Latest news with #AshleyKriel
IOL News
09-07-2025
- IOL News
Ashley Kriel Memorial Cypher: Honouring the legacy of an anti-apartheid activist
Ashley Kriel was killed by police on July 9, 1987, for his role in advocating anti-apartheid actions. Image: File The third annual Ashley Kriel Memorial Cypher will commemorate the spirit and martyrdom of anti-apartheid activist Ashley Kriel. Kriel, a 20-year-old from Bonteheuwel in Cape Town, was an anti-apartheid activist killed on July 9, 1987, allegedly by apartheid police. Kriel is still celebrated today for his efforts for liberty post-apartheid. He was a fiery orator, strategist, and thinker, and a representative of an extraordinary turn in South African resistance politics: the return to mass politics. 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 Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The Ashley Kriel Memorial Cypher is an autonomous annual initiative that recognises how young progressives today, as in the past, have a critical role to play in the conscientisation of grassroots communities. The event, put together by Adwa movement, and Aboxan Arts and Africa Unite (NGO), will take place on Friday, 11 July 2025, at the Castle of Good Hope at 6.30pm. This year's cypher will take place under the theme 'Roots, Culture, Heritage and Decolonisation', which aims to explore how positive masculinity and leadership advance social justice. It will also reflect on the context that gave rise to the young lions of the 70s and 80s and the structural violence experienced by young men and women today. The event will include the screening of the documentary 'Action Kommandant', which is based on Kriel's life, a panel discussion, Q&A, and live music. Panellists set to be included are: Clarence Ford, special guest Michelle Assure, who is Kriel's sister, Gatto (Mario Wanza), Henrieta Abrahams, and Gorie November. The film itself was recently screened for about 35 high school learners from Modderdamn High School at the Cape Town Museum of Childhood in commemoration of Youth Day. One of the learners said: 'I saw a lot of the areas that I walked every day and thought 'wow, this happened in the area I grew up in' and I didn't even know about it… I knew his past, but I didn't know what he did for us.' Another learner said: 'The film really inspired me to achieve my goals, and fight for what I want in life, and the quote that stood out to me in the film was, 'an act of resistance is an act for humanity'.' The third Ashley Kriel Memorial Cypher will take place at the Castle of Good Hope, where it will pay tribute to Ashley Kriel, who was assassinated on July 9, 1986. Image: Supplied In a statement for Friday's event, the organisers said that the cypher celebrates the radical examples of masculinities in working-class communities, particularly in South Africa, seeking to clarify the forces that shape these, and explore the trauma and healing. The organisers said that they seek to affirm the importance of social and political consciousness as a means to enlighten grassroots communities, as in the Struggle against apartheid, which has a key role to play in building a more inclusive future. Adwa Movement - PRO and Africa Unite peer educator, Ras Hein, shared some insight into the motive behind not only the Kriel screening, but also their previous screening of 'Soundtrack to a Coup d'État' on July 4, and their forthcoming one focusing on Göran Hugo Olsson's 2014 documentary 'Concerning Violence' on July 15. 'We're doing it for the African renaissance. We're doing it for social cohesion. We're doing it to combat narratives of xenophobia.'
IOL News
04-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Letters to the editor: We need a good attitude to work together and fix South Africa, no 'holier-than-thou' sentiments
We need a better attitude to fix SA The visit to America by Freedom Front+ leaders is an undermining of the authority of the President and his cabinet. As a sovereign state, South Africa has the right to make its own decisions and not be 'coerced' by American requests'. Being 'coerced' is the impression I got, because the implication is, if we don't meet their demands, our economy will suffer'. The President has already made himself clear on the denouncement of 'kill the Boer'. It should not be taken up literally, because if it were so, we would have already seen a real genocide. The small group of Afrikaners who exchanged their identity to become 'Amerikaners', is testimony to the fact that there is no genocide. The colonial conquest of South Africa included acts of genocide by a 'Christianing' Europe against the Khoi and San people. I speculate that descendants of these colonists (possibly AWB, FF+, their family and circle of friends) have probably shouted during apartheid 'slaan die hotnot' and 'skiet die k****' People of colour have lost more lives during the Struggle due to police brutality, than present day farm murders. As a product of 1976, other students and I had to run for our lives across a field when the police shot at us. Who can forget the brutal murders of Ashley Kriel, Robbie Waterwitch, Colleen Williams, the Cradock 4, Chris Hani, Steve Biko, Hector Pieterson, et al? If they (the FF+ and other colonialist descendants) are genuine in getting South Africa back on track, I would appeal to them not to fly to America, but to come forward on home soil to repent for the sins of their forefathers and start the process of restoration, reconciliation and restitution. This will lay the platform for the spiritual, social and economic revival to eradicate poverty, inequality and unemployment. Let's leave the holier-than-thou attitude behind and be humble enough to get our hands dirty in order to clean up the mess that the majority of South African find themselves in 'Helping Hands for A Better Future'. | Clive Solomon Goodwood Poultry vaccination a game changer The Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal welcomes the announcement by Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen that South Africa will begin its first-ever national poultry vaccination programme against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This is a decisive step in protecting the agricultural economy – and in KZN, it could be game-changing. KZN is home to a significant and growing poultry industry. From large-scale commercial operations to emerging black farmers and subsistence producers in rural municipalities, poultry farming remains the single most important source of both affordable protein and agricultural employment in the province. Recent outbreaks of avian influenza have devastated producers across the country. For KZN, where rural livelihoods are often centred around backyard poultry operations or smallholder commercial ventures, the economic risks of HPAI are immense. By proactively rolling out vaccinations, Minister Steenhuisen is not only protecting South African poultry – he is safeguarding food security, rural incomes, and economic stability in provinces like ours. We further call on the KZN Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to: ■ Ensure full alignment with the national rollout plan, with special emphasis on rural and small-scale poultry producers; ■ Deploy veterinary support and training teams to all districts to assist with safe vaccination and biosecurity awareness; ■ Prioritise emerging black farmers and cooperatives to prevent inequitable access -to disease control interventions. We are especially encouraged by this action as a signal of a more responsive, science-based agricultural policy environment under the new Government of National Unity. The DA, in its role in the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) in KZN, will continue to monitor implementation and provide oversight to ensure that this programme reaches every farmer – not just the biggest, but also the most vulnerable. | SAKHILE MNGADI, MPL DA KZN spokesperson on Agriculture AI being willfully misused in law As a practicing attorney and someone who has been at the side bar for almost 40 years, I'm seeing more and more attorneys using Artificial Intelligence for not only their research but also their letters. Fortunately, their letters are completely see through and one can pick up the stultified manner in which AI writes letters. In one particular case, acting Judge DJ Smit had the lawyer (advocate) admit that the citation emanated from AI. In a previous case lawyers have been referred to be disciplined at the Legal Practice Council. We are probably going to see more and more of this. However, what is becoming a real nightmare is that when you do see clients and they ask for an opinion on a legal issue or on the strength of their case, they come armed with AI advice to not only challenge you but also to second guess. The advice that they pick up is sometimes enormously problematic and wrong. I have had quite a few clients advising me that they are going to go rather with the AI advice because it suits them better. This has had enormously destructive consequences for the clients. I suspect that they don't even bother to go and get the advice checked out by a lawyer. | MICHAEL BAGRAIM Cape Town LETTERS
