Litnet

"The billions of dollars in financial aid flowing from the West to Israel, primarily from the US, raises the question: why is there such fierce loyalty, despite clear human rights violations and evidence of the greatest crime of all crimes – genocide?"

"Understanding the recent attacks launched by Iran against Israeli targets and, concomitantly, the spectre of a broader conflict requires engaging with a wider history of Iranian foreign policy."

"The map of Die Vlakte, another critical component of the exhibition, fails to represent the entire area accurately. Instead of depicting the full extent of Die Vlakte, the map includes only a few streets, while prominently featuring the predominantly white areas of the town."

"It is adorned with jewels
Like beads of sweat
On the skin of an athlete lifting weights that are heavier
Than the men who say she does not belong in the gym"

"Reading about this aspect of Cape history formed part of the inspiration for a recent short story of mine, a work of flash fiction, which is about a young woman and her grandmother, and their different approaches to doing laundry, particularly their underwear. While ostensibly about panties (as the story is titled), it is also about our country’s long and difficult history, about ourselves and about memory."

"In a previous article published on the LitNet platform, I suggested openly and candidly that Kaaps is the future of Afrikaans. I take that back: Kaaps has its own future; it is now in the hands of us all. Help us secure the future of this historically marginalised and indigenous language."

"Unlike the devolved parliaments of Wales and Scotland, where the nationalists can achieve their goals within a democratic framework, the English nationalists have no uniquely English parliament of their own. They are free only to elect representatives to a British parliament in the broad sense, whereas the Scots and Welsh elect MPs not only to their own national parliaments, but also to the British parliament. Will this constitutional anomaly lead to bottled-up rage and frustration among English nationalists?"

"Christianity might not own the Last Supper symbolism, but would the symbol have been able to gain so much power and presence without Christianity? Who today knows or remembers the Dionysian feast of the gods, except perhaps some lonely professor of ancient Greek mythology?"

Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO at Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), sketches a very dark picture of the ANC’s monumental failures at providing the basics for a conducive economic environment. However, the GNU represents "the last chance".

"Thank you for mentioning persons with disabilities as part of the future of an inclusive and transformational South African society. Allow me to suggest a few ways in which this laudable aspiration can become a meaningful, specific action plan."

"With Lammy’s help, Sir Keir could wean Pretoria off its corrosive dependency relationship with Vladimir Putin. The Labour Party’s win could have very positive implications for the new Government of National Unity in South Africa."

"This, then, is to invite you to get to know us – beyond the sweetheart entities that your predecessors have created and imposed on us as our representatives, beyond the gatkruipers dependent on state patronage for their lifestyles – to listen and to hear us before making big pronouncements about us or for us."

"This presents you with an important entry point at the outset of your new assignment, demystifying the notion that only new infrastructure can solve the problems of limited access."

"Colonel Jan Breytenbach, who has died peacefully in bed in his nineties, was arguably South Africa’s finest soldier in the latter half of the 20th century."

"Gaza has become the centre of the universe, the same way Soweto was the centre of the universe." A book discussion and video interview with Haidar Eid, author and professor in postcolonial studies and postmodern literature at al-Aqsa University, Gaza City.

"As with other cases in the 'new' South Africa, where the state failed, the private sector moved in to repair damages. Today, an integrated support structure provides services to white and black farmers, and a number of joint venture projects continue the land reform programme."

"My guess is that the growing radicalism from the left will gain momentum, especially if things don’t get better. As it is now, they too are at sixes and sevens and have no workable solutions. Anger at the failures of the ANC and the betrayal of the revolutionary mandate is their only political fund. They will probably take the coming few years to unite, organise and consolidate before coming to take yet another bite out of the sinking leviathan."

"Put differently, Zuma revived Buthelezi’s pre-1994 messaging in 2023 with a blend of false pro-black advocacy, myopic rule-by-chiefs nonsense, and promises to wannabe politicians and tenderpreneurs of a return to rent-seeking practices reminiscent of the Gupta era."

"The decision that charts our collective future in South Africa is now in the hands of politicians. This frightens me."

"If an essay is good, one distrusts it straight away. I did not award a single distinction."