Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

South African Student Organisation

latest news & developments
APARTHEI LAWS

Black consciousness: Liberate black people from ‘the zone of non-being’

Every person regardless of colour is affected by a system that debases blackness and elevates whiteness

  • Jo-Mangaliso Mangaliso
6 min read
Bishop Rubin Phillip, theologian, anti-apartheid activist and a close friend of Steve Biko. (Photograph by Mlungisi Mbele/New Frame)
1935 SLUMS ACT

Bishop Emeritus Rubin Phillip: The guerilla priest

From his adventures with Steve Biko to his support for shack dwellers in KwaZulu-Natal, Bishop Emeritus Rubin Phillip has always walked the talk of radical Christianity

  • Carlos Amato
16 min read
Onkgopotse Tiro was a forerunner of the Black Consciousness Movement. After he was expelled from Turfloop, he taught at Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto. He was killed by a parcel bomb in Botswana in 1974. Photo: Sunday Times/Gallo Images
ANNE HEFFERNAN

A speech with a galvanizing effect

A new history of student politics at Turfloop in the 1970s shines light on student activist Tiro

  • Anne Heffernan
5 min read
South African Students Congress members and student and staff collective Open Stellenbosch protest against the language policy at Stellenbosch University. Sasco is celebrating its 27th anniversary this month. (Rodger Bosch/AFP)
SASCO

Sasco must introspect to succeed

The student organisation must be involved in the transformation of education and the country

  • Pedro Mzileni
4 min read
Christine Qunta joined the Black Consciousness Movement at the age of 20. At 66, she reflects on the women of the movement. (Photo: Elewani Netshifhire)
AZAPO

BCM women led from the front

The goal of black consciousness was social and psychological liberation for both sexes

  • Zaza Hlalethwa
13 min read