The current elective conference of the ANC makes me think, involuntarily, of the decline of this once-proud, 105-year old organisation, to the point where it has been too weak to do the obvious thing, namely to ‘recall’ (their chosen euphemism for discharge, or fire) their current (and soon-to-be-replaced) president, Jacob Zuma. The funny thing, which […]
Cyril Ramaphosa
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
10 things Ramaphosa should do in his first 100 days as president
Let’s imagine for a minute Ennerdale and Coligny have stopped burning. The knife-fight in the ANC is over and the 2019 elections have come and gone. Now Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa – and will have inherited a deeply flawed country with a stagnant economy and a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC has a leadership problem
Despite its parliamentary majority, 2014 was a year of reckoning for the ANC. Seemingly no longer in command of Parliament or public opinion, it emerged from the election bruised but not defeated. However, its performance lacks the swaggering bravado we have come to expect – it knows it has been wounded. Whether it can staunch […]
Posted inNews/Politics
All that Emperor Zuma wants is respect, mon. Respect!
South Africa is devolving into an imperial presidency. At its head stands Emperor Jacob Zuma, an incipient despot taking critical decisions on apparent whim. It emerged this week that six weeks after announcing a R1-trillion deal with Russia for nuclear power stations, struck mano a mano between the South African and Russian presidents, the most […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The strange case of the disappearing president
President Jacob Zuma is South Africa’s invisible man. The person elected to lead the nation is slowly fading away like Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat, until eventually, one assumes, only the grin will remain. Like many a politician before him who found the heat in the local kitchen too much to endure, Zuma has become a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Protecting the dignity of politicians
One thinks of politicians as vain and thick-skinned. Arrogant and shameless. Duplicitous bullies. People to tolerate but rarely to love. Men and women with the backbones of amoebae but the survival instincts of cockroaches. It appears one is just so wrong, for it seems that they bleed emotionally like any of us. All the way […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We need a national development plan for the soul
By Russel Botman Close on 20 years after South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy through a negotiated political settlement, our country finds itself at a crossroads again. Progress in many areas has been commendable, but in others the pace of change has been far too slow. And in some areas things have actually deteriorated. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Corruption destroys political legitimacy
We, as a country, have a serious problem with national morale. Everywhere you look you can sense ”something is wrong”. No doubt, over the last 23 years since the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990, we have produced bright and charismatic leaders. Many have risen to international stature and are significant global players. In […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Amplats’ restructuring reflects broader trends
By Niall Reddy Anglo’s platinum operations are not “unprofitable”, rather they are not “profitable enough”. Plans to restructure will jeopardise the income of 14 000 workers and more than 100 000 dependants. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union’s (AMCU) call to nationalise in response reflects the growing consensus on the need for drastic redirection in the […]
Posted inGeneral
A surprise honeymoon for the president
President Jacob Zuma is basking in a second honeymoon. To the much-married polygamist, such hedonism will be nothing unusual, but to Zuma the politician – widely excoriated for his failings – it brings welcome relief. For it is the political commentators and analysts, not his line-up of winsome women, who are metaphorically cradling the president’s […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Score 2012 as a bad year for good business
Billionaire Cyril Ramaphosa, President Jacob Zuma’s new understudy, is perceived by big business as the potential rescuer of what passes here for the market system. Hope so for their sake, since a scorecard of our industrial and commercial titans reveals they had a bad 2012. The local strain of capitalism has become dank and unpleasant, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zumangaung
After the release of the National Development Plan (NDP) late 2011, the alliterative 2012 seemed to hold much promise. But it became a year of talk shops. For the first time ever, the national policy and elective conferences of the ANC, SACP, and Cosatu all fell in the same year. There was no implementing the […]