There is the high veld, the middle veld, the low veld, the bush veld, and now thoughts from the thorn veld,
PIETERMARITZBURG in 1986: a city simmering with anti-apartheid protest action, under a State of Emergency and about to face a low-intensity civil war that would culminate in the tragedy of the political cleansing of March 1990. […]
‘A future in which all people in South Africa live in a participatory democracy with sustainable living environments and livelihood security’: such is the vision of the Built Environment Support Group (BESG), which celebrated its […]
IT was an indication of sheer desperation that the apartheid state assassinated university teachers. Rick Turner was murdered in January 1978. And on 1 May 1989, David Webster was shot dead at the age of […]
ON Friday 2 December 1988, Trust Feed, a community of 5 000 people near New Hanover, was declared an operational area under the State of Emergency and 40 police officers photographed residents and detained members of […]
ACCORDING to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), 200 people died and 20 000 were displaced during the Seven Day War of 25–31 March 1990. They were mainly from Ashdown, Caluza, Mpumuza, Gezubuso, KwaShange and […]
‘BRING back “Gatsha” book, say young Reds’ (The Witness, 4 March 2010). This headline awoke vivid memories from nearly 20 years old; but more importantly it re-opened the censorship debate. The Young Communist League (YCL) was […]
IN a world in which books are under pressure from a multiplicity of electronic media, historical and political biography stands out as a genre holding its own. Recent subjects include Steve Biko and a range of […]
APARTHEID was a crime against humanity and a heresy. And robust opposition was morally justifiable. Any other interpretation of late twentieth-century South African history would be hard to argue and few seem inclined to try. […]
THE cricket boycott is over. A white South African team had a triumphal welcome in India and even managed to win a match. Everyone in India, it seems, loves South African cricketers. Even Mother Theresa was wheeled […]
HIS murderers have long been jailed, but the exact motivation and the broader ramifications, such as the possibility of an inside job, remain elusive. Martin Tembisile Hani (better known as Chris, his younger brother’s name) […]