Politics
Convicted activists vow to challenge gatherings law
A Cape Town magistrate has convicted ten activists from the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) for convening an illegal gathering. Although they were discharged with a caution, the group has vowed to appeal the conviction, and to have the Regulations of Gatherings Act declared unconstitutional by a higher court.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 11 February 2015
SONA Teletubby nightmares
'Twas the night before the SONA, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse ...
Stacey Stent
News | 11 February 2015
State ownership does not equal socialism
The Q’uran and the Prophet Mohammed cannot be held responsible for the Jihadi atrocities of Boko Haram or the Islamic State groups any more than can the Christian Gospels and Jesus be held responsible for apartheid or the Ku Klux Klan. To claim otherwise is simply illogical.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 2 February 2015
Draft drone rules silent on privacy and weapon concerns
Draft regulations for drone usage in South Africa do not have safeguards against the use of the devices by the state as weapons or to invade people’s privacy, activists have warned. But the sub-committee in charge of compiling the regulations has said Constitutional rights will not be violated.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 27 January 2015
What Africa’s premier soccer tournament means to Equatorial Guinea
The brutal kleptocracy of Equatorial Guinea hopes to gain a measure of international acceptance by hosting the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) soccer spectacle that kicked off this weekend, writes Terry Bell. The oil and gas wealth generated by this “Kuwait of Africa” provides the economic wherewithal for the ruling elite to buy favours while the bulk of the population wallows in repressive poverty. Bell was the only foreign journalist to cover the independence of Equatorial Guinea more than 46 years ago.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 19 January 2015
Why Cape Town should not name a street after FW De Klerk
Once again, there is a furore about plans to name a major Cape Town street after former apartheid president FW de Klerk. As well there should be, although there is considerable support for the proposal.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 19 January 2015
Charlie Hebdo: Let’s not fall into the politically correct trap
Charlie Hebdo journalist Laurent Leger is no stranger to South African newspaper readers. Over the last ten years or so, as a freelancer, Laurent has written several reports for South African newspapers on the French connection in the arms deal, and also on failed attempts to find the killers of ANC Paris representative Dulcie September.
Alide Dasnois
Opinion | 13 January 2015
Cartoons and the Prophet Muhammad
The question of whether Prophet Muhammad can be depicted in Islam is something that perhaps most Muslims have failed to explain. With every cartoon or drawing, most people wonder why Muslims are in such an uproar – and admittedly, in some cases in a manner that is frankly unbefitting of the Prophet himself.
A’Eysha Kassiem
Opinion | 13 January 2015
Mfuleni youth question Ramaphosa
Lack of jobs for black graduates was among concerns raised by young people in a meeting with deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa in Mfuleni yesterday.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 7 January 2015