Defend journalists and media freedom in eSwatini
Journalists are censored through cruel and illegitimate detention, torture and the removal of means to disseminate information to citizens crying – and dying – for it.
Cartoon | Muted response
In this week’s cartoon, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa evades South Africa’s obligation to defend lives and human rights in neighbouring eSwatini.
Sharp Read | The hymns of a ‘kheleke’
In Wayfarers’ Hymns by Zakes Mda, a boy-child narrates his journey through tradition and modernity, masculinity and the female spirit, old and new as he seeks to emulate a great musician.
‘Ma Lizzie’: selfless and loving ‘angel and star’
The late Elizabeth Mkame dedicated her life to helping the marginalised and impoverished. She served tirelessly not only during some of the worst times of apartheid, but also in the fraught years since.
ANC democracy flounders in the party’s heartland
An independent candidate is contesting the local government elections in a former Eastern Cape Bantustan, revealing deep fault lines in the party’s ward candidate nomination process.
Editor's Pick
S6 Episode 5: Jabbed workers | Poisoners | India protests
Only 20% of people in South Africa are vaccinated. We visit a mine that achieved 80%. Also, Imraan Coovadia on poison as a political weapon and why the farmer protests in India still matter.
Voter sentiment in Kliptown is downbeat
Some residents are resigned to voting in the municipal elections on the slim chance that it changes their circumstances, others are undecided and those without identity documents feel hopeless.
Saftu unions prepare to strike in solidarity
The federation’s affiliates will stand with Numsa and down tools if the metalworker union’s demands are not met.
The remarkable makeover of Shauwn Mkhize
Safely ensconced in a palatial home in Durban, MaMkhize sells herself as a successful construction magnate. But others say she sold out impoverished people to get there.
Fighting homophobia in Hungary through football
The sporting world is waking up to how the country’s authoritarian leader, who supposedly loves the beautiful game, is using it to hide his utter contempt for people from the LGBTQIA+ community.
S6 Episode 4: Abolish prisons | Who’s the blues for?
Prison abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore talks about the one resource prisoners can never get back. Author Fred de Vries explains what makes the blues so alluring to white middle-class ears.
Podcasts
S6 Episode 5: Jabbed workers | Poisoners | India protests
Only 20% of people in South Africa are vaccinated. We visit a mine that achieved 80%. Also, Imraan Coovadia on poison as a political weapon and why the farmer protests in India still matter.
Mixtape 51: Keep on moving
For this second part of the mixtape’s golden anniversary, Charles Leonard has dug into one of popular music’s vintage years exactly five decades ago. He’s unearthed some gems for you.
S6 Episode 4: Abolish prisons | Who’s the blues for?
Prison abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore talks about the one resource prisoners can never get back. Author Fred de Vries explains what makes the blues so alluring to white middle-class ears.
News
Hundreds of workers march for end to pay freeze
An end to low wages and the moratorium on salary hikes is an overarching demand, but individual memorandums also reveal the particular concerns of workers in different provinces.
eSwatini army brutalises students boycotting exams
Soldiers assaulted students of William Pitcher College in Manzini city who were protesting not being refunded fees paid for hostel facilities that were not used during lockdown.
Workers remain determined to get a living wage
Those in the steel and engineering sectors who are on a countrywide strike say they will not back down from their demand to be paid their dues, especially after the many sacrifices they have had to make.
Eastern Cape preschool affected by toxic environment
A dumping site near the school is hazardous to pupils, who are forced into hot, crowded classrooms often targeted by criminals. The municipality says it cannot help.
Freed activists vow to hold the state to account
Members of Abahlali baseMjondolo arrested and in some cases held for six months plan to launch a civil suit against the state for unlawful arrest and malicious prosecution.
Angry residents say voting has become meaningless
As South Africa gears up for the local government elections on 1 November, disgruntled voters in Tshwane and Ekurhuleni say they have little reason to cast their ballots.
Wrongfully accused Abahlali three set free at last
The shack dwellers’ movement says it feels vindicated that the case against three of its members has been dropped, but warns it remains under siege by the state.
For many SA women, home is hell
Gender-based violence often takes place at home or in intimate relationships, taking a traumatic toll on victims, their families and friends.
Eradicating pit toilets is but a first step
These dangerous and insanitary latrines at schools should be replaced by clean and safe bathrooms that also cater to the needs of girls who’ve reached puberty.
Features
New Books | Flow
For menstruators without adequate sanitation, a normal bodily function jeopardises their access to work and school. The authors of Flow advocate for menstrual activism to change attitudes.
By: Candice Chirwa, Claire Fourie, Ilana Johnson, Karen Jeynes, Pontsho Pilane, Tariq Hoosen
18 Oct 2021
18 Oct 2021
Waste pickers should be seen as essential workers
Come rain or sun, waste pickers push their trolleys full of recycled material. But despite providing an environmental service they are not treated as the public-service workers they are.
From the Archive | Ending anti-Black state violence
The co-founder of Black Lives Matter argues that what we need is not just reform, but a transformation of culture, policy and institutions to address the root causes of structural racism.
Bread and skills to better impoverished lives
Many people in SA’s townships and rural areas struggle to make a living. Since 2008, one organisation has been doing its bit to help change this pattern.
Ageing nurses – a crisis looming on the horizon
Historical and systemic failures have led South Africa to a situation where, in only a few years’ time, there will be a dire shortage of healthcare workers to care for a growing population.
Culture
Madala Kunene tells his story through his guitars
The maestro’s music is tied to his lifelong connections to the places in the city where he was born and raised, learnt to play his beloved instruments and still makes a living.
Body of bodies: Art as a language of history
With his first solo exhibition, Kaelo Molefe transforms his trauma by merging his experience of being an emergency room doctor with art critical of the history of medicine.
On rituals and revolutions in the mines of Bolivia
After miners in the tin-rich country helped bring a democratically elected leader to power by overthrowing the military, they honoured their spiritual traditions in celebrating with the community.
Gurnah was ahead of the curve
In Text Messages this week, literature Nobel winner Abdulrazak Gurnah is a superb writer who was telling stories of migrants long before it became fashionable in literary circles.
Long Read | Poison and warfare
Imraan Coovadia’s new book connects the programmes of poisoning in Rhodesia and South Africa in five essays about the circumstances and men at the centre of their making.
Album Review | Playing on our musical heritage
The Brother Moves On has created a ‘time capsule in vinyl’ with its latest album, which pays homage to South African jazz greats both new and old while capturing the spirit of an era.
Book Review | Memories and images of District Six
A Cape Town architect photographed the buildings and people of District Six at the height of forced removals. His work is finally available to a much wider audience, thanks to his nephew.
Sport
How Italy got ahead in the sprints
Lamont Marcell Jacobs is an unlikely star to take over from Usain Bolt. But those who have been following his and Italy’s athletics progress weren’t surprised that they won Olympic gold.
Terrence Mashego’s inspirational rise to the top
The Cape Town City leftback dropped out of university to further his professional football career. It didn’t work out. Then he picked himself up, earned his first Bafana cap and is studying again.
Boxing is more than just a job for Sipho Ndongeni
He is a police officer in one of South Africa’s most violent neighbourhoods, fighting crime on the streets and in the ring as a boxing club owner and referee.
Phathokuhle Zondi’s many sporting hats
The sports doc approaches her role of caring for athletes with passion and enjoys what she says is a privileged journey despite the race and gender challenges she has been forced to overcome.
Don’t touch me on my stadium. You hear me?
Loud voices insist that politics has no place in sport and athletes should stay out of it. But there seems to be plenty of space for them to support causes other than the fight against racism.
Respect everybody, fear no one — Stefano Cusin
The Italian football nomad brings coaching experience on three continents to South Sudan as he aims to build a competitive national side in a country that is still finding its feet in the international game.
The story of rugby is about to change
The United Rugby Championship and partner Roc Nation Sports promise to give players a voice, grow the fanbase and generally bring rugby into the 21st century of sports entertainment.
Rassie Erasmus walks a fine rugby line
South Africa’s director of rugby has always tested the boundaries and it’s doubtful he will change his ways, despite World Rugby’s charges of misconduct.
Football keeps floundering in East Africa
The region produces star athletes in other sporting codes, but footballers are hurt by weak management, poor infrastructure and little incentive to stay.
Editorial and Analysis
Record numbers of workers are quitting and striking
Taken together with a sharp increase in union strikes, the mass resignations of individuals indicate a deep worker dissatisfaction across the United States.
The DA is becoming the poster child of the Right
An examination of the language the party uses shows that it is echoing right-wing voices the world over in its insistence that those who point out its racism are, in fact, the real racists.
Charting a just financial path to climate justice
It is time for progressive non-governmental organisations, community groupings and labour unions to help determine how climate finance should work.