit and sudden capital outflows would be devastating for the rand and local asset prices. This could push SA’s feeble economy back into recession. ...read more

SA media gets a shot of Mampoer

Some big names in South African media have come together to create mampoer.co.za, a website designed to amend the dearth of long-form journalism in this country. In an era where 140 characters are seen as adequate commentary, they’re selling articles of up to 15,000 words. Can it work? ...read more

How I learnt to stop worrying and love black men

Interestingly enough, my attraction to black men only started at university. Before then, I would never have thought of black men as potential sexual or romantic partners; as a teenager, they never entered my mind when I pondered over who was hot and who was not in my class at school. The origin of my inability to imagine being sexually intimate with black teenage boys, was the fact that I grew up in a deeply racist, working-class coloured community in Grahamstown. ...read more

The poor don’t pose a threat to fiscal discipline

Most rating agencies, and many to whom they speak, would be horrified to learn that they share a view of our future with many on the left. But it is this shared story that goes a long way towards explaining Moody’s decision to downgrade South Africa’s credit rating. ...read more

Jansen: Let the memory of Imam Haron inspire us to fix education

University of the Free State Vice-Chancellor Jonathan Jansen was in Cape Town on Tuesday to deliver the fifth Imam Haron Lecture, held annually to commemorate the memory of the Muslim activist, murdered during Apartheid, whose name it bears. Jansen wasn’t pulling any punches, saying responsibility for SA’s failing education system couldn’t end with the state. ...read more

Blacks can be racist they are simply human

It was at Rhodes University that I first heard that blacks can't be racist. An older dreadlocked student, with a torturous habit of speaking painstakingly slowly (a habit I suspected was designed to win an argument by inducing a coma in an opponent), tried to convince me that blacks can't be racist. He failed. ...read more

Mangaung may cap year of damp squibs

For those who believe our politics is only about leadership elections, this could just turn out to be the year of the damp squib. ...read more

Our speech could unite us

Language is the key to social cohesion. No, I am not suggesting that all South Africans should learn and speak to each other in English. We have tried that. Although important, it has largely failed —only we elite have been touched by the magic tongue. ...read more

Seeking out the Bantu in his bathroom

Early on in my interview with Eusebius McKaiser, whose book A Bantu in My Bathroom has just been published, he flourished a big panga against a common trend among journalists and columnists: gathering their published articles into a book. ...read more

Training new academics is a complex challenge

In last month’s Getting Ahead, Sean Muller quite rightly points out that “In academia there is often a remarkably laissez-faire attitude towards human-resource planning. Consequently, there is essentially no national coordination on the development of young academics for local universities and some departments lurch from one staffing crisis to another”, (“More PhDs are not the answer”, Mail & Guardian, September 7). ...read more

Marikana, the Farlam Commission, and the Undeclared State of Emergency

The Commission of Enquiry headed by retired judge Ian Farlam, into the deaths in August of approximately 44 people at Marikana, and the injury and arrest of scores more, has not got off to a good start. ...read more

Courts protect, but the people must lead

The Constitutional Court’s judgment on Menzi Simelane’s fitness to head the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should have helped repair damage caused by the Supreme Court of Appeals’ decision in the same case. ...read more

Tsunami of small rebellions

Described as a "gentle revolutionary", John Holloway is a communist philosopher, lawyer and academic who champions the cause of the Zapatista peasants' movement in Mexico, and whose current visit to South Africa was inspired by the urban social movement Abahlali base Mjondolo. ...read more

Democracy in SA still elusive

Only the crudest propagandist would dare deny that the ANC is an increasingly predatory and authoritarian excrescence on society rather than a democratic expression of society. It is equally clear that the party confronts what is arguably the highest rate of sustained popular protest anywhere in the world, has overwhelmingly lost the support of the intelligentsia and is increasingly resorting to violence and other forms of repression to contain dissent. ...read more

The Lion, the Prez and the Airport

International lobby group Avaaz has announced that is taking legal action against ACSA and Primedia after the removal of advertisements featuring Jacob Zuma’s face from the international arrivals hall at OR Tambo airport. Avaaz argues that there is a freedom-of-expression issue at stake as well as a contractual obligation to display the ads. REBECCA DAVIS investigates. ...read more

Facing Reality

The African National Congress has been captured by a predatory elite that is cynical, corrupt, ruthless and reckless. It is actively reinscribing unbridgeable inequalities into the deep structures of our society. The transit camps and new townships in the cities, the enduring ways in which the former Bantustans remain separate and unequal zones in the countryside, the state of public education and the growth of unemployment and precarious work all mark out this out with undeniable clarity. Workers live in shacks while their bosses gather unimaginable wealth. There is an abundance of land for game farms and golf courses but from Johannesburg to Cape Town the state sends out its men with guns to illegally and violently dispossess people that seize just enough land, often wasteland, to erect a one room shack.
...read more

False alarmism makes progress seem like setbacks

There are few more certain causes of disaster than those who insist we can progress only if we have certainty. The African National Congress (ANC) policy conference did little to take us forward. But some of the reaction to it did much to take us backward. ...read more

Populist slogans sacrifice economy for politics

The pace at which economies grow over the long term is determined mainly by structural factors. When policies encourage high rates of investment, job creation and the more efficient use of capital and labour, economies grow rapidly. Economies that fail to achieve these outcomes grow slowly. ...read more

SA's Internet freedom in trouble

South Africans should not only focus on government restrictions, but need to become more vigilant about businesses that censor Internet freedom. ...read more

The Enduring Horror of South Africa

In her recently republished autobiography Emma Mashinini, the grand old lady of the trade union movement, ascribes the deep roots of her steadfast political commitment to a desire to assert that: “I am human. I exist. I am a complete person.” ...read more

Gap between supporters and ANC a key theme at indaba

Contrary to much of what we read, the African National Congress's (ANC's) policies are not about to cause the country problems. But nor are they likely to provide solutions. ...read more

The problem with Mandela Day

Mandela Day in our country has limitations. On my recent visit to Rwanda, I witnessed how they involve their whole country in a traditional practice called Umuganda. ...read more

We must stop blaming and start compromising

Social partnership has not failed us — it has not been tried. A key feature of events since Marikana is not something that happened but something that didn’t: there has been no serious attempt to get business, labour and the government together to discuss a response, either at the National Economic Development and Labour Council or at any other forum. This seems difficult to explain, given that, only a while ago, the air was thick with talk of an economic Codesa. ...read more

Deficit demands SA boosts exports and savings

In the second quarter of this year, SA ran a deficit on the current account of the balance of payments equal to 6.4% of gross domestic product (GDP). This would translate to an annual deficit of R200bn if sustained for a full year. In rand terms, this is the largest current account deficit yet. As a share of GDP, it has been exceeded only in 2007 and 2008. But the current account deficit this year reflects much greater structural economic weaknesses than were present in 2007-08. Then, the deficits occurred when the economy was growing by more than 5% a year, the fastest in several decades. Now we are seeing very large deficits at a time of anaemic growth. ...read more

The evolution of news for a new generation

Township folks in particular will remember the days when the first thing workers did before boarding a taxi or a train to work in the morning would be to buy a newspaper and tuck it under the arm. It was a status symbol. ...read more

Steer clear of consultants' conventions

Academics are being offered fantastic freebies to attend dubious conferences at luxurious venues. An academic life has many rewards, including conferences. They are sometimes held in the most wonderful locations and we would be the last to deny that "I have to go there before I die" considerations have sometimes prompted us to submit papers to events in far-flung places.

...read more

Onus is on whites to douse flames of racism

In the wake of the Marikana massacre, information is trickling into the public domain suggesting that the police killing of workers was more premeditated than initially thought. ...read more

Why Cyril Ramaphosa had to apologise

Cyril Ramaphosa’s apology to make an R18 million bid for a buffalo has been received with mixed reactions across the country. ...read more

Address by Gill Marcus, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank to the Rhodes University Business School

Address by Gill Marcus, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank to the Rhodes University Business School strategic conversation series on the financial crisis and the crisis of trust in the banking sector of the advanced economies ...read more

Slates crush merit in back room deals

Elections are healthy for any political organisation – but only if they are free and fair. If they are not, they can tear parties and movements apart. ...read more

The Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez

Searching for Sugarman, Malik Bendjelloul's film about the reception of Sixto Rodriguez in South Africa, continues to accumulate awards, critical acclaim and commercial success as its momentum gathers in the lead up to the Academy Awards at the end of next month. ...read more

Corruption Watch turns one and prepares for school

There was no birthday cake and no champagne as Corruption Watch briefed media on its first birthday on Thursday. ...read more

Another school in court over admissions

Hoerskool Fochville and the education department clash over pupils who can't be taught in Afrikaans. ...read more

Old Rhodian turns Jo'burg ambassador

Matthew Krouse Tweet Fed up with people not knowing how incredible the City of Gold is, a keen resident decided to show them. ...read more

Solution to unemployment starts at our schools

FEW issues are more divisive when debating economic policy options in SA than the relationship between wage levels and job creation. There is no disagreement about the imperative for job creation. But what kind of jobs can be created when businesses, to survive, must compete with low labour costs in countries such as China and India? ...read more

Is The New Age’s coverage really pro-ANC?

The DA says that The New Age is “openly favourable to the government”. The newspaper denies this claim, though it is certainly a widely-held perception of the Gupta-owned national broadsheet. ...read more

R105 a day: Farmworkers, farmers and an uneasy compromise

Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant’s announcement on Monday that she had accepted the Employment Conditions Commission’s recommendation of a new sectoral minimum wage for farmworkers has been greeted with mixed responses. ...read more

Nigerians don’t probe their Nkandlas

In November 2012, the South African public sphere was awash with tales of the upgrade to President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence. ...read more

Freedom on the Internet: Free, partly free, unfree

Watchdog organisation Freedom House last month released its 2012 report Freedom on the Net and its report is more alarming for its dearth of data on African countries than for its actual rankings. ...read more

What’s Mine isn’t yours: Mining Indaba 2013

It’s Mining Indaba time: the week where the mining industry – the well-heeled parts, at least – gather in Cape Town’s swanky convention centre to see and be seen. ...read more

Nomadic no longer, the Karretjie mense are going nowhere

IN AND around Colesberg, a small historical town on the Ni midway between Cape Town and Johannesburg, I met a group of sheep shearers living in abject poverty, surviving in tiny tin shacks on the verges of public roads. Only in the last 15 years, have they become a settled, sedentary people. ...read more

Five minutes of fame in the spotlight of victimhood is all some people need

If we want to defend freedom, we should be able to tell the difference between the real threats which face it and those which some of us invent. ...read more

Armed Response: Local comedy with a bite

It’s been a helluva week in South African news. More evidence on Nkandla, Helen Zille going nuclear on The New Age, the SABC’s failure to secure live broadcast rights to the Proteas’ Test series against Pakistan – it’s enough to bring you down. ...read more

Varsity ‘rules’ that stymie students

Nomusa Mthethwa’s incredulous questioning of her experiences at a South African university (“How could I have failed varsity?”, Mail & Guardian, January 11-17) calls into question the commonplace assumption that the quality of schooling is all-important in predicting success in higher education. ...read more

Matrics given boost before big university leap

The SA Education and Environment Project's bridging year programme has given a few matrics the chance to succeed in their first year of varsity. ...read more

Sky really is the limit: the lowdown on Alex Crawford's reporting

Earlier this month, Alex Crawford of Sky News ran a report claiming that Eastern Cape women were deliberately drinking alcohol during pregnancy in order to subsequently claim a disability grant for the child. ...read more

The problem with the power of one

I feel honoured to be speaking on the 18th anniversary of Joe Slovo’s death and at this first public event of the Chris Hani Institute since Eddie Webster was appointed as director. As I understand it, Eddie’s vision is to build the institute as “an independent think-tank of the left”, and I have been thinking about what “left” means. ...read more

Double standards are the new cool

Whatever happened to admitting you were wrong, asks Verashni Pillay, as she tracks the double standards of Moeletsi Mbeki, FNB, the ANC and more. ...read more

Meet SA's new motivational speaker: Dr Death

This week the world’s eyes have been fixed on ‘Dr Shock’ – Aubrey Levin, the Apartheid psychiatrist on trial for sexual assault in Canada. But back home, ‘Dr Death’ – Wouter Basson, the former head of the Apartheid chemical and biological warfare programme – seems to have found a new calling. ...read more

Corruption Watch and SA's crusade against graft

South Africa appears to be facing a tsunami of corruption. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are crusaders taking out the bad guys at the knees. ...read more

The Riotous Underbelly of the New Normal

Here we are, almost twenty years after apartheid and from the prisons, to the shack settlements and the farms, the riotous underbelly of our society is on television most nights. ...read more

Regulatory overkill threatens academic autonomy in South Africa

ARE ALL South African universities in systemic crisis? One would imagine so, given the recent legislative and policy actions of Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande. ...read more

The future is in open and online tertiary education

THE World Economic Forum (WEF) says the global economy will need to create about 600-million new jobs in the next decade to preserve social cohesion and ensure sustainable growth. This poses a big challenge and was a key topic at the WEF’s meeting in Davos last week. ...read more

Profit Fetishism: no place in the triple bottom line?

The thought that maximising profit is the ultimate aim of business, popularised most famously by Milton Friedman in the 1970s, is not merely perverse, but it is also founded on triumphalist simple-mindedness informed by a deeply naive psychology of greed. ...read more

Helen Zille v The New Age: Money, Threats & Lies

Where will the spat between Helen Zille and The New Age go next? ...read more

An iPad a day keeps school absenteeism at bay

An iPad app with 600 textbooks in six South African languages has been launched and the classes featuring it have proved to be a hit with pupils. ...read more

Five minutes of fame in the spotlight of victimhood is all some people need

If we want to defend freedom, we should be able to tell the difference between the real threats which face it and those which some of us invent. ...read more

Mining Indaba: Ramphele, the big ideas woman

With reports that Mamphela Ramphele is to start a political party, she can expect a high level of interest in her public pronouncements from now on. ...read more

From Delhi to Bredasdorp

In December last year Jyoti Singh Pandey, a student on the cusp of her adult life, stepped into a bus in Delhi. She was with a friend. ...read more

Don't settle for ordinary

The beginning of this year Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced last year's matric results. In her address to the nation she mentioned that "we're encouraged by notable improvements in the education of children and society. ...read more

Blade’s new committee risks undermining university councils

In “Higher Education must be transformed” (February 1), the director general of the department of higher education and training, Gwebs Qonde, makes a range of statements that are worth responding to. ...read more

Mixed signals in post-school system

Colleges are vital in the attempt to unscramble the confusion at the doors of higher learning that leave thousands in limbo. ...read more

Analysis: After the murder that shocked the country, a time for introspection

Reeva Steenkamp, a lively, well-liked young woman with a promising career, was allegedly killed by Oscar Pistorius on Valentine’s Day. It is a horrible, surreal story. The discovery that a national hero and global poster-boy for inspiration may also be a murderer is devastating. ...read more

The car guard singing his way off the Cape Town streets

A car guard in Cape Town who used to sing to himself as he helped motorists into parking bays has suddenly found himself a viral hit. ...read more

Investors will trick us

Was born in Springs at the tail end of the mining boom. The problem with my story is that it is a worm’s eye view of that boom, and parts of it are based on titbits I got from my grandmother, who experienced it only as a maid. ...read more

Bring back the springboks

Recent controversial suggestions by two Rhodes University researchers that ranching with springbok is economically and ecologically more sustainable than wool farming in the Karoo not only had farmers quickly listing several reasons why ...read more

What role should academics play in public life?

AS THE academic year begins at universities around the country, it is opportune to question what type of role academics can play in public life. The first and most obvious task is that academics have a huge responsibility to the "public" body of students (and their supporting families). ...read more

Once upon a starry night: The story (so far) of the Square Kilometre Array

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will eventually become the most sensitive radio telescope ever built, able to survey the heavens more than 10 000 times faster than current technologies. ...read more

State of Higher Education in South Africa

On the 8 December 2012, the British Council hosted the Higher Education Roundtable meeting at the Townhouse Hotel, Cape Town. Professor Nazir Carrim, a Senior Lecturer in the Witwatersrand University School of Education, was commissioned by the British Council to complete a report on Higher Education in South Africa. ...read more

Transformation reduced to numbers

It was wise of Gwebs Qonde, director general of higher education and training, not to try in his “Right to Reply” last week to defend the appointment of University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) vice-chancellor MW Makgoba as head of the new higher education transformation oversight committee (“Higher education must be transformed”, Mail & Guardian, February 1). ...read more

South Africa: Village thinking at a national level

We can cherish our cultural identities, but we can't let politicians exploit small-scale cultural values, writes Chris Mann. ...read more

Mining Indaba: Industry on the defensive over sustainable development

The final day of Mining Indaba 2013 was devoted to the discussion of two of mining’s current buzzwords: “sustainable development”. ...read more

Nzimande and the universities: A reply to Ihron Rensburg

Alex Mashilo says there'll be no turning back in advancing transformation in higher education. ...read more

Higher education unaffordable for poor in South Africa

Kirti Menon, Registrar, Wits University, Johannesburg, and a great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, on Wednesday highlighted the problems of access to higher education in South Africa for a majority of population even 19 years after the end of apartheid. ...read more

In Bredasdorp, a community searching for its soul

It’s been a dark weekend in Bredasdorp, where the battered body of Anene Booysen was laid to rest on Saturday. As locals struggle to come to terms with the gruesome crime which thrust their quiet town into the global spotlight, difficult questions are being asked. ...read more

Written on the body

At Rhodes University, women annually strip off their clothes to use their bodies as message-boards to carry statements against sexual violence. ...read more

Inhabiting Orwell's Animal Farm

As the ANC acquires more of the accoutrements of a classic dictatorship, it is no wonder that South Africans are experiencing a growing sense of rot, writes Richard Pithouse. ...read more

ANC needs to find ways to fix itself

By Steven Friedman

IT takes much more than conference resolutions to mend an organisation. But conference decisions can show a willingness to begin to fix problems.
...read more

Independent Media, and the battle for the soul of independent journalism

By Professor Jane Duncan

In the next few weeks, a decision will be taken that will most likely change the face of South African newspaper ownership for some time to come. After years of bleeding the South African operation of Independent News and Media (INM-SA) dry, its Irish owners look set to sell it to a local bidder.
...read more

ANC wins time to face challenges

The more comfortable the ANC’s leaders feel about the outcome of its Mangaung conference, the more difficult is life likely to become for them and for the governing party.
...read more

Viva to the SA pencil-pushing angels who simply do their jobs

I have a confession to make: I love good administrators. It's true – I love modest, orderly and efficient fellow human beings who sit at desks in front of computers and telephones doing their job properly from eight to five until they retire. ...read more

Not ideal way to elect party leaders

The ANC may need not a change of attitude, but a change of voting system. ...read more

Where is South Africa's Jantar Mantar moment?

The brutal gang rape and murder of a New Delhi 23-year-old has sparked global condemnation and top-level political talks in India about urgently amending rape laws. ...read more

Heterosexuals: Should we let them raise children?

Veteran journalist Stephen Mulholland was kind enough to publish a helpful piece in the Sunday Times last weekend interpreting the mysterious world of the homosexual for outsiders, while noting that same-sex parenting was “neither the norm nor ultimately desirable”. ...read more

Old Fourlegs - a fishy tale

Had it not been for the passion of a self-trained South African naturalist, the discovery of a living specimen of the rare coelacanth around this time in 1938 may never have happened. ...read more

Finding the business value behind the big data buzz

Big data is without a doubt the latest industry buzzword, and like all buzzwords it is the subject of much debate, misunderstanding and hype. ...read more

Ordered into banishment: the forgotten people of apartheid South Africa

In 2001, Dumisa Ntsebeza and Terry Bell complained in Unfinished Business: South Africa, Apartheid and Truth, that "like so much of South Africa's recent brutal history we shall probably never know exactly how many people were banished and what happened to all of them". ...read more

How can SA stop the rot?

MANY societies before us have travelled the well worn path that winds down the slope, gentle at first but then precipitous, that runs from the bliss of a new dawn and into the stench of a rotting dream. And many societies have discovered that neither shared participation in the great drama of a national struggle nor a founding leader that, like Kwame Nkrumah, Jawaharlal Nehru or Jomo Kenyatta, matched a real stature on the world stage with an ability to express a collective sense of historical destiny at home, guarantee anything. ...read more

Losing by-elections has issues for ANC

For some years, ANC politicians have had to worry far more about each other than about voters. Is the tide turning? ...read more

Fixating on personalities while forgetting policy

SOUTH African politics today appear to be primarily concerned with the forthcoming ANC elective conference in Mangaung. Repeated analyses of the fortunes of various electoral contenders and how one or other ANC constituency may decide to allocate its votes have become the standard feature in our news. ...read more

SA Reconciliation Barometer 2012: The Young and The Restless

You can’t afford to ignore the young people of South Africa. For one thing, there are simply too many of them: two-thirds of the population are under 35 years old. ...read more

Vast improvements in pupils' national test results 'not possible'

If the annual national assessments are to be believed, SA has the fastest developing education system in the world - a highly unlikely conclusion. ...read more

Don’t hold breath for a jump to the left

It is almost certain that the economic resolutions at the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) Mangaung conference this month will be reported as very important and a shift to the left. ...read more

In developing states, honesty is the best policy

News that SA fell in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions index, to 69th place from 64th last year, has been greeted with concern. ...read more

Dear Mandela: Documentary lays bare the shack-dwellers' struggle

Since its inception in 2005, the housing activist group Abahlali baseMjondolo has been subjected to extraordinary levels of harassment by police and, some believe, the ANC. ...read more

We’re being ripped off

South African cellphone companies have been ruthless in their exploitation of their customers and it's time for something to be done about it. ...read more

Meeting Amidst the Rot

Many societies before us have travelled the well worn path that winds down the slope, gentle at first but then precipitous, that runs from the bliss of a new dawn and into the stench of a rotting dream. ...read more

Live: The Voice of SA Youth

The voices of less privileged South African youth are rarely heard in the mainstream media. Live Magazine, which recently celebrated its first birthday, aims to change that. ...read more

Reporting Mandela: Of vultures and watchdogs

Nelson Mandela is a national treasure for South Africans. Our government recently issued new banknotes with Mandela’s face on it, a daily reminder of the social, cultural and political capital that the country’s first democratic president created. ...read more

No Violence Against Women and Children: 16 Days is all you get

“16 Days of Activism For No Violence Against Women and Children” came to an end on Monday, with Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe announcing a new National Council Against Gender Violence. ...read more

Two young men prove nothing is impossible

In April last year I attended a graduation ceremony at Rhodes University to ululate for a very close friend of mine. ...read more

Talk is crucial, but we must learn how

If state, labour and business ever meet, they must learn to compromise. ...read more

The rules are not there for your convenience

Attempting to prosecute for behaviour that bothers us is not going to work ALMOST 20 years into democracy, many of us still believe we can use the law to control behaviour we don't like. ...read more

Winelands strike: The farmers' perspective

On Thursday reports indicated that most Western Cape farmworkers were back at work for the time being, with the exception of De Doorns, where thousands of people took to the streets in the afternoon. ...read more

Solving the problem of maths

Our expensive testing and research still do not tell us enough about how children learn the subject. ...read more

Spies, newshounds and watchdogs

Journalists are increasing falling prey to hacking attacks and there is little to protect them. As media watchdog organisations flag a growing trend towards state internet censorship and surveillance, journalists around the globe are urged to heighten their information security. ...read more

Education department's legal woes far from over

Storm clouds loom over basic education's 'inadequate' standards and unmet deadlines, writes Victoria John. ...read more

Angie's draft school infrastructure norms flout Constitution

The draft norms and standards for school infrastructure that Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga recently gazetted could well be illegal. ...read more

Only sober realism can save platinum industry

The recent announcement that Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) is to close and mothball shafts seems to have caught some role-players unawares. But it has been obvious for some time that the platinum industry is in serious financial trouble. ...read more

FNB's role in Nkandla undermines their campaign

FNB has been celebrated for their latest ad campaign but, as Verashni Pillay points out, they have their own sins to deal with. ...read more

Pass-rate scepticism belies real, steady improvements

THE national and provincial education departments are in a double bind. If the matric pass rate declines, it is seen as evidence of the crisis in the sector. On the other hand, if the pass rate improves, there is universal scepticism. ...read more

Bargaining starts with the truth, not platitudes

If negotiation was about people agreeing with each other, there would be no need for it. And so, the more negotiators say things most of their listeners would prefer not to hear, the more the bargaining is real. ...read more

Farmworkers strike may be over - but everyones a loser

Cosatu says the Western Cape farmworkers’ strike is over. The consistently more militant union Bawusa appears to agree – albeit seemingly more reluctantly. Cosatu trumpets that the protest action has changed SA farming forever. But has anyone really won? ...read more

Media probes miss the mark

IN THE past few years, the media, especially the press, have attracted high praise for taking investigative journalism so seriously. Recognising the fact that this form of journalism provides them with the distinctive content needed to hold onto audiences, given the explosion of media options, the major press groups have re-established investigative journalism capacity. ...read more

Black Consciousness: Time to breach the white hole of oppression

White people themselves have to debunk the myth of their supremacy. It can't come from blacks, writes Malaika wa Azania. ...read more

Workers' power thrives on unity

The Durban strikes of 1973 empowered workers and helped destroy apartheid. ...read more

Angie's new school norms a slap in the face

Long-awaited draft school infrastructure standards are a shocking disappointment, educationists say. ...read more

SA’s science must be much more ‘in your face’

SA needs to start branding its science and research. While SA’s development budget is very small, with little money to spare, it is becoming increasingly important to advertise what higher education and research councils are doing. ...read more

Runaway numbers squeeze universities

Either fees must go up, or the National Student Financial Aid Scheme allocations will have to. ...read more

The Stuff of Investigative Journalism

In the past few years, the media, especially the press, have attracted high praise for taking investigative journalism so seriously. Recognising the fact that this form of journalism provides them with the distinctive content needed to hold onto audiences given the explosion of media options, the major press groups have re-established investigative journalism capacity. ...read more

Could this be watershed year of negotiation and compromise?

It is just possible that this year will be a year of talking, not yelling. ...read more

Conversations: Jane Duncan on race, identity and racism

Eighteen years after the end of white rule, South Africa is more polarised than ever before. Emboldened in the aftermath of Mangaung, the ANC’s new theme is unity, but this isn’t about addressing social cohesion - it is all about healing schisms that would undermine the ruling party’s power base. ...read more

Khayelitsha policing inquiry: Zille and civil society 1, Mthethwa 0

Monday saw the Western Cape High Court dismiss an attempt by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa to stop a proposed commission of inquiry into Khayelitsha policing. ...read more

Five reasons for South Africans to celebrate Mangaung

Did you miss the nitty-gritties of the ANC's Mangaung conference while you were on holiday? Verashni Pillay tells you what's worth celebrating. ...read more

The destruction of Kennedy Road: A precursor to Marikana

Kenneth Good on how the temerity of the organised poor was met with a ferocious counter-attack from the state. ...read more

Farmworkers' strike: Clanwilliam example may provide way out of the tight, ugly corner

There was a glimmer of progress in the Western Cape farmworkers’ labour dispute on Tuesday, in the form of a reported breakthrough in negotiations between farmers and unions in Clanwilliam which may set the model for the rest of the province. ...read more

Partners in cautious optimism

The formal invitation extended to South Africa by China late in 2010 to join the BRIC formation of emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is a confirmation of the growing economic ties between China and South Africa. ...read more

De Doorns: Strike continues, in spite of Cosatu

Uncomfortably hot temperatures in the Hex River Valley on Wednesday seemed to match a generally fractious mood. Cosatu’s claim on Tuesday that they had reached a deal in Clanwilliam that could be rolled out to other farming communities now seems shaky without the buy-in of Agri SA – or indeed all Clanwilliam farmers. ...read more

Ramphele’s party unlikely to be a game-changer

LAUNCHING a political party is fairly easy — getting people to vote for it is the difficult bit. Particularly since a great deal more is needed than good ideas and the respect of the people who drive the national debate. ...read more

Bling, Bling You're Dead

Not so long ago the middle classes in the world created by British colonialism used to cloak their claim to privilege in the stifling rituals of bourgeois respectability. ...read more

What’s an everyday campaign on GBV?

South Africa, 18 February 13: This year's State of the Nation address occurred amid a national outcry and introspection on gender-based violence (GBV). ...read more

Time to bring Dr Karabus home

Seventy-seven-year-old Cape Town doctor Cyril Karabus remains under house arrest in the United Arab Emirates, almost six months after being detained at the Dubai airport on charges of manslaughter relating to his treatment of a patient over a decade ago. ...read more

Wave of rape weaved into our social fabric

We need to resist idea this travesty comes from 'outside' AST December Jyoti Singh Pandey, a student on the cusp of her adult life, stepped on to a bus in Delhi. She was with a friend. ...read more

The Criminal Injustice System

At the end of January, an all too familiar pattern of events played itself out in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court in Durban. Four member of the shack dwellers’ movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, were arrested after a protest against problematic practices in a housing development in KwaNdengezi. ...read more

Tropika Island of Treasure: Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

SABC1 opted to go ahead with Saturday’s airing of the first episode of reality show Tropika Island of Treasure, despite the tragic death of star Reeva Steenkamp just three days previously. ...read more

He was a steady hand at the helm

When I first joined the Sunday Times in the early 1980s, I soon became known as the "young Old Dalian". ...read more

On different pages in the differentiation debate

Research in South Africa over the past eight years has clustered universities into groups based on performance indicators. ...read more

Painful economic readjustment may lie ahead

‘At some point, global interest rates will return to more normal levels, reducing the attraction of our higher rates’ ...read more

Knowing who funds politics

Are we inching nearer to knowing where political parties get their money? If so, will we be expected to pay for the privilege? A resolution passed at the ANC's Mangaung conference suggests that laws that control money's impact on politics may be on the way. ...read more

NDP: ‘Common vision’ to do more than reshuffling revenue and spending

Commentators who believed substantial structural changes in government spending and revenue would be needed for the 2013-14 budget to provide evidence of the government’s commitment to achieving the goals of the National Development Plan (NDP) will be disappointed. ...read more

Lessons for SA in Venezuela and Latin America

The death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez unleashed a tidal wave of economic and political commentary. ...read more