Building a political organisation requires addressing the urgent needs of the working poor and their communities while ensuring their protection, welfare, and dignity.
State of the working class and its movements
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Patriarchy
The crisis of a nation betrayed
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address was an exercise in spin. The claim that South Africa is on a path to recovery contradicts a harsh and worsening reality.
Ayanda Kota: the passing of a South African revolutionary
Dear Comrade Babalwa, Ayanda’s children, Mandisa and Ayanda’s other sisters and family members, comrades of the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM), the Makhanda Citizens Front (MCF), and Zabalaza for Socialism, we mourn the loss of our comrade and friend, Ayanda Kota....
Developments in NUMSA
Developments in NUMSA are of considerable significance, portending substantial changes in the South African political landscape. Notably this entails the possible fatal split of COSATU and the ANC-led alliance. But as with all break-ups, one cannot be certain what...
Why socialists need feminism | by David Camfield
The relationship between socialism and feminism has been getting more attention in online discussions recently. This is both for good reasons — such as the article by Sharon Smith of the International Socialist Organization in the US that looks critically at how the...
Murray Explains Why He Painted “The Spear” | by Brett Murray
“At the outset, I would like to say that I am a proud South African and a former supporter of the ANC. I am not a racist. I do not produce art with an intention to hurt, humiliate or insult, and that includes the painting that has caused this controversy. I...
The Spear: SA won’t overcome fear by surrendering to it | by Alexander Matthews
Alexander Matthews says ANC trying to place a taboo on discussions of Zuma's version of masculinity Brett Murray's defaced The Spear stands as a monument to intolerance. After thousands of ANC supporters marched to the Goodman where it had once been on display, the...
The Spear that divided the nation | by Professor Mbembe
AN OLD west African proverb compares the artist to a dog. Positioned at the interface of the human and the natural worlds, the dog in most ancient African societies enjoyed a slippery and highly ambiguous cultural status. Neither a human being, nor a wild animal, it...
Why I find The Spear unsettling | by Sabelo Ndlangisa
The controversy surrounding Brett Murray’s portrait of President Jacob Zuma has stirred up a hornet’s nest. On the one hand, it has elicited outrage even from people I know to have antipathy towards our head of state. On the other, defenders of The Spear feel that...