The southward advance of native African farmers with Central African crops halted in Natal, beyond which Central African crops couldn’t grow – with enormous consequences for the recent history of South Africa.
If it were in our national security to deploy to South Africa under apartheid, would we have found it acceptable or customary to segregate African American soldiers from other American soldiers, and say, ‘It’s just a cultural thing’? I don’t think so. I would hope not.
It is wrong to divide the nation white against black, native born against immigrant or one religion against another. It is also wrong to divide people by income. East Germany was not an improvement over South Africa. Obama divides Americans against each other. This is wrong.
When I was in South Africa, I was meeting with people who never heard of Lego bricks. And yet, when I was like, ‘Here they are,’ they immediately got it. They saw the appeal, were snapping bricks and creating their little creations right there immediately.
In South Africa, where HIV-positive children are often shunned, we have an HIV-positive Muppet to teach children to be friendly with children with HIV. But they use local actors. And it’s not always a street. Sometimes it’s ‘Sesame Plaza,’ or ‘Sesame Tree.’
Free education for all – whilst it is a desirable notion, in South Africa it will simply not be affordable.
I think growing up in South Africa, and then moving to Canada, I’m just genuinely interested in the difference between the First World and the Third World, immigration, and how the new, globalized world is beginning to operate. All of those things run through my mind a lot.
I have always thought that the rapid economic development of South Africa would in the long run prove to be incompatible with the government’s racial policies, and recent events have tended to confirm my opinion.
South Africa must come first in everything we do.
I helped found Artists for New South Africa, but it used to be called Artists for Free South Africa. Alfre Woodard and a bunch of us started this.
I just remember, it seemed to be the thing to do to get up a three o’clock in the morning and watch the All Blacks play England or South Africa.
The popularity of rugby definitely grew in South Africa over the World Cup, and sport has great power, so hopefully it will make some difference. Even if it’s just 1%, it’s a bit of a change.
I’ve never been to anywhere in Africa except Egypt. We’ve never performed there, so I would definitely like to make that trip, probably to South Africa. I’d also like to score a movie from top to bottom. I’ve had songs in a bunch of films but never done an entire movie. I’d like to do that and have it to be a hit, too!
Nelson Mandela’s contribution to the people of South Africa has been immeasurable and I look forward to helping with his work all over the country.
I do take seriously and am grateful to the ANC that, in the face of its revolutionary mission to ensure a better life for all and the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa, it deployed me at the pinnacle of its role in government.
The ANC was the product of a much earlier South Africa, a gradualist and non-tribal multi-racial organisation, driven to violence by the intransigence of the Afrikaner Nationalist Government, obsessed with improbable ideas of revolution.
I went through all these different phases. But it always felt like I was impersonating something, so I went back to some of the music I grew up with, like music from South Africa and the ’80s stuff. I stopped suppressing it, and I stopped trying to be cool.
Moving to South Africa and trying to make a mark as a cricketer and then make it to the international team hasn’t been easy. This is why I want to enjoy every moment of it.
In South Africa there are many women with a large chest. There you are not embarrassed when you visit a lingerie store to get a bra fitted.
Whoever says that sanctions will only deteriorate the situations of blacks in South Africa does not know the criminal, murderous character of genocide that represents the system of apartheid.
South Africa is really diverse, with many cultures and 11 official languages, so there are lots of different Christmas traditions.
The best thing about being a model was traveling. I had traveled the world by the time I was thirty. France, England, Austria, South Africa, Italy, Australia, Japan, Seychelle Islands, and all over the Caribbean.
For you in the West to hear the phrase ‘All men are created equal’ is to draw a yawn. For us, it’s a miracle. We’re starting out at rock bottom, man. But South Africa does have soul.
I think the most difficult thing that has had to happen in South Africa for the previously disadvantaged communities is they had to reconcile that the oppressor has been enriched and the establishment is now making five or 10 times more profit than they were during the time the economic embargo was on them.
HIV/AIDS is a very big problem in my country South Africa, so I hope to stand as an advocate for that.
A safari is just a magical thing, the winelands in South Africa are beautiful.
We were a very politically active family. My father was one of the first lawyers in South Africa to have a black partner, so I grew up very aware of the struggle going on. Coming from that background, it really gave me chills to have my music be a part of the election of the first black American president.
It’s not difficult in South Africa for the ordinary person to see the link between capitalism and racist exploitation, and when one sees the link one immediately thinks in terms of a socialist alternative.
I was born in South Africa during apartheid, a system of laws that made it illegal for people to mix in South Africa. And this was obviously awkward because I grew up in a mixed family. My mother’s a black woman, South African Xhosa woman… and my father’s Swiss, from Switzerland.
The biggest problem in South Africa is that we have a disrupted timeline. Historically, politically, spiritually, economically, in people’s minds, in people’s heads.
Growing up, I wanted to be a journalist. I was in love with Lisa Ling, who’s a broadcast journalist and who travels the world. I used to read all of her articles and watch her when she’d go to China or South Africa or Australia. I thought that was the coolest job because she got to travel and tell people’s stories.
Perhaps one could say I’ve worked in South Africa too long, but I believe in forgiveness, especially when a person admits a mistake, asks for forgiveness, and works to right a wrong.
We say South Africa is an open country, and when people come here, we must deal with them with dignity and respect within the parameters of our Constitution.
How is it that Nigeria’s military, which has a good record across West Africa, cannot claim back to 14 out of 774 local governorates from Boko Haram? They have to ask for mercenaries from South Africa? How the mighty has fallen!
People think of me as well-travelled, but I had not been out of Pakistan until I was picked in the Under-19 squad in 1997. The flight went from Lahore to Karachi and then from Karachi to South Africa. It was my first time on a plane and my first trip overseas.
Living in South Africa has had a very profound impact on my career.
Working with kids in Soweto in South Africa, it’s rough out there. But the bottom line is you’ve got to go to know. In Cambodia, there are 10,000 landmines. Same in Afghanistan, same in Colombia. I’m totally addicted to traveling.
I was the ball boy during the Mumbai Test of the home series against South Africa in 2000. I was playing Under-14 cricket.
If you look at South Africa and President Nelson Mandela, it was people of the world who held their hands together and stood up to make a difference. So ‘people power’ is important.
St. Lucia in South Africa is this exotic place where you might go on vacation, and it evokes this nostalgic, hazy vibe.
I never thought I’d be comfortable living outside South Africa, but we love London. Our two kids were born here.
Without white South Africa realizing what it had done – and on the basis of that realization having the courage to ask for forgiveness – there can really be no significant movement.
I traveled to a library in South Africa called ILAM (International Library of African Music), which has a collection of about 500 different instruments that don’t really exist anymore.
The start of the English county season – from April to mid-May when it’s cold – is the same as South Africa because it seams and swings. After that, the ball starts spinning nicely, and that’s when I get my wickets.
My heart is in South Africa, through my mum. My mum being from here, me spending a lot of time here as well, I feel most connected to this part of the world.
I can’t on my own change the regime in South Africa or teach the Palestinians to learn to live with the Israelies, but I can start with me.
As far as those kinds of things, I also played at the concert to call for the release of Nelson Mandela when he was a political prisoner in South Africa. We were celebrating his 70th birthday and calling for his release.
We want to clean up South Africa so that we can begin to make it more attractive to investors but at the same time to deal with the issues that are impeding growth.
It is ridiculous to think we can erase racism in South Africa, but through theater there can be a genuine attempt to move on with our lives and build a better country.
