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Black economic empowerment was one of the measures intended to address the racialised inequality in South Africa (Reuters)

South Africa’s transformation drive under scrutiny as JSE black ownership remains low 

There were replacement transactions at Old Mutual and Absa, with FirstRand, Sanlam and Capitec retaining black ownership. But Standard Bank and Nedbank have less than 1% black…

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers a keynote address at the 2026 Freedom Day National Commemoration held at Dr Rantlai Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein, Free State Province, marking the 32nd anniversary of South Africa’s first democratic elections held on 27 April 1994. (GCIS)

Ramaphosa calls for ‘real change’ as SA marks 32 years of democracy

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa’s democracy must be measured by its ability to deliver real, material improvements in people’s lives

In need of work opportunities: Job seekers gathered outside a store in Tswelopele, Tembisa, to apply for
employment. Photo: Twitter / X

SA marks 32 years of democracy amid deep inequality and joblessness

South Africa’s 32nd Freedom Day highlights both democratic gains and ongoing struggles with inequality, unemployment and poverty

Mirroring the past: At times, the actors in Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept step out of their roles entirely, debating the material they are performing, questioning its meaning or even its validity. It’s here that the play’s meta-theatrical dimension comes into focus. Photo: Thandile Zwebanzi

What does it mean to forgive? A play asks, 30 years after the TRC

Drawing from archives and lived experience, the international production probes the emotional and political complexities of reconciliation in a fractured world

Political: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a decision aimed
at unity rather than imprisoning thousands of white people. Photo: File

National Dialogue: South Africa’s elusive search for a social compact

Critics wondered whether the convention would follow through with local ward talks and implement recommendations

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Trade unions, return to your socialist values and origins

In the days of apartheid, unions fought for more than just wages, they wanted a new society. Now it seems they have abandoned their roots

Right-wing Afrikaner movements seem to have forgotten that job reservation and other apartheid laws benefited white people at the expense of black people. Photo: Juda Ngwenya

Trade union Solidarity’s myth of Afrikaner suppression exposed

The apartheid state used job reservation, quotas, selective procurement, import controls and industrial policy to advance working class Afrikaners

The eternal dance: Nduduzo Makhathini recently released his third album, which is titled uNomkhubulwane. Photo: Arthur Dlamini

uNomkhubulwane and songs of the water spirits

Nduduzo Makhathini unpacks the philosophy and traditions behind his new album

Jermaine Prim, who allegedly ran an elaborate scam targeting luxury car owners from his cell, will return to court in later November

Torture is not limited to CIA black sites – it’s alive in South Africa’s prisons

Unlike the US, it is not foreigners that are subjected to torture and cruel treatment, but South Africans

We would still have crime, unemployment, a drug problem and poor delivery of basic services because political elites, not migrants, are to blame for SA’s ills

Political elites, not foreigners, are to blame for South Africa’s problems

What if we told foreigners to voetsek? We have fallen victim to the illusion of scarcity. And we are led to wrongly believe immigrants are a threat

Equal distribution of resources will not close the access gap. Instead, resources must be deployed where they are needed most – and low-cost housing must move from the urban periphery too

Why a blanket approach to redressing spatial inequity is flawed

Equal distribution of resources will not close the access gap. Instead, resources must be deployed where they are needed most – and low-cost housing must move from the urban…