Marius Redelinghuys

The reassurance that the city of Tshwane is not, like the Freedom Front Plus would have us believe, mayorless after all was temporary and, unfortunately, highlighted a more disconcerting reality. The disconcerting reality is not, however, the fact that Dr Ramokgopa was retained as executive mayor of the worst-performing metropolitan municipality in the country — […]

I have a, perhaps unnatural or irrational, aversion to the idea of tolerance. I think it might be semantic or sociolinguistic in its origin, but I remember expressing during my stay in the US last year that I hate the word tolerance. The admission came during the home-stay period of our visit to the States […]

I ended a chapter of my life tonight. Quite unceremoniously and without much fanfare I walked out on four years of my life, approximately 20% of what I’ve done as a living creature thus far. It was sad, not because of goodbyes and farewells, but because I had to prevent and restrain myself from plunging […]

A colleague of mine remarked yesterday that if you turn off the sound of the television during the news and watch the “service delivery protests” it reminds one starkly of the apartheid protests in townships, complete with burning tyres and policemen gunning down civilians (granted, it is with rubber bullets). It might perhaps be an […]

Fifteen years into the post-apartheid new South African dispensation we’re hearing growing groans and murmurs lamenting the long-lost dream of 1994. This was a central theme of Cope parliamentary leader Dr Dandala’s campaign speeches as he criss-crossed the country and it prominently features in the Dinokeng Scenarios Report in the form of the “Promise of […]

I have often heard many an “unreconstructed racist” hasten to add that they have many black friends. In the minds of these people it is clear that your racism or lack thereof, is proportional to the number of friends you have in race groups other than your own. The subject of race and racism has […]

Samuel Johnson argued that “he who voluntarily continues ignorant is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces”. As someone who hungers for as much information about as many things possible, I have a particular disgust for ignorance, particularly wilful ignorance. Like Vittorio, I too fear ignorance more than I fear death. However, even more […]

Fifteen years into our young democracy and democratic leadership is severely lacking and sorely needed. Across all sectors in society, from the halls of Parliament, the lawns of our academic institutions, the fertile fields of our farmlands and in company boardrooms, it seems as though democratic leaders are either lacking altogether or incredibly thinly spread. […]

Attempting to understand why exactly 1.3  million South Africans cast their ballot in the 2009 elections with an “x” next to Terror Lekota’s face is by no means an easy undertaking. Apart from the obvious difficulties associated with locating and interviewing the 1.3 million people behind the secret ballots, the vast array of competing, contrasting or […]

Admitting mistakes and failures is never easy, especially when accompanied with “I told you so”. However, when your mistakes, failures and woes are subject to immense publicity in mainstream media — as has been the (mis)fortunes of the Congress of the People — it is best not to deflect, defend or denyi. Instead, the party […]