Opinion

Trade union supported political parties: lessons to be learned

Learning from the mistakes of others, and being aware of the basis of those mistakes, helps us not to repeat the same errors. This is something to which those individuals, groups and unions now agitating to move South Africa onto a new political trajectory via a trade union supported political party would do well to pay heed.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 24 November 2014

Ebola: the difficult return from the front

The health care workers who put their lives at risk to fight Ebola should be honoured, not quarantined, writes Kathryn Stinson, who recently returned from Sierra Leone.

Kathryn Stinson

Opinion | 20 November 2014

Why we should support the new complementary medicines regulations

It has been a year since regulations were published to protect the public from poor quality complementary medicines. The industry’s response has been characterised by obfuscation, denial and blatant contraventions, writes Professor Roy Jobson.

Roy Jobson

Opinion | 17 November 2014

Farm workers union Csaawu should be saved

Csaawu is facing bankruptcy for supporting farm workers dismissed after the sector’s historic strikes in 2012/13 - arguably the strongest challenge to rural labour exploitation in recent South African history. This is the story of why it is important for the union to be saved.

Daneel Knoetze

Opinion | 17 November 2014

Massive implications of Cosatu crisis

It is no exaggeration to say that South Africa is in the midst of the most important political development since 1994.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 17 November 2014

Real art makes the privileged uncomfortable

Several Cape Town landmarks have been defaced in recent weeks. Here members of The Tokolos Stencil Collective explain why they have done this.

Members of the Tokolos Stencil Collective

Opinion | 13 November 2014

Current struggles of historic school that Biko attended

Forbes Grant Senior Secondary School is not safe. The flimsy fence structure around the school is easily breakable. On the school’s perimeter, the fence has gaping holes in many places. In some parts, there is no fence at all.

Daniel Linde

Opinion | 12 November 2014

When the representatives of labour become employers

The very public scrap between former trade union leaders John Copelyn and Marcel Golding, both now billionaire business people, has raised a crucial question for the labour movement: the role of union investment companies.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 12 November 2014

Recruiting child soldiers on the Cape Flats

Calvin* has spent over half of his life in Cape Flats gangs. Today, he is 26 years old and a high-ranking member of both the Mongrels street gang and the 28s prison gang.

Dariusz Dziewanski

Opinion | 10 November 2014

Clarifying the COSATU confusion

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I tender this classic apology on behalf of many of my fellow journalists who have recently misled the public about the situation regarding the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) and the Cosatu federation.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 3 November 2014

Pregnant girls must be allowed in class

In my school when a girl falls pregnant, her parents are called in and the girl is kicked out of classes. She is only allowed to return after she gives birth.

Sisipho Xhaxha

Opinion | 30 October 2014

Ebola: what we need to do

On her return from Sierra Leone, epidemiologist Kathryn Stinson explains what must be done to manage the Ebola epidemic.

Kathryn Stinson

Opinion | 29 October 2014

Why I have resigned from the board of HCI

On 26 October, former Minister of Public Enterprises Barbara Hogan resigned from the board of Hosken Consolidated Investments, which owns etv. Here is her resignation letter.

Barbara Hogan

Opinion | 28 October 2014

Who is to blame for the PO rot

The strike bound South African Post Office (Sapo) has been badly damaged. And not by greedy workers and belligerent unions, but by mismanagement, corruption and a total lack of planning and foresight. The strike in its eleventh week is not a cause, but a symptom of the malaise.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 27 October 2014

Police: the facts behind the Commissioner’s “good story”

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Policing should ask police management some tough questions, writes Zackie Achmat in the second in a series of articles on policing.

Zackie Achmat

Opinion | 24 October 2014

Liebenberg’s argument is a straw man

The City is not opposed to social audits, but takes issue with the way the SJC carried out its audit, writes Counsellor Ernest Sonnenberg in response to Professor Sandra Liebenberg.

Ernest Sonnenberg

Opinion | 23 October 2014