Post 2026-02-25

MY NAME is Yasemin Acar. I am a human rights activist committed to struggles for social justice across the globe. I am of Kurdish origin from Türkiye and currently live in Berlin, Germany. As an international organiser and communicator, I recently helped organise the first-ever boat, The Madleen, to sail toward Gaza during the ongoing genocide. After our interception, kidnapping, and detention by Israeli forces, I joined comrades in organising the Global Sumud Flotilla, which brought together 43 boats and 483 activists to challenge Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza, deliver humanitarian aid, and demand the opening of a sea corridor. I am writing this while visiting South Africa, as someone who has been imprisoned by Israel twice within four months. My comrades and I have witnessed Israeli military attacks and…

IN ANY thriving constitutional democracy, law enforcement requires robust accountability mechanisms. Policing grants the state significant authority over citizens' lives, liberties and dignity. If this authority is exercised without adequate oversight, the consequences can be devastating not only for individual victims, but also for the integrity of the entire criminal justice system. South Africa's journey, shaped by a complex and painful legacy of politicised policing and systemic abuse, highlights the urgent need for this balance. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) was established within this context, marking the state's recognition that policing cannot rely solely on self-regulation, especially in a society still facing deep inequalities, high levels of violent crime, and fragile police-community relations. While Ipid's mandate is commendable and constitutionally grounded, its daily operations face numerous structural, political and…

THE recent State of the Nation Address (Sona) by President Cyril Ramaphosa should have been welcomed by the majority of South Africans. There are some pessimists who do not seem to see the bigger picture. The economy is taking a turn for the better. This is despite some major hurdles like Covid-19, state capture, the July 2021 riots and corruption among others. It is logic for a thriving economy to create jobs and improve service delivery. When the July 2021 unrest occurred, it cost KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng billions with almost 400 deaths and many jobs lost. Using former president Jacob Zuma’s jailing was just a ruse to plunder and loot, and create chaos. Ancient Roman history tells us that when Rome was burning, Emperor Nero was watching from a hill…

In response to the fragmented discourse and contradictory viewpoints that have emerged regarding the state of Hinduism in our nation, I issue this statement. Our Hindu purohits, gurus, and religious leaders are the custodians of our sacred traditions. While their historical dedication in preserving our heritage from the era of indenture to the present is beyond reproach, that legacy now demands a higher standard of modern stewardship. The core truths of our scriptures are immutable. We must demand that all communal dialogue – such as the factual and well-researched contributions recently presented by Yogin Devan – be met with the same level of intellectual and spiritual integrity. The current climate of contradictory statements and lack of foundational groundwork are unacceptable. Too often, respected leaders have been forced to sit back…

FOR a country that once rolled out red carpets, filled stadiums, and sang every mukhda word-for-word, South Africa has grown strangely quiet on the Bollywood live-show front, with hardly any Bollywood star of note on stage here for over decade. This silence is a bit puzzling, especially when Bollywood songs still dominate weddings, radio playlists, TikTok reels, and community functions. Indian playback singers feature here regularly to packed houses in Durban and Johannesburg; remixes trend online, and nostalgia for the golden era of Hindi cinema is stronger than ever. Yet, the big live shows? Gone. To understand why, one has to look back to the 1990s and early 2000s – the heyday of Bollywood live performances in South Africa. Those were magical years. Leading artists like Amitabh Bachchan; the three…

DIRECTOR Vishal Bhardwaj, renowned for his intense, often dark adaptations of Shakespearean tales in Bollywood, revisits this theme with a script that explores the inner human emotions of love, hate, greed and anger with some extreme violence added. Shahid Kapoor is not your typical Romeo, but rather a callous gang leader who kills for money. Ustara has no respect for any woman until Afsha (Triptii Dimri) approaches him to organise a hit. She wants to get back at the gang leaders who killed her husband of just a few weeks, played by Vikrant Massey. The rest of the story is about the interactions and intrigues between them and the other players in this international smuggling and repeated murders scheme. This includes top gangster Jalal (Avinash Tiwary), who is inexplicably…