Quotes

‘Asking for an apology is too easy ... I don't believe that we can free ourselves of this history.’

– French President Emmanuel Macron, who vowed to address the legacy of colonialism as young Africans assailed France's ‘arrogance’ and ‘paternalism’ at a conference aimed at forging a new partnership with the continent.

‘We as Africans feel the pain of colonisation every single day.’

– Adelle Onyango, a Kenyan media figure, told Macron during a panel discussion, accusing France of living in denial of its ‘destructive past’.

‘It’s a sad day when a polymath lawyer like David Unterhalter can’t find a Bench on the Constitutional Court. The Judicial Service Commission hearings to fill two Constitutional Court vacancies on 4 October failed to recommend Unterhalter’s candidacy even in the rerun presided over by the Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. He faced questions about his race and advantage by JSC Commissioner Dali Mpofu for a second time, which is likely to have been his disqualifying factor. Unterhalter is recognised by his peers as a leader among them, especially in commercial, trade, competition and its intersection with the Constitution. He has served numerous stints on the World Trade Organisation’s dispute settlement body, like a court of global trade jurisprudence.’

 – Analyst Ferial Haffajee

‘It is with heartfelt sadness that Virunga announces the death of beloved orphaned mountain gorilla, Ndakasi. She died in the loving arms of her caretaker and lifelong friend, Andre Bauma.’

 – The Virunga National Park in a statement after the famous mountain gorilla died after ‘a prolonged illness in which her condition rapidly deteriorated’.

‘His novels recoil from stereotypical descriptions and open our gaze to a culturally diversified East Africa unfamiliar to many in other parts of the world.’

– The Nobel Foundation after Tanzanian-born novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah won the Nobel Literature Prize for his writings on post-colonialism and the trauma of the refugee experience. The Swedish Academy said Gurnah was honoured ‘for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.’

‘I thought it was a prank.'

– Gurnah on the announcement

‘I was born on the last day of apartheid, in June 1991, in a township called Zwide, just outside the city of Port Elizabeth. It was a typical township, the kind of place that looks permanently half-finished. Traffic would weave around potholes deep enough to break axles, pavements were often compacted earth rather than tarmac. Some houses were made of stone or concrete and others from tin, which is a terrible material for building: in the summer it keeps none of the heat out and in the winter it keeps none of the warmth in. Toilets were usually outside and often shared: sometimes the sewers ran in the open alongside the roads, and planks of wood would act as makeshift pontoons…’

– An excerpt from Springbok ruby captain Siya Kolisi’s autobiography Rise

‘I have been told I should stay where I am because I am just too dark and people do not see me properly when I stand over there.’

– President Cyril Ramaphosa who poked fun at his dark skin tone, admitting he ‘was too dark for people to see him’ during a meeting of the extraordinary summit of the SADC organ troika and Mozambique in Pretoria.