The Ekurhuleni Murders Raise Questions Beyond GBV
As Ekurhuleni grapples with a string of murders, the urgent question is whether these killings are another expression of GBV or something darker: a predator hunting women.
OpinionPage 4
The Night a Stranger Found Me Sleeping on the Roadside
It began with a motorcycle rally in Ulundi, a few drinks, and the kind of confidence only alcohol can manufacture. What followed is one of those memories that becomes harder to sneer and…
I Put Whisky in a Backpack and Rode Into the Darkness
My drinking followed me everywhere: behind the steering wheel, onto motorcycles, into filling stations and along roads between cities. I became so accustomed to surviving dangerous…
The Murders of Eight Women Have Become One Terrifying Question
The possibility of a serial killer operating in Ekurhuleni remains unproven, but eight dead women have created a fear that cannot be dismissed as social-media hysteria. Until investigators…
A Manifesto is Political Fiction with a Ballot Box Attached
Manifestos are sold as blueprints for better municipalities, but too often they are little more than packaged political fantasies. The promises are extravagant, the language reassuring…
The Cape Town the DA Celebrates and the City the Poor Experience
Cape Town’s municipal achievements are substantial, but so is the gap between its affluent districts and poorer communities. A city cannot measure successful governance by financial…
Jordaan Wins Again As South African Football Loses Again
Football teams are judged by results, performances and the quality of the game they produce. SAFA appears to have developed a different scoring system, one in which thirteen years of…
Majodina Flushes Ministerial Dignity Down the Drain
The Water and Sanitation portfolio already has enough problems without its minister adding verbal pollution to the national infrastructure crisis. Pemmy Majodina’s angry exchange with a…
The Opposition Needs to Smell Its Own Armpits
From sewage-filled parks and broken services to pension queues and citizens without identity documents, South Africa offers opposition parties endless opportunities to prove their…
If Biko Sat Across the Table From Mbeki
The anniversary of Steve Biko’s death brings familiar speeches and wreaths. This time, Sandile Memela imagines something different: Biko sitting across from Thabo Mbeki and demanding…
FNB Stadium Has Never Been in Soweto – So Who Altered the Map?
Soweto is not a backdrop for national triumphs, a marketing slogan or a convenient address for a stadium in Nasrec. It is a living community whose sporting infrastructure remains…
Stop Genuflecting to the Ghosts of a Bygone Era
Gratitude has curdled into obedience, and old sacrifices are being used as a shield against present-day scrutiny. The struggle deserves reverence. The failed leaders hiding behind it…
Who Will Clean Up the Political Wreckage in Nelson Mandela Bay?
Nelson Mandela Bay was once an industrial powerhouse. Today, factional battles, unstable coalitions, financial mismanagement, and collapsing infrastructure have reduced it to a…
Whisky and Jazz Are Real. Politics Is Just Theatre
Aged whisky develops depth through time, craftsmanship and patience; great jazz acquires soul through discipline and mastery. Politics has discovered an easier formula: manufacture…
He Drank Until He Started Seeing Things That Were Not There
He started seeing things that had no business being there and hearing voices when nobody was speaking. At first, he blamed the alcohol. Then he realised the frightening things did not…
He Climbed Into a Casket Drunk and Still Went Out for Another Drink After He Woke Up
Mbatha woke up inside a casket and still went out looking for another drink. Between 2022 and 2023, his addiction helped destroy 13 businesses and plunged hundreds of families into…
A Male Victim Finally Speaks. Society: “Well, What About Women Who Are Hurt?”
When a man speaks about abuse, the conversation too often turns elsewhere: to women, statistics or what other men have done. His pain becomes something requiring explanation, comparison…
A Bribe To Speed Up A Post-Mortem: When Extortion Feeds On Grief
At Germiston’s forensic pathology service, grieving families are allegedly being asked for money to speed up post-mortem examinations that should cost them nothing. It is difficult to…
Dissecting The Heart Of A Soulless Society: The Dark World Of Jackie Phamotse’s Big 5 Cartel
Jackie Phamotse’s The Big 5 Cartel holds up an unforgiving mirror to South Africa, where crime, corruption and power increasingly occupy the same rooms. Drawing from experiences that began…
When The Dock Becomes A Catwalk: Well-Dressed Suspects Are Treated As Superstars
An awaiting-trial prisoner has the right to dignity, private clothing and the presumption of innocence. But when designer suits, expensive watches, political handshakes and cheering…