Features

At only 34 in 2011, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams became the youngest Deputy Minister in President Jacob Zuma’s executive.

Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu says she is ready to become the voice of small business in South Africa.

In some communities, it’s still regarded as a job only designed and fit for men. But, for Lieutenant Colonel Thandi Mbambo, being a police officer is the only job she’s ever enjoyed.

If anything, US President Barack Obama needs to use this week’s first US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington to throw his weight behind the extension of the Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) for another 15 years.

Wage negotiations between government and public service unions often deadlock, resulting in employee representatives taking time to put ink on paper in wage bargaining chambers.

Ever since President Jacob Zuma announced the creation of new ministries in May, a lot of commentary has emerged through media reports seemingly suggesting that increasing the size of the Cabinet has resulted in a “bloated” public service.

We are often taught that doing something good in someone’s life will make a difference to them. For example, if you help someone paint their home – they will have a home that looks beautiful and you would have contributed to that beauty and the joy it brings them. What we don’t really bank on though is the impact that a single selfless action can have on us.

For many years, children in Mvezo village in the Eastern Cape – the birthplace of former President Nelson Mandela – have been forced to drop out of school after passing Grade 9.

It is becoming a habit in South Africa to create a month to focus on a particular event or social issue which we mark in our national calendar. The month of June, which highlights June 16 as Youth Day, has become Youth Month and August 9, which marks Women’s Day, has turned the month of August into Women’s Month. The same goes for Human Rights Month and Heritage Month.

Even when he couldn’t remember most things, the one thing that the late former President Nelson Mandela constantly asked was: “Where are we with the children’s hospital?”

From the first Grade at school, it became clear that Marry-Jane Ntsiane had a learning challenge.

Bathandwa Mbola speaks to a survivor of the 1976 June 16 student revolt.

It has been 38 years since the youth of South Africa marched in all parts of the country – their steps directing and leading them on a journey toward a better education, a better South Africa and a better life. With the commemoration of June 16 upon us, the images of young bodies strewn in the streets of Soweto still resonate in the minds of many – but it was not in vain, writes Bathandwa Mbola.

Every year, hundreds of young people have to fight financial battles just to get a place at higher education institutions. Some give up on their dreams of having a career simply because they cannot afford steep study fees. But the new Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund, unveiled by the National Youth Development Agency recently, is set to bring hope to many needy students, writes Neo Semono.

Nthambeleni Gabara takes a look at how the lives of a few youngsters have changed in the North West – with the help of the National Youth Development Agency