THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Apr

01

2021

‘Murder in Paris’ puts fresh focus on assassination

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ON the morning of 29 March 1988, Dulcie September, the 52-year-old representative of the ANC for France, Luxembourg and Switzerland, was killed by five bullets fired at point blank range from a .22-calibre pistol fitted with a silencer. She died outside the door of the ANC offices on the fourth floor of the building located at 28 Rue des Petites-Écuries in Paris. September’s death sparked international outrage, particularly in France, where tens of thousands of people lined the streets of the capital for her funeral on 9 April 1988. Almost immediately following what would prove to be the most high-profile…

Jan

06

2021

By The African Mirror

2020 was the year of inequality: can we turn it around in 2021?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

2020 was cruellest to those who already had the least. At first, it was said that “the virus doesn’t discriminate”, but as COVID-19 spread it became clear that having a low income, being an essential worker or being a member of a marginalised racial minority are “co-morbidities” – factors which make people more likely to die. Then the pandemic created a hunger crisis, leaving hundreds of millions of already struggling people without the earnings to feed their families. It created an educational crisis, too. United Nations children’s agency UNICEF found that a third of the world’s schoolchildren – 463 million children globally – had had…

Jan

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Nchaupe Mokoape – a hard-boiled patriot

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MOSEBUDI MANGENA I was in the same Standard Six class with Nchaupe’s younger sister Barbara Makgadi Lebelo at Lethabong Primary School in Wallmansthal, just north of Pretoria. The Mokoape family are among those of us who were forcefully removed by the minority regime from that freehold area, which is now home to an army base. As we all know, the regime hated ownership of land by blacks, no matter how small. There can be no doubt that that forced removal business must have added a layer of his consciousness about the unjustness of the system of settler-colonialism that he fought…

Jan

03

2021

By The African Mirror

A Covid-19 rethink for 2021: Relief, prevention, treatment and vaccines all need a new approach!

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ZWELINZIMA VAVI THERE are several areas where, during 2020, South African ruling class efforts to reign in the deadly Covid-19 virus will be considered by workers very critically, indeed as outright failures: relief, prevention, treatment and vaccines. But 2021 need not suffer the same mistakes, if basic decency replaces our government’s neoliberal policies, austerity programmes and the Health and Trade Ministries’ fear of offending Western and BRICS-country capitalists and states. The recent 18 000 infections set new records which demands much bolder actions by government and society as a whole Relief First, it became immediately apparent in March 2020 once…

Jul

23

2022

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki at 80: admired on the continent more than at home

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THABO Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s second post-apartheid president, celebrated his 80th birthday on 18 June 2022. Following Mandela’s era of multiracial and multicultural rainbowism, Mbeki had to squarely address the challenges of acute inequality and the numerous grievances of the black majority caused by colonialism and apartheid. This was tough work with no easy solutions. Author SANYA OSHA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town Mbeki was born in what is now the Eastern Cape province to fairly educated and politically conscious parents – Epainette, a schoolteacher, and Govan, a contemporary…

Jan

12

2021

By The African Mirror

DOLLY MOKGATLE: 1956 – 2021

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A HUMBLE LAWYER OF THE ORANGE PICKERS MATHATHA TSEDU RETIRED Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, in his first book, “My Own Liberator”, writes on pages 242 and 243 about a 1989 strike by workers at Zebediela Citrus Estate outside Polokwane in Limpopo, whom he defended with two other advocates, instructed by the Black Lawyers Association (BLA)’s Legal Education Centre. “The citrus produce was exported to Europe under the brand name Outspan. The working conditions on the citrus farms were horrendous and the wages were a pittance. The workers balloted for a strike and downed tools. Management, shocked by their impertinence…

Jan

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Tribute to King Thulare Victor Thulare III “Bauba a Hlabirwa”. 1981 – 2021

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

GROOVIN NCHABELENG THE popular adage by Maya Angelou goes that … ”When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, and sterile; we breathe briefly.” And so, we have lived to experience this tragedy with the sad passing of Bapedi Nation King, His Majesty King Thulare Victor Thulare III ‘Bauba a Hlabirwa,’ at age 40. King Thulare was recognised a mere 8 months ago, and received his Kingship Certificate from Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Honourable Obed Bapela, following a landmark Constitutional Court judgment and pronouncement by President Cyril Ramaphosa, that ended a 30-year…

Jul

19

2022

By The African Mirror

The real meaning of Jessie Duarte

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MATHATHA TSEDU: 2022.07.19THE mental turmoil started on Saturday morning at about 9.45 when my son Mpho, forwarded a message that read in part: “Just got a call that Jessie is now back home – having been diagnosed with cancer there is nothing more they can do, she is now in the “end of life” stage…..”Since she took leave from her duties as Deputy Secretary General who was effectively the Secretary-General in the absence of the incumbent, I had tried to reach her to just say hang in there friend, for that is what we called each otherIn between some moron…

Jul

19

2022

By The African Mirror

Mass shootings in South Africa are often over group turf: how to stop the cycle of reprisals

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN just two days in early July, 25 people were shot dead in four separate incidents at taverns across South Africa. In one of these shootings, in Soweto, 16 people lost their lives. The killings made international headlines and were shocking even in South Africa, a society with one of the highest murder rates in the world. There has been intense speculation about the motives behind the killings in the absence of reliable evidence that explains why the multiple murders took place. Author GUY LAMB, Criminologist / Lecturer, Stellenbosch University To provide some insights into the possible reasons, I reflect…

Jul

18

2022

By The African Mirror

Africa mulls how to circumvent western sanctions as it chooses to cooperate with Russia

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ABBEY MAKOE RUSSIAN lawmakers have met with African diplomats in a virtual conference to thrash out mutual ways to mitigate the food security challenges in the wake of the looming global supply shortages aggravated by the ongoing Ukraine conflict. The US and EU economic sanctions against Russia have targeted food and fertilizer exports in an effort to cripple the Russian economy. However, the Ukraine conflict has also restricted the capability of the Kyiv administration to export particularly grain. This has triggered fears at the UN level that the international community is on the brink of a hard-hitting hunger and famine,…