The upcoming DA federal congress represents a watershed moment for our party, but also for South Africa, as we head into one of the most highly contested local government elections next year. Factionalism and divisive leadership battles can destroy political parties, or prevent them from truly getting off the ground in the first place. This […]
Marius Redelinghuys
Marius Redelinghuys is currently a DA National Spokesperson and Member of the National Assembly of Parliament.
He is a 20-something "Alternative Afrikaner", fiancé to a fellow Mandela Rhodes Scholar (which has made him fortunate enough to be the only member of his family to converse with Tata Madiba) and father to two "un-African" Dachshunds.
Marius is a former lecturer in political science and development studies at Midrand Graduate Institute and previously worked in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature as the DA Director of Communications and Research.
He is also the Chairperson and a Director of the Board of the Mandela Rhodes Community, an alumni network of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship.
Posted inNews/Politics
How do we restore our common humanity, our human dignity?
I don’t know how to introduce myself anymore. I don’t know which hat to wear in public, or in identifying myself. Last week Friday, April 17, I wrote that “I’m not even sad or disappointed. I am pissed off and angry that there are South Africans who are attacking our brothers and sisters — fellow […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Frolicking failed the Mbete no-confidence motion
The motion of no confidence against National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete has come and gone, and the ANC predictably used its majority to protect their party chairperson, just as Mbete is accused of using her office to protect Luthuli House and shield its Number One in the National Assembly. While the democratic will of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
I am not voting against the ANC
On Monday I will cast my special vote in the 2014 national and provincial elections. This is the fourth South African election I am eligible to vote in, and this is the first time I will vote for the Democratic Alliance (DA). I was set on voting for the DA long before the Economist endorsed […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Spoiling your vote is a rotten choice
While I can understand, even appreciate, the disillusionment of the main figures behind the “Sidikiwe! Vukani! Vote No” campaign, I cannot agree with their method or the logic behind it. This campaign by a few former disillusioned ANC heavyweights encourage equally disillusioned South Africans to spoil their ballots on 7 May to punish the ANC. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
#KnowYourDA BEE pushes nothing new
I was snooping around the archives of the South African Institute of Race Relations during a visit earlier this year, particularly drawn to the boxes on the constitutional negotiations. One of these contained, among other things, the ANC’s position on a constitution for what would later become KwaZulu-Natal, academic and political discussions on federalism, and […]
Posted inGeneral
#StopRape alone won’t stop rape
A significant component of the national outcry following the horrific gang rape and murder of 17-year-old Anene Booysen highlighted the extent to which South Africans shift blame and culpability on the raped, and not the rapist. This manifests itself through the lazy recourse in our national dialogue to primitive and antiquated explanations for rape: broken […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The liberal project and DA discontent
Those interested in the DA or inadvertently exposed to it would be aware of an on-going, often heated, discussion about the ideological underpinnings of the party and its political future. Contributors have included Gareth van Onselen (and again), DA executive communications director Gavin Davis and former party leader Tony Leon. There were also two pieces […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Should foreigners vote?
I recently dealt with at least three queries about the voting rights of permanent residents in South Africa, and specifically the change in their status and recognition. The first time I had to deal with this concern was in the run up to the 2011 local government elections when a Centurion resident told me his […]
Posted inNews/Politics
ANC conservative nationalism and ambidextrous politicians – Open Letter to Phillip Dexter
Dear Dr Dexter, The formal style of address may seem cold and harsh but I cannot bring myself to refer to you as comrade or Phillip, as I have always done. The man who sat so smugly next to Marius Fransman yesterday, singing the praises of the ANC was not the one I fought alongside […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We should lower the voting age to 16
The Council of Europe’s recent call for its members to investigate lowering the voting age to 16, while not a novel idea, is undoubtedly a controversial one. In South Africa the idea of lowering the voting age was first raised by former president Nelson Mandela in 1994 when, in an interview with Time magazine (May […]
Posted inNews/Politics
On Cope and coalitions
The Congress of the People, perhaps surprisingly to many, has been placed in a rather awkward position as “kingmaker” in a number of municipalities, primarily in the Western and Northern Cape. The position is challenging primarily because Cope has to decide whether it wants to throw its lot in with the DA, or side with […]