Toh Unplugged

Nobuhle Nkabane The nonchalant, borderline disrespectful conduct of Higher Education & Training Minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane left a sour taste in the mouths of many South Africans. Her refusal to account to the people, during her appearance before parliament's portfolio committee on higher education, was a slap in the face to transparency. Her behaviour echoed the infamous antics of former president Jacob Zuma, who, like Nkabane, regularly dodged accountability with smirks, giggles, and evasive responses. I'm not exaggerating: Watch this short clip of Zuma in parliament if you need a reminder. For those unfamiliar with the drama surrounding Nkabane, here’s a quick refresher: She recently caused an uproar by appointing politically connected individuals to chair Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) boards. The backlash was swift, with parties like the DA and EFF slamming the decision, especially since the appointees included Buyambo Mantashe, son of ANC heavyweight  ...

Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump Let’s be perfectly clear: there is no “white genocide” in South Africa. None, whatsoever! And everyone, from Donald Trump to his political cronies and propagandists, knows it. That includes Trump’s vice president J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, billionaire ideologue Elon Musk, and the usual suspects in South Africa like AfriForum and Solidarity. These right-wing actors, both in the U.S. and South Africa, are not confused. They are complicit. This is not about misinformation. It’s about disinformation: a deliberate, malicious distortion of reality to serve Trump’s extremist agenda. The so-called “white genocide” narrative is a racist fantasy with no basis in reality. Of course, it is weaponised for political gain. It's imported from South African right-wing fringe groups, and recycled for American right-wing audiences obsessed with the fantasy of white victimhood. The Afrikaner group that left for the U.S. Even the 49 Afrikane...

Hello Friends, It’s been a while since I last posted here, and quite a lot has happened in the meantime. On the global stage, the U.S.-China trade war has continued to reshape economic alliances and stir geopolitical tension. Closer to home, we witnessed a rather unusual development: 49 Afrikaner “refugees” departed for the United States this week, due to their strong opposition to South Africa’s policies of redress. President Cyril Ramaphosa didn’t mince words in his response. He called the group, which reportedly includes an obese car salesman from Pretoria, “cowards,” noting: “They’ll be back soon. As South Africans, we are resilient. We don't run away from our problems. We must stay here and solve them. When you run away, you are a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act.” "Welcome to the land of the free," Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau said as he received the white South Africans who landed at Dulles airport near Washington DC on Monday. In the world of sport...

BY PHUTI MPYANE It could be argued that growing up during the dark period of apartheid, black youngsters wouldn’t be expected to have a keen interest in motorsport, yet this was largely a falsehood. Soccer, which I happened to be adept at, was the expected norm. As a grown up adult on the cusp of hitting the big Five-Oh, I recognise that maybe I was cut from a different cloth from my peers, and my own Father hadn’t recognised this. For instance, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates rang true and hard in my peer and other circles yet, there I was as a 10 year old, circa 1985, and a big fan of Moroka Swallows. Many young boys in those days can trace their football allegiances to a Father, Uncle or peers in general. Mine has no origins to some level. My Father was not a soccer fan, and neither were most of my immediate male relatives. Memorable influences were a Swallows player who gave me the first glimpse of a ‘Bicycle Kick.’ The team’s Burgundy kit, perhaps, too, which I would later don f...

BY PHUTI MPYANE Knight SA’s (and I stand to be corrected) real name is Edwin Cornelius Fortune. He is among a mob of exciting young DJs blazing the SA deep house scene. The striking difference about the selections of this powerhouse versus the glut of sub-genres that denote the modern deep house genres, such as amapiano, is the lineage of midtempo house popularised during the 2000s by a number of legendary DJs, including one Glen Lewis. It was a time when cars played a central role in the lifestyles of black middle-class youth fuelled by a burgeoning hope that the country was well and truly entering an era of equality, not just in the employment and entrepreneurship stakes, but the prospects of new-found living experiences; such as travel for pleasure instead of the mandatory and traditional check-ins with rural relations entrenched by our immediate fore-bears. Knight SA’s silky mixes initiate the nostalgia when many still had dreams of saving up for their first Golf GTI, and that stor...