Helping the Poor: Wealth Creation or Wealth Redistribution

Posted on January 8, 2026 by Paul Schlehlein

— Tim Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

What a stark contrast between the two G20s: November 2025’s G20 here in Johannesburg prioritised climate change and redistribution of wealth to reduce inequality, which has never worked. All this is driven by the socialistic, flawed philosophy of globalism.

2026’s G20 will focus on “economic prosperity by limiting regulatory burdens, unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains, and pioneering new technologies and innovations” – prioritising wealth creation instead of redistribution. Which approach will prove more helpful to the poor?

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Reading the ANC’s ‘Bible’: A Christian Response to the Freedom Charter

Posted on July 10, 2025 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Tim Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Last month was the 70^th anniversary of South Africa’s Freedom Charter, once called the ANC’s “Bible” by former president, Jacob Zuma. Hailed as the true ‘voice of the people’ for liberation since 1955, it is often elevated to the status of religious dogma, and exalted above our national Constitution. As image-bearers of the Almighty, God has placed this cry for freedom and human dignity in all of our hearts, as we’ve often argued here on TARIF. Muzzling the consent of the governed and trampling on human rights is abominable in God’s eyes and must be opposed.

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Fanon Still Fanning the Flames: Exposing the Lies of Marxism

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Tim Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Recently, one astute analyst of South African news went beyond the usual reporting to identify competing ideologies. Since our national crime and violence have been recently exposed on a global stage, what’s at the root of such ugly fruits?

Turns out that a 1961 book still exerts an enormous influence on the Ramaphosas and Malemas of our day (just as it did on the Gaddafis, Mugabes and many other tyrants), a kind of Marxist ‘Bible’ for many – entitled, The Wretched of the Earth, by French psychiatrist, Frantz Fanon.

Thanks to Fanon’s influence, hate and crime (or utterly failed policies like BEE or Eskom) can be justified as long as they are done in the name of liberation. Instead of believing that mankind is universally evil and needing to be civilised, we’re told man is basically good but oppressed, so Western civilisation must be deconstructed and rebuilt by the liberators.

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Some African Traditions Must Die

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Lennox Kalifungwa

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

What would you do if embracing Christianity demanded the death of a cherished cultural tradition? Though posed as hypothetical, this is a pressing question that every Christian, sooner or later, must confront.

In the wake of British and European colonial withdrawal, many African nations turned enthusiastically to postcolonialism—a postmodern creed animated less by a hunger for self-determination than by a visceral loathing of Western thought and custom. What followed was an era obsessed with the preservation of all things deemed authentically African. In the fevered rush to cast off colonial vestiges, Africans began re-engineering every corner of their cultural landscape—from attire and rituals to language, politics, and ceremonial pomp.

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Busted for Selling A Baby—The Reason These Women Did the Unthinkable

Posted on November 28, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Yamikani Katunga

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

The Sale of A Baby

With Black Friday upon us once again, nothing could prepare Zimbabweans for the darkness of the headline detailing the twisted trio of a 16-year-old mother along with her mother and another woman engaging in a sadistic sales agreement. The teen and her mother, Evelyn, appeared in court having been charged with human trafficking for selling her infant for 180 USD. The buyer is a woman named Tore who had apparently been plagued with miscarriages, and upon connecting with Evelyn on Whatsapp opportunism ensued. Rather than abort the seven-month-old pregnancy they conspired with a nurse, induced premature labour, faked a death certificate, and conducted the sale. Only to be ousted by a tip-off nine months after the baby’s birth.

Upon hearing such a bizarre chain of events, many will rightly ask, what could cause such heinous plots in the hearts of men?

Here are three possible reasons to help understand why this mother would sell her baby.

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Whiteness, Worship, and the Myth of African Freedom

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Lennox Kalifungwa

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Analyzing and Confronting Africa’s Self-Imposed Chains

In the tapestry of African history, the notion of freedom has often been miscast—a concept disconnected from truth and moral goodness. A pervasive belief has taken root, convincing many that true liberation equates to emancipation from whiteness and Western ideologies rather than a comprehensive freedom from sin and tyranny. This fixation on whiteness stems from postmodern Marxist theories that perpetually position white individuals as oppressors. This perspective has blinded many Africans to the stark reality: they remain unfree, and this bondage is self-inflicted. The pursuit of freedom, in its truest sense, has been supplanted by a fervent desire to eradicate whiteness and Western thought.

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TARIF: Oxen with Bad Reps as a Solution to Joburg Fires

Posted on September 5, 2023 by Paul Schlehlein

The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Tuesday, September 5^th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

Oxen with Bad Reps as a Solution to Joburg Fires

In the early morning of August 31, flames erupted out in a five-story building in the CBD of Johannesburg, South Africa, eventually killing seventy-four people, including children, in one of the worst fire tragedies in recent memory. Some of the charred remains of bodies were laid in the public streets.

Residents, family members, and media outlets immediately expressed outrage, believing that the fire could have easily been avoided. The building apparently belongs to the city of Joburg, once used by the courts and later as a shelter for abused women. But the building had become an overcrowded, temporary housing unit for migrants, just like scores of other buildings throughout the city. Gangs have since hi-jacked the premises and now do the rent collecting themselves.

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