Jonty Fisher

Mosiuoa Lekota’s moves over the past week have been very interesting to follow, but his future remains very much a murky mist. While it would be fantastic for our longer-term democratic foundation, there are two key issues that dampen my optimism about Lekota’s new party. The first is that this is a party very much […]

The current transitional phase that’s playing out within the ANC and, by consequence, in South Africa has led me — along with most political commentators — to look both back at the past decade in politics and governance and forward to our near-term future as a country. In doing this, it becomes immediately apparent what […]

The current reaction to Naledi Pandor’s youth pledge is another in a long line of negativity that seems to be infesting the white population at present. There seems to be this constant knee-jerk reaction of intense negativity that should not continue unchecked. Rational thought has to prevail in the face of seemingly mindless Pavlovian response. […]

One interesting development out of Monday’s ANC NEC meeting was the announcement of an ad-hoc committee that will produce a “detailed structural report” on the 1999 arms deal. This has supposedly been brought to bear given the lack of detail of the facts surrounding the arms deal and the role of the ANC president, Jacob […]

It seems to me that the Polokwane conference has been like a newsprint and analysis vortex, sucking in all commentary into an incessant stream of words around a central thesis of “Will he or won’t he?” Well, now we all know the answer to that question, and we need to drag ourselves out of Polokwane […]

I’ve been in the US on holiday for the past few weeks, and although I’ve kept a distant eye on things from overseas, I am interested to note the distinct rise in political tension since my departure, drawn from the regional voting for the succession nominations. Funnily enough, it mirrors some aspects of what is […]

It strikes me that we are at present a country desperately in need of its national identity. During apartheid, South Africa was defined as such. Then came the “miracle years” of Madiba and 1994, and the next decade we held a national identity of the celebratory freedom of the rainbow nation. But this period is […]

I’ve always considered suicide bombings somewhat of a human anomaly. Yesterday, there was an attempted suicide bombing assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto immediately after her return from eight years of exile. There are already 124 fatalities, and this is expected to climb. Bhutto herself was uninjured. But it brought me to a […]

I’m consistently amazed — no, make that, concerned — at the amount of seemingly intelligent people who still hold this opinion. It’s easy to write off the usual suspects for comments like this, but when people in their 30s with professional careers in high-powered positions make a comment like this around dinner tables, it beggars […]

I always enjoy looking at a contrarian point of view that challenges the status quo of opinion in order to round out a debate on an issue, especially one that is largely emotive. Over the years, contrarians have often proved to be right in the face of a majority that builds a collective consensus through […]