It is nice to have a President who cares what the world thinks. It would be far nicer to have one who cares what the people of South Africa think. Thabo Mbeki’s desire to change the nickname of some national sports teams may seem like a frivolous diversion from our national challenges. In reality, it […]
Steven Friedman
Steven Friedman is a research associate at Idasa and visiting professor of politics at Rhodes University. He is a newspaper columnist and a media commentator on South African politics. His academic speciality is the study of democracy. He wrote Building Tomorrow Today, a study of the trade-union movement, and edited two studies of the South African transition.
Posted inNews/Politics
The people our national debate does not see or hear
Do our public commentators know nothing about the lives of grassroots South Africans? Or do we simply not care? One of the more important plusses of our democracy is that we still have a loud and vigorous national debate. Despite worrying signs that politicians might want to reign in the media, we are often able […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why the private health industry is bad for your health
We have many things of which to be proud in this country. The way we treat sick people is not one of them. Recent reports have focused attention again on the awfulness that faces the poor and weak when they try to access public healthcare — child deaths at Frere Hospital and babies kept in […]
Posted inGeneral
Why our government’s business is our business
There may be few greater contributions we can make to democracy in this country right now than to explain the difference between a democratic government and a business. Comparing government to a business has become popular among supporters of President Thabo Mbeki. They repeatedly dismiss criticism of both the firing of deputy health minister Nozizwe […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Why is cricket still a white preserve?
If anyone asks you what you think of our national cricket team, reply with Gandhi’s famous words about Western civilisation: it would be a very good idea. Fifteen years after this country re-entered world cricket after apartheid, its cricketers took the field against New Zealand the other day with precisely two black players out of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Who will deliver us from delivery?
A colleague who lectures in politics at Rhodes University has banned his students from using the word “globalisation” in class. Someone should follow his excellent lead by preventing all commentators who want to be taken seriously from using the word “delivery”. The reason he insists that people who use the word “globalisation” are not to […]