A lack of adequate resources and asset-stripping by the Irish carpetbagger Tony â now Sir Anthony â O'Reilly are the real problems with the Cape Times, not the undeniable quality, let alone pigmentation, of the staff. But there are other issues too that require examination.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 29 December 2013
Cape Times editor Alide Dasnois was fired by Iqbal Surve, executive chairperson of the Sekunjalo Consortium, the day after Mandelaâs death.
Shireen Mukadam
Opinion | 18 December 2013
As everyone from monarchs to the labouring masses this week sought to share in the Mandela memorial moment, the myth machine went into overdrive, the very machine Mandela had so disparaged when I sat with him in his Johannesburg office in 1992. One sentence he uttered then has resonated with me throughout the years: âI am no messiah.â
Terry Bell
Opinion | 17 December 2013
Do any of the members of the ANC's 1997-2002 NEC now regret the way they heckled and jeered Madiba at an NEC meeting in March 2002?
Roy Jobson
Opinion | 12 December 2013
After the departure of Nelson Mandela, where is this unity we talk about? On the day of Tata's memorial the world was watching. It was a day where South Africans from different backgrounds, through the rain, walked, drove, took buses, trains and taxis to Soccer City to witness the memorial of an African hero.
Axolile Notywala
Opinion | 12 December 2013
I was born the day before Madiba's release from prison. Most of what I know about him I was told by my parents or I learnt at school. I never met him. Nevertheless, the way he shared his life made it feel as if I knew him personally.
Nwabisa Pondoyi
Opinion | 12 December 2013
In his 2004 Nelson Mandela lecture Desmond Tutu bravely suggested that an âuncritical, sycophantic, obsequious conformityâ constituted a threat to democracy in South Africa. He said that âtoo many are foolhardy and opt for silence to become voting cattle for the party.â
Doron Isaacs
Opinion | 12 December 2013
Iqbal Survè, whose company Sekunjalo now owns Independent Newspapers, is not merely a profoundly disingenuous man. He has shown that he's willing to use his newly acquired media empire to support his disingenuity.
Nathan Geffen, GroundUp Editor
Opinion | 11 December 2013
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuâs controversial decision not to attend Nelson Mandelaâs funeral and to send Yuli Edelstein who is the current Speaker of the Knesset and a settler, is not only disgraceful, but has sent a clear message to the world that Netanyahu is a âleaderâ of the worst kind.
Shuaib Manjra
Opinion | 11 December 2013
The Independent Newspaper Group (INL) is in considerable turmoil following the effective sacking without notice of the editor of the Cape Times, Alide Desnois, by the putative owner of INL, Iqbal Surve. This bodes ill for the group and poses a possible threat to media freedom.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 9 December 2013
South Africa came very close to civil war in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but instead of a bloodbath there was the negotiated settlement, also known as the âmiracleâ. In fact parts of the country were in a state of civil war, and the miracle is that it didnât engulf the country.
Doron Isaacs
Opinion | 9 December 2013
Frightening memories of the 16-year-long civil war have reignited in the minds of Mozambicans as tensions between RENAMO and FRELIMO reach a new high.
Fabio da Graca
Opinion | 3 December 2013
While there are significant unmet health needs in many parts of South Africa, they are particularly acute in historically disadvantaged rural areas.
Tom Yates
Opinion | 3 December 2013
One element lacking in the current debates about what is going on in Cosatu is any sense of recent history. Because there is nothing really new in the current spate of political bloodletting, in the bitterness and the backstabbing.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 2 December 2013
Untested nonsense medicines and adverts to buy them are prolific. But after years of chaos in the alternative medicine market, it seems the Department of Health (DOH) is intent on fixing the mess.
Kevin Charleston
Opinion | 26 November 2013
Politics stinks. These days in South Africa, this is a fairly common view. But, in the North West province in recent months, the expression has had a very real resonance.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 26 November 2013