Articles
In Memory of Phindile Xaba on Black Wednesday
Zubeida Jaffer, Shepi Mati, Frank Meintjies and Phindile Xaba South Africa has come a long way from the dark day of October 19, 1977 when the Apartheid regime squeezed the noose tightly around press freedom. Known as Black Wednesday, the day has appropriately become...
DEVELOPING A NEW NATIONAL NARRATIVE FOR SOUTH AFRICA
By Zubeida Jaffer I am an African. I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land. My body has frozen in our...
Banning of RT, a Dangerous Moment.
By Zubeida Jaffer The extensive banning of the international news channel Russia Today (RT) in the world represents a dangerous moment for journalism. It pushes back the commitment to freedom of expression that many have sacrificed much for. Journalists across the...
A Great Man Buried in Simplicity
Archbishop Desmond Tutu led by example in both his life and death. His central message upon death was twofold: live simply so others may simply live and embrace all religious faiths. Lying peacefully in his coffin, he wore a plain white robe, black socks, perfectly...
The Importance of Strengthening Systems and Institutions
South African institutions are limping. Nobody will dispute that the country faces huge challenges. Covid-19 has laid bare the fault lines in our society. The provision of jobs and the creation of a fair social system will not be possible if institutions are not...
Resting in his Shade – A Tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
My heart breaks today with the news that a great tree has fallen. Our dearest Arch Tutu has left us. He waited to bless us with his presence for the last Christmas and then he passed onto the other world, gracious and free. He has been with us every step of the way...
De Klerk poorly advised
By Zubeida Jaffer In his last days, Mr F W De Klerk appears to have been poorly advised by those around him. His statement has disturbed the psyche of our nation. Instead of bringing closure, it has unleashed memories that are difficult to process. It required a...
Finding Strength By Zubeida Jaffer
Friday 27 August 2021 Charles Dickens said in 1859: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the...
A Reflection on Women’s Day 2021
We have walked such a long road to secure a just and fair South Africa where women can stand confidently alongside men as equal partners. Today, on Women’s Day, we salute those who have gone the extra mile in the past and are doing so in the present so that our boys...
A visit to Lumkile’s Book Joint in Gugulethu on Mandela Day 2021
By Zubeida Jaffer It was an Alice-in-Wonderland experience. The car glided through the streets of Gugulethu on Mandela Day until it reached NY 22. It stopped in front of the home of Lumkile Mzukwa outside a gate that closed off a driveway with a garage behind it....
A woman ahead of her time: The Lesseyton moment
By Zubeida Jaffer Charlotte Mannya Maxeke took the unusual step in 1902 to insist on the participation of women in church and political meetings. She had graduated with a BSc Degree in 1901 becoming the first indigenous South African women to achieve this. When she...
Can Pursuing Happiness, as the Founders Defined It, Bring the United States Together?
No government can guarantee our happiness. That depends on our own efforts and luck. But government can make it harder or easier to attain happiness.
The AstraZeneca vaccine and our ongoing uncertainty problem
This is far from the first time that the AstraZeneca vaccine—and media reporting about it—has caused confusion.
Goldman Sachs caught for massive global bribe-paying
By Frank Vogel* In an extraordinary act, Goldman Sachs — a leading U.S.-headquartered global bank — publicly declared not only that it accepts responsibility for engaging in massive global bribe-paying, but that it will also take the unprecedented step of cutting...
Tiny ripples can lead to tsunamis of change
By Ashley Forbes Death seems everywhere, as does suffering and despair. I recently visited an old comrade, a respected activist who feels isolated and severely depressed, grieves the loss of family and close friends who due to COVID19 have recently passed, and like...
In Response to the President: Reflections of a Freedom Fighter
By Ashley Forbes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s most recent intervention, though welcome, is not proportionate to the gravity of our situation. (President Cyril Ramaphosa’s letter to ANC members about corruption). In 1994 our people trusted their leaders to restore land...
Israeli lobbyists distort Mandela legacy
By Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela “Where is the Palestinian Mandela?” is a question I have often heard from Israel’s defenders. What they are really asking is where is the Palestinian equivalent of Nelson Mandela – a man who, they believe, offered only olive branches...
Historian Masilela dies in Thailand
By Zubeida Jaffer Internationally renowned South African intellectual historian and Marxist scholar, Professor Ntongela Masilela passed away in Thailand recently after a long illness. He was 72 years old. He will be remembered for his formidable collection of works...
The Zindzi I knew
By Shannon Ebrahim Zindzi Mandela was larger than life, someone I deeply admired and loved for her immense bravery and passion for justice. She was absolutely her Mother’s daughter, and that is how she would want to be remembered. Having spent the past two years since...
Remembering Ashley
Ashley Kriel was murdered on 9 July 1987. This is an excerpt from Our Generation, my memoir, to be released in a second edition soon.
Will Israelis choose to look away?
Will Israelis and the world look away when Israel and the US gear up to further strip away what little is left of Palestinian land soon? Israel, in accordance with the latest US Plan, is set to unfold an annexation of land in direct contravention of international law....
That Woman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
By Khadija Magardie The characterization of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on social media and even on the pages of some of our serious newspapers rings a sad and familiar bell. That is, to every black woman who has known a career of being constantly mansplained and...
Teachers at Fourways High School honour school Covid-19 leadership
By Ruschka Jaffer* Teachers at Fourways High School in Johannesburg are handing out awards of appreciation to their school leadership to thank them for guiding them through this pandemic. They are painfully aware that their experience is not the rule across the...
Covid 19: This too shall pass says Wynberg’s former Robben Island Prisoner Ashley Forbes
I watched as the virus spread from China in December 2019, to the Western world in January/February 2020, to our shores with the first confirmed cases of Covid-19 in KwaZulu-Natal on 5 March 2020, the unprecedented declaration of a State of Disaster by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 15 March 2020 and the “hard lockdown” on 27 March 2020.
New York Life in the Time of Coronavirus, a Kenyan memoir
By George Orwel* Imagine that you died and after many years of being away you are allowed a single glance earthward. You are so moved that you cannot help sobbing. That is what I am feeling right now when I think of Kenya, the country of my birth, and that is because...
Full liberation not achieved: Pallo Jordan
By Zubeida Jaffer The goal of full liberation in South Africa remains unachieved. Pallo Jordan, one of the ANC”s leading intellectuals said this recently at a memorial service of former member of parliament, Ben Turok. In anticipation of the 1997 ANC elective...
Harlan Cloete remembers Ben Turok
13 December 2019 During the turbulent 80s Dr Haran Cloete was a student at UWC (University of the Working Class), where he was introduced to Prof Ben Turok through his book, Africa what is to be done? A seminal piece of work that displayed the prowess of a practical...
How the Qur’an Helped Me Find My Power Within & 7 Tips to Radiate Barakah
By Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool My accidental discovery and deliberative usage of my inner power – the Power Within – has been one of the more difficult of my life journey to share. The difficulty lies in both confessing how unconscious I was when uncovering my inner...
WHY The West Craves Materialism & The East Sticks To Religion….
By Imran Khan My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan. Despite gaining...
Haron and Biko – fallen heroes who died in September
Two dates in September are hard for me to forget – 12 and 27 September. On 12 September 1977, 42 years ago, Steve Bantu Biko was murdered in police custody. He was 30 years old. On the 27 September 1969, 50 years ago, Imam Abdullah Haron, at age 45, faced the same...