LONG before the gods of learning licked the cobwebs of ignorance from my eyes, as we say in my mother tongue, I was one of hundreds of children my age happily reciting: "All k*&^r boys eat mielie meal and do not think at all."
NON-RACIALISM remains a central pillar of our Constitution, promoting the spirit of nation-building and upholding individuals' right to human dignity.
THIS week was an important one for South Africa. Two important things happened - with both events unmasking the dishonesty of our government.
BLACK people are quick to complain and act xenophobic against entrepreneurs from Africa but there is grave silence about the Gupta family who are investing in President Jacob Zuma and his family - a fast-growing dynasty .
I WAS really disgusted by the Gupta family's behaviour of landing their aeroplane at the Waterkloof Airbase without permission.
I'M not surprised by the situation of the schools in Eastern Cape because the government and teacher union Sadtu are busy fighting over positions instead of prioritising children's education.
WHAT will Zambians do if President Jacob Zuma of South Africa were to say they are uncivilised because they allow President Michael Sata to speak his mind without thinking?
WE welcome the end of the unnecessary standoff between the Department of Basic Education and the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu).
OUR society is facing a calamity of endemic proportions in respect of violence, particularly that against women and children.
SOUTH Africans celebrated Freedom Day yesterday, a day which marks the dawn of democracy in our country.
GOOD school performance is linked to the participation of all concerned.
THE South African Policing Union wishes to state its respect and admiration for national police commissioner Riah Phiyega.
ALL I really needed was an eye test so I could get new lenses for my glasses. But the visit to my eye specialist three weeks ago ended up with me discovering that I probably was not who I thought I was.
The ANC seems to have finally decided to put the 'untouchable' Guptas in their place.
IT IS a truism that transparency and accountability remain the critical elements of a thriving democracy - as are laws that underpin a climate of openness.
I DON'T know what mind-altering substance DA spokesman Mmusi Maimane had consumed when he suggested on these pages last week that Kenny Kunene could be considered a role model for our young people. A very poor one, sure. But one nonetheless.
NELSON Mandela, isithwalandwe/seaparankwe (the highest honour the ANC can bestow on anyone) is an icon with a political identity. That identity is not neutral and it can never be appropriated, no matter what schemes anyone seeks to concoct. As a result, recent attempts by the opposition to put his image on their election posters are fraught with disaster.
FEW - if any - would dispute that the most sought-after commodity in the current fiasco surrounding the involvement of South Africa's troops in CAR is the truth.
BUTI MANAMELA writes for SundayWorld: In commemoration of Chris Hani's death, the YCLSA pledges to be like him, to keep his legacy and encourage the 'born-frees' to continue to fight for the freedoms that he fought for, some of which are still yet to be seen.
AS we pointed out last week, signs that the case against the seven policemen accused of murdering Ficksburg community leader and teacher Andries Tatane hung by a thread, were clearly visible before the verdict was given.
CAN the media, and the press in particular, still boast the moral capital that earned it the title of Fourth Estate?
THE apparent squabbles within the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) bring into sharp focus the imperative for unbreakable unity among workers in this country.
THE SABC has the mandate and the channels to reach the greatest number of people and also serve audiences that would not interest commercial radio and television channels. Yet, sadly, it seems the broadcaster has more drama going on in its board meetings than it has in its television programmes.
THE incident in which a Limpopo woman was assaulted while being accused of shoplifting is sadly a disturbing manifestation of the self-hate syndrome so prevalent among some black people and victims of other forms of discrimination.
PLANNING minister Trevor Manuel's uncomplimentary observation about the country's public servants this week would have struck a chord with a large section of our population.
Our competence in fulfilling the obligation of getting the facts - the first commandment of the journalist - is judged, and often failed, on the basis of a few who stray from this principle, writes Joe Latakgomo.
LAST month the Justice Department announced that a process was under way to amend the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992. This is to ensure that those arrested for possession and dealing in the lethal concoction drug, popularly known as nyaope in Gauteng or whoonga in KwaZulu-Natal, are successfully prosecuted.
"OUR children are not like us, they don't see colour. They only see the human race," a middle class black parent says to her white friends as they sip sundowners, lamenting the corrupt state of the nation.
NOT all cops are bad. Not all are given to colourful personal vocabulary, or are douche bags, basement scum bags or feel like the black sheep of South African society.
Minister Lulu Xingwana will have to go.
IT's the latest tempest of a story, the much commented on front-page fodder, a bum ticker of a tale that clings to race, power and status.
