Nothing in South African politics is as emotionally loaded as land restitution. It is so emotive an issue – emblematic of centuries of discrimination, exploitation and humiliation — that there exists an array of radical populists who clearly have a vested interest in the matter never being resolved. At least, not peacefully. After all, “drive […]
William Saunderson-Meyer
This Jaundiced Eye column appears in Weekend Argus, The Citizen, and Independent on Saturday. WSM is also a book reviewer for the Sunday Times and Business Day. Follow @TheJaundicedEye.
Posted inNews/Politics
Sports quotas: At last, a role for designated whiteys
The Congress of South African Trade Unions this week expressed support for the imposition of race quotas in soccer, pointing to the absence of white players in the national team as a grave social injustice. On the paleface of it, what a breakthrough this is for minorities. Bafana Bafana – The Boys, The Boys – […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma’s State of the Nation address: Sona or just sonorous?
“Now is the hour. This is the moment. South Africa can no longer afford endless rhetoric and mutual recriminations. My government needs to act. It has an electoral mandate to act. And act we shall. We stand or fall by the deliverables that we pledge today.” These are extracts from what political observers, both locally […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mining strike: Ominous clouds of history
Working as a miner is a filthy, frightening and dangerous occupation. Death and dismemberment are the spectres lurking every moment at your side. And that’s while you are still above ground, as was demonstrated during the Marikana massacre in which police fire killed 34 miners and left another 78 injured. Actually go below ground and […]
Posted inHealth, News/Politics
Doing panga surgery with the National Health Act
Legislators are like tik addicts. They’re convinced that after just one more hit they’ll find Nirvana. But the law, especially when cack-handedly drafted, is an imperfect instrument for changing society. It’s like using a panga for plastic surgery: the results are likely to please neither practitioner nor patient. Filled as it is with a righteous […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Time to have Faith in the ANC’s ‘good story’?
Keep your friends close but your enemies closer, is what the mafia don advised. It’s a Machiavellian strategy that President Jacob Zuma has embraced and is taking to absurd lengths with his new Cabinet. It is now a veritable army of ministers and deputy ministers that oversees South Africa’s government. This week’s oath taking ceremony […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is it time for the DA to ditch Helen Zille?
What is the optimal length of tenure for a political leader? How to judge the moment when the adulation of your followers curdles, as it inevitably does, and turns to aversion? Do you jump, or do you wait to be pushed from your pedestal? These are questions that Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille will be […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cinderella and the ugly sisters take it public
The South African electorate had its Cinderella moment at the May 7 Ball – briefly courted and feted. Now it’s back to the domestic drudgery of the other 364 days of the year – abused and ignored until the local elections role around in two years’ time. Unfortunately, unlike as in the fairy tale, there […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Election 2014: The ANC glacier holds fast
There are two apparent truisms to be discerned in the still steaming entrails of the 2014 general election, and they belong to President Jacob Zuma. The first is that “the ANC will rule until Jesus return”‘. The second, is that “it’s cold outside” the governing party. Taking a cross-section of the democracy sapling and counting […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Elections 2014: Everything and nothing remains the same
By this time next week, the election dust will have settled. One doesn’t have to be clairvoyant or even wait for the results, to discern the shape of the future. Everything will be the same. Nothing will be the same. The ANC will again form the government and the DA will again form the official […]
Posted inNews/Politics
How the ANC’s gravity-defying levitation is achieved
As South Africa’s political parties approach the final straight it’s yet another one-horse race, if the bookies are to be believed. The African National Congress, says the latest polls, is set to achieve close to the two-thirds majority that it has maintained for the past 20 years. The opposition Democratic Alliance will apparently be fortunate […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Vukani! Don’t waste your widow’s mite on May 7
Power is the currency of politics. Experienced politicians know instinctually when to hoard it, when to spend it and when to convert it into a bankable alternative. So for a brace of former Cabinet ministers to suggest voters should squander their power – their widow’s mite of the vote – by throwing it away, is […]