Latest news with #Africana
IOL News
a day ago
- Politics
- IOL News
The country of the brave is no more
. Lorenzo Davids is the Executive Director of Urban Issues Consulting. Image: Supplied There is no bravery anymore. Our politics is filled with sycophants who, without constitutional convictions, robotically regurgitate scripted monologues across every platform. When interviewed they say "Yes, but …" and then they go robotic. They bizarrely repeat the nonsense scripted for them. Then they rinse and repeat for the next audience. They have been trained to ignore questions by saying "Well, did you know…" and then they regurgitate their robotic, scripted message. They don't answer questions. Author Patric Mallet recently wrote a commentary that said something like 'It's no longer about 'We the people, it's about 'We the party.'' Individual conviction, intelligence, and bravery is no longer a requirement for political party membership. Enforced compliance or expulsion are the only choices. Political parties have become echo chambers, where factional beliefs are reinforced and where constitutional truths are either misinterpreted or not pondered at all. The pursuit of our profound constitutional ideals has become too great a risk for our political parties. Having built their voter base on fears, corruption and perverse ideological obsessions, they can no longer find the exit sign. They have constructed an ideological prison for themselves, with the majority giving assent to their lies, while squirming in their seats. South Africa is in an ideological crisis. We are a constitutional democracy, but we find ourselves in constant conflict about how to advance our constitution through effective policy development. From education to equal and equitable employment, to policies on energy, global human rights, as well as rogue states and trade, we have political agents who inflict ideological and constitutional confusion on the citizenry, and which an uneducated and ill-informed voter often accepts without testing its constitutionality. Our constitution has become a mute piece of Africana, used mainly by political parties to conduct lawfare, and not to develop policy agendas to advance our people. The aspirations, ideals, and promises written in the constitution for the people's prosperity and advancement are often used by political parties to develop ideologically misdirected policies, for the party has become greater than the people and their constitution. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ While the need for equality and non-discrimination in the present is without dispute, how do we address historical discrimination and inequality? How do we address generational racial trauma? It seems that some believe that by waving a magic wand, everyone will be equal and no longer discriminated against. I was walking in a Constantia mall recently. In my rush to get to a bookstore, I found myself walking behind an individual who was slowly pushing their trolley. I was trying to dodge patrons to get past the trolley pusher. My attempted overtaking manoeuvres caused the trolley pusher to turn around, and as they saw me, they stopped their trolley. My feeling was that they thought I was up to something bad. Once inside the bookstore, I stood in a queue with my purchase. The person in front of me looked around to see who was behind them. They then moved their sling bag to the front of their body. My feeling was that they thought I could be up to something bad. Transfer the micro experiences of these parties – them and me - into our education, health and economic systems, and you will see how our mighty constitution is not used as a recourse to give us the power to overcome our stereotypes and fears. It gets binned to accommodate our apartheid perspectives – mine and theirs - of other people. Unless political parties begin to make work of advancing our constitutional democracy with its central message of 'We, the People," they will never succeed in moving South Africa beyond "We, the white people' and 'We, the Black people." Our political parties have won votes by intentionally exploiting fears about "the other" to gain voter support. Fears win votes. They, lacking all bravery, have been unable to develop an ideological message that celebrates our constitutional aspirations as one nation. Cape Argus
NBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- NBC News
Howard University faces students' complaints on social media about unexpected tuition bills
Howard University says that it is helping students deal with outstanding tuition balances after several shared complaints on social media that they were unexpectedly handed hefty bills for past semesters at the school. The university switched to a new student platform, prompting at least 1,000 students to be notified that they still owed tuition for semesters going back two years in some cases. Some of those students posted their grievances with the university on social media, garnering millions of views. Though some students said they were being blindsided with new student debt, Howard said the students had owed the balances all along. Many of the social media posts resulted in thousands of dollars being raised to help students resume their education after some said they could not continue at Howard without paying the debt. In a statement Wednesday night, the university said half of the accounts with holds on them were 'resolved due to student payments, financial aid or payment arrangements and holds are being lifted on their accounts.' Howard University also said it would offer extended virtual and in-person office hours to help students. Lydia Sermons, vice president of communications and chief communications officer at Howard, told NBC News that the tuition balances were always visible on student accounts except for a period between May and June when the school was undergoing a transfer of data from the old student portal to the new one. Alexis Rodriguez, a junior studying political science and Africana studies, said she noticed she owed $15,000. 'I don't have any financial safety nets. I'm just fighting to stay enrolled.' Rodriguez told NBC News. Before Rodriguez could reach the financial aid office for help, she was informed that her foreign language fellowship had been rescinded due to federal budget cuts and that she had lost her resident assistant position and housing stipend because of the owed tuition. 'Students at risk of homelessness don't have time to wait for a system to figure things out,' she said. A crowdfunding campaign for Rodriguez has raised nearly $7,000 toward her $10,500 goal. Biology student Makiah Goodman's multiple videos about the situation have collectively earned more than a million views. She's raised more than $4,000 for the $6,000 she needs to continue attending Howard. While some students were able to resolve the tuition discrepancies with the university on their own, others are trying to raise the needed funds together. A collective of nearly 150 students at the center of crowd funding efforts created the Instagram account, @whosehowardisit, and are keeping a list of students who still need funds to settle balances with Howard.
The South African
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The South African
Zohran Mamdani: How New York City's mayoral candidate connects to SA
Zohran Mamdani has been confirmed as the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor. The 33-year-old is on the cusp of making history as the first Muslim and millennial mayor of the Big Apple, one of the most diverse cities in the world. Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, raised in Cape Town post-apartheid and later moved to New York when he was seven. His father Mahmood Mamdani is a renowned author and scholar who also served as a professor of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town between 1996 and 1999. His mother, Mira Nair is also a renowned film director. He is a graduate of the New York City Public School System; he attended the Bronx High School of Science and received a Bachelor's Degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College. In 2018, Zohran Mamdani became naturalized as an American citizen and is proud to be the first South Asian man to serve in the NYS Assembly as well as the first Ugandan and only the third Muslim to ever be a member of the body. According to the New York Assembly government website, Zohran fights every day for a future where every New Yorker lives a dignified life and where the market does not determine the distribution of that dignity. Additionally, Mamdani says he is running for mayor to freeze rent, make buses fast and free, and deliver free universal childcare. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
Mint
26-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Zohran Mamdani Net Worth: New York Mayoral candidate lives on rent, has no car. Check how much he earns
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's net worth stands at approximately $200,000 ( ₹ 1.71 crore), according to a Forbes report. This is far less than what Andrew Cuomo, his competitor, is worth, which Forbes pegged at $10 million. At an estimated $200,000, Zohran Mamdani's net worth is relatively modest compared to many political figures, especially those he targets with his policy proposals. Although Zohran comes from an affluent background, his mother, Mira Nair, is a celebrated filmmaker, and his father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a Columbia academic, he campaigns on tackling wealth disparities head-on. His advocacy for a $30 ( ₹ 2500) per hour minimum wage and targeting high-net-worth individuals underscores his authentic commitment to economic equity. According to a Forbes report, after Zohran became a naturalised US citizen in 2018, he ran for a state assembly seat and won in 2020. The job pays $142,000 annually. Today, he lives in a $2,250/month rent-stabilised Astoria apartment and doesn't own a car; he takes the subway to his debate appearances. In 2024, Zohran reported that he gets $1,000 in rap royalties, including the single 'Nani,' which he created using the moniker Young Cardamom. According to Zohran's financial disclosures in 2023, he acquired four acres of land in Jinja, a region of Uganda bordering Lake Victoria that contains the source of the Nile River, in 2012. He said the land's value is between $150,000 and $250,000. However, in a disclosure he filed as a mayoral candidate earlier this year, he said that he acquired the land in 2016 and that it remains vacant and unimproved. Since New York City disclosures do not require candidates to list cash accounts, Zohran Mamdani may be worth a bit more than the documents show. If elected, Zohran Mamdani would be the youngest mayor at age 34 and would get a salary bump of $260,000. He would also save on rent by moving into Gracie Mansion, the official mayoral residence on the Upper East Side, and could continue with his car-less lifestyle. Born in 1991 in Kampala, Uganda, to a Columbia University professor and an acclaimed filmmaker, Zohran Mamdani attended Bank Street, a prestigious Manhattan private school that now costs as much as $66,000 a year for elementary school students. He then went to the Bronx High School of Science, one of the city's best public schools, for this graduation. Zohran studied Africana Studies at Bowdoin College, a private liberal arts school in Maine that is also the alma mater of Netflix's Reed Hastings and former American Express CEO Ken Chenault.
Time of India
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Zohran Mamdani educational qualification: No Ivy League, just a crash course to question everything
In a campaign season dominated by polished resumes and party-line promises, one mayoral candidate in New York City is running with something different — a life that reads more like a migration map than a manifesto. Zohran Kwame Mamdani, born in Kampala, Uganda, on October 18, 1991, has built his politics not from textbooks, but from the borders, battles, and backstreets that shaped his education. His journey to the 2025 mayoral race began in classrooms across Uganda, South Africa, and the Bronx, and continued through eviction courts in Queens and debates inside the New York State Assembly. And it's the kind of education that rarely ends with a degree. From apartheid-era South Africa to NYC public schools Mamdani was just five years old when his family moved from Uganda to Cape Town, South Africa, a city still unravelling the deep scars of apartheid. There, classrooms didn't just teach math or science — they taught what structural injustice looked like up close. His parents — Mahmood Mamdani, a renowned political theorist, and Mira Nair, the globally acclaimed filmmaker — shaped his earliest political lessons at the dinner table. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like What She Did Mid-Air Left Passengers Speechless medalmerit Learn More Undo By 1998, when Zohran was seven, the family moved again — this time to New York City. He began attending the Bank Street School for Children in Manhattan, known for its progressive approach to education. Later, he enrolled in Bronx High School of Science, one of the city's most prestigious public schools, where admission is determined by a highly competitive exam. But Mamdani didn't follow the typical Bronx Science path of heading to an Ivy League with a STEM degree. Even as a teenager, he was more interested in how cities fail their people — especially immigrants, the poor, and the working class. Mamdani and his his radical shift away from the Indian-American norm In 2009, Mamdani left New York to attend Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine — a quiet liberal arts school where he majored in Africana Studies. He didn't just study postcolonial politics — he practiced them. He co-founded the Bowdoin chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, vocally supported anti-imperialist movements, and engaged in campus organizing that made administrators uneasy. He graduated in 2014 with a BA, but the real education came from his growing clarity: the systems that governed race, class, and immigration weren't broken — they were working exactly as designed. Hip-Hop to housing courts: Learning the system by battling it From 2015 to 2018, Mamdani worked as a housing counselor in Queens, helping low-income tenants avoid eviction. It was there, in poorly heated apartments and packed housing courtrooms, that his politics hardened into purpose. He also expressed his political vision through art. As 'Young Cardamom,' Mamdani released Nani — a trilingual hip-hop track in 2019 that became a minor viral hit. It combined humor, generational identity, and social commentary in a way that made even his critics pay attention. In 2018, Mamdani officially became a naturalized US citizen and immediately became more politically active. Assembly wins, activist laws, and the mayoral pitch of Mamdani Mamdani ran for public office in 2020, contesting the New York State Assembly seat for District 36 (Astoria, Queens). He won, unseating a four-term incumbent and taking office on January 1, 2021. He became one of the first South Asian, Ugandan-born, and Muslim lawmakers in Albany. In office, he pushed through bold legislation — fare-free buses, wage protections, and a debt relief package for New York's struggling taxi drivers. He was re-elected in 2022 and again in 2024, expanding his voter base and building a reputation as one of the most active legislators among New York progressives. On October 23, 2024, Mamdani launched his 2025 mayoral campaign. His promises were anything but moderate: Rent freeze, city-run grocery stores, universal free child care, and taxing the ultra-rich to fund public education. Not everyone cheers: Controversies, clarity, and TikTok power Mamdani has not escaped criticism. His use of the phrase 'globalize the intifada' at a 2021 rally drew harsh backlash from Jewish organizations and even the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. But he refused to retreat, arguing that his words were being taken out of context and that political clarity is more valuable than political safety. Mamdani's campaign isn't just built on policy. It's powered by youth. With over 22,000 individual donors, a growing volunteer army, and viral content across platforms like TikTok and Instagram, Mamdani is running a digital-first, people-powered race that's resonating with New York's under-45 voters. Recent internal polling places him ahead of Andrew Cuomo among Gen Z and millennial voters. Educated to disrupt, not conform Mamdani's life offers a powerful counter-narrative to the conventional Indian immigrant success story. He didn't choose medicine, engineering, or finance. He chose a course that required constant confrontation with power. His education was never about safe credentials. It was about asking unsafe questions. Born in Uganda, raised in apartheid's aftermath, sharpened in NYC public schools, and radicalized in Bowdoin's seminar halls, Zohran Mamdani is running not as an outsider—but as someone who knows how systems are built to exclude. And how they can be reimagined to include. If he wins the June 24, 2025 Democratic primary, he may just become New York's next mayor. But even if he doesn't, he's already redrawn the syllabus on what leadership can look like. Is your child ready for the careers of tomorrow? Enroll now and take advantage of our early bird offer! 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