It must be tough for those who think the ANC is falling apart or is losing support. This is because of the recent publishing of a Plus 94 Research finding that says if people were to vote NOW, it is most likely to get 74% of decided voters; 84% of these are black, 15% white […]
Sandile Memela
Sandile Memela is a journalist, writer, cultural critic, columnist and civil servant. He lives in Midrand.
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC may not be ready for a white president in a 100 years
The ANC’s commitment to non-racialism is unquestionable but it may need another 100 years to deliver a white president. This is not a problem of the organisation’s principles and ideals per se. Instead, it is the legacy of colonialism and apartheid. Of course, when it first started out in 1912, the ANC was an exclusive […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why Zola Skweyiya is right about lack of truth between whites and blacks and among Africans themselves
Not too long ago, while the world celebrated Barack Obama’s post-racial victory, I found myself applauding uncomfortable truths expressed by one of the ANC veteran thinkers and social development minister, Dr Zola Skweyiya. Long before Skweyiya gave a rare interview to show that the most sensible leaders are not abandoning the ship to join Shikota, […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Can African voters break with the political tradition of voting ANC?
SOMETHING magical in the air seems to have aroused the black giant from its political slumber. Of course, this spirit has always been there and was easy to notice in 1994, 1999 and, again, in 2004. Ironically, the experts and other political commentators have always missed it by more than a mile. I guess it […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Barack Obama puts the spotlight on the role of the so-called coloured in the black struggle
Barack Obama’s predictable triumph in the American presidential race, interestingly, sets up the role of the so-called coloured in the black struggle for critical examination. Of course, most blacks deny that there is intra-racism determined, largely, by complexion and class in black American society. Thus the political euphoria has misled the world to believing that […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Televising the revolution: how ‘illiterate’ Jacob Zuma outshone educated Professor Barney Pityana
The live coverage of some of the great political events happening in the country will, inevitably, shape the future and influence choices people make. After all, television is a powerful medium that has the potential to influence people’s behaviour and attitude. Thus it was fascinating to watch the revolution being televised and observe the behaviour […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC’s gift to the world: freedom of political choice and self-expression
The best gift the ANC has offered to dissidents that it now calls its “prodigal sons” is the right of political choice and freedom of association. After all, it is a voluntary organisation. It is for this reason that, so far, the ruling ANC has acted decisively and strongly to successfully halt its members from […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC political mansion has many ideological rooms. If it were not so, Shikota would win
People who complain about the suppression of individual freedom in the ANC often fail to notice that dissenters who want to do as they please are, equally, a threat to the organisation’s unity and African people’s political self-determination and power. You can see this clearly with the resentment, anger and threat of violence aroused by […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
Black buying power, white business and the politics of Nelson Mandela Square
In 1988 South Africa saw the launch of one of its fashion boutiques — a man’s shop called Aca Joe. I started buying from it and was one of its countless African male customers. I don’t exactly know why. Maybe I was hungry for something indigenous, street wise, which was also classy and stylish. Not […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
What young Afrikaners can learn from Nelson Mandela about freedom of expression
A childhood friend, Simphiwe Sesanti, who is the only African lecturer at the Stellenbosch School of Journalism invited me to deliver a talk to post-graduate students last Monday. Following is the talk I delivered to, mostly, young Afrikaner boys and girls who are the future media leaders of this country: “I am proud to come […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
With no ANC, it is a very cold, cold world!
It is suspected that the threat or fear of losing position, power, status and material wealth is what could have motivated so-called ANC ‘dissidents’ to jump ship. They must have felt that it is heroic to jump into the deep blue sea rather than to wait to be pushed over to the sharks. You see, […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
African Renaissance’s half-baked ‘Native Experts’
It would seem the greatest waste of time in post-1994 society is to try to find logic why white political strategists, advertising gurus and marketing experts are considered native experts, especially by hoodwinked indigenous African people. After all, they neither speak African languages nor have an intuitive connection to grassroots people. The fact that white […]