ARTICLE: MAX DU PREEZ, ROOF AND STRYDOM
2015-06-25
In an article in Tuesday’s Media24 publications Max du Preez states that Dylann Roof, accused of killing nine black worshippers in Charleston, S. Carolina, “shares apartheid’s ideology.” Du Preez goes on to say that Barend Strydom’s random killing of seven black South Africans in 1989 made him think “that his (Roof’s) identification with apartheid wasn’t so inappropriate after all.”
This inescapably creates the impression that the wanton killing of black people was somehow an integral aspect of the ideology of apartheid.
800 years ago, on 15 June 1215, in a plashy meadow beside the River Thames in England, an event took place that would deeply affect the constitutional future – not only of the English people – but of countries throughout the world, including South Africa. On that day King John was forced by his barons to sign the Magna Carta – a document that introduced for the first time the notion that kings – and by extension governments – are ultimately subject to the Rule of Law.
Niël Barnard’s autobiography, Secret Revolution, provides an interesting insight into the secret negotiations between Nelson Mandela and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in 1988/89 that helped prepare the way to the constitutional transformation of South Africa. 
In 2002 the United Nations declared 21 May World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
Language of instruction is a key issue at the heart of debate in most multilingual countries.
On 1 May, South Africa will once again celebrate Workers’ Day – although, in truth, there is nothing to celebrate.
Race relations in South Africa are more fractious now than they have been at any time since 1994.
Current developments on the campuses of NWU, Stellenbosch and UCT are raising core questions, not only about the future of our universities, but also about the nature of our multicultural society.
Many South Africans were charmed by the more conciliatory tone that President Zuma adopted in his response last week during to the State of the Nation (SONA) Debate.