Opinion

Seminar looks at finding employment when you’re young, black and poor, and just out of school

Equal Education and Ndifuna Ukwazi hosted a seminar at Lookout Hill, Khayelitsha, on 13 March titled ‘What Next: Opportunities for post school youth’. Part information, part inspiration, conversations were frank and informative.

Adam Armstrong

Opinion | 18 March 2014

World Cup: still a few hiccups away for Brazil

Brazil is facing major challenges. Violent public protests, an aggressive police crackdown, and infrastructure failures show a nation at times limping towards the 2014 FIFA World Cup 12 June kick-off in Sao Paulo.

Yazeed Kamaldien

Opinion | 17 March 2014

Rape ““ not just a township problem

During the Khayelitsha Commission, community witnesses, academics and police officers related stories of appalling violence, particularly sexual violence. The picture painted is in danger of creating the impression that Khayelitsha is bad, that something is wrong with the community, that it is unsalvageable.

Adam Armstrong

Opinion | 14 March 2014

Cry the beloved Congo

Mpho Mabhena writes about her distressing experience of the plight of women in the Congo.

Mpho Mabhena

Opinion | 12 March 2014

Are sugar daddies bad for your health?

“Sugar daddies destroy lives” say billboard adverts in Kwazulu-Natal in big bold black and red letters. The same message is echoed in radio adverts played across the country.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 11 March 2014

Marikana: a wake-up call

Four days after the bloodletting that has become known as the Marikana massacre, my Inside Labour column supported the call for a comprehensive and independent inquiry. And it noted, reflecting a widespread view within the labour movement: “The Lonmin tragedy is a wake-up call that South Africa will ignore at its peril.” Now, 19 months later and with the strike on the platinum belt having gone on for nearly two months, that warning seems even more appropriate. Below is an updated commentary that first appeared on the first anniversary of Marikana.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 10 March 2014

A tale of three policies

The ANC is increasingly accused of breaking the promises it has made to the South African public. What is less widely discussed is how their promises contradict one another.

Gilad Isaacs

Opinion | 4 March 2014

Who are the real illegal miners?

The rescue and subsequent arrest of zama-zama — (those prepared to) “have a go” — miners from an abandoned mine shaft near the East Rand city of Benoni made world headlines.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 3 March 2014

Uganda’s apartheid-style atrocity deserves sanctions

The leaders who spoke of an African renaissance and who brought about the African Union ignored gay rights. We are seeing the consequences of their omission today.

Leon Linz

Opinion | 3 March 2014