Talking Point
15.8.2018 01:28 pm
Ghana is looking to launch into outer space
Rapid advances in space technology mean that space is no longer just a stargazer’s paradise. Ghana wants in on the action, but it first has to overcome some legal obstacles.
The socioeconomic benefits possible from the use of space technology and research are endless. For instance, satellite imagery can be used for agricultural purposes, such as helping to predict food shortages and surplus harvests. It can also be employed to forecast and monitor natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes and wildfires. Telemedicine platforms, which also rely on satellites beaming from space, can greatly enhance the provision of health services in remote areas.
Ghana is looking to launch into outer space
Rapid advances in space technology mean that space is no longer just a stargazer’s paradise. Ghana wants in on the action, but it first has to overcome some legal obstacles.
Talking Point
Trevor Noah is right. People can be both French and African
It is important to understand that the African diaspora constitutes complex and multiplicitous identities.
Talking Point
Three approaches to land expropriation. Which one will SA pick?
Somewhere there will need to be compromise and a meeting of minds among those affected.
Talking Point
How renaming a London street after Mandela was a 1980s act of resistance
There were many objections, but the city followed through.
Talking Point
DA: We believe in black empowerment, just not of the ANC kind
The DA has been criticised for opposing the ANC’s policy of broad-based black economic empowerment. Chairperson James Selfe responds.
South Africa
Ramaphosa’s possible clever strategy on land expropriation
The president is being forced to change the constitution by Zuma supporters hoping to embarrass him. He may still have the last laugh.
Talking Point
The term ‘fake news’ is doing great harm. ‘Bullsh*t’ is better
We’d actually all be better off if we stopped using the label entirely and just got back to using tried-and-tested language.
Talking Point
White farmer writes plea to Ramaphosa to let him help black farmers
Nick Serfontein’s letter has already been widely shared in Afrikaans, and asks the president to do away with well-connected individuals walking through farmlands in Gucci shoes.
South Africa
Limpopo sex workshop aims to change views on prostitutes and legislation
Countries around the world are trying to remove the stigma, violence and fear associated with prostitution by legalising it.
Talking Point
Mandela is the one who has been sold out
All those calling the icon a sellout today should look at the true source of betrayal of his legacy.
South Africa
This is the only way the ANC will be able to fix itself before elections
Despite Jacob Zuma being dethroned, the party remains at war with itself. That doesn’t seem about to change soon.
South Africa
Why Obama views Joburg speech as most important since leaving White House
Drawing on Mandela’s legacy, Obama can help the world better understand the nature of threats to democracy.
South Africa
Why SA’s new political party funding bill is good news for democracy
The ANC and DA now support disclosure. Only the EFF remains firmly opposed to the new bill.
South Africa
Ramaphosa is wasting his time if he doesn’t prosecute the corrupt
SA’s corrupt officials came to believe under Zuma they were immune to prosecution. That has been devastating and will be costly to fix.
Talking Point
To fix South Africa’s dysfunctional state, ditch its colonial heritage
South Africa’s governance challenge can’t simply be fixed by reorganising the structure of government.
South Africa
How Motsoaledi’s well-meaning NHI plans fall short
The proposed new universal health care plan is not clear on how the changes will fix an already ailing system.
Talking Point
How African cities’ residents are creating climate change solutions
Scientific knowledge is not considered more important than the knowledge held by decision makers and civilians.
Talking Point
How Cele’s new approach to fighting crime could pay off
‘Visible policing’ as a concept has been discredited. The new minister is on the right track, but needs to focus even more.
Talking Point
Ramaphosa cannot afford to be a teddy bear in the ANC
He has to show that he’s a decisive leader who can take unpopular decisions.
Talking Point
How Ramaphosa can help resolve the Gaza crisis
As if the SA president doesn’t have enough to worry about in SA, many are now looking towards him to make the case for a solution to Palestine’s crisis.
Talking Point
You don’t have a right to believe whatever you want to
In this age when people close off their minds to debate, it turns out ignorance is neither right nor a right.
Talking Point
The ANC wants to make history compulsory at school. But can it?
The idea is great in theory, but there are more challenges than most people can even guess at.
Talking Point
South African rugby star shines spotlight on the sport’s racist past
Racism permeated all sports. But rugby was where the greatest pain was felt, no doubt because Afrikaners misguidedly claimed it as their sport.
South Africa
Remembering SA’s catastrophe: the 1948 poll that heralded apartheid
Apartheid has been removed from the statute books for almost three decades. But a de facto apartheid endures both economically and socially.
Africa
Why the Pan-African Parliament must clean up its act if it wants to survive
Recently, Julius Malema spoke at the Pan African Parliament, slamming its leaders and telling the parliament as a whole to get its act together.
Africa
Changing the African narrative through social media platforms
Social media platforms are providing Africans with an opportunity to counter negative stereotypes by giving them representational agency.
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