Opinion
Socialism: myths, prejudices and reality
The global economic crisis continues and makes for a widespread and desperate need among the lowly paid, the poor and the hungry for something better to look forward to.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 26 November 2015
Textbooks matter: the state goes to court AGAIN
SECTION27 has been engaging with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) about the ongoing textbooks crisis in Limpopo since early 2012. There have been four high court orders saying that the state’s failure to give learners their full complement of textbooks is a violation of their right to education. Tuesday was the fifth time this matter has been in court.
Kate Paterson
Opinion | 25 November 2015
The rabbi, the president and the Palestinians
On 23 November, Geoff Sifrin's book Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris – How humanity, morality and humour helped lead a community was launched at the Great Synagogue in Johannesburg. Judge Edwin Cameron delivered this speech. He addressed Harris's commitment to reaching out across the divides in the South African Jewish community as well as perhaps the most vexing question facing many Jews: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Edwin Cameron
Opinion | 24 November 2015
Time to get tough with schools which discriminate against pregnant schoolgirls
A total of 20,833 school-going girls fell pregnant in South Africa in the 2013-14 year, according to official statistics. A staggering 717 of them were at primary school.
Chandre Stuurman and Demichelle Petherbridge
Opinion | 19 November 2015
Time to demand equal rights for blind people
Being blind or visually impaired means many things in life are simply much more difficult than what they are for other people. Some of these things we can do something about, others we can’t. There are two fundamentally different ways for society and governments to respond to this unpleasant reality. The one option is pity and non-integration - the other is to forget about pity and to take practical steps to make things as equal as possible so that blind people can integrate into society.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 18 November 2015
The debt machine and the politics of 0%
The current wave of student protests in South Africa has been mostly analysed from a national and local perspective.
Achille Mbembe
Opinion | 13 November 2015
DA’s shadow bill misses the key point
On Wednesday, the Democratic Alliance's (DA) new shadow minister of police, Zakhele Mbhele, will brief parliament's police committee on the DA's Bill to replace the National Key Points Act.
Murray Hunter
Opinion | 3 November 2015
Lessons from the student protests of the 1980s
Activist Mandy Sanger, who was part of student-led opposition to apartheid through the Committee of 81 in Cape Town, delivered the annual Ashley Kriel memorial lecture sponsored by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and the University of the Western Cape last night. Here is a brief extract from her speech.
Mandy Sanger
Opinion | 23 October 2015
Black advocates tell court they object to ‘racist sting’
This morning, in the silicosis class action, black advocates requested the opportunity to address the court regarding remarks made by a member of one of the legal teams. Approximately 150 black advocates, mostly women, were at court in solidarity with the statement. According to John Stephens, a lawyer with SECTION27, leaders of each legal team "undertook to address the entrenched patterns of racial exclusion in the profession."
Advocates for transformation
Opinion | 23 October 2015