The majority will, again, vote for the ANC in the forthcoming elections. It is unavoidable as that seems to be the only party of choice that will gain more than 61% of votes, according to a voter poll. The C-Voter poll says 70% of citizens think the ANC will win at the polls on May […]
ANC
Posted inNews/Politics
On the fall of the ANC
“How did the ANC manage to dupe the people of South Africa?” ask Prince Mashele and Mzukisi Qobo, the authors of a new book, The Fall of the ANC: What next? The 20th anniversary of electoral democracy and the impending elections, all within weeks, force us to take seriously the place of time in the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
When a ‘spoil-your-vote’ campaign might be effective
The Sidikiwe! (We are fed up!) campaign has been launched, calling on potential voters – particularly among those who might have supported the ruling ANC in the past – to repudiate the ANC in its current form in the forthcoming elections. The leaders of the campaign – including a former minister and deputy minister in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Spoiling your vote is a rotten choice
While I can understand, even appreciate, the disillusionment of the main figures behind the “Sidikiwe! Vukani! Vote No” campaign, I cannot agree with their method or the logic behind it. This campaign by a few former disillusioned ANC heavyweights encourage equally disillusioned South Africans to spoil their ballots on 7 May to punish the ANC. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Time for the SANDF to slim down and shape up
It’s not a national secret that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is in serious trouble. Its barracks are unfit for human habitation, it has been haemorrhaging expertise and its soldiers teetered on the brink of mutiny in a protest march on the Union Buildings So when the government’s leaked long-term military strategy review […]
Posted inNews/Politics
2014: I’m voting for jobs
On May 7 2014 I’ll be voting for the second time. This time I won’t quiver as I draw my “X”. I won’t care about all the hopeful politicians populating party election lists. I’m voting for me, and I’m voting so that some of those hopeful politicians don’t get in again. I am not going […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zuma’s muti leaves the opposition wilting
Not in two decades – not in 66 years, come to think of it – has South Africa’s Official Opposition had better prospects of landing the ruling party a bruising body blow. As things stand, however, it might well botch the opportunity. The African National Congress is, after all, in unparalleled disarray. It has squandered […]
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics
Journalists shouldn’t moonlight as politicians
Rainy Johannesburg days leave even the sunniest of drivers among us exasperated at how easily the traffic lights are put under the weather. It is at such times that the social media posts of the country’s best journos provide much needed solace. One is regaled with tales of days spent in packed court rooms, of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
DA march on ANC HQ: A plague on both your houses
South African politicians are notoriously bad at accountability. It’s always someone else’s fault: usually that of their opponent. In most western democracies, however, politicians do still resign for reasons of accountability. This week the British Immigration minister, Mark Harper, bit the bullet because his Colombian cleaner turned out to be an illegal immigrant. Harper could […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What the DA wants from the ANC
There is something about Helen Zille. There is the manner in which she puts on public displays of greeting people in Xhosa. The earnest attempts at channelling Brenda Fassie through song. The dance routines that one often imagines come from a satirical skit of “So you think you can dance”. And of course, there is […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Reasons not to vote EFF?
My previous column elicited a wide range of public and private responses that have caused me to reflect again on my decision to vote for the EFF in 2014. Having considered most of these arguments — and more — before stating my intention to vote for the EFF, I think that I owe it to […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, News/Politics
Now for the 21st century round of South African sex panic
Twenty years into democracy and the battles to capture and define South African identities are at fever pitch. Race seems to have a new lease on life and, unexpectedly, so does sexuality. Some say that South Africa’s future is black, in the sense that state power will never be in the hands of a white-defined […]