Articles
World Press Freedom Day 2019
May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day. It gives us an opportunity to assess the progress of our profession annually.
50 YEARS ON AND NO JUSTICE
Fifty years ago, in 1969, seven men were killed in detention for their political beliefs. The family of the seventh man is about to launch a campaign to bring attention to these freedom fighters known by few South Africans. The seventh man, the last to die in 1969,...
The disgrace of South Africa’s post-colonial ‘mimic men’
IN 1967, a book by Caribbean writer VS Naipaul examined how newly-created elites in newly-independent countries that had laboured under colonialism began acting with as much greed, cruelty and ruthlessness as their former colonial masters. Naipaul named his book ‘The...
Special Recognition Award for Social Justice
Zubeida Jaffer awarded Imagine Awards 2018 Special Recognition Award for Social Justice
The Catholic Church is the Biggest Financial Power on Earth
Have you ever wondered how wealthy the church really is? In his book, ‘The Vatican Billions’, writer and philosopher Avro Manhattan gives us a glimpse of the true financial worth of the catholic church: “The Vatican has large investments with the Rothschildsof...
Photographs from Reverend Chris Wessels’s funeral
The American Economy Is Rigged -And what we can do about it
In Brief Economic inequality is higher in the U.S. than in virtually all other advanced countries. The American political system, coupled with high initial inequality, gave the moneyed enough political influence to change laws to benefit themselves, further...
Footprints of hope in the Cape sands – Heritage Day 2018
The women of Cape Town remind me of the grey-blue mountains that hug our shores. They are forever present. They have been here for thousands of years giving life to those who have lived and live here at the furthermost point of Africa. Their stories of times gone by...
A reflection on Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje’s Mhudi by Antjie Krog
MHUDI Before we explore the underlying philosophy of the novel, it is important to understand exactly where Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje emotionally and physically found himself when he wrote this text. It was around 1920 while Plaatje was living for the second time in...
Charlotte Maxeke, ‘Mother of Black Freedom’
In segregated South Africa, Charlotte Mannya Maxeke dedicated her life to the struggle for women’s rights and education for all. Her pioneering role is only now being rediscovered and more widely reported once again.
Mosques need to take up the issue of violence against women
On 9 August 2018, National Women's Day, Zubeida Jaffer spoke to Tashreeq Truebody of Radio 786 about her life as a woman who had lived through the "belly of the beast" that was Apartheid. Jaffer said the levels of violence against women in today's society is "very...
Bongani Mayosi: SA top cardiologist found new heart attack gene
Professor Bongani Mayosi, the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town was suffering from depression and took his own life on Friday 27 July 2018.
Boys in a Thai Cave: The Positive Power of Globalism
The events near Chang Rai powerfully underscore that a “global community” very much exists – and that it can have very positive effects on the lives and well-being of people.
Open letter to Zenani and Zindzi Mandela
Veteran journalist, Zubeida Jaffer, writes an open letter to Zindzi and Zenani Mandela on healing, following the passing of their mother, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the late stalwart being robbed of her legacy during her life and Stratcom unleashing a campaign which would succeed in driving a wedge between herself and other leaders.
Charlotte Maxeke’s Speech
The Native Christian Mother (By. Mrs. Maxeke) Mr Chairman and Christian friends, it is certainly a great pleasure to be in a gathering of this kind, a gathering where Christian men and women are collected to study as to how the Gospel of Christ should be spread...
Winnie: Unbreakable but not unscarred
Winnie, brave and beautiful, is no more. She was unbreakable through the toughest of times. She led the fight for full rights for all of us in the country of our birth. She was unbreakable but not unscarred.
Let’s choose a path where all can prosper
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was probably one of the world’s most well know freedom fighters, who tirelessly campaigned for an end to apartheid injustice. Award winning journalist Zubeida Jaffer argues that it’s time for all of us to pick up the baton left by stalwarts like Winnie and to fight as she did for a South Africa which benefits all.
Open Letter To Cyril Ramaphosa
I would like you to seek assistance to change the narrative that gives local business the right to hoard their resources at the expense of the public. They cannot expect you and your team to encourage foreign investment while they hoard resources that all of us have helped them create.
SOWETO: A Festival of Ideas once again?
Soweto is associated locally and across the world with resistance against apartheid. It was here that the youth rose up against the imposition of Afrikaans in their schools in 1976 and gave impetus to a protracted battle against apartheid leading to a democratic South Africa in 1994. Fast forward to 7-10 December 2017, when scores of young people packed the Eyethu Lifestyle Centre in Soweto for the ABANTU BOOK FESTIVAL while just 13 kilometres away, preparations were underway for the ANC’s 54th National Congress, to be held at the Nasrec Centre in Soweto from 16 to 20 December.
The Jakes that we Loved
By Albie Sachs Former justice of the Constitutional Court ALBIE SACHS reflects on the life of Jakes Gerwel, a contrarian who welcomed critiques of his own leadership What to do about my Mozambican art collection? After the bomb that nearly took my life in Maputo in...
Struggling for a Future: The Second Revolution
By Njabulo Ndebele Thank you for inviting me to participate in this important gathering this morning. In the midst of so many other commitments, I decided to prioritise an unexpected invitation to do what I was asked. I was asked to express my understandings of the...
Conservative Saudi clergy lose their grip
Saudi Arabia’s ultra-conservative forces have for long succeeded in maintaining a tight hold on women’s freedom of movement in the Kingdom. When King Salman lifted the ban on women driving recently, it sent a clear signal that those forces were no longer holding sway....
Ashley Forbes on Ebrahim Ebrahim’s 80th birthday
By Zubeida Jaffer Ashley Forbes was 24 years old when he was imprisoned on Robben Island. He stayed in a single cell in B Section with Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim who was then serving a second period of imprisonment. He had served 15 years from 1964 and then kidnapped from...
Bantu women on the move
The grand narratives about history are misleading. Apart from the pass protests of the early 1900s and the 1956 march, history would have us believe that black women were not active participants in South Africa’s history. Athambile Masola digs into the archives.
No single ideology provides easy answers to the crisis
By Zubeida Jaffer What is happening in our country and in the world? Daily we are bombarded with shocking new revelations of misconduct of some politicians, civil servants and some business people. Human civility, integrity and right action are flying out of the...
On Being South African
By Zubeida Jaffer Who am I? I am a child of God and am part of the universe. I was born into a Cape Muslim family. I am neither white, nor black, nor pink, nor blue. I am a human being, part of a common humanity. I am a woman, a journalist and a story–teller. Let me...
Prof Lalu pays tribute to Peter Williams
17 March 2017 By Professor Premesh Lalu I cannot tell you how much I loved Peter Williams. Together with Rashieda Labans and many others, we were idealistic and romantic in a world that apartheid had stripped of all emotion. We were young, passionate and awake to the...
AN OPEN LETTER TO PREMIER ZILLE: AFRICANS WERE NOT PASSIVE HUMAN BEINGS WAITING TO BE RESCUED
Dear Helen, I would like to thank you very much for the thoughtless tweets that you sent out recently. It has helped me draw a line in the sand. I have always reached out to others across racial and political lines in the belief that we all have to learn to live...
Healing a divided city
By Zubeida Jaffer* Healing the historical divisions in Cape Town requires careful thought and sensitive intervention. Apartheid has divided this city into separate racial pockets that remain intact ten years after democracy. Enclaves of non-racialism are emerging but...
A personal reflection on the passing of Judge Essa Moosa
By Zubeida Jaffer I write this message to comrades and friends who gathered in Athlone today to mourn and celebrate the life of Judge Essa Moosa. I could not attend the memorial service because I am in Bloemfontein but feel the need tonight to share in this moment. I...