Recent run-ins with the men and women in blue makes me sympathetic to those who defiantly proclaim “fuck the police”. On the eve of Human Rights Day the Community of Mandela Rhodes Scholars in Gauteng was given an insider’s perspective of the “beacon of light” in a history of oppression and disregard for basic human […]
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
Wanted: Busty blonde for leadership position
You know it’s been a slow day in the news world when Lynda Odendaal joining the ANC is a main story on the evening news. The former Cope second deputy president and lead organiser of a new independent civil-society initiative announced she had joined the ANC amid fanfare and a formal press conference. “Comrade Lynda” […]
Posted inNews/Politics
JZ’s a joke
The president of the Republic of South Africa is a joke, or so a Facebook group proclaims — almost shouting — “JACOB ZUMA is A JOKE (We are Disgusted and tired)” (sic). The group created after the revelations of the president’s love child with Irvin Khoza’s daughter, currently boasts in excess of 9 300 members (9 312 […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cope’s flirting with ‘imperialists’ and ‘white interest’
Recent utterances from Cope Youth Movement (CopeYM) leaders on a potential strategic cooperation with other opposition parties stand as a testament to a total lack of political education and complete ignorance about political strategy. Such unfortunate and lamentable actions will not only harm the prospects and interests of the broader organisation in the long run, […]
Posted inGeneral
A total perspective on sex, war and money
Whenever I find myself sadomasochistically desiring to feel spectacularly insignificant recourse to classical and continental philosophy usually does the trick. When I was younger staring blankly at the night sky and attempting to take in the immensity of it all usually did the trick, however it does not quite have the same effect when 90% […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Umshini wethu weSex
Had this been any other country (with the possible exception of Italy), there would have been an uproar over the latest instalment in the increasingly scandalous public life of Jacob Zuma. It astonishes me that there has not been spontaneous calls for the president to step down within government and that his comrades have actually […]
Posted inGeneral
Dark Lords, horcruxes and the lost soul of the ANC
The recent lamentations about the “lost soul of the ANC” reads like something from penultimate instalments of the Harry Potter series. The Dark Lord, which in the ANC, some claim, appears to be Mammon, has split the soul of the organisation. Subsequently various little splinter groups have emerged in possession of the true soul and […]
Posted inLifestyle
Suburban South Africans make the worst neighbours
Suburban living is a whole new experience to me. Having grown up mainly in rural and peri-urban areas across the country (with the notable exception of eMalahleni / Witbank), “big city” living (if one can call Tshwane that) was foreign to me. At least I was eased into it by spending the first two years […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Coping beyond mere personalities
Just as I was drafting the final instalment of my reflections on the state of the Congress of the People (Cope) one year after its much celebrated launch, the party took the wind from under my sails. Luckily I was not the only one, as the party simultaneously dealt a blow to its Youth Movement […]
Posted inSport
Whose 2010 is it anyway?
Usually, when the sandman fails to make his nightly visits (which is a frequent occurrence in my world), I kill time in the early morning hours by either reading or writing. However, having recently finished reading the rather unimaginative seven-volume Chronicles of Narnia there is hardly anything of interest on my bookshelf. This is perhaps […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Traversing Cope’s ideological wilderness
Approximately a year ago the Congress of the People (Cope) burst onto the South African political scene with much fanfare promising a “New Agenda for Hope and Change for All!“. This agenda was to be informed by a commitment to being a modern political party underpinned by an ideology of “progressivism”. An impression of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A year of Cope: Get this party started
A number of authors in various publications, print and online, have been reflecting on the state, impact and prospects of the Congress of the People (Cope). This has been particularly pronounced as the party prepares to celebrate its first anniversary in Kimberley on December 16.Various contributors to this month’s edition of The Thinker comment on […]