Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires in 1936, died on Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, aged 88. The symbolism was impossible to ignore: the head of the
Continue readingPope Francis: The end of a radical papacy born in the south
South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. The statistics as reported by the World Bank are sobering — a Gini coefficient of 0.67 (2018), placing
Continue readingSouth Africa needs innovation by design to fix fragile, failing systems
In Nigeria’s Plateau state, Martha Dalyop awoke to gunfire one night in December. Within minutes, her village was surrounded by armed attackers. Despite frantic calls to security forces stationed just
Continue reading‘We just want to sleep without fear we will be killed in our beds’
I don’t have religious convictions. My approach to my own agnosticism is to argue that any all-powerful, ever-loving creator, if they exist, is unlikely to be perturbed by what I,
Continue readingThe God Edition | The runner’s high is the smug hill on which I’ll die
Did Homo naledi have a soul? That may sound like a very strange question, but let me explain the context. It is now 10 years since the excavation of H
Continue readingThe God Edition | Searching among the bones for Homo naledi’s soul
For those who are not true believers religion can be terribly confusing. Some would say incomprehensible. Others would say mystifying. The less tolerant would say unbelievable. There are tomes, screeds,
South Africa’s agricultural and alcoholic beverage sectors will be hit by a double whammy affecting production and sales if a controversial 0.5 percentage point increase in VAT kicks in on
Continue readingStudy shows ripple effect of 0.5% VAT increase and sin tax hike
Jacana’s new imprint — Rock the Boat — is based on a crowdfunding model in which authors and publishers share responsibility for the publication of South African memoir and biography.
This week on Born Free, Otsile Nkadimeng and Khumo Kumalo tackle a decade-long crisis that continues to weigh heavily on the shoulders of South African students: the burden of student
Continue readingBorn Free: Is higher education a national crisis – Podcast episode 3
It has become fashionable for government-led platforms to declare “youth inclusion” as a pillar of public policy development. Every summit, white paper or economic plan features a paragraph about listening
Continue readingPolicy dialogues: Youth in the room, but not at the table