News/Politics

Judy Sikuza Four days later, my heart is still pounding! Hands shaking, butterflies in the stomach — an unfathomable feeling of awe! How can the election of a president in a country of which I am not a citizen have such an indescribable effect on me? The voice inside of me abruptly responds: “How can […]

AFP is reporting that the Zimbabwean state media is blaming the opposition for the deadlock in the power sharing deal and urging President Mugabe to simply go ahead and appoint his own cabinet. What a load of cockcustard! This is so far removed from the reality as to demand an explanation lest all those who […]

Zackie Achmat, a loyal member of the ANC and a Zuma supporter, as well as leader of Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has accused Thabo Mbeki of having “blood on his hands”, referring to deaths related to HIV/Aids. Achmat is emboldened in his reckless statements by an inconclusive study conducted by a group of professors from […]

Political “analysts” have been unanimous in their assessment of immediate challenges that president elect Barack Obama would have to contend with once sworn into office in January 2009. The most prominent and most obvious is the state of the economy of the United States (US). Obama inherits a dysfunctional economy which has plunged almost the […]

When the Southern African Development Community gathers on Sunday to try and resolve the deadlock between the Zimbabwean political factions they must focus on the fact that it is the members of the SADC, aid agencies and the masses of Zimbabwe who are paying an enormous price for these factions to continue refusing to reach […]

Syria, a country that is usually self sufficient, now finds itself importing wheat from other countries for the first time in 15 years. The country is trying to cope with the effects of the worst drought in 40 years. Farmers and villagers in the east of the country are worst affected by the poor rainfall […]

Five years ago, this column was published in several South African and European newspapers. Having survived another half-decade in the land “alive with possibilities”, having changed careers, made history, saved some ordinary people, exposed a fraction of the spooks and crooks that lurk in the shadows everywhere, seen my children to safety in exile, become […]

I have been drumming my fingers waiting for a dozen or so Chinese friends to tell me what they thought of Obama winning. I told them I would weave their thoughts into a blog. They promised me they would. So far I have caught only two tadpoles on my email: “Personally, I think for a […]

Addressing the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) conference, secretary general of Cosatu made a very refreshing admission. He said “Only unscrupulous politicians hell-bent to use our divisions in order to use us against one another for their selfish political ends stand to benefit from our disunity.” For a long time the ANC and its […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: What real change will Barack Obama bring to the world?