By Motsumi Maubane The perception that the Gupta family has a hold on President Jacob Zuma, in my mind, constitutes high treason and a serious threat to our national security for this would compromise our constitutional democracy and sovereignty of our South African state. Essentially it would mean the family has usurped executive authority from […]
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Why it doesn’t matter if Zuma reads our letter
Thirteen of us wrote an open letter to President Jacob Zuma last week asking him to resign. It was first published on The Daily Vox, and then republished just about everywhere. Did he read it? I doubt it. Do we care? Not really. I’m being glib, but I was asked by print and radio journalists […]
Zuma-Concourt saga: Constitutionalism (Episode IV)
The widespread use of the phrase “a victory of democracy”, when referring to the Constitutional Court Nkandla ruling, is a disservice to South Africa. Words have the power to shine light on a meaning. Words have the power to marginalise. The choice of the word democracy in this instance is not a trivial matter because […]
The leader we want after Zuma
President Jacob Zuma is dominating headlines and dinner conversations, sadly. Between calls for him to fall, calls for him to stand down and calls for him to step up and take responsibility, the president is either the most fighting fit or thick-skinned leader of a democracy anywhere — Humpty Dumpty seems glued to the seat […]
Zuma-Concourt saga: Leadership succession (Episode III)
The major question facing South Africa in 1994 was: How to prevent us from killing each other long enough to have the seeds of mutual co-existence take root. The ANC’s response to that leadership question was Nelson Mandela and his feel good rainbow-isms. The major question thereafter was how we build enduring local institutions. Also, […]
Zuma-Concourt saga: National question (Episode II)
Thabo Mbeki for a long time used to set and drive the public socio-political discourse agenda in South Africa. Journalists would excitedly wait for his regular newsletter and general musings. After Mbeki was dethroned, we entered an interregnum where political discourse largely oscillated between affairs concerning the person of Jacob Zuma and an extended obituary […]
Zuma-Concourt saga: Monopoly capital (Episode I)
The resignation or non-resignation of President Jacob Zuma has become conflated with the fight against white monopoly capital. White monopoly capital has been reported to be engaged in remote-control politics and acting as external decision-making bodies in the political realm, a realm that is the preserve of ANC structures. The refusal (or inability of the […]
I cannot defend Zuma’s decisions anymore
By Mpho Buntse It saddens me to find myself in a position where I’m questioning my loyalty to the ruling party. I’m willing to be seen as a sell-out by my fellow comrades, I’m failing to even defend the decisions taken by the president anymore. These past few years, particularly under the leadership of President […]
A torrid week for President Zuma
Flypasts, 21-gun salutes, and ostentatious fashion statements by preening MPs. The annual opening of Parliament with its presidential State of the Nation Address (Sona) is one of those political rituals that has always mattered more to the participants than it does to the ordinary citizen. Joe Soap generally paid the pomp and platitudes little attention. […]
President Zuma is a dead man walking
President Jacob Zuma is a dead man walking, metaphorically speaking. The political free rein allowed him by cowed party colleagues for the past seven years has suddenly been pulled in. He remains nominally in charge but increasingly less in control. In December, Zuma’s manoeuvring to allegedly benefit cronies led to the firing of respected Finance […]
A reply to Saunderson-Meyer’s ‘Zuma does semantic yoga’ blog
By Bongani Majola William Saunderson-Meyer has written a shockingly condescending Thought Leader piece with racist undertones entitled “The intellectually supple Mr Zuma does some semantic yoga”. Saunderson-Meyer claims that President Jacob Zuma’s speeches are illogical and do not make sense. In a shocking feat of cultural arrogance he suggests that President Zuma’s speeches reflect a […]
The intellectually supple Mr Zuma does some semantic yoga
It is sometimes difficult to follow President Jacob Zuma’s explanations of events. His utterances can be so convoluted that the thread of logic is all but invisible. Or else they are patently contradictory. At other times he makes plainly incorrect assertions that are never retracted. So they lie there, littering his political reputation like discarded […]