William Saunderson-Meyer

Stalled by ambitions for a second term – and not reflecting overmuch on the many lost opportunities of his first – Zuma is in thrall to only one factor: the effect that Malema could have on his chances on re-election.

For those depressingly few academics who still clamber into the trenches when democracy’s alarm bells ring, South Africans owe a great debt

Given the circumstances, does Adv Thuli Madonsela really trust police-appointed ‘guards’, should she get them?

Apartheid wrought its greatest damage through a deliberate policy of discriminatory education spending but paradoxically, Afrikaner Calvinism demanded strict accountability.

Like Walter Mitty, there are nations whose adventures are mostly imaginary. Think Belgium and New Zealand.

Can any independent assessment informed by a ‘broad, critical and researched view’ can negotiate the populist currents that make treacherous ANC waters.

While five years is a short time in power, 18 months is a long time in politics.

In SA the ethnic origin and ideological lineage of an idea is more important than the merits and demerits of the idea itself.

It seemed a Magwa tannin-addiction could be almost as bad as the craving that can develop for Transkei Green, the other famous Wild Coast agricultural product.

‘Coconuts’, ‘sellouts’ and ‘tea girls of the madam’ are all part of a deliberate closing down of political space. The next step is to punish such transgressors with physical violence.