View Archived Content

ARTICLE: THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, SOUTH AFRICA AND NELSON MANDELA

houses-of-parliament-londonThe sorrow and adulation that the world has expressed following the recent death of Nelson Mandela are a worthy tribute to his greatness. Last Monday the British parliament added its voice to the global chorus. It was appropriate – because it was the same parliament that set the course for South Africa’s future history when it created the Union of South Africa only 103 years ago. In so doing it set the stage on which Nelson Mandela – who was born only eight years later – would play out his extraordinary career.

Read More »

STATEMENT: 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AWARDING OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE TO FW DE KLERK AND TO NELSON MANDELA



1993 fwdeklerk-and-nelsonmandela-receiving-the-nobel-peace-prizeToday is the 20th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to FW de Klerk and to Nelson Mandela. Significantly, it is also the day of the principal commemoration in Johannesburg of Mr Mandela’s life. In addition, it is also International Human Rights Day.



Perhaps the greatest significance of the 20th anniversary of the 1993 Peace Prize is the progress that South Africa has made since then.

Read More »

ARTICLE: THE WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND GENDER EQUALITY BILL

womanfactory1940s lThere is something quite touching in the ANC’s belief that it can solve complex economic and social problems simply by promulgating new laws. What is not so endearing is the underlying notion that the state has a right to intrude into the legitimate affairs of private businesses, civil society organisations and political parties in its efforts to impose its ideological precepts throughout society. That has the whiff of totalitarianism­‐ however benign the intentions may ostensibly be.

Read More »

ARTICLE: TURNING UP THE BBBEE AND EMPLOYMENT EQUITY HEAT ON WHITE-OWNED BUSINESSES

scalesThe recently published BEE codes and the Employment Equity Amendment Bill (EEAB) can be understood only within the context of the ANC’s overarching National Democratic Revolution (NDR) and its ideology of demographic representivity (DR).

According to the ANC’s 2007 Strategy and Tactics document “A critical element of the programme for national emancipation should be the elimination of apartheid property relations.” This would require, inter alia, “the de-racialisation of ownership and control of wealth, including land”; and “equity and affirmative action in the provision of skills and access to positions of management”.

Read More »

ARTICLE: CHURCH AND STATE

state-church No doubt to the alarm of his minders and keepers, President Zuma deviated from the prepared text of his speech yesterday to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Giyani, Limpopo. His speech should have been suitably innocuous – with a nod to the older generation on International Grandparents Day, exhortations to the youth and the expression of justifiable pride in the fact that the number of children infected with HIV within the East and Southern African region has more than halved in the past 10 years. There was only one reference to “apartheid colonialism” – and for the rest, the tone of the speech was suitably presidential.

Read More »

ARTICLE: CONFUSING RACIAL PREJUDICE WITH LANGUAGE RIGHTS

languageRemarks made by Prof Jonathan Jansen – Rector of the University of the Free State – in the Percy Baneshik Memorial Lecture to the English Academy of South Africa on 18 September, have caused a furore in Afrikaans cultural and educational circles. They have been widely interpreted as a call for English-only education and as a claim that “Afrikaans-exclusive or even Afrikaans-dominant white schools and universities represent a serious threat to race relations in South Africa”.

Read More »

ARTICLE: HERITAGE AFTER HERITAGE DAY 2013: CULTURAL TACTLESSNESS

culture The recent statements made by Arts and Culture Minister, Paul Mashatile, as well as Pretoria/Tshwane executive mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa – only three days after South Africa celebrated Heritage Day – raise questions regarding their commitment to the Preamble of the Constitution to “heal the divisions of the past” and that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”.

Read More »

ARTICLE: HERITAGE DAY 2013: NOT JUST ANOTHER WALK (BRAAI) IN THE PARK?

braai-day One of the most important aspects recognised in the Constitution of South Africa, is the importance of our collective heritage and the rich cultural, linguistic and historical diversity of our people.

This includes the heritage of all our peoples – from the first nations of South Africa – the KhoiKhoi, Nama and San; our indigenous African peoples – the Zulus, Xhosas, Ndebeles and Swazis; the Tswana, Pedi and South Sotho, Tsonga and Venda; white South Africans descended from the Dutch, English, German and French settlers; our extended coloured community; to the Asians who arrived from the Dutch East Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and from India during the 19th century.

Read More »

The FW de Klerk Foundation Annual Conference

The FW de Klerk Foundation Annual Conference – hosted in conjunction with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung – took place on 31 January 2025. The theme of this year’s conference is: “South Africa’s Position in the World Today”.
 

 Esteemed speakers include Ambassador Andreas Peschke (Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany); Magda Wierzycka (CEO of Sygnia); Dr Harlan Cloete (Local Governance and Public Leadership – Research Fellow) and Johan “Rassie” Erasmus (Springbok Coach).