The Soapbox | Where South Africans Speak Out

BY LUNGELO MAGUBANE
Robert Frost wrote of two roads that diverged into the woods and how his opting for the one less taken made all the difference. As President Zuma applies the finishing touches to his State of the Nation speech, one hopes that he will use this opportunity to take the people of South Africa [...]

BY HLANGANANI GUMBI
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has entered into what should be a new and most exciting decade for politics in South Africa. The DA has grown from a minor opposition party to the efficient and effective official opposition it is today. If the strategists who engineered this immense growth continue with the bold and [...]

BY ALEX MATTHEWS
Earlier this month it was announced that Mugabe’s Kimberley Process cronies have decided to give him until June to withdraw the soldiers in the Marange diamond fields. The army runs smuggling operations and use forced labour in mines whose profits benefit Zanu-PF.
Human Rights Watch exposed the horrors of Marange in June. A task [...]

South Korean model Daul Kim passed away on 19 November. The model who walked the runways for Chanel and Dries Van Noten was found in her Paris apartment by her boyfriend. Vogue is reporting that there may be evidence to suggest the model took her own life. Sources are reporting a suicide note was left [...]

Surprisingly the past year’s top posthumous earner was not Michael Jackson. That honour belongs to designer Yves Saint Laurent according to Forbes magazine. Vogue is reporting that the designer’s estate which is managed by his partner, Pierre Bergé, earned 214 million pounds. This was largely due to the an auction of the couple’s substantial art [...]

Whenever I need a quick pick-me-up during work time, cartoons usually do it for me. Whether it be Dilbert or Cynaide and Happiness, they always seem to make me smile and make the mundane seem doable. Granted my love for fashion, I was super excited when I discovered Humor Chic. This cartoon blog by Alexsandro [...]

BY LARA MOSES
In a time where words take a backseat to visual poetry – stories that are told in a snapshot and painted emotion – the Cape Town Spoken Word Festival is definitely a risky but welcomed new addition to the Cape Town calendar. The festival ran over five days from 17 to 21 November [...]

BY LARA MOSES
As a student I worked the crappy shifts in a retail store. Five to nine pm after classes during the week and weekends, which included one Friday and Saturday shift till 11pm per month. Although this cut heavily into my study time, but more importantly my social life, I still smiled my fakest [...]

BY CRAIG PRINSLOO
Where oh where has she gone? So much emotion to contain, to hide from the world, until your soul burns with the passion of long lost moments. So much pain yet so much passion. From love lost or love gained, these emotions can only truly be expressed by a well-skilled musician, be it [...]

BY GARETH MORGAN
President Zuma’s address to the United Nations General Assembly last week included some strong words on climate change, but as with the cabinet statement released two weeks earlier, it did not go far enough.  The President reiterated the now well known position that the impacts of climate change will be devastating for Africa, and that it [...]

BY KHAYA DLANGA
Let me start off by saying that Caster Semenya is a chick until proven a dude. Oh, hang on, she has been proven to be a chick by her parents, her teachers and her friends, mind you.
The accusations of racism levelled at the IAAF have been a bit excessive. But one can understand [...]

The negotiations that will plot the world’s new climate change framework are less than six months away. But you wouldn’t think so if you listened to President Jacob Zuma’s first “State of the Nation” address. This is worrying as climate change should be on the mind of every leader, says shadow environment minister Gareth Morgan.

BY CHARLES LEMOS
Few companies have controlled an industry as De Beers has controlled the diamond industry. De Beers, established in 1888, is the world’s leading diamond company with unrivalled expertise in the exploration, mining and marketing of diamonds. Effectively, the company’s history is that of the diamond industry. Among the founders of the company was [...]

BY CHARLES LEMOS
Various news agencies are now confirming the death of Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram. Mohammed Yusuf had been captured earlier in the day from a house in the northeastern city of Maiduguri in the Nigerian province of Borno following days of deadly clashes across much [...]

Tehran-based Kourosh Ziabari provides the inside story to Iran’s political upheaval. He analyses the election result and comprehensively explores the reaction to Ahmadinejad’s surprise win – both at home and abroad. The protests he sees as evidence of Iran’s deepening political maturity – even if they have been exploited by groups aiming to destabilise the country.

South Africa is talking, and it’s talking on The Soapbox!
Our contributing editor Lara Moses exposes Hermanus’s dark side with a shocking story of drunken brutality and police complicity. Jade Adami recalls her time in deepest darkest London, and discusses what lured her home. Alex Matthews, The Soapbox editor, writes about the DA’s Young Leaders’ Programme.
In [...]

On Wednesday 7 October, Rhoda Kadalie, the renowned human rights activist and controversial columnist, will be a guest for the first ever Soapbox Session Q&A at the Open Innovation Studio.
Rhoda, who has exposed corruption and scandals in her Business Day column, will be answering questions about politics, the elections, human rights, the ANC… and the [...]

August was awesome on The Soapbox! In Politics & Society, Marius Redelinghuys called on South Africans to make every day Madiba Day while Alex Matthews, The Soapbox’s editor, argued that South African women are still second-class citizens.
In our Life & Culture section, Craig Prinsloo explored the moon’s impact on humans and our contributing editor, Lara [...]