Throughout the controversial four-year life of the Traditional Courts Bill (TCB), the African National Congress government has firmly allied itself with tribal chiefs (with their new polished image and title of "traditional leaders"), even allowing them a strong hand...
courts
The Emperor is naked | by Njabulo S Ndebele
A reincarnated Hans Christian Andersen may have painted The Spear for those denying the testimony of their eyes ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes” is one of the most enduring tales by Hans Christian Andersen. It tells the story of a fashion-obsessed Emperor who has no time...
‘I Am an Illegal Alien on My Own Land’ | by David Shulman
In 1949, shortly after Israel’s War of Independence, S. Yizhar—the doyen of modern Hebrew prose writers—published a story that became an instant classic. “Khirbet Khizeh” is a fictionalized account of the destruction of a Palestinian village and the expulsion of all...
Adrift from our democratic moorings | by Mazibuko K. Jara
Why is President Jacob Zuma and the JSC imposing Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng as our chief justice when he is clearly unsuitable for the position? South Africa’s Constitution requires the Constitutional Court and all others to interpret, protect and enforce the fundamental...
Brett Murray’s portrait of Zuma opens old wounds | by Jackson Mthembu
Jackson Mthembu questions why black, not white, defacer of painting was assaulted by security guard ANC WELCOMES THE SOUTH GAUTENG HIGH COURT DECISION TO HAVE A FULL BENCH OF JUDGES TO HEAR THE ANC AND PRESIDENT ZUMA'S URGENT APPLICATION REGARDING THE OFFENSIVE...
Why The Spear outraged us | by Mzukisi Makatse
Mzukisi Makatse on freedom of artistic expression in South Africa The contextual and political understanding of the freedom of artistic expression in South Africa Now that the dust seems to be settling after the storm and hysteria occasioned by The Spear - Brett...
ANC outraged by Brett Murray’s depiction of Zuma | by Jackson Mthembu
Jackson Mthembu says party wants picture removed from gallery and news websites The African National Congress is extremely disturbed and outraged by the distasteful and indecent manner in which Brett Murray and the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg is displaying the...
Tolerance of Whom? | by Rashid Khalidi
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is planning to build a Museum of Tolerance on the Muslim Mamilla cemetery. This project is a grotesque attempt to erase the well-established history of a continuous Muslim presence in the city that dates back over a millennium. For over six...
Rwandan genocide survivors still waiting for reparation | by Juergen Schurr
The survivors of one of the worst genocides in modern history are fast losing hope that they will ever be compensated. ALMOST two decades after the genocide in Rwanda, in which up to 1 million people died, hundreds of thousands of survivors are still waiting for...


