The graves of the victims of the Sharpeville massacre tell a grim story.
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The low levels of familiarity with key historical events indicate that there are serious shortcomings in the development of national collective memory in South Africa.
Jackson Mthembu is the most prominent South African politician to succumb to COVID-19.
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Jackson Mthembu’s death drives home the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
South Africa has seen a sharp rise in protests due to incompetence within its civil service.
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Professionalism has to start with ministers for it to stand any chance of being embedded throughout the public service.
A South African woman mourning her husband who died of AIDS covers herself, according to custom, during the burial.
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In both countries, neglect and misinformation at the highest levels of government led to undue tragedy.
A police van lies in flames after white farmers went on a rampage in Senekal, South Africa.
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There are individual activists and political groupings who believe violent action is legitimate and use the circumstances to actively drive such behaviour.
A mural in Maboneng, Johannesburg.
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A realignment is needed as the current systems have lost the competence to midwife a new nation out of the formative experiences of the last 25 years.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma at the Zondo Commission in July 2020.
EFE-EPA/Mike Hutchings
Claiming a right to determine reality by mere say-so is becoming increasingly commonplace, but we should never get used to it.
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Reflecting on the life of George Bizos, one of South Africa's shining lights.
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In each of his novels, he explored questions that shifted South Africa’s cultural debates, especially about memory and race.
Apartheid-era Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee, Thabo and Zanele Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and his daughter Zenani, FW and Marike de Klerk.
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The book shows that the claim made by some analysts that it was the fall of communism that prompted moves towards negotiations to end apartheid is off the mark.
A younger Dennis Brutus, president of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee in Montreal, Canada in 1976.
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That none of his collections were published in apartheid South Africa testifies to the police state’s censorship.
Jürgen Schadeberg in 1955 with trainee photographers at Drum, Peter Magubane, left, and Bob Gosani. Both became well-known photographers.
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The gift of his images lies in their depiction of the social worlds that apartheid sought to destroy, but that live on through the photographs.
Veteran South African politician Mangosuthu Buthelezi addressing parliament in 2019.
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Mangosuthu Buthelezi deserves better than being dismissed as an apartheid stooge. But he deserves little praise as an advocate for human rights and civil liberties.
South African freedom struggle stalwart Andrew Mlangeni at the UN.
Although a commited veteran of the ANC, Mlangeni was no party apparatchik. He was outspoken against endemic corruption in government.
Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom.
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South Africa’s history shows that mobilising white privilege can be a useful tool for advancing the struggle against racism.
Persistent rampant povery has been blamed on the compromises made by the African National Congress during negotiations to end apartheid.
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Book sheds new light on the evolution of the economic policy of the African National Congress, South Africa’s governing party.
A police officer at a 24-hour roadblock in Cape Town, South Africa after the country went into lockdown.
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It is rare for a post-authoritarian society to get two chances to reconcile. This may be just that, for white South Africans in particular.
Rivonia trialist Denis Goldberg speaking at a gala event in 2011 to honour the surviving members of the Rivonia Trial.
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Goldberg was the youngest Rivonia triallist. Segregated prisons meant he was sent to Pretoria, while his fellow accused were incarcerated on Robben Island.
The African National Congress fought against the evils of apartheid, but couldn’t escape the sins of power itself.
EFE-EPA/Yeshiel Panchia
The book is set to heighten the debate about the future of the party, whose dominance has been in decline since 2009.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela with former American world boxing champion Marvin Hagler. The undated photo was taken after Mandela’s release.
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Prison life is about routine: each day like the one before; each week like the one before it, so that the months and years blend into each other.