The Spark

I. Introduction: The Revolutionary Spirit of Workers’ Day “ We want no condescending saviours. We must save ourselves .” —  The Internationale International Workers' Day is a commemoration and at the same time a celebration of the working class. It was established by the Second International which was under the theoretical leadership of Karl Kautsky. The Second International was a global organisation of socialist parties and trade unions. In July 1889, a resolution was taken to celebrate the working class on the 1st of May. The day was originally chosen to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago, where workers were killed while protesting for an eight-hour workday. The eight-hour workday movement finds its roots in Australia in 1856, eight years after the Communist Manifesto was published. This was led by stonemasons in Victoria who led a mass stoppage, leading to an entire movement which has largely been successful in the capitalist world especially after the 1917 B...

Abstract In 2022, as SRC Premier of North Campus at Nelson Mandela University (NMU), I contributed to student-led discussions that led to the 2023 establishment of the North Campus Business Incubator. This initiative was not merely an entrepreneurial effort but a decolonial project aimed at challenging Eurocentric knowledge systems and neoliberal dominance in higher education. Informed by scholars such as Dr. Thobekani Lose, Dr. Bernard Sebake, Dr. Pedro Mzileni, and Prof. Nomalanga Mkhize, this article examines students’ agency in this transformation, positioning NMU as a potential model for global higher education reform. Introduction: Framing the Crossroads Nelson Mandela University (NMU), formed in 2005 from a merger of colonial institutions like PE Technikon, carries a dual legacy: a name synonymous with liberation and a structure still shadowed by coloniality (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013). In 2022, students at North Campus, myself included as SRC Premier, engaged in discussions that bi...

          Introduction On the 12th of March 2025, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Enoch Godongwana finally presented the 2025/26 budget speech after a failed first attempt at presenting it. The first attempt failed because the Government of 'National Unity' (GNU) failed to agree on a proposed two percentage point increase of the Value Added Tax (VAT). This created an uproar across the political spectrum and sparked a nationwide debate about the role of National Treasury, and the fiscal & monetary policy of the Republic of South Africa. The budget speech was finally presented, and it was not a major deviation from the original speech. The ANC led coalition back peddled on the figure of two percentage points but continued to motion for a VAT increase of zero-point five percentage points in this coming financial year, and another zero-point five percentage points in the financial year of 2026/27. This totals to an increase of one percentage point over the cou...

                    image is courtesy of Daily Dispatch   INTRODUCTION: The Role of Youth in Revolutionary Struggle The youth in revolutions have been found to be the nerve centre and the engine that drives such an energy consuming exercise. Revolution in its nature is a radical and rapid outburst that leads to fundamental social change whether from a political lens, social lens, economic/industrial lens, or even a combination of all as evidenced by the Bolshevik revolution, Vietnamese revolution, and the Chinese revolution. In this developmental phase that produces a new society, militant and energy consuming campaigns are at the centre of the movement to overthrow that particular system that dominates society and the majority of that particular society. The youth in all revolutions and indeed counter-revolutions are at the centre either as a protagonist or an antagonist. However, it must be noted that the gen...