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James Nichol explains his decision to volunteer to represent forgotten families of dead strikers When South Africa's apartheid police massacred 69 people in Sharpeville in 1960, the revulsion spread as far as northern England. James Nichol, then 15, took part in his...
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...
James Ngculu joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) after the 1976 uprising of Soweto. He occupied a variety of posts within MK and spent most of his time abroad in exile, where he became one of Chris Hani's closest companions. After 1994, he acted as the Provincial Secretary...
The recent controversy about the artist Brett Murray's "The Spear" painting provoked furious verbal and other acrobatics. Those who opposed the public showing of the painting did so claiming not to be censoring an exposed penis per se, but to be objecting to the...
Artist Brett Murray, in his affidavit, explains why he painted 'The Spear' "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,...
BRETT Murray’s The Spear has generated an extraordinary amount of media and political commentary, social media twittering, marches and protests, including the defacing of the painting itself. The rage expressed by many in response to the depiction of the private parts...
Eusebius McKaiser responds to The Spear's virtual death An open letter to Ferial Haffajee: A response to The Spear's virtual death Dear Ferial, You are obviously one of the country's most respected editors and perhaps even, as Peter Bruce, editor of Business Day,...
Brent Meersman says the fuss was manufactured to assist Jacob Zuma's re-election at Mangaung. The outrage over the Zuma Spear has now revealed itself to be as all about politics. Not for the first time, the country was brought almost to a standstill by its...
Some say it was the ANC's best chance to steer public attention away from its disastrous handling of the economy. Some say they just couldn't wait to spark an outrage so people would stop talking about textbooks being five months late in Limpopo. Some say the public...