Khadija Patel 20 posts 0 comments

On Monday, The Mangosuthu University of Technology and the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) were shut down. The South African Union of Students (SAUS) has also warned that it may shut down other campuses…

While party officials await the results of Wednesday’s local government elections, the Economic Freedom Fighters’ spokesperson says his party is calm and content. “The description of our emotional state is that we are in…

What just happened in Turkey?  It's more like what almost happened. A small faction of the Turkish military attempted a coup. And while the coup was thwarted, significant damage has been done. Reports indicate that 161 people were…

KHADIJA PATEL reflects on that time she looked out of the windows of her mother’s car, searching for Muhammad Ali. My mother believes that much of what I relate from the diffuse images of sight and sound imprinted on my being are…

The latest crisis to affect the Zuma administration has highlighted the divides within South African society, writes KHADIJA PATEL.  Rushing past rows of idling cars at an intersection on Jan Smuts Avenue in Rosebank, a newspaper vendor…

A series of sensational newspaper headlines and the dissemination of false information on social media contributed to the deadly outbreak of xenophobia-related violence last year, a new government-commissioned report says. KHADIJA PATEL…

Fox News recently claimed that portions of Johannesburg are under the sole control of Muslim extremists. The suburbs of Mayfair and Fordsburg, the reporter Paul Tilsley claims, are “well known for spawning terrorists”. But Daily Vox…

Alongside Lilian Ngoyi, Rahima Moosa, Helen Joseph and Albertina Sisulu, Sophie de Bruyn led a march of 20,000 women on the Union Buildings in 1956 in protest against the pass laws. De Bruyn is the last surviving leader of the march.…

After speaking to religious leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba returned home intent on having similar discussions in South Africa, as well as probing the ambition of groups like Al…

Operation Fiela has been described as “legitimising xenophobia”. While many South Africans have spoken out against the controversial raids, others feel they are justified. However, the operation has had a devastating effect on foreign…

On Friday, state officials raided the Central Methodist Church in the Johannesburg CBD, a building known for offering a safe haven to immigrants, particularly after the horrific xenophobic attacks of 2008. About 500 people were detained,…

Violence against foreign nationals has once more unfurled itself on South African front pages. Make no mistake; much of South Africa is outraged. We are after all, a morally decent people. At least, we hope so. But in the outpouring of…

Sona 2015 was not a pretty sight. The opposition benches stood glaringly empty. South Africans sat back in shock. And the president, well, he seemed to be entirely indifferent. By KHADIJA PATEL. President Jacob Zuma chuckled slightly –…

As we approach another State of the Nation (Sona) address by President Jacob Zuma, there are sure to be the usual laments over his oratory skills. There will be the usual quota of criticism over his pronunciation. There may even be some…

We think of the future as a faraway event. But, crucially, KHADIJA PATEL argues, it’s contingent on the present – and the past. As the 2014 matriculants approach their own futures, the legacies of the past will continue to inform their…

Sitting in the lounge of a relative’s home in Klerksdorp, a small town in the North West, I listened as another visitor regaled us with her plans for retirement. The other women in the room, many of them older than her, expressed some…

There certainly has not been a shortage of news about Gaza in South African media. At one stage last week, South Africa generated so much news about Gaza, we were among the top 10 disseminators of Gaza-related news in the world. But it is…

A few days ago I was contacted by an online radio station with an invitation to join a discussion about the war in Gaza. A presenter told me I would be joined on air by a Jewish person, and together we would be discussing what is happening…