Rescued from the brink?
THE seventh week of the year proved momentous for southern Africa. First, thief-in-chief President Jacob Zuma was forced to resign by his own party, but not before prevarication had allowed a number of his criminal […]
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Caught in the Middle: The Autobiography of Mike Procter
Mike Procter and Lungani Zama, Caught in the Middle: The Autobiography of Mike Procter (Cape Town: Don Nelson, 2017) A FEROCIOUSLY fast bowler who could turn to off spin, a dominating and entertaining middle order batsman, […]
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The Knock on the Door: The Story of the Detainees’ Parents Support Committee
Terry Shakinovsky and Sharon Cort with Lauren Segal, The Knock on the Door: The Story of the Detainees’ Parents Support Committee (Johannesburg: Picador Africa, 2018) DURING the 1980s, in its desperate attempt to delay liberation, […]
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State of the South African nation
BEFORE, during and since the ANC’s elective conference in December last year much has been made of personalities. This is not without reason. President Jacob Zuma is widely regarded as ‘thief-in-chief’ and Cyril Ramaphosa’s election […]
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The Big Fix: How South Africa Stole the 2010 World Cup
Ray Hartley, The Big Fix: How South Africa Stole the 2010 World Cup (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 2016) THE RUN-UP to the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa lasted five years. It was a remarkably […]
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On a road to nowhere
FOR many years there has been major excavation and traffic disruption at the junction of Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road and Charing Cross Road in London. The reason is the massive tunnel being drilled through […]
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Reflections on the Rainbow Nation: Myth and Reality in South Africa’s History
PREFACE Over the years Pietermaritzburg’s daily newspaper, The Witness, was kind enough to publish my opinion pieces and the occasional feature article. For a while the former appeared in the series ‘New Ground’, along with […]
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Introduction
IT was a remarkable, passionate outburst of the sort for which Desmond Tutu has become famous. In November 2011 he roundly denounced the South African government over its failure (again) to issue the Dalai Lama […]
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1. John William Colenso: human rights activist?
DURING November 2003 the Anglican Diocese of Natal marked its 150th anniversary. Inevitably many of the celebrations focused on its first bishop, John William Colenso (1818−1883), who lived at the Ekukhanyeni mission just outside Pietermaritzburg […]
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2. Edendale: Kholwa identity and survival
EDENDALE municipality has never existed, but it should have done. James Allison, the dissident Wesleyan missionary, arrived in Natal from Swaziland in 1847 with a destitute refugee community of 400 that had originated in Transorangia and settled […]