Despite her key role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, details about Lilian Ngoyi’s life remain sparse. The short paragraphs on her legacy repeat a few well-worn phrases. South Africa’s “mother of the black resistance”, a widow and rumoured lover of Nelson Mandela, and the first woman member of the national executive committee – the core leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), the resistance movement that would later become the government of a democratic South Africa....
Despite her key role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, details about Lilian Ngoyi’s life remain sparse. The short paragraphs on her...
Just as Black people have been dispossessed of their land, Ubuntu has been dispossessed of its deeply radical demands for ethical historical and social relations among people, Panashe Chigumadzi argues. Under a 1986 newsletter headline, ‘Ubuntu, Abantu, Abelungu’, Black Sash, the anti-apartheid organisation founded as the vanguard of white liberal women’s opposition in South Africa, reported surprising findings from a white fieldworker in their programme against forced land removals – Black people...
Just as Black people have been dispossessed of their land, Ubuntu has been dispossessed of its deeply radical demands for ethical historical and social...
After the flames that gutted the Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on 18 April 2021 were finally extinguished, the archives were thought to be lost. The Reading Room, where researchers could study some of the rare African books available from the short-loans desk, had been completely destroyed. It was a devastating loss of archival material, much of it irreplaceable. But in the days after the fire, the basements that housed the archives and parts of the African Studies collection...
After the flames that gutted the Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on 18 April 2021 were finally extinguished, the archives were...
Hosted by Musawenkosi Cabe, Radio New Frame unearths the roots of Afrikaans - once the ‘language of the White oppressor’ - and focuses on contemporary Black Afrikaans. The programme also tackles the misconception that Nelson Mandela rejected the use of violence in the struggle against Apartheid. A new book reconstructs his role as commander-in-chief of Umkhonto weSizwe and its war against Africa’s strongest army. Listen here. New Frame is one of our favourite not-for-profit social justice media...
Hosted by Musawenkosi Cabe, Radio New Frame unearths the roots of Afrikaans - once the ‘language of the White oppressor’ - and focuses on contemporary...
A new BBC Africa Eye/BBC Eye investigation reveals children in Africa are being exploited to make personalised videos, including racist content, for sale on Chinese websites and social media. Watch their shocking report here:
A new BBC Africa Eye/BBC Eye investigation reveals children in Africa are being exploited to make personalised videos, including racist content, for sale...
Only by grasping the political processes that reproduce death, destruction and destitution will Kenyans finally exorcise the demons of their history. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness in this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12 The first episode of the popular Netflix series Narcos opens with the title card: “Magical realism is defined as what happens when a...
Only by grasping the political processes that reproduce death, destruction and destitution will Kenyans finally exorcise the demons of their history....
April 6th used to be a public holiday in Apartheid South Africa. It was supposed to be the day that Jan Van Riebeeck arrived in South Africa in 1652 as the chief colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company’s new colonial settlement to settle what is now Cape Town. Who of my generation does not know this? It was drilled into all our minds at primary (read: elementary) school. And even if we were not lucky enough to go to school, the mythology certainly did not pass us by. The version of...
April 6th used to be a public holiday in Apartheid South Africa. It was supposed to be the day that Jan Van Riebeeck arrived in South Africa in 1652 as...
Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki, who has died at the age of 90, was born of November 15,1931 in Othaya, Nyeri, in the central highlands of Kenya. He spent a lifetime in public service. He served as president of Kenya – the third after independence – from 2002 to 2013, a critical period in Kenya’s transition from a one party state to democracy. He also served as the fourth vice-president (1978 to 1988) under President Daniel arap Moi. To his friends and admirers, Kibaki was a gentleman who survived the...
Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki, who has died at the age of 90, was born of November 15,1931 in Othaya, Nyeri, in the central highlands of Kenya. He spent a...
In this Zimbabwean activist’s view todays’ rulers of the country are no different from the colonial settlers. On April 12, Zimbabwean activist Peter Mutasa was presented with the Febe Elizabeth Velásquez Trade Union Rights Prize, which had been awarded to him a year earlier by the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV). With the prize, named after the murdered Salvadoran trade union leader Febe Elizabeth Vélasquez (1962-1989), the FNV honours people who have dedicated themselves in a special way...
In this Zimbabwean activist’s view todays’ rulers of the country are no different from the colonial settlers. On April 12, Zimbabwean activist Peter...
In the 2nd Dulcie September Lecture, Professor Jonathan Jansen, a prominent educationist, argues the murdered ANC Paris representative was consciously forgotten by her own movement because she was a person of integrity and honesty. 1. Until recently, few South Africans knew about a woman called Dulcie Evonne September. In my talks on leadership to companies, universities, churches, NGOs etc. I would often end my talks by putting up three large photos of courageous leaders---Mandela, Tutu, and...
In the 2nd Dulcie September Lecture, Professor Jonathan Jansen, a prominent educationist, argues the murdered ANC Paris representative was consciously...
How much airtime goes in one year, just to find out what is happening to one case of murder of a young man in South Africa? Or rather, times two? It is now two years ago that Tsepo Ndhlovu was killed by police officer Adolph Rikhotso at Groenvlei farm near Mookgophong, formerly Naboomspruit, in northern Limpopo province, on the 11th of March 2020. A quick count of the airtime used to try and break through the mountains of silence surrounding this case amounts to close to a thousand South African...
How much airtime goes in one year, just to find out what is happening to one case of murder of a young man in South Africa? Or rather, times two? It is...
Ghanaian journalists are driving an anti-LGBTIQ campaign that could result in one of the world’s harshest homophobic laws. When Ako* heard that an LGBTIQ community centre was going to open in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, the first thing she did was get herself a date. And then matching outfits.Calling an Uber on the day of the opening, she entered the words ‘LGBT community centre’ – and there it was. In a city of grand mosques and megachurches, there was a tiny point on the map that she felt...
Ghanaian journalists are driving an anti-LGBTIQ campaign that could result in one of the world’s harshest homophobic laws. When Ako* heard that an LGBTIQ...
Russia’ invasion of Ukraine in late February has already caused to two million refugees to flee the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees predicts that another four million will be displaced if the conflict continues. Although all neighbouring European Union countries have pledged to accept refugees from Ukraine, as people flee across borders, a complicated story emerges of who are perceived and received as good, bad and ideal refugees in modern Europe. Take Poland — a country...
Russia’ invasion of Ukraine in late February has already caused to two million refugees to flee the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for...
Shantini Naidoo zit tegenover mij aan tafel bij uitgeverij EPO in Antwerpen, de ochtend waarop de Nederlandstalige versie van haar boek ‘Vrouwen, verzet en apartheid’ zal gepresenteerd worden. Na ons gesprek zal ze naar het Krugerplein gaan met enkele mensen van de uitgeverij. Ze voorzien een korte actie om het boek te promoten. Er zijn naambordjes gedrukt om de Antwerpse straatnamen die de onderdrukkers in Zuid-Afrika representeren (Kruger, Delarey, Botha) te vervangen door de namen van de vrouwen...
Shantini Naidoo zit tegenover mij aan tafel bij uitgeverij EPO in Antwerpen, de ochtend waarop de Nederlandstalige versie van haar boek ‘Vrouwen, verzet...
The West is losing ground in Africa, strategically, economically and diplomatically. But are the ones who have stepped in, most prominently China and Russia, any better than the West with its abominable African track record? Bram Posthumus thinks not. Will the continent finally take its destiny in its own hands? Bamako, Place de l’Indépendance, January 2020 . At a stone’s throw from the Institut Français, with its interminable roster of Malian talent showcases, yet another anti-France demonstration...
The West is losing ground in Africa, strategically, economically and diplomatically. But are the ones who have stepped in, most prominently China and...
The return of Patrice Lumumba’s remains must not be an occasion for Belgium to congratulate itself, but for a full accounting of the colonial violence that led to the assassination and coverup. For much of the past year, there have been plans for the sacred human remains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first post-independence prime minister, Patrice Émery Lumumba, to finally be returned to his children in Belgium, and then repatriated to the Congo. Originally scheduled for a ceremony on...
The return of Patrice Lumumba’s remains must not be an occasion for Belgium to congratulate itself, but for a full accounting of the colonial violence...
An African hunt for natural resources is one reason for the ongoing war in Eastern DRC. The destruction of the Nande people another. Many reports and books depict the war in the Kivu as greed of the neighboring countries to exploit the minerals. As an example, in an article written by Dr David Himbara, the Rwanda’s Gold Exports fetched US$ 522 Million in 2020, an increase of 754.6%. He further describes how this gold is smuggled from DRC as follows: ‘Rwanda’s gold exports are connected to gold...
An African hunt for natural resources is one reason for the ongoing war in Eastern DRC. The destruction of the Nande people another. Many reports and...
Bij de Belgische uitgeverij EPO verscheen Vrouwen, verzet en apartheid, een reconstructie van een verborgen geschiedenis van moed en volharding, opgetekend door Shantini Naidoo. 14 oktober 1969. Het Zuid-Afrikaanse apartheidsregime start een proces tegen tweeëntwintig activisten wegens het overtreden van de zogenaamde Wet op de Onderdrukking van het Communisme. Met Nonzamo Shantihini Naidoo, Winnie Mandela, Martha Dlamini, Thokozile Mngoma, Rita Ndzanga, Nondwe Mankahla, Joyce Sikhakhana en Shantie...
Bij de Belgische uitgeverij EPO verscheen Vrouwen, verzet en apartheid, een reconstructie van een verborgen geschiedenis van moed en volharding,...
In his new book Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in South Africa Daniel L. Douek presents new evidence that the 1993 assassination of ANC and Communist Party leader Chris Hani cannot be attributed solely to two right wing extremists. There was a broader conspiracy linking the entire Apartheid security apparatus to the killing. A dramatic revelation emerged in early 1997 with the leak of an investigative report compiled by South Africa’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA). It described a broader...
In his new book Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in South Africa Daniel L. Douek presents new evidence that the 1993 assassination of ANC and Communist...
[* tekst in Nederlands onderaan ] This the story of a South African exile, black and lesbian, who who lived on in a Dutch solidarity campaign she started. After 35 years of solidarity the Tania Leon Study Fund comes to an end. Later, when we were past middle age and South Africa had changed into a gentle rainbow nation where the colour of your skin no longer determined where you could go, what you could become and who you could associate with, we would all live out our days in a communal house on a...
[* tekst in Nederlands onderaan ] This the story of a South African exile, black and lesbian, who who lived on in a Dutch solidarity campaign she...
Wat beweegt een mens om zich aan de sluiten bij een gewapende strijd in een ver land? In zijn boek De Koerier van Maputo gaat journalist Jenne Jan Holtland op zoek naar de geschiedenis van Klaas de Jonge, ‘een Nederlander in de Zuid-Afrikaanse revolutie’. Een voorpublicatie. Op mijn hotelkamer gaat de wekker iets voor zessen. Ik neem vlug een douche, rits mijn koffer dicht en loop naar beneden. Daar word ik opgewacht door Klaas de Jonge, de 81-jarige met wie ik naar zuidelijk Afrika ben gereisd...
Wat beweegt een mens om zich aan de sluiten bij een gewapende strijd in een ver land? In zijn boek De Koerier van Maputo gaat journalist Jenne Jan...
