One of the most enduring lessons that human history teaches us is that, the oppression of one group by another is not an abrupt act of nature or some inexplicable act by some supernatural force. The oppression of one group by another is normally the result of meticulous plotting and planning by one or more groups in society. And a system of oppression is normally designed with the view not just to dominate a specific group or class of people, but also to do so permanently...

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A lot of unnecessary heat is being generated by the singing of a struggle song about “killing the boer, killing the farmer.” Political and civil society organizations have locked horns on the matter, with some warning of dire consequences if the singing is not stopped. The print media has already devoted plenty of space on the issue while their electronic counterparts have filled the airwaves with it...

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If you were to ask any citizen of our country today, how South Africa should look like in the next ten to twenty years, you will not get an agreed and commonly embraced answer. You would have thought a country like ours, with such a long and difficult history, would have a vision for the future. A young South African businessman, who went to Malaysia for training a few years ago, told me of his amazement at the attitude of Malaysians towards their country...

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Since the historic elections in 1994 South Africa became a constitutional democracy with the Constitution being our supreme law and highest source of authority. The Constitution protects and entrenches democracy by, inter alia, creating a separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Understanding that a government‘s role is to protect individual rights, but acknowledging that governments have historically been the major violators of these rights...

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A talk by Mathatha Tsedu at the graduation ceremony of the University of Limpopo, Turfloop campus on May 25, 2010. In five days it will be exactly 38 years and one month since Onkgopotse Ramothibi Tiro stood in this very hall and spoke truth to power. Tiro, who is described by Bokwe Mafuna as “driven by his passion for the truth…..(by) his concern for the people, the ordinary people….”, simply loved himself and his people...

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