The topic of corruption and its prevalence in society always elicits passionate responses.

Corruption is a global phenomenon, yet it often hits home at individual level and can have a devastating effect on African communities from the southern parts of the continent, such as South Africa, to the northern parts, such as Ethiopia.
 

Nelson Mandela International Day is celebrated annually to honour and commemorate the life of former President Nelson Mandela. Each year on July 18, people around the world spend 67 minutes doing something positive in their communities. In South Africa, however, we dedicate the whole month of July to celebrate Madiba’s life.

Radio Freedom was the voice of millions of subjugated South Africans and tuning in brought the latest world news, updates on the liberation struggle, music and songs banned in South Africa and a place for political education.

During the darkest days of apartheid, Radio Freedom, the voice of the oldest liberation movement, the African National Congress, was the revolutionary tool that inspired many South Africans to actively join the fight for the liberation of South Africa.

We should report all allegations of gender-based violence and sexual harassment so they can be investigated by the relevant authorities. Turning a blind eye is not good enough.

Given our history of inequality under apartheid, the importance of having access to justice and protection of human rights cannot be overemphasised. We come from a past where the justice system was not accessible to most South Africans.

The article by Sandile Ngidi on titled “SA’s failure to communicate” (Sunday Independent, July 3) is disconcerting and seeks to disempower South Africans as architects of our shared vision of a prosperous, democratically rooted nation.

It is a thinly veiled attempt to drag South Africans back to the hollow “big man-failed African state’’  construct where our collective woes, real or imagined, are conveniently transferred to the feet of a single individual or distant elite instead of reflecting on our own agency in the unfolding narrative.

Every new factory that opens its doors in the country is a reason for celebration. It means more jobs and a greater demand for support services such as transport, maintenance and security.

A product manufactured in South Africa advances our industrialisation. Through the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP), the government has promoted long-term industrialisation and industrial diversification.

In the townships, functions are incomplete without three-legged pots, tent and chairs, meat, veggies and of course scones. These scones are traditionally baked by a group of women in the week leading to the function as a gesture of good neighbourliness. It may be a wedding, funeral or even a tombstone unveiling, an expected practice looked up to that it raises eyebrows if it is not undertaken.