I am a passionate and positive South African with a desire to inspire change in our country. Whether it is writing articles and blogs like these, working one-on-one, in deep rural communities, schools or boardrooms, my work aims to inspire all South Africans – and give them practical tools – to move from negativity to positivity; from violence to nonviolence; from passive to active; from armchair critics to co-architects of a better future.
I invite you to join me in creating the future we all dream of!
How Do We Decolonize Adoption?
A few months ago, I wrote a column on the orphan crisis that is gripping South Africa in general and KwaZulu Natal in particular. This column resulted in something of a breakthrough. Readers of this blog and many in the online community heeded our call to action and...
Unpacking Privilege and Identity
“A black child born today is more likely to be born into poverty than a white child…..Twenty-three years into democracy this is simply not good enough.” Rob Davies – Trade and Industry Minister. As I ready myself to speak, I am acutely aware of the irony of the...
Broken Hearted for South Africa
It is difficult to imagine the psychological and physical suffering that precedes death by Stress-induced Cardiomyopathy also known as Broken Heart Syndrome. How much pressure; what levels of anxiety can the human heart endure before it deteriorates to breaking point?...
Making Mandela Day Count
I must admit to being a bit of Mandela Day Grinch. I know this admission is akin to treason in our country and the fact that it is being made by a passionate advocate of citizen participation makes it even worse. Not only that but I also run an NGO that would benefit...
Community Development: We Get It Wrong At Our Peril
I met up again with Justin Foxton, founder of The Peace Agency, a month or so ago. Contrary to the intensity of our first encounter – a workshop at the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce on racism, freedom of expression and the state of our democracy – a weekend away with...
We Need to Decolonise Adoption – For the Sake of the Children
If you are not directly involved in the care of orphans and vulnerable children - or if you haven’t tried to adopt a child in the past year – you may be unaware that adoption has all but ceased in Kwa-Zulu Natal. In May 2016, the Department of Social Development...
Bakkie-Taxis: Inequality at its Worst
As South Africans, we are used to the sight of people being transported on the back of bakkies. Sometimes, these bakkies have a canopy and people are wedged in like tinned sardines. Other times there is no canopy and people sit, stand or lie depending on space...
It’s Time – Adding Action to Faith
There has been a great deal written about Angus Buchan’s recent mega prayer faith gathering near Bloemfontein entitled “It’s Time” and I don’t intend to add to the commentary on the event itself. However, it came about in a week in which an extraordinary video from a...
Storming the Stage – the New South African Drama
Writers and commentators have been referencing South Africa’s politics in theatrical terms. Words like “Shakespearean”, “tragi-comedy” and “drama” have been used to describe recent events. Depending on which side of the political divide you occupy, central characters...
Zuma: The Violent Destroyer
As I write this I am watching a TV screen that is flashing up the plummeting value of our post-junk-status Rand. I pick up my phone and the anti-Zuma rants pour in on social media. An e-mail comes from a pastor friend inviting us to “pray up, speak up, stand up, march...
Colonialism: The Rape of Africa
As I write this I am sat – for the second time in 10-hours – in seat 22C on Fastjet’s flight from Dar es Salaam to a smallish Tanzanian town called Mbeya. Now you may or may not have heard of Fastjet - depending on whether you travel much in sub-Saharan Africa, but...
How to Perfect Corruption
You may remember an old advertising campaign for SAA that featured the somewhat benign strapline: “We didn’t invent flying, we just perfected it.” This line sprang to mind recently whilst talking with a group of people at a work function. One of our group was talking...