And yet. Even in 2020, hope springs eternal in South Africa. Reconciliation Day acknowledges brutality and loss whilst celebrating how far we have come in a few generations. It is not a perfect peace but it is far closer to peace than the horrors of colonialism and Apartheid. The violence that turns a river red with blood will eventually abate as the water cleanses and soothes. Reconciliation of these two states of being is the South African lot. … Read More The Reckoning
I am dreading Election Day. It’s been two years since I first cast my vote as a bona fide citizen and the lustre has worn off. I am still in close touch with the crushing responsibility, but I am now also aware of the helplessness of making this single set of choices when there are… Read More The World’s Cruelest Country, Maybe
Our national fixation with the hero(ine), the big (wo)man around whom a narrative of resilience and hope can be built is never more obsessive than when it is regarding former president Nelson Mandela. He has always been more myth than man. When he disappeared from public sight in 1964, and the apartheid state proceeded with… Read More Let’s Cancel Mandela Day
Marikana was an echo of where we have come from but Life Esidimeni is a sign of where we’re going. That should scare us all, but not enough of us are paying attention because disabled people were the victims.
If you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings. Arthur Quiller-Couch Ten years ago, I watched a documentary on the life of Nelson Mandela. Instead of… Read More Killing our darling: A meditation on Nelson Mandela’s Legacy
According to all manner of South African media, it was #BlackMonday yesterday. Although I did not wear black or pray for the lost lives of South African farmers, I could not escape the blackness of the day. It rolled over me as I scrolled through pictures of white people proudly displaying the old South African… Read More Just another tragic Monday
At least he was hated and killed – it’s better with us we’re still hated and with words. Jacob Zuma on Steve Biko It takes an astonishing lack of self-awareness to liken the (justified) political criticism one receives to the abduction, torture and murder of an anti-Apartheid activist and leader at the hands of a… Read More The Walking Dead
Or is that 800,000 problems? That’s more or less the amount of money that infamous Walter Sisulu University student, Sibongile Mani, spent of the millions that were mistakenly deposited into her account by some hapless financial firm entrusted with the management of National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funds on behalf of her school. Much… Read More 14 Million Problems and Mani is Only One
I have been meaning for sometime to write about my brief flirtation with party politics, when I stood as a ward Councilor this past election. In summary it was an interesting experience. Bland way of putting it I am sure, but really the speed at which things happen, Wade Van Niekerk setting a… Read More Local Government Elections
Another year, another viral story about Cape Town’s insidious racism. This time the story came from a young woman who was visiting the city with her family over the festive season. At some point, she and her family tried to make reservations at an upmarket Camps Bay restaurant, using (as you do) their own… Read More But is it racism?
Rumbi Writes 
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