Die Antwoord is Blackface
Die Antwoord is basically blackface. But blackface is also tricky, argues poet and writer Rustum Kozain.
South Africa
The Poor White Problem
Poor whites don't even make up 5% of the poor. Contrast that to more than 60% of blacks. But that's not a story for foreign media.
Akon’s Africa
The Senegalese-American crooner's uninspiring "Oh Africa" reminds of bubblegum South African pop from the 1980s.
Abuse of Patriarchy
South African feminist academic, Pumla Gqola, takes on all the whataboutisms thrown up by Jacob Zuma's defenders.
Rhythm like you’ve never seen
No one mixes nationalism, tourism and sport in a feel-good cocktail quite like the South African advertising industry.
Working class Coloured life in South Africa
The film "Shirley Adams" is the story of a coloured mother in Mitchell's Plain in Cape Town, struggling to care for her recently disabled son.
South Africans fought for freedom, but won democracy
The famed South African musician Hugh Masekela has a history of speaking his mind on postapartheid politics.
That’s Not Rugby
Don't expect "Invictus" to break from the "rainbow nation" narrative despite that symbolism's sell buy date having long expired.
Too many films about the 2010 World Cup
Here's some things I did not have the time to blog about properly or link to this past week. It's Weekend Special.
You Never Walk Alone
It's no accident that so many South Africans watch and support English Premier League football teams.
Two Men, Two Countries
Who are the real victims of crime and violence in South Africa?
They Just Stood There Naked
What was Johannesburg newspaper, The Star, hoping to achieve with this dehumanizing image?
It has come to this
The victim politics peddled on blogs by a section of expatriate white South Africans--often with positive results for them.
Manufacturing controversy
The mass support for Caster Semenya among South Africans is paradoxical: of a country deeply divided, yet at certain moments strangely united around a common cause.
Joe Slovo is still one of my heroes
Joe Slovo was a key leader of the armed and exiled resistance against Apartheid and one of the most visible white face of that movement.
Shocker: Jacob Zuma is not a Communist
Anyone could have told mainstream Western media that Jacob Zuma would follow conventional rightwing economic policies. Why are they acting surprised?
Hip Hop History 101, South African Session
The Cape Town group, Prophets of da City, should get credit for kickstarting South African hip hop. They were also politically righteous.
Apartheid South Africa and Apartheid Israel
Apartheid South Africa and Israel had a close relationship from the inception of the latter. Postapartheid, there are attempts to reverse that.