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The proposals submitted by the Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille at a media briefing in Parliament on Wednesday offer, in my humble opinion, a vastly improved electoral system with which to safeguard South Africa’s fledgling democracy, reduce cronyism and limit the number of passengers that parties are able to carry into an election. They are […]

During my three-month hiatus from blogging, I received hundreds of emails from readers. This is the summary of what you had to say: 1. If you don’t update the Silwane Files soon, I will have no choice but slit my wrists. [Just do it.] 2. I hope you are busy with your divorce because I […]

Let me state unequivocally from the outset that I fully supported Israel’s operations in Gaza. I have no doubt whatever that these were both justified and necessary given more than three years of almost constant missile attacks against its citizens, that Israel acted throughout with commendable restraint and that Hamas, through its cowardly and despicable […]

On 4 November 2008, I was one of hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the United States working to ensure Barack Obama’s election. In anticipation of Tuesday’s inauguration, here’s my account of that day. After an exhilarating 24-hour stretch, I crawled into bed on the following morning with an ache in my left leg and […]

ANC members in particular and Eastern Cape residents in general must be a dumb lot, to leave their daily chores to listen to ANC leader Jacob Zuma delivering “empty promises”. This will bring them nothing but penury and suffering as a result of decreased investor confidence, inflation and lack of entrepreneurial incentives such as tax […]