As South Africans contemplate the future
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I've always expressed concern for the negative vibes thrown around with regards to the future of South Africa. I have always remained positive and have advised doomsday prophets to either go ahead and leave the country, or put their heads down, remain positive and enjoy the place we live in; aware of the work that needs to be done - work that I am more than happy to put in.

Sunday night's Carte Blanche produced a muffshow of rape, murder, doom and gloom. Again, people on the edge revisited their worst fears and contemplated immigrating. This, a week after the Jerry Maguire style memo by Alan Knott-Craig, calling for calm.

It's a debate that never ceases and is usually carried out by ill-informed individuals; not that I am a guru on the subject. In fact, that is EXACTLY why I will be attending tonight's 65th Harold Wolpe Memorial Trust Open Dialogue at UCT. If you're worried or care about this country in the slightest or have a strong viewpoint or feel that everyone is right or wrong, I suggest you attend before you say another word.

I'm going. Are you?

TOPIC
 
The Dream Deferred, Shattered or Redeemed?”: Reflections on Thabo Mbeki post-Polokwane
 

SPEAKERS

Mark Gevisser, is one of South Africa’s most respected journalists, and author of the recently published Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred. He was born in Johannesburg in 1964 and educated at Yale. His journalism has appeared in publications ranging from the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Nation and Vogue to the Mail & Guardian, the Sunday Independent and the Sunday Times in South Africa. His celebrated Mail & Guardian political profiles were collected in Portraits of Power: Profiles in a Changing South Africa. His previous biographical work includes the film The Man who Drove with Mandela, about Cecil Williams. Recently he has also been working as a museum exhibition designer, heritage consultant and television scriptwriter. He is currently curating an exhibition on the gay history of Johannesburg at Constitution Hill, developing a film script set at the ANC’s 1930 conference, and working on a new book about South African politics.


Adam Habib, is Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation & Advancement at the University of Johannesburg. Adam graduated as a political scientist having received his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from the UKZN, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the Wits, and his MPhil and PhD from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. He has held academic appointments over the last decade at the Universities of Durban-Westville and Kwazulu-Natal and the HSRC. Prior to being appointed Executive Director of the Democracy and Governance Programme of the HSRC 2004, he served as the founding director of the Centre for Civil Society and a research professor in the School of Development Studies at the UKZN, a position he still continues to retain in a part-time capacity. Adam has served as co-editor of both the social science academic journal Transformation and the official disciplinary journal of the South African Association of Political Science, Politkon. He also sits on the editorial boards of Voluntas and the South African Labour Bulletin.


Jeremy Cronin is the SACP deputy general secretary, an ANC National Executive Committee member, and ANC MP. Politically active since the 1960s, he was jailed for seven years. Jeremy received his BA from UCT and his MA from the Sorbonne in Paris and lectured philosophy at UCT. Following Cronin's release from prison he began working with the UDF but in the late1980s, increased harassment from the security forces forced him and his wife to leave South Africa and move first to London and subsequently to Lusaka where he worked closely with Joe Slovo for the ANC/SACP alliance. He was a negotiator at the Codesa Multiparty Negotiations and was the Co-Convenor of the Reconstruction and Development Programme Drafting Committee. Jeremy is also a writer and a poet. Inside (1983), his first poetry collection, reflects on the period of his life when he was imprisoned. He has recently published a new collection of his poetry, titled More Than A Casual Contact (2006). He is renowned as a performance poet and has regularly participated in political rallies and readings.

DATE
Tuesday 19 February 2008

VENUE
Lecture Theatre 1, Kramer Law Building, Middle Campus, UCT

TIME
6pm – 8pm
Refreshments will be served from 6pm – 6.30pm

RSVP
Email: wolpetrust@mweb.co.za / Tel: 021 674 0361

ps. There are RUMOURS that Butlers Pizza are pulling a coup and pumping the place with free pizza for everyone...

Oh, NOW you're coming!




Seth Rotherham
Editor
2oceansvibe.com
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