How to use their vote in the upcoming general election is a question confronting virtually all of my students. Some suggest they won’t vote, that they feel it is pointless. Others insist they want to vote but are anxious that their vote will have little or no impact. Then there are a substantial number who […]
elections2014
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
Vukani! Don’t waste your widow’s mite on May 7
Power is the currency of politics. Experienced politicians know instinctually when to hoard it, when to spend it and when to convert it into a bankable alternative. So for a brace of former Cabinet ministers to suggest voters should squander their power – their widow’s mite of the vote – by throwing it away, is […]
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
DA should fix the police force, not expand it
The Democratic Alliance, if elected to run the next national government, will make it a top election priority to put “250 000 properly trained police officers on the streets”. DA leader Helen Zille reiterated this statement during the anti-crime march in Mitchells Plain held on April 6 2014. She added that the DA would do this […]
Posted inNews/Politics
If you vote, you can’t complain
By Colin Ibu Voting is a waste of time and energy better spent being genuinely political. For those of you who are so disempowered that you understand political participation to be limited to drawing an X twice a decade, and maybe signing an online petition when they get sent directly to your inbox, feel free […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
South Africa at 20: Storms behind the rainbow
April 27 marks the 20th anniversary of South Africa’s first democratic elections. Most of us remember those iconic images of citizens queuing up in long, snaking lines to vote Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) into power. It was an extraordinary moment, replete with hope and pregnant with expectation, enough to supply years’ […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The convenient democrats
To hear former Cabinet ministers from the salad days of the Thabo Mbeki presidency speaking of the “erosion of democracy” is as rich as a “Save the Angus Cow” campaign run by Ronald McDonald. It’s definitely legacy hour. How else could one explain the sheer size of ego that drives Mbeki-era mandarins (or should we […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Help the ANC, vote for an opposition party
We are about to celebrate Human Rights Day, a day that reminds us of the Sharpeville slaughter, a day that commits us as a country “never again” to repeat such an atrocity. Precisely for this reason, the Marikana massacre will render our Human Rights Day hollow until those responsible — who pulled the triggers, who […]
Posted inNews/Politics
An interview with Agang’s chief operating officer
Andrew Gasnolar, a youthful 28-year-old from Gardens in Cape Town, is the new chief operations officer for Agang SA. A lawyer, Mandela-Rhodes Scholar and World Economic Forum Global Shaper, I chatted to him about his new job, politics, and whether I should vote for Agang SA. What made you take up this post? I have […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
Let Zille wear her doek in peace
Twitter and Facebook have given armchair activists access to audiences previously only reachable from standing on crates at political rallies. The newest cause for outrage has been Helen Zille wearing a doek and posing with drie-voet pots. Her pose is reminiscent of black women cooking at a wedding or funeral. The outrage is much a […]