Throwing Away the Gains of the Liberation Struggle

By Ngila Michael Muendane

THE STRUGGLE for liberation has taken at least three centuries in South Africa, although some people think that it started in 1976 and others say it was against APARTHEID, which means it could only have started after 1948 when APARTHEID, as the manifestation of an ideology pursued by people such as Malan and Verwoerd, was institutionalized. Some imagine that it started in 1912, with the formation of the South African Native Congress, which later became the ANC. Few people consider the wars of resistance, the latest of which was heroically led by Bambatha in 1906, as essentially part of the struggle for liberation. As we seem to be enjoying the fruits of that prolonged struggle, is it finally over? Have we now finally achieved the objective for which so many people throughout this time have been dying for?

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The Magic in the Name-Change Process

By Sandile Memela

THE NAME-CHANGE process is not only to promotes active participation in a democracy but magical political power, if you seriously think about it. It grants well-meaning citizens of this beautiful country with power to make things happen. Through it, voters – who we can refer to as “the people” - take colonial and apartheid name that exist and transform them into something else, something new that embraces the magical spirit of change. It is the sort of change that people watch as it happen right before their own eyes, in their lifetime. Indeed, a magical experience!


• Sandile Memela is the Spokesperson for the Department of Arts & Culture

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