Opinion
Cosatu is not dying, but better leadership is needed
The American writer and humourist Mark Twain once wrote, following an erroneous report of his death, that it was an exaggeration. The same can be said about Cosatu.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 7 December 2015
Who is responsible for Blikkiesdorp?
Who is responsible for Blikkiesdorp? This question has been coming up in response to work in the community by the Open Democracy Advice Centre.
Alison Tilley
Opinion | 30 November 2015
Cosatu can learn from Corbyn to avoid slipping into irrelevance
“The ANC came before democracy.” This statement by President Jacob Zuma was obviously incorrect since the concept of democracy pre-dated the formation of the ANC in 1912 by about 2,500 years.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 30 November 2015
Socialism: myths, prejudices and reality
The global economic crisis continues and makes for a widespread and desperate need among the lowly paid, the poor and the hungry for something better to look forward to.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 26 November 2015
Textbooks matter: the state goes to court AGAIN
SECTION27 has been engaging with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) about the ongoing textbooks crisis in Limpopo since early 2012. There have been four high court orders saying that the state’s failure to give learners their full complement of textbooks is a violation of their right to education. Tuesday was the fifth time this matter has been in court.
Kate Paterson
Opinion | 25 November 2015
The rabbi, the president and the Palestinians
On 23 November, Geoff Sifrin's book Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris – How humanity, morality and humour helped lead a community was launched at the Great Synagogue in Johannesburg. Judge Edwin Cameron delivered this speech. He addressed Harris's commitment to reaching out across the divides in the South African Jewish community as well as perhaps the most vexing question facing many Jews: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Edwin Cameron
Opinion | 24 November 2015
Time to get tough with schools which discriminate against pregnant schoolgirls
A total of 20,833 school-going girls fell pregnant in South Africa in the 2013-14 year, according to official statistics. A staggering 717 of them were at primary school.
Chandre Stuurman and Demichelle Petherbridge
Opinion | 19 November 2015
Time to demand equal rights for blind people
Being blind or visually impaired means many things in life are simply much more difficult than what they are for other people. Some of these things we can do something about, others we can’t. There are two fundamentally different ways for society and governments to respond to this unpleasant reality. The one option is pity and non-integration - the other is to forget about pity and to take practical steps to make things as equal as possible so that blind people can integrate into society.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 18 November 2015
The debt machine and the politics of 0%
The current wave of student protests in South Africa has been mostly analysed from a national and local perspective.
Achille Mbembe
Opinion | 13 November 2015