The clash over South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill is essentially about custom and constitutionalism. The government is often seen as pandering to traditional leaders’ whims.
Western Cape Premier.
Helen Zille.
Reuters/Mark Wessels
Western Cape Premier Helen Zille ‘s Twitter rant about colonialism caused an uproar as it brought back memories of a brutal and violent time in South Africa.
Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada share a moment in South Africa’s Parliament in 1999.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
South African struggle stalwart Ahmed Kathrada believed in non-racialism to his core, even as others around him began to argue for an Africanist approach.
Alie Fataar, photographed during his exile in Zambia, was a revolutionary teacher.
Courtesy of Alie Fataar
Yunus Omar, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Alie Fataar exemplifies the type of teacher South Africa sorely requires today if its classrooms are to be used to develop a new generation of critical, engaged students.
South Africa’s economy was built on strong mining activity which has declined in recent years.
REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
South Africa’s Constitutional Court has repeatedly stepped in to protect vulnerable people and to perform what former deputy chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke calls its “transformative role”.
There are fears a new bill that seeks to criminalise hate speech in South Africa might infringe freedom of expression.
Flickr/janinsanfran
The growing incidence of racism on social media in South Africa suggests that there are consequences. Whether there ought to be criminal sanctions remains an ongoing debate.
Senzeni Marasela, ‘Covering Sarah IV’, 2011.
Copyright Senzeni Marasela, Courtesy of AFRONOVA GALLERY
Author Miriam Tlali was an intersectional feminist long before this term was coined or its politics made fashionable in South Africa by student movements.
Students march at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University in 2015. They were seeking a legal right to be taught in English rather than Afrikaans.
Mike Hutchings/Reuters
Next year South Africa’s Stellenbosch University will celebrate its centenary. A recent conference to discuss the anniversary has reminded everyone present that knowledge is a fickle mistress.
It’s often self-doubt and gender stereotyping that holds girls back from pursuing science careers.
Reuters/Corinne Dufka
Society, parents, schools and popular media all perpetuate the myth that girls don’t have the brains or ability to be scientists. Of course, that simply isn’t true.
Joost van der Westhuizen passing the ball from the base of the scrum during a friendly international between South Africa and Scotland.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
A grassroots opposition movement against the Donald Trump presidency is growing. The question is can it be harnessed into globalised sanctions campaign?
Thatcher meets Mandela after his release in 1990.
Mike Stephens/PA
South Africa’s government makes much of its efforts of putting more land in the hands of the previously disenfranchised black majority. Yet, many beneficiaries continue to wallow in poverty.
South Africa needs take a radically different path if it is going to make its economy more inclusive. It must start from the premise that markets are intrinsically skewed to historic privilege.
A woman arrives for Nelson Mandela’s memorial. The idea of a rainbow nation has been futile.
EPA/Jim Hollander
Despite the noble goals of the new South Africa and its ideals of racial harmony, racial tensions remain a major problem in the country. Prejudice and bigotry persists even in universities.
Members of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa protesting against youth unemployment.
Reuters/Rogan Ward
South Africa’s problem is that its constitution is a perfect brochure of the nation it aspires to be. But the contractors entrusted with its future have an entirely different project in mind.