THERE IS DEVELOPMENT, THEN THERE IS CHINA.
Have you ever seen a place that feels so picturesque it could have been lifted straight out of a futuristic movie? That is the feeling that hits when you first set your eyes on Beijing. But what struck me most were not the skyscrapers. It was not the technology, the roads or the railways. It […]
NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH: WE HAVE NORMALISED SUFFERING IN SOUTH AFRICA
September is our National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in South Africa. Yet, it seems all we do is telling people to “speak up” and “take care of themselves”, and that’s exactly where we have missed the point. Because people cannot literally breathe their way out of poverty. They cannot meditate their way out of unemployment. They cannot positive-think their way out […]
SOUTH AFRICA’S CHILDREN ARE PAYING THE PRICE FOR A BROKEN SOCIETY
Gauteng’s latest school safety raids have once again exposed a crisis we keep trying to contain at the school gates when it has already taken root far beyond them. Police searches at five schools uncovered nyaope, dagga and abortion pills, bringing the number of schools raided in the province to 17. These are deeply disturbing […]
NO CHILD SHOULD HAVE A PRICE TAG
There is something profoundly disturbing about the idea that an 11-year-old child could be treated as a source of income. But what should disturb us even more is that we can look at a case like this, call it horrific and move on, without asking how many other children are being exploited right under our […]
TRUE AIM OF DESTROYING OUR IDENTITY IS TO CONTROL OUR FUTURE
“If you want to destroy a people, you start with their identity — because in identity lives memory, and in memory lives power.” Last week, as our nation celebrated our prolific National Women’s Day, the world commemorated a too-often side-lined event: International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. This is especially momentous in Africa, where […]
WOMENS DAY: REMEMBER THE MARCH, BUT FINISH THE MISSION
This August marks the 70th anniversary of our National Women’s Day, when over 20 000 women stood shoulder to shoulder outside the Union Buildings in defiance of apartheid’s barbaric pass laws. They did not march for applause, annual commemorations or symbolic gestures. They marched because injustice had become unbearable. Seventy years later, the uncomfortable question […]
DEGREES ARE MEANT TO BUILD NATIONS, NOT TO GROW EGOS
“We will no longer support long essays. If you are an engineering student, for your thesis, you must manufacture, copy or build something.” Burkina Faso’s President Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s words sparked exactly the reaction you’d expect. The usual critics dismissed them. Others laughed. Some rushed to explain why Africa should stay in its lane and […]
THE DESERT THAT POWERS A NATION
The Energy China Xinjiang Turpan Integrated Project, led by China Energy Construction Group Zhejiang Thermal Power Construction Co. Ltd., stands as one of China’s boldest demonstrations of renewable energy innovation. Combining concentrated solar power with wind generation, the project reflects a national commitment to building an energy system designed not only for today’s demands, but […]
BEYOND THE JOURNEY: LESSONS FROM XINJIANG
We often believe that travel is about discovering new places. In reality, the most meaningful journeys challenge the assumptions we carry long before we board the plane. They remind us that no headline, no documentary, and no second-hand opinion can ever replace the value of seeing a place through your own eyes. My recent visit […]
JUNE 16 AND THE BETRAYAL OF A GENERATION
![Hordes of students marching against the Bantu Education system and the use of Afrikaans as a medium in schools, during the June 16, 1976, Student Massacres / Soweto Uprisings [Image: GSMN]](https://gsmn.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soweto-uprising-2-1-1.jpg)
The mother of the nation, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela once brilliantly said: “The power of the people is greater than the people in power.” This is the sentiment that stands out when I think of the youth of 1976. Theirs was, and remains, one of the most profound sacrifices in our nation’s history. Yet today, it feels […]
DR KGOETE: FILLING THE GAPS OF A FAILING SYSTEM
South Africans of today have become accustomed to endless waiting — for almost everything. Waiting has become less of an inconvenience and more of a condition of life. Jobs, healthcare, housing, opportunity — all suspended in systems that are overstretched wholly inaccessible. Nowhere is this starker than in healthcare, where inequality determines not only quality […]
AFRICA IS NOT A DATA MINE: THE HIDDEN COST OF AID
Recently, Ghana outrightly rejected a proposed United States-backed health agreement over concerns about privacy, oversight and foreign access to sensitive national health data. According to reports, the deal would have allowed multiple US entities broad access to Ghana’s health information systems as part of a wider funding arrangement tied to healthcare support. Ghanaian authorities reportedly […]