News/Politics

The Sunday Times has again resorted to sensationalist reporting — as if its Oilgate revelations were unknown to the public. The public may not know what the Donen Commission recommendations were, but it is privy to details relating to surcharges paid to Saddam Hussein’s regime contravening UN Security Council Resolution 986 and the Iraqi oil-for-food […]

A few things stand out when we look at Jacob Zuma’s first 100 days in office. There is clearly a willingness to do things differently, whether this translates into actual, recognisable government action is another issue all together. The tone of Zuma’s presidency is, on the surface, that of a listening leader who involves stakeholders. […]

When former president Thabo Mbeki was confronted with allegations of corruption concerning — then deputy — President Jacob Zuma pursuant to the trial of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik, he felt obliged to take action against his right-hand man. The resultant removal of Zuma from office had a major impact on the history of South African […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Is President Jacob Zuma justified in arguing against a debate on race in South Africa?

So Helen Zille feels that President Zuma did a good job, except for the fact that he is not acting like an executive president, but more like a deployee of Luthuli House. Well, duh, what else is he supposed to be? For the Helen-ites out there, let me explain carefully how South Africa’s electoral system […]

“This is quite interesting … we think of white people who ‘never supported apartheid’. You find in the ANC that no one supported Mbeki.” (Columnist and academic Jacob Dlamini.) Dlamini was addressing an audience at the annual Ruth First lecture in Johannesburg alongside Frene Ginwala, the ANC veteran and former speaker of Parliament. Although the […]

Two decades have passed and the peace process in the Middle East is still used by the Israelis as a cover to consolidate their presence in the West Bank and Gaza. The peace process came to life after the 1991 Gulf War, but the Israelis developed the strategy to draw out the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in […]

Who needs PR agencies or spin doctors? Certainly not Jacob Zuma, judging by the breathless adulation of the media yesterday. Even the opposition parties went a little gaga over the guy. You would have sworn Zuma had actually done something praiseworthy in the past three-and-a-half months. He has talked a lot, but he has done […]

I was not unsurprisingly taken aback when I heard that the latest occupant of the Union Buildings expressed his opposition to a national debate on race. Being from the school of thought that views deliberation as the cornerstone of a democratic society, the president’s opposition to it sits quite uneasy with me. Equally disconcerting, if […]

If the British media catches any politician or celebrity taking the mickey out of them, then they derive great pleasure in reaching out, as one, and grabbing the genius concerned by the short and curlies. Not for them the stiff upper lip for which the Brits are so well-known, this is in-your-face — why did […]