South Africa is fast approaching a crossroads at which it must choose between structural reform and a lurch to populist nationalism. So, too, is its governing ANC, which later this year must elect a successor to its president, Jacob Zuma. With
Author: The Conversation
Many see the decision by the ANC to send the disgraced former CEO of the power utility Eskom to parliament as the precursor to another attack on the national treasury and to remove finance minister Pravin Gordhan. The decision to give Brian Molefe
The dispute over South Africa’s social grant system and threatening millions of vulnerable beneficiaries with non-payment creates risks that go far beyond interrupting poor people’s access to desperately needed grants. The failure of the South African
Children’s ideas about what their gender means for their intellectual capacity are formed before they have even turned six. One idea that’s particularly pervasive and dangerous is that, only boys are good at maths and science. Popular media only exacerbates the
Russian author Boris Zhitkov wrote the 1931 short story Microhands, in which the narrator creates miniature hands to carry out intricate surgeries. And while that was nearly 100 years ago, the tale
It may seem like a doomed attempt to mix business and pleasure. But a growing number of young professionals in Silicon Valley insist that taking small doses of psychedelic drugs simply makes them perform
A recent police clampdown on driving while using hand-held mobile phones caught nearly 8 000 UK drivers in a week, ostensibly reflecting a widespread disregard of a law intended to protect all. But is using a handheld mobile
Earth’s magnetic field surrounds it like an invisible force field – protecting life from harmful solar radiation by deflecting charged particles away. Far from being constant, this field is continuously changing. Indeed, our
It’s not easy for computer science students at most universities in Africa to practise and develop their programming skills. They can program, but access to desktop or laptop computers might be a problem. I experienced this first-hand
The military’s most prolific leaker of digital documents has ushered in an age of even more increased surveillance over government workers. The legacy of Chelsea Manning’s actions is under discussion in the