If you ask South Africans of my generation to name the most important political event of their lives, many will cite the assassination of Chris Hani. Mr. Hani was revered for his bravery in fighting against the apartheid government and for his internal dissent within the liberation movement. In 1990, after Nelson Mandela was released …
Is it fair to be angry at Nelson Mandela for “selling blacks out”, as some say? What would the late former statesman’s response to recent racist tension in the headlines be? Would you take a trip around Africa on your own and put your trust in total strangers? And why are white people all of …
Xenophobia, bad governance, police violence, extreme poverty – we’re familiar with the terms and we know they are problems that must be dealt with. But it’s hard to go beyond the headlines when it’s not personal. … People like local commentator Sisonke Msimang have been writing about xenophobia from a South African perspective. Having spent …
In the early days AIDS was a male disease. Long-distance truck drivers, miners, and other migrant workers got it in the cities; gay men contracted it before they knew how it was spread; and people who use drugs found it in their blood after they had shared needles. It seemed that the risks that men …
It’s Friday, President Jacob Zuma’s not going to #PayBackTheMoney and parliament is paralysed because Thuli Madonsela’s a spy. South African politics is too silly to take seriously, so I’ve hacked into the President’s iTunes account and am listening to his beats. There is a soul classic from the 1970s called ‘If Loving you is wrong …