The nett pay of councillors in Tshwane is apparently R18 000 a month, while their counterparts in Johannesburg and eKurhuleni earn between R13 000 and R14 000. If you live in Pretoria, Centurion, Mamelodi, Hammanskraal or surrounds, you put R36 000 a month into your ward and PR councillor’s pockets. Whether ANC or DA, in […]
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
Lekota: An unwelcome prophet
It is apparently improper to comment on South African politics without invoking God or religion more broadly. Last night a caller to 702 alleged that Mosiuoa Lekota had left the ANC because he had lost power and that his criticism of the ruling party only surfaced after the now (in)famous divorce. I was reminded of […]
Posted inGeneral
The role and place of struggle songs in post-apartheid SA
AmaBhunu bangabantu. iBhunu ngumuntu ngabantu … and they too have rights under our Constitution and the Freedom Charter. Tata Madiba said in 1994 that “never again will we be at war with one another”, why chant about killing and shooting? Is the bank of our history so bankrupt that we have to dig deep into […]
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Big daddy state not conducive to sustainable development and empowerment
The first time I saw a R20 note was in 1993 when I was six-years-old and we were living in Swaziland. I stumbled upon it in the garden and my mother said I could have it. Elated, I impatiently awaited the regular daily passing of the “sucker lady” (our then-version of Madam & Eve’s Mielie […]
Posted inGeneral
Disservice delivery and the crisis of local government
The most disgusting example of the failure of local government in South Africa also happens to be the place my mother’s family calls home. The gateway to Mpumalanga’s Cultural Heartland, the Kruger National Park and the Lowveld juts out like a scar on the otherwise awe-inspiring rolling grasslands a mere 100km from Tshwane. The near […]
Posted inGeneral
A double shot of white guilt, on the rocks please
Reality is a bitch, that’s why I like mine in small doses and preferably heavily diluted. This is particularly true of a reality that is either embarrassing or indefensible and especially when that reality is in some way my own creation. Take, for example, some of my undeniably embarrassing and inexcusable behaviour. Like most South […]
Posted inNews/Politics
No quick fix for local government
The latest addition to President Jacob Zuma’s impeccable lip-service delivery record puts him almost on par with Bob the Builder as an over-ambitious Mr Fix It. While the president hits all the right notes, that’s what election season is all about anyway, the meta-narrative of comments emanating from the ruling party heavyweights demonstrates exactly what […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The United States of Africa: A dream reborn
The eventual ousting of Moammar Gadaffi, counter-intuitively, has the potential to bring the African continent one step closer to the tyrannical despot’s long pursued pet project of a United States of Africa. In stark contrast to the personal monopoly over power illegitimately accrued by Gadaffi and his cohort of African heads of government, a federation […]
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Let’s talk about sex, baby
Few topics generate as much buzz as sex. It also continues to be one of the greatest sources of division in society, and perhaps one of its most persistent. These divisions relate not only to positions, but also between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. Despite major advances in our understanding of the human body, its […]
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We’re not all Africans, we’re Jews!
When Sentletse threatened to respond to my post (“Africans are humans too“) I packed my bags in a state of panic and headed into the mountains, Cathedral Peak in the Central Drakensberg to be precise, to escape this particular “swart gevaar“. I had naturally revised my entire first week of 2011 because of my typical […]
Posted inGeneral
Human, all too human
Issues of human origins and ancestry have more often than not been coupled with, and clouded by, a battle of identity. The history of our species is littered with examples and madmen who have attempted to carve out a distinct identity for a people, and usually for nefarious reasons. The notion of a separate, “chosen […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Africans are humans too
We are not all humans, Africans are! Thought Leader has, among many other brilliant things, provided us with a new brand of virtual stand-up comedy. The claims, rants and musings of many here are often laughable or hilarious. It has also generated a new brand of pseudo-intellectuals who by virtue of contributing here dare to […]