By Shafinaaz Hassim It seems as though, just like tragic Alice in Wander-land, we’ve all fallen down some obscure rabbit hole in South Africa. It’s not impossible, given our national heritage of mining shafts, and it must have happened at some point during the last few weeks while toyi-toying in Twitterville or outside the ConCourt […]
COSATU
Posted inGeneral
Blade Nzimande, the new Juju
Communism, as formulated by Germans Marx and Engels in their industrialised continent far from the African situation, is seminally Eurocentric. When the South African Communist Party was founded by white, middle class manufacturers and merchants, disproportionately Jewish, Soviet leaders felt blacks weren’t yet advanced enough for Communism. During the 1921 Rand Revolt, the communists were […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Do we have to ask for permission to be offended?
I have resisted writing something about the Spear saga for two weeks. This was because for me the portrait was offensive but not as offensive as the portrait about Solomon Mahlangu’s last words. The words on that portrait cut very deeply into the pain hidden deep in every black person’s heart. It made a mockery […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
“A better life for all”: The case for a youth wage subsidy
By Matthew de la Hey The South African unemployment rate is currently 25.2%. This means that 4.5-million people who had sought employment within the four weeks preceding the reference week were unable to find a job. This figure rises to 38% if those who have given up hope and have stopped looking — the “discouraged […]
Posted inGeneral
The DA rocks
The leader of the Democratic Alliance may still be proved correct when she trumpeted that the party’s march on Cosatu House “will come to be seen as a turning point in South Africa”. In Johannesburg last Tuesday, the march led by Helen Zille and MP Lindiwe Mazibuko escalated into a violent street fight after members […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cosatu tries to give marching orders to the DA
The opposition was looking for trouble, so there should be no surprise that stones flew and heads were cracked. Any moron should realise that a march on union headquarters by a despised rival would spark violence. That’s the response of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Marching left but walking (and talking) right
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce” is Karl Marx’s famous quote in his 1852 book titled The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon. In the preface to the book, Marx said it was his specific intention to demonstrate how the class struggle in France created circumstances and relationships which made it possible for […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
How do we galvanise outrage over Mdluli?
What do the racist tweets, e-tolls, the POIB and rhino poaching have in common? Recently they have all been the focus of public outrage. Outrage is a useful thing. It was outrage that saw Jessica Leandra stripped of her endorsements and title, outrage that put a temporary halt to e-tolls, and outrage that has forced […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why I love e-tolls (and you should too)
CEOs are not the sort of people we usually pay much attention to. Unless you’re Steve Jobs, excitement about corporate reshuffling doesn’t extend much beyond the business community. Except when you’re CEO of the most hated organisation in South Africa right now. Then you become the top trending topic on Twitter and everybody is happy […]
Posted inGeneral
E-tolls: Walking is, well, the way forward
I sincerely hope Cosatu marches those e-toll gates back into the earth where they came from next week. I really do. If there is one protest specialist capable of pulling it off it’s Zwelinzima Vavi and his red army. But I don’t think they’ll succeed. Not even with two million people. Looking at the size […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
The unions: For whom do they speak?
When it comes to the Tripartite Alliance, Oscar Wilde’s observation that the proper basis for a marriage is a mutual misunderstanding seems rather apt. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has himself used the matrimonial metaphor. When Zuma invites the unions to join the national executive council (as he did this past week), he is extending […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Corruption: The ANC just has to say no
It’s difficult to get excited about the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) recent launch of a dedicated unit to combat corruption. Like the proverbial pebble in the ocean, Cosatu’s Corruption Watch will almost certainly sink without a ripple. It will plink down next to the National Anti-Corruption Forum, the Forum Against Corruption, the […]