May 22, 2013
Melanie Judge
Ecclesia de Lange, a minister axed by the Methodist church because of her sexuality, has embarked on a David and Goliath-type battle in taking the church to court for discriminatory actions. By doing so she is holding the church to account — in the eyes of both the public and the law — for its…
May 22, 2013
Athambile Masola
I hate being associated with people born after 1990. I was born in the late 1980s but people often think I am part of the “born-free” generation — the most misunderstood group of young people. They are often accused of being entitled, lazy, narcissistic, lost, apolitical, apathetic and confused. Young people — who are not…
May 21, 2013
Michael Trapido
I know that it’s probably none of your business but recently I have witnessed a tragedy that, to me, dwarfs all the suffering that we see daily on television and I felt that I had to share the same with you. If you are squeamish or faint-hearted stop reading this immediately. I have a cousin…
May 21, 2013
Sandile Memela
Drum was the only magazine when the winds of change were blowing through the African continent in 1957. It celebrated its 60th birthday recently. The best talent available in the urban South African community was, like moth to light, attracted to the charismatic power of its visionary and prophetic founder, a Mr Jim Bailey. It…
May 20, 2013
Brad Cibane
Do white people have a future in South Africa? According John Simpson, the world affairs editor of BBC News: Yes, there is a future for the prosperous white middle class and the upper-class whites (who remain shaded from poverty by their apartheid booty). This is not the case for the poor whites and white farmers….
May 20, 2013
Llewellyn Kriel
MAYBE I have too much time on my hands. Maybe listening to Vodacom’s soul-mangling jingles waiting for the mythical “Next Available Consultant” (that ranks up there with Bigfoot & the Chupacabra) forces the brain into self-defence … Anyway I got to thinking about all the jobs I’d done in my life. More specifically, those for…
May 20, 2013
Gareth Setati
The first thing I came across on SADTU’s website when I visited it on 18/05/2013 is an announcement on “improvements in the working conditions” of teachers. This particular improvement relates to annual cost-of-living adjustments for educators. This is all well and it is needed, and granted SADTU is a union for teachers and not the…
Wed, 22 May 2013
“You need to cut your nails if you want to be involved in this kind of work,” Jairus, the experienced farmer and caretaker, said disapprovingly. This was Rosa’s first attempt at planting a tree on her newly acquired farm, located in Kenya’s Rift Valley. All the farmhands’ eyes were on her as she dug and shovelled. [...]
Tue, 21 May 2013
There is a proverb in Timbuktu, the legendary medieval city in Mali’s desert, that says: “The ink of a scholar is more precious than the blood of a martyr.” What Ahmed Baba, the 16th-century intellectual who said it, would make of recent developments is hard to imagine. At the multimillion-dollar Timbuktu institute bearing his name, [...]
Mon, 20 May 2013
A South African feature film shot in less than 11 days may be up for a Guinness World Record. The attempt officially kicked off at 9am on Wednesday, May 1, for which no preparation was allowed beforehand, while many of the team’s peers were reaping the benefits of a mid-week public holiday. Ten days and [...]
Mon, 20 May 2013
Soon after Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980, my parents bought a house in the suburbs in Bulawayo. This meant that I began my primary education in a school that was formerly reserved for white kids. I was in such close proximity to them that I was able to touch their hair. I marvelled at [...]