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Anti-apartheid activist: Robert Sobukwe, leader of the Pan Africanist Congress, in his cell at the prison on Robben Island. Derek Hook and Leswin Laubscher’s book Darkest Before Dawn tells the story of the years after his release. Photo: Getty Images

Sobukwe and the Red Berets

This is an edited extract from the book Darkest Before Dawn: Writings, Testimonies and Correspondence from the Life of Robert Sobukwe

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

The mayor-go-round must stop

The government of national unity is working at a national level, but the same cannot be said about municipal coalition governments

Cyril Ramaphosa at the oath of office ceremony for his second term as South African President at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Kim LUDBROOK / POOL / AFP)

Ramaphosa achieves a semblance of unity ahead of Thursday’s Opening of Parliament Address

There was a conciliation among political parties at the cabinet lekgotla on policies that have seen them at loggerheads

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Compromise and creativity allow Ramaphosa to keep defeated ANC in power

The president appointed opposition newcomers where they can be most effective but did not rid cabinet of compromised members of his party

Nelson Phasha. Photo by Delwyn Verasamy/MG

Former combatant’s lonely pension battle drags on

Bureaucratic hurdles have made Nelson Phasha’s life hell since he returned from exile

Former Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse. Photographer: Guillem Sartorio/Bloomberg via Getty Images

EXPLAINER: Musical chairs in the City of Johannesburg

At the 2021 local government elections, neither of the two biggest parties got a mandate to govern alone in Johannesburg

Red-letter day: Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema at the head of a march. He has said that Monday’s protests will be peaceful. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla/Gallo Images
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Shutdown is EFF’s dry run for the polls

The stayaway will test the party’s leadership, machinery and ability to mobilise its supporters on the streets and in the election booths

Reparations: ANC launches its election manifesto in Durban (. Military veterans, who were members of the Non-Statutory Forces, are planning to protest at the ANC’s elective conference on 16 December in protest against their not being compensated.  (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Military veterans plan R10 billion class action

The former soldiers want the state to pay them R4 million each in reparations

Frank B. Wilderson III  standing in front of Vista University campus in Soweto, where he was a lecturer. This image is taken from an article written by Wilderson and published by Tribute magazine in 1994. The article exposed links between Vista University and the Broederbond. (Supplied)

Part I: ‘Afropessimism’ and the rituals of anti-black violence

Frank B Wilderson discusses ‘Afropessimism’, his memoir that analyses structural violence

‘Soweto’: Musician and Black Consciousness member Molefe Pheto and other group members were received by Nigerian officials as “heroes from the frontline”. (George Hallet)

From festival to John Vorster: Molefe Pheto on attending Festac ’77 uninvited

The musician and activist relives the political import of Festac ’77

South Africa has an awkward history with human rights, to put it mildly. But a renewed recognition of the revolutionary potential of human rights to bring about profound changes in society is long overdue. (Marco Longari/AFP)

Human Rights Day reminds us of our progress and failures

The history of human rights in South Africa is complex, not least because the removal of oppression has not equated to substantive liberation

Should the parties go to court, the Electoral Act says that the results of the election are not suspended pending the decision of the electoral court. (Oupa Nkosi/M&G)

Small parties send lawyer’s letter to the IECSouth Africa

The 27 parties says the reports of irregularities during voting could not be attributed to "isolated incidents"

Taking advantage of local communities’ despair and desperation, the politicians agitate by blaming foreigners for stealing jobs (Getty)

ANC booed at xenophobic panel

Political leaders discussed attacks on foreign nationals and while most of the parties had their views applauded, the ANC representative was booed

Politically spiritual: Robert Sobukwe believed that politics is an ethical duty and that personal transformation is required to produce ethical leaders. (Robben Island/Mayibuye Archives)

SA needs a leader of Sobukwe’s calibre

He had moral authority and integrity, and believed that land was at the heart of his fight for liberation

Party spokesperson Kenneth Mokgatlhe on Monday said the party held its last elective conference in December 2015, with the next only scheduled for the year 2020. (Oupa Nkosi/M&G)

PAC rejects ‘sham’ elective conference by ‘rogue members’

Party spokesperson Kenneth Mokgatlhe says the party held its last elective conference in December 2015, with the next only scheduled for the year 2020

Patricia de Lille’s GOOD party will be contesting the 2019 elections nationally and in all the nine provinces. (Netwerk24/Adrian de Kock )

De Lille is back for ‘GOOD’

The former Cape Town mayor dismissed concerns over the viability of her new political movement

At a march this week student leader Sthembiso KaShandu said university staff, trade unions and NGOs have been asked to pledge solidarity with students (Renata Larroyd)

Students frustrated despite TUT investigation into student shooting

Thursday marks a week since law student Katlego Monareng was allegedly shot and killed by a police officer following a protest on a TUT campus

Lesetja Kganyago said the central bank was looking at four 25 basis points hikes by the end of 2020. This would bring the repo rate to 7.5% by the end of 2020. (Bloomberg)

‘Mother of Azania’ Veronica Sobukwe dies at 91

Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe — struggle icon and widow of Robert Sobukwe — died on Wednesday morning

Motala and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu listen to Nelson Mandela.

The doctor and his ‘subversive surgery’

‘Chota Motala: A Biography of Political Activism in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands’ recounts the doctor’s role in shaping politics

Those demanding free higher education don’t realise this would be a regressive policy.

Sanef: Removing ANN7 has ‘serious implications for media freedom’

ANN7’s contract will come to an end in August, and MultiChoice has said that it will be replaced by a new black-owned news channel.