authoritarianism
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics, Tech

New walls in cyberspace: Internet shutdowns and authoritarianism in Africa

Thought Leader Editor by Thought Leader Editor

Cutting off communication has become a favourite ploy of some of the continent’s Big Men. Ironically, this harms their standing in the long term Although the Berlin Wall was toppled 30 years ago, new walls have continued to crop up around the world — virtual ones that block or limit internet access to avert political […]

Posted inBusiness, Equality, General, News/Politics

Does the ANC realise that their expropriation drive will make of South Africa an economic ‘basket case’?

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier

By the day I am more and more astonished that the ANC — with a leader whom I used to regard as an intelligent man — is forging ahead with an expropriation policy that can have only one result: lowering the economic status of South Africa to rock bottom, where it can rub shoulders with […]

Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics

Julian Assange and injustice

Bert Olivier by Bert Olivier

Some time recently, someone sent me a WhatsApp message contrasting the political positions of Julian Assange of Wikileaks and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Underneath photographs of these two gentlemen, respectively, they read as follows: “Hi, I’m Julian Assange. I give private information on corporations & gov’t to you for free and the media calls me […]

Posted inEquality, News/Politics

Out of control: South Africa’s obsession with authority

Thorne Godinho by Thorne Godinho

The last month has been historically and politically significant for South Africa. The student protests have – and continue to – present a great opportunity for citizens to hold their government accountable. Although this social movement represents the potential of our politics to mature and become meaningful, this potential will be squandered if we do […]