The boisterous rotating arms that signalled a need for substitution, a 60:40 split in the voting for national office-bearers and the fact that leftist formations had backed the winning ticket all signalled that something has changed during the ANC Polokwane’s conference. Whatever has changed has spurred on many private-sector commentators and lobbyists to begin the […]
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen
Ebrahim-Khalil is an independent public policy analyst and is Chief Editorial Officer (CEO) of Zapreneur - a platform to debate economic transformatiom in South Africa.
Posted inSport
Bafana Bafana: The return of passion and commitment
“He can put his foot on the ball.” That is high praise for a playmaker in soccer. In fact, that type of player is what we mean by a South African style: the slow build-up, flair, the devastating pass into space and, of course, the dazzling dribble. I wonder if that style of play can […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
The Budget Game
Trevor Manuel once remarked that “to budget is to choose”. The Budget Game puts participants in the position of being a decision maker, and making choices with a defined set of possible programmes and a defined budget. The intention of the game is for participants to make choices and then motivate them. In addition, it […]
Posted inGeneral
TL representation: Some digressions on bloggers, power and ideas in society
Thought Leader is doing collective introspection on its race and gender representation, and in some cases in denial about the problem. I hope that this blog adds a little to the debate. It’s a little bit theoretical at first, but it gets practical — with a couple of digressions on the way. Edward Said in […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Gear: A bureaucratic story, and some tough questions and challenges
“Asiyifuni Gear [We do not want Gear].” This was a common slogan by unionists in response to the government’s Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy. It reflected opposition to Gear. Eleven years later, Gear is still hotly debated. Recently, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel offered a spirited defence of the consultation process leading up to Gear. Manuel, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A redistributive presidency: Some incomplete thoughts on political leadership
The After 8 Debate raised an important question for me: What are the qualities of leadership? The debate provided important perspectives, especially that leadership is both complex and contextual. What qualities should the president of South Africa have to implement a programme of redistribution? As I argued in an earlier article, that programme is needed […]
Posted inLifestyle
How come …
How come I did not know that Benoni means “son of my sorrow”? I was born in Benoni. Yet, I did not know the meaning of Benoni. It celebrated its centenary recently, and I learnt the meaning of Benoni. One hundred years later, and the hostels — built about 30 years ago — when entering […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Left alternatives in South Africa *
I have been privately rebuking editors, professors and other parts of the intelligentsia for ignoring left alternatives in South Africa, or for not taking the time to find out what is going on. For instance, at a recent colloquium (that’s a seminar, meeting, to you and I), a very respected professor argued that the Basic […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Where is ‘our generation’?
Where is “our generation”? I do not mean the generation of which I am part. I am rather speaking of the generation that the journalist and activist Zubaider Jaffer called Our Generation — which is the title of an interesting book that provides a personal account of the struggle; that generation that fought the street […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The politics of redistribution
What does it mean to govern effectively in a highly unequal society? The African National Congress answer to this question is that governing is about “advancing the national democratic revolution”. At its essence, the NDR is about changing social and economic conditions created under apartheid, through tackling structural nature of poverty, inequality and unemployment. There […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
The Red Plug-In City
Plug-in City seems the right way to imagine how a large number of optional connections can be organised, randomised, mixed or matched. So says the Communist University (CU) in its launch of its Plug-In City. The CU is a blog, training workshop and more broadly an attempt by the “left” to use the internet to […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
The service domain?
Last year sometime, I registered a handful of domain names with a South African company. Having finally got some of the basics done, I thought I would have some use for one of the domains. So I contacted my company, and lo and behold, someone else owned the domain name. I phoned the company and […]