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News & Views by Terry Bell
Dear Sir bids farewell to Pritz
The surviving cast and helpers involved in the 1981 Dear Sir production at the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College will fondly remember the contribution of Pritz Dullay who died in Denmark on February 27.
Posted in: Obituaries
Declarations of war & pie in the sky
February 28, 2020
South African finance minister Tito Mboweni's 2020 Budget was a classic example of pie in the sky and it therefore — and unsurprisingly — triggered declarations of war from the labour movement. The only fulsome support seems to have come from from those at the top of the financial pile.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
FW de Klerk has so much more to apologise for
February 20, 2020
There is nothing new in former apartheid president FW de Klerk's latest denialist comments, nor in the belated apology that followed it. He has never changed, nor has he told the truth about so much, especially about the massacre of five children in Mthatha in 1993.
Posted in: Commentary
The potentially explosive reality of joblessness
February 19, 2020
While some commentators clutch at straws of optimism, citing unchanged quarterly unemployment statistics, the reality is that what exists is not just a crisis, it is a tragedy of massive proportions with socially explosive potential.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
Statistical facts and reality
February 18, 2020
It is necessary to look behind the bald unemployment statistics to discover the truly frightening reality. An "official" rate of joblessness at 29.1% if far fromn the more accurate "expanded" figure of 38.7%. And even that does not reflect the true measure of unemployment in South Africa.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
The chequered history of Valentine’s Day
February 13, 2020
The major problem with St Valentine's Day is that nobody is sure who Valentine was or even if a single martyr of that name existed. But for the commercial success of the day, we have neither church nor pope to thank; that honour belongs to Ester Howland.
Posted in: Commentary
The green irony at Davos
January 31, 2020
It is ironic that the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum has announced that the “transition to a greener and more equal economy is not just possible but imperative for restoring productivity”. Because the members of this private rich boys' club, representatives of the 1% who comprise the apex of the global wealth pyramid, are primarily responsible for the crisis: they are part of the problem, not the solution.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
Journalism is more than ‘just a job’
January 22, 2020
With the explosion of fake news, courtesy of social media, accompanied by mounting attacks, verbal and physical, against journalists, it may be useful to remember what the role of journalists — not bots and trolls — should be and that ethical journalism still survives. In this context, in South Africa, it is worth remembering how journalism (the work of journalists) brought to light the whole disgusting state capture venture.
Posted in: Commentary
Terry Bell Writes 
March 7, 2020
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