Opinion

UNHCR responds to Delphine Pedeboy

Here is a response to Delphine Pedeboy’s criticisms of the UNHCR published on 13 May 2014.

Tina Ghelli

Opinion | 16 May 2014

Risking their lives is a daily routine for Kossovo residents

The people of Kossovo exist on the margins of unguarded train tracks. Their children are at risk. A lack of service delivery and poor sanitation makes dire conditions worse.

Dudumalingani Mqomboti

Opinion | 14 May 2014

Myths about the election

From a perusal of social media and certain sections of the commentariat (on both the Left and Right) one wouldn’t know that an intelligent South African electorate just handed the ANC a convincing victory in an overwhelming peaceful, free, fair and democratic election.

Gilad Isaacs

Opinion | 14 May 2014

How the UN in Cape Town deals with refugees: an insider’s account

Delphine Pedeboy interned with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) earlier this year. It was a frustrating experience, for her but even more so for the refugees she dealt with.

Delphine Pedeboy

Opinion | 13 May 2014

I get upset when people say they not going to vote

Some of my friends from university say that they are not going to vote because they do not see what difference the vote will make. They say politicians are corrupt.

Pharie Sefali

Opinion | 7 May 2014

I will be heard

I was born into a new South Africa. At a time when the promise of a country, free from any prejudice, was enough to win the majority vote during the first democratic elections.

Barbara Maregele

Opinion | 7 May 2014

On the brink of genocide: Understanding what’s happening in the Central African Republic

“The Central African Republic stands on the brink of genocide; some would say it has already commenced,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu in April.

Shireen Mukadam

Opinion | 5 May 2014

Democracy the winner: a response to Rhoda Kadalie

Never one to disguise her spleen Rhoda Kadalie takes issue with what she alleges is “my temerity to lead the electorate astray”. What Kadalie is taking issue with, but conceals, is I am no lone voice but in partnership with numerous others, of note, in a campaign which calls on all registered voters not to abstain but use their vote on 7 May.

Ronnie Kasrils

Opinion | 1 May 2014

Celebrate Freedom Day? No thanks, I’d rather drink

While celebrations took place all over the country this week, some young people in Cape Town’s townships chose to spend Freedom Day another way.

Pharie Sefali

Opinion | 30 April 2014

“˜Nothing About Us, Without Us!’ - keeping the Constitution alive

The stories told by the mothers of three children with disabilities at a series of workshops at the Consitutional Court underline the contrast between constitutional rights and the grim reality.

Muhammad Zakaria Suleman and Tim Fish Hodgson

Opinion | 29 April 2014

Deploying the army to the Cape Flats won’t work

The call to deploy the army was heard in response to recent gang violence in Manenberg. But that’s not the solution, argues Adam Armstrong.

Adam Armstrong

Opinion | 29 April 2014

Labour’s blind loyalty a democratic failure

The ongoing and increasingly bitter row within Cosatu boils down, basically, to a constitutional clash.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 29 April 2014

Khayelitsha cops: “We are the whipping boys”

While the Marikana hearings drift through the doldrums in Rustenberg, at Khayelitsha’s Lookout Hill another commission into police failings is cautiously gathering momentum. The O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry is a timely and consolatory reminder of the judicial efficiency South Africa is capable of.

Richard Conyngham

Opinion | 22 April 2014

COSATU schisms make for a rocky road

We are in the midst of all the usual fanfare, the pledges, promises, rows and contradictions that accompany any run-up to a major election. But the scheduled national poll on 7 May seems to be beset by more bickering, bitterness and fragmentation than normal — and this is a clear portent for the future.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 22 April 2014

What’s that you say … human-whats?

Nearly two decades into our democracy, for most people living in South Africa our Constitution might as well be written in Latin, because it is more than likely that they have never read it.

Tim Fish Hodgson and Tawana Nharingo

Opinion | 17 April 2014

Where to for Cape Town Pride?

At a meeting on 12 April convened by Ikasi Pride, members of a divided gay and lesbian community discussed the future of gay pride in the city, its steady depoliticisation, its lack of community outreach and its image problem.

Brent Meersman

Opinion | 15 April 2014