South Africa
Photo source: Encyclopedia Britannica

The legacies of colonial rule, both generally and in particular categories of colony, have and still continue to affect post-colonial economic development in Africa through the extraction of resources and illicit funds. The new agency for this is the “Corporation”, which has its origins in the East India Company sanctioned by Queen Elisabeth I as a royal charter. 

Photo source: Wikipedia

In recent years, South Africa has witnessed a rapid expansion of mining in mineral-rich rural areas of the former apartheid Bantustans or homelands that are vulnerable to mining land grabs. Worryingly, there are intensive and wide-ranging “cold wars” going on in these areas that do not ordinarily get much prominent coverage by the mass media. These battles, hostilities or feuds are between the indigenous black rural folks and “lily-white owned” foreign mining companies.  In many ways the batt...read more

Photo Credit: AfricaCheck.org

Almost three years ago, I wrote an article titled, “Dear Academia, Take Us Black”. The article came after my first encounter with the Fees Must Fall protest action. The observation I made was that University of KwaZulu-Natal’s academic staff had shut the blinds, got into their cars and drove off to God knows where “intellectuals” run to when their safe spaces are breached. This is the anti-black nature of academia.

Photo credit: looptt.com

This brief input deals with the meaning of Steve Bantu Biko for young people today and whether his vision of bestowing upon South Africa “a more humane face” remains valid. Biko is without doubt one of the most important figures of Black liberation of the past century. Today, 41 years after his murder, his mission of total independence for Black people, remains unfinished.

Source: The Heinrich Böll Foundation

This essay explores the historical consciousness of young workers in South Africa, focusing on young black women workers. It draws on Lucaks ideas on history and class consciousness and Freirean participatory pedagogy to facilitate a critical reflection and dialogue between young Black working women on their memories and perspective of the conditions, realities and experiences of Black working women in colonial, apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.  

Pages