From the Archive | The Mandé Charter of 1222
The charter, derived from the oral traditions of the Mandinka hunters from the bulge of Africa, affirms the universal value of human life.
Features
Cartoon | Hot air
While droughts and floods scar the planet, the rulers with the power to change our climate future do nothing useful at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
New Books | Can Themba: An intellectual tsotsi
Siphiwo Mahala gives fresh insight into the life of the Drum journalist, writer and teacher who opened his home to anyone who wanted to have an honest, engaging conversation.
Sharp Read | Prehistoric psycho for the win
An eSwatini chemist’s short story about early humans and murder has made it to this year’s Commonwealth prize shortlist. Yet, its author is disinclined to accept the title ‘writer’.
New Books | Selected Hồ Chí Minh
In this excerpt from a collection of the revolutionary’s writing, the man who fought for Vietnamese independence advises cadres to stay the distance in land reform programmes.
Francis Wilson, consummate researcher with a cause
Facts mattered to the late economist, who died just weeks before his 83rd birthday on 17 May. But so did history and morality, and all three were a hallmark of his work.
Long Read | Beyond Eurocentrism
If you really want decolonisation, go beyond cultural criticism to the deep structural insights of economist Samir Amin.
Cartoon | Notes on a cowardly murder
In this week’s cartoon, while Israeli security forces can kill a journalist who reported truthfully on their occupation of Palestine, they cannot eliminate the truth.
Cape Town train improvements a slow chug
Commuters like the two new ‘people’s trains’ but still have to deal with delays and no-shows, safety issues and their employers’ ire when they’re held up getting to work.
Ukucotha kokuphuculwa kwehambo ngoololiwe eKapa
Abakhweli bayabathanda aba ‘loliwe babantu’ batsha kodwa kusafuneka bejamelene nengxaki yokucotha nokungafiki kwabo, imiba yokhuseleko nomsindo wabaqeshi bakufika emva kwexesha emisebenzini.
Cartoon | Supersub
In this week’s cartoon, Workers’ Party leader and former Brazilian president Lula da Silva is back in action, having officially announced his bid to evict Jair Bolsonaro from power.
Cedar adds a shot of espresso to SA’s roasteries
Leigh Wentzel and Winston Thomas are stirring up the coffee scene in Cape Town with specialty blends to give communities a taste of quality java.
Sharp Read | A ‘light’ caper with profound purpose
While it has the tense excitement of a crime novel, the considerable class, political and social undercurrents in Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle make it so much more.
Cartoon | Mine the gap
Gold mining company Sibanye-Stillwater has reaped fat profits in recent quarters but refuses to share the windfall with striking workers. Instead, it lavishes obscene rewards on its chief executive Neal Froneman.
New Books | The world’s deadliest migration route
If they don’t drown, migrants sent back from their attempts to cross the Mediterranean Sea are often left to languish in detention centres, sometimes for years at a time.
Libya is a ‘market of human beings’
Many African migrants and refugees see crossing the Mediterranean Sea as the only chance for a better life. Sally Hayden tells their harrowing stories in My Fourth Time, We Drowned.
Cartoon | One-track mind
South Africa’s notoriously corrupt passenger rail service, Prasa, has been robbing citizens of their right to public transport for years and now has the gall to vastly inflate its flood-damage bill to the taxpayer.
New Books | Archives of Times Past
History professor Sekiba Lekgoathi reflects on his boyhood in this chapter of a book about historians who research precolonial history using a range of archival materials.
From the Archive | Albert Luthuli’s note to voters
In a message before the 1958 elections, the future Nobel Peace Prize winner appealed to those allowed to vote to consider, when making their mark, disenfranchised South Africans.
Bereft mother pays it forward to honour slain son
After gangsters killed her son in Hanover Park, Avril Andrews started a foundation that feeds the hungry and supports mothers in finding justice for their murdered children.
Cartoon | Back in the game
As Durban reels from a catastrophic flood, newly elected ANC regional chairperson Zandile Gumede and her resurgent predatory faction are excited about the reconstruction budget.