Posted inGeneralNews/Politics

Mmusi Maimane: Towards a DA future

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 […]

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

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 […]