The Mail and Guardian (www.mg.co.za) is one of South Africa's premier newspapers. It comes out once a week, and I have been finding that it certainly does takes a whole week to read it! The articles are usually of a fantastic quality and depth. The investigative reporting is superb, as I have witnessed on a number of occasions sentences that read something like: "according to confidential documents that the M&G acquired last week..." They seem to be always on the cutting edge of a story, and are dedicated to keeping institutions honest (what else should a free press be about, really?). Moreover, they provide a great insight into both South African and greater African affairs. Naturally, they are decidely left-of-centre in their coverage, yet they don't tow a party line. From what I have read so far, they remain a strongly independent source dedicated to exemplary journalism.
Now that I've sung their praises, I'll let you come to your own conclusions. Below are links to some articles from a couple of weeks back. I will try to provide stories of interest (at least my interests!) from the M&G either weekly or bi-weekly.
This first article is about inefficient and costly water service in Diespsloot,a township outside of Johannesburg. It strikes to the core of a sensitive and pressing issue in contemporary South Africa. That is, poor communities struggling with local and municipal authorities to either gain access to certain modern neccesities (decent housing, electricity, clean and accesible water, etc), or to prevent those same authorities from denying them these neccesities (through eviction, increase in prices due to privitization...). There is a fascinating book by Ashwin Desai called we are the poors that tackles these same issues with much more zeal.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-02-04-diepsloot-in-deep-water
This second article looks at learners (what they call students in primary and secondary school) who are being denied admission at their local schools. I think it captures the frustration of communities who have had to put up with so much...and now on top of it all they are being told their kids cannot go to school! Now while there is a drop-out problem here, it is not as pronounced as in the States. So far, I have observed an almost fervent enthusiasm for education amongst the youth I have been around. I think this article speaks to that.
The article also makes allusion to "school fees." This is an interesting phenomenon that I will have to explore further. However my basic understanding so far is that public schools (ostensibly schools that receive money from the state) can and do set their own fees. I have been to a few schools now that have such fees, and they do need all the money they can get. However, since many of these schools operate in poor neighborhoods with really unreasonable rates of unemployment, it seems sort of counterintuitive to ask the families to cough up funds...
http://mg.co.za/article/2011-02-04-excluded-learners-take-to-the-streets/
Some news from Botswana, a neighboring country to the north of SA. Interesting for its focus on indigenous struggles within the context of postcolonial Africa! It is always deeper than just national liberation...
Also pertinent for its focus on land and water rights. I'm sure these will be recurring themes for this paper as they are major issues in this part of the world. In the States we don't really engage with these ideas on a practical level, but maybe we should...Check out the righteous Max Rameau and the Take Back the Land Movement for proof of more nuanced leftist thinking about property and access in the United States.
Anyway, good to see the courts supporting social justice and enforcing international mandates with their decision.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-02-04-water-ruling-a-victory-for-deprived-people
There was one more I was going to highlight, but I think I will save it for next time as it demands more of a backstory than I have energy to address right now.
I am always up for receiving new information and/or perspectives so let me know if you find anything of note about southern Africa or just in general...It's all about absorbing knowledge
Two posts in a row. I'm impressed! Looking forward to reading the articles.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting articles. What a look into the disfunction of the country.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to me that schools aren't free.
It was surprising to see how volatile the ANC is to people. I noticed they are blamed quite a bit, but I guess they are the government. It would be like blaming the party in power, Democrat or Republican in our country. It just sounds so much more racist to me. When I think about the ANC I think of them as heroic, but I guess that's not the case in the real and modern day South AFrica.