It was late. I was tired and trying to find my way out of the city. It must have been Maas op ‘n Maandag (“Maas on a Monday” on RSG) on the radio, because it was Deon Maas (aka Witboy) who interrupted Wits sociologist Andries Bezuidenhout’s remarks on nationalism to try and interpret it for […]
Coenraad Bezuidenhout
Coenraad Bezuidenhout has a masters degree in political economy and a decade's worth of experience in economic policy and public affairs. He currently heads up the Manufacturing Circle, a private sector lobby group representing - you guessed it - South African manufacturers. He writes here in his personal capacity on any issues of immediate interest related to politics, economics, public affairs and the arts.
Posted inGeneral
Zim’s greatest hit: The Mugabe basket-case continuo
Had it not been for the 13-or-so million lives involved, one could almost feel sorry for Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe. It seems the old man has had it with foreign donors only getting off their wallets for NGOs active in his country, rather than having the cash mainlined fresh into Zimbabwe’s porous state coffers. Lest […]
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Mbeki’s legacy — what legacy?
A flip through a KwaZulu-Natal newspaper the other day revealed former minister in the presidency Essop Pahad had been defending former president Thabo Mbeki’s legacy in front of a group of Durban students last week. Rather hard-pressed by, among other, a few combative researchers from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Centre for Civil Society, Pahad […]
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My John Hlophe — small comfort for Pius Langa
Just over three years ago, shortly after my agonising crawl towards formal employment ended, I acquired a winter sweetheart in one of the winelands’ politically more fractured enclaves. When spring finally sprung I found myself unready to let my winelands honey go — in fact, things became rather serious — so I took the plunge […]
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Facebook’n towards a more caring society
When I first read it, I literally turned into a rooinek as the blood welled up in my gills. “Don’t go where you are tolerated. Go where you are celebrated”, jested the status update on Facebook. The author, a gospel nymph from bygone days in small-town Eastern Cape, now operates her own “revival worship centre” […]