A Rapist State’s Children: Jacob Zuma & Chumani Maxwele
In Pumla Gqola’s latest book Rape: A South African Nightmare, the Wits University-based scholar asks potentially one of the most important questions ever posed in contemporary post-apartheid South Africa: “What does it mean to ask President Jacob Zuma to take anti-rape work seriously, after we lived through the brutalisation of Khwezi in more than […]
‘They Never Fought for Us’
My comrade and I had to rough it to Umkhonto weSizwe’s 47th anniversary celebrations in 2008. His favourite private jet – a refitted Boeing 737, complete with a double bed – was in for a service, so we had to use one of his junior jets. As I recall, it was a Challenger 300, […]
Zuma’s Disappearing Charges Act
How many potential ‘get out of jail’ cards can President Jacob Zuma collect up his sleeve for just in case? That cynical question seemed to hang, politely unasked, behind another question raised by Justice Edwin Cameron two weeks ago when the Constitutional Court heard applications brought by the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) and businessman […]
#PayBackTheMoney: Irony & Anarchism
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) took the language of the streets into Parliament with their #PayBackTheMoney chant directed at President Jacob Zuma last week. And when he was unable to answer their questions, they protested. The ANC did the same with Speaker Baleka Mbete, calling in the cops (who, thankfully, did not storm the […]