Articles
The Story About a Cave
By Zubeida JafferNine years ago, in this month of August, I entered the Holy City of Mecca to perform the pilgrimage. (Read Sharing my haj experience, www.zubeidajaffer.co.za) During this time, I had the opportunity to travel to the Mountain of Light where the Holy...
Dr Desiree Ellis: The Architect of Banyana’s Golden Age
By Len KalaneA Cape Town schoolgirl who was once told football wasn't for her is now the only coach in history to have beaten Nigeria three times — and she has one more gruelling play-off gauntlet standing between Banyana Banyana and a third World Cup. On Thursday...
Beijing +30 African Women’s Movement lead a top-level intervention in South Africa’s anti-migrant narrative exposing online disinformation
By Hasina KathradaSenior African political leaders, diplomats, lawyers and researchers have launched a coordinated pushback against South Africa's increasingly hardline migration narrative, arguing that migrants are being scapegoated for governance failures while...
Development, Not Deportation: The Case for a SADC Marshall Plan
By Mavuso Msimang Last year, the South African government spent an estimated R500 million deporting 109,344 undocumented African migrants. Do the arithmetic, as one occasionally must in this line of work, and the figure comes to roughly R2,670 for every person...
Organisations launch campaign against Xenophobia, for African Unity
By Zubeida JafferClose to 80 community groups across South Africa and beyond are launching an effort to unite Africa and mobilise against xenophobia on the eve of Women’s Day, 8 August 2026. The coalition says rising anti‑migrant violence threatens African solidarity...
New U.S. Army Psychological Operations Company launched to “influence and persuade” Africans
By Zubeida JafferOn 15 July 2026, the U.S. Army formally activated a new psychological operations company dedicated to the African continent. The unit, Delta Company, 7th Psychological Operations Battalion (Special Operations) (Airborne), also uses the nickname...
Credit ratings are not fair towards African Economies
Africa Must Stop Exporting Wealth and Importing CreditworthinessBy Prof Nicky MorganAfrica finds itself in a peculiar and deeply consequential paradox. The continent possesses some of the world’s richest deposits of strategic minerals, yet remains among the least...
Dearest Madiba
I write this article to mark Mandela Day (18 July) and hope my words reach you wherever you are in the heavens. In this month 16 years ago (on 11 July 2010) you and Mam Graca floated across the field in a golf cart at Soccer City in Johannesburg, the first World Cup...
Where will this week take South Africans and Africans?
By Professor Nicky MorganHistorical solidarity creates a moral obligation to treat people humanely and fairly, but it does not require a state to surrender its responsibility to govern migration, protect public resources, or prioritize the constitutional rights of its...
An expensive lesson for the Western World
By Chloe MalulekeWhen the full text of the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran was released, analysts expecting the language of a balanced peace agreement found something rather different. What the document describes, point by...
March and March came to Wynberg on Saturday 20 June
By Zubeida JafferThe first anti-immigrant march in the southern suburbs of the Cape was set to start in Wynberg at 9a.m and end at Newlands at 3p.m. I am a resident of Wynberg and joined the gathered group shortly after 9a.m identifying myself as a reporter. The...
Remembering June 16
By Zubeida JafferTo protest against the killings of schoolchildren in Soweto on June 16, 1976,the people of the Cape joined the nationwide call for a stayaway four years later. This is their story.
A boy on a mat on the floor in Lagos
He grew up in one room. Not one room to himself — one room shared with nine brothers and sisters, in a polygamous family on Lagos Island, Nigeria. They slept on mats on the floor. His parents had nothing to spare. University tuition was an impossible dream. He was...
J M Coetzee praises NWASA as controversy over Jerusalem Festival exchange grows
Nobel laureate J M Coetzee backs NWASA amid growing controversy over Gaza, cultural boycotts and the Jerusalem Festival exchange.
The meaning of the Phala Phala Concourt Decision
By Judge John Murphy After the recent judgment of the Constitutional Court concerning the Phala-Phala matter there are once again calls in the media for President Ramaphosa to resign from office. I sense a confusion regarding the judgement and thought it may be...
South African writers back Coetzee’s Boycott of Jerusalem Writers Festival
By Zubeida Jaffer The National Writers’ Association of South Africa (NWASA) has expressed its full support for the South African Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee’s decision to decline participation in the 14th International Writers Festival in Jerusalem. NWASA’s...
South Africa and Namibia Lead Africa on 2026 Press Freedom Index
South Africa and Namibia lead Africa in the 2026 Press Freedom Index, both ranking above the United States. Their standing reflects strong legal protections and media independence, even as global press freedom reaches its lowest level in 25 years.
New Johannesburg Centre to bridge knowledge gap on Islam in Africa
By Zubeida Jaffer A new research institution, the Centre for Islamic Research - Africa (CIRA), launched recently in Johannesburg to deepen understanding of Islam across the continent among South Africa’s two million Muslims. In a preface to its inaugural booklet, CIRA...
The Empire Has No Clothes
By Chloe MalulekeThere is a particular kind of moment in history when the powerful, in their arrogance, do something so naked, so unfiltered, that the mythology holding power together cracks in real time. The United States' war against Iran has been that moment. Not...
Art and Ubuntu Trust Launches Groundbreaking Book Series Elevating African Knowledge and Artists
By Zubeida Jaffer Johannesburg, March 26, 2026In a vibrant celebration of African intellectual heritage, the Art and Ubuntu Trust unveiled an expanded library of publications at the University of Johannesburg, positioning artists as vital thinkers, researchers, and...
Are the camels on the horizon?
By Zubeida JafferThe United Arab Emirates’ late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum once said when asked how he saw the future of his country:My grandfather rode a camel. My father rode a camel. I drive a Mercedes. My son drives a Land Rover. My grandson will also...
Choosing war yet again
By Fr David Neuhaus I write this with air raid sirens blaring in Jerusalem and Israeli war planes overhead. We are at war yet again. Israeli planes attacked Iran on Saturday morning, February 28,2026. The United States quickly joined in on the attack. Sites all over...
Fare thee well, Bra Joe
By Abbey MakoeBra Joe Latakgomo was a gentle giant of Black journalism. Orally, he was not a man of many words. Almost a reserved personality, he treated people with respect. Even his objects of scorn, such as apartheid and its white establishments, he condemned with...
Words can move mountains: Remembering Diana Ferrus
Poet Diana Ferrus has died. Her poem helped secure the 2002 return of Sarah Baartman’s remains from France to South Africa.
Christmas is not a Western story – it is a Palestinian one
By Rev Dr Munther Isaac Every December, much of the Christian world enters a familiar cycle of celebration: carols, lights, decorated trees, consumer frenzy and the warm imagery of a snowy night. In the United States and Europe, public discourse often speaks of...
127 African women journalists write to jailed Burundian Sandra Muhoza as she returns to court
Nairobi, December 2025—On the first anniversary of the conviction of ailing Burundian journalist, 127 African women journalists have written her a joint letter expressing solidarity, calling for her unconditional release, and decrying her imprisonment as...
What makes aging with grace possible?
By Zubeida Jaffer My mother, Raghmat Jaffer, reached the age of 99 years by God’s grace in November, 2025. She continues to do her own chores. I asked her what she would consider being important elements of longevity. Her reply was eating carefully and always moving....
South Africans are flourishing more than you might expect – here’s why
By Richard G. Cowden South Africa is often portrayed in the media as a country struggling with inequality, corruption, crime, infrastructure collapse and public health challenges. But this isn’t the whole story. When South Africans are asked to describe their own...
Beyond the Headlines: South Africa’s Untold Story of Progress
By Sanjith Hannuman At a recent JP Landman presentation, the renowned political analyst revealed something startling: very few attendees had heard of Project Vulindlela—South Africa's most significant economic reform initiative since GEAR in 1996. This lack of...
Does Judaism support the views of South Africa’s Rabbi Goldstein?
Steven Friedman questions whether Rabbi Warren Goldstein’s defence of Israel reflects authentic Jewish teaching. He examines core Judaic principles that reject violence and highlight justice, showing how faith can be misused for hate—or reclaimed for peace.