South African Christian News: Telling the God Stories of Africa
The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Linguistic and Religious Rights of Communities (CRL) has caused great consternation within the South African Christian community as it continues with its hearings into the commercialisation of religion and the exploitation of people’s beliefs. As a chapter 9 institution, the commission […]
Like many South Africans I am perplexed by the scale of violence and aggression accompanying the protests by university students. While I sympathise with their grievances and think more should be done to liberalise access to tertiary education I struggle to find justification for the wanton destruction of university property […]
A lot has been said about Penny Sparrow’s facebook post that referred to black beachgoers as monkeys but I am wondering if her offensive ranting should not be leading us to ask uncomfortable questions regarding the state of race relations in South Africa. Perhaps what we think is a resurgence […]
President Jacob Zuma’s statement that the ANC comes before South Africa has set many tongues wagging and rightly so because as a first citizen he is expected to say things that affirm rather than undermine the country’s constitution. Although this infamous statement was made as part of Zuma’s efforts to […]
I am reading a book entitled ‘The Making of a Leader’ by Dr J Robert Clinton, an Assistant Professor of Leadership and Extension of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. One of the profound things that the professor says is that “there are three basal elements of leadership: leader, followers, […]
As far as crime is concerned we seem to be taking one step forward and two back. This issue has become South Africa’s Achilles heel and something the country is failing to get a handle on. The statistics released by the Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko and national Police Commissioner […]
In his book ‘Holy Cows: The Ambiguities of being South African’ Gareth van Onselen tackles touchy subjects that many of us would rather skid around and avoid and one of these is traditional male circumcision. The author, who is also a columnist and journalist, argues that the veil of secrecy […]
We are now well into the month of June, a month known on these shores as ‘Youth Month.’ I want to use this space to look at the efficacy of dedicating this month to youth and to ask the question whether there is substance to such a gesture or it […]
While cleaning my junk mail folder a few days ago I noticed an email with the subject line ‘legal/unethical trick making $5K/Week Oil Trading.’ This subject line immediately jolted my mind into thinking about the divide between what is legal and what is ethical. Notice that in this example the […]
The country of Burundi is the latest African country to be held at ransom by a leader who refuses to relinquish power when his term of office comes to an end. This means that Burundi president, Pierre Nkurunziza (See photo above, left) will not qualify for the Ibrahim Prize for […]