The Road To Harties: Heaven Behind A Boom Gate
A drive to Hartbeespoort by Sandile Memela for a memorial service became an uncomfortable encounter with South Africa's unfinished liberation. Behind the beautiful mountains, he found immaculate…
Columnists
The Big Man Syndrome Is Destroying Black Political Unity
Black political parties have the numbers to reshape South Africa's political landscape, but their leaders cannot overcome…
The Ballot Is Only the Beginning of the Fight for Better Municipalities
We go to the polls with promises ringing in our ears and municipal failures staring us in the face. But changing who occupies…
The State Has Lost Its Guns and Its Argument
This is not just a dispute about firearm ownership. It is about a state struggling to police itself, missing thousands of its…
SA’s Municipalities Need Consequences, Not Another White Paper
Ramaphosa unveiled another plan to rescue South Africa's failing municipalities, but where are the consequences for those who…
Latest in Columnists
Behind the Healer’s Many Faces Was a Man in Ruins
Gogo Bathini Mbatha healed other people’s troubles while drowning in his own. For years he played ten different men, and hid the bottle behind each one. Then a river refused to care who he…
The Cost of Transnet’s Port Failures Is Being Paid on the Factory Floor
Manufacturers are watching production lines grind to a halt, customers lose patience, and money disappear into the black hole of port delays. Transnet talks about recovery and billions in…
The Dangerous Lie We Tell Township Children About English
English remains the language of opportunity, education, business and power in South Africa. Yet we comfort children with the notion that speaking it well does not matter. It does. Without…
Disappointment Must Never Make Oppression Look Good
Rampant corruption, unemployment and deepening inequality have left millions disillusioned with democracy. But frustration cannot turn apartheid into a golden age. A system that stripped…
Complicity, Selective Justice and the Unfinished Apartheid Reckoning
Why are former liberation leaders being questioned over stalled apartheid prosecutions while the prime ministers, ministers, generals and judges who presided over the system’s brutality…
Feminism Needs Fathers To Thrive
Feminism’s achievements deserve recognition, but so does the value of involved fathers. Halima Layeni examines how society can advance women’s rights while encouraging responsible…
The Newsroom’s Most Dangerous Censor Sits In The Editor’s Chair
When editorial caution becomes a shield for the powerful, dissent is recast as troublemaking and uncomfortable truths are quietly buried. Sandile Memela challenges editors to confront…
Resignations Will Not Restore Public Trust in SAPS. Accountability Will.
The resignation of senior police officers will not end SAPS’s crisis. Public trust depends on more than personnel changes; it demands a thorough clean-up of the command structure, credible…
The Disillusioned Sons And Grandsons Who Raised Their Hands: Independents In A Broken Promise
No motorcades, no party slogans, no political handlers. Armed with experience of township hardship and a determination to serve, independent candidates are challenging the old guard. Their…
The Devastating Cost of Empowering Girls While Abandoning Boys
Girls deserve every opportunity to succeed. But have boys been forgotten in the drive for gender equality? Halima Layeni examines the consequences of neglecting boys, from falling…
Mbeki’s Pain Deserves Compassion; the State Owes Every Family Justice
Reconciliation cannot demand that the bereaved carry the burden of silence. While Thabo Mbeki’s personal losses deserve empathy and recognition, families seeking answers about…
Strings Attached: A Political Party Is Gatvol With a Puppet
FF Plus supporters are gatvol with a puppet, and the puppet is winning on points. Chester Missing posted one video; the faithful promptly lost their tempers, and two and a half weeks later…