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After the startling success of her president’s Native Club (the koeksisters at their Tuynhuys imbizos were reputed to have been a particular hit), a deputy minister has made a desperate escape from obscurity with the launch of the Bang Bang Club. At the launch last night, Susan Shabangu’s corpulent beam — previously only seen framed […]

Events of the past months make it very difficult to defend the relevance of elections. The cases of Kenya and Zimbabwe point to the need for a new thinking around governance. In these two cases, elections have betrayed people’s wishes and subverted their democratic right to a leader of their choice. Such scenarios call for […]

Something has clearly changed on the international political stage that gives the European Union an unprecedented opportunity to bring stability and an end to a violent conflict in the Middle East, without the need to have someone’s permission to act. Europe is capable of conducting an active foreign policy and has the ability to commit […]

You have to admit that Msholozi and Deputy Safety and Security Minister Susan Shabangu’s calls to shoot the criminals and kill the bastards make you feel kinda warm all over. Let’s face it, South Africans are sick and tired of criminals and the sooner this blight on our country is brought under control, the better. […]

As a specialist criminal attorney, I would like to put Deputy Safety and Security Minister Susan Shabangu’s instructions to the police into some sort of context; translate it from the ill-considered idea that gave rise to the ridiculous orders and demonstrate how this would affect people in reality. In essence, the minister has ordered the […]

Submitted by Tristan Görgens Our Afropessimism has an indignant tone. South Africa has long been the home of exceptionalism. We did white, minority rule differently, we fought for liberation differently, we avoided civil war with a negotiated settlement, we taught the world about truth and reconciliation, we were the champions and purveyors of Nepad and […]

When does freedom of speech and expression trump the right to respecting people’s beliefs or religion? Are we finally reaching the point where no boundaries remain that we will not overstep? Can we honestly just keep kicking down the fences guarding our morality and then expect people to put up new ones, only to have […]

To understand the effectiveness of President Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy, we need to understand that, sometimes, finding African solutions to African problems is a phenomenon that cannot be put into words. In fact, most people cannot grasp or conceptualise it. Here is a made-up attempt to explain what has been happening over the past few […]