Msimang’s early career focused on helping international organizations such as UNAIDS forge HIV/AIDS policies that responded to the specific needs of African women and girls swept up in the global pandemic. She eventually rose to become executive director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, supporting initiatives on human rights, good governance and democracy …
South Africans are caught between forgiving violence because we understand that the divides in our society are unsustainable, and abhorring violence because we fear that ours will be the next throats to be slit. Some people are born empathetic. I was not. I never cried for the losses of strangers until I became a mother. …
The substance of the Seriti Commission is important. But those of us who watched a remarkable moment of grace yesterday when Advocate Hoffman was overcome with grief will have been reminded of why this country is so special. "Engrave this upon your heart: there isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you heard their story." –Mary …
Ramphele’s assumption that she will be accepted into civil society, where she can continue her project of ‘active citizenship’ without having to be directly accountable to a real live constituency, speaks volumes. The good doctor is not wrong in this regard. Sadly, many civil society groups will accept her because the sector is not yet …
Mmusi Maimane’s been having a bad time of it. But are the critics barking up the wrong tree? “Whiteness, alone, is mute, meaningless, unfathomable.” – Toni Morrison For the last few weeks, Mmusi Maimane has been subjected to pretty rough treatment at the hands of a number of prominent black people. The Twitterati had their …