Oliver Tambo said “The fight for freedom must go on until it is won; until our country is free and happy and peaceful as part of the community of man, we cannot rest”. Tambo was right. The fight in South Africa was for freedom and for happiness and peace. Since he said those words we […]
Jacob Zuma
Posted inNews/Politics
I cannot defend Zuma’s decisions anymore
By Mpho Buntse It saddens me to find myself in a position where I’m questioning my loyalty to the ruling party. I’m willing to be seen as a sell-out by my fellow comrades, I’m failing to even defend the decisions taken by the president anymore. These past few years, particularly under the leadership of President […]
Posted inNews/Politics
EFF has only contempt for democracy and the law
As South Africans are discovering, a state-of-the-art constitution does not of itself a thriving democracy make. Similarly, ersatz military ranks, red berets and Che Guevara slogans do not a revolution make. The Economic Freedom Fighters love radical rhetoric but the seizure of “white” land and the nationalisation without compensation of the mines are, at this […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A torrid week for President Zuma
Flypasts, 21-gun salutes, and ostentatious fashion statements by preening MPs. The annual opening of Parliament with its presidential State of the Nation Address (Sona) is one of those political rituals that has always mattered more to the participants than it does to the ordinary citizen. Joe Soap generally paid the pomp and platitudes little attention. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The intellectually supple Mr Zuma does some semantic yoga
It is sometimes difficult to follow President Jacob Zuma’s explanations of events. His utterances can be so convoluted that the thread of logic is all but invisible. Or else they are patently contradictory. At other times he makes plainly incorrect assertions that are never retracted. So they lie there, littering his political reputation like discarded […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
A new prism through which to view Zuma
Four days in December. They are the prism through which the actions of President Jacob Zuma will be viewed from now on. December is dozy time in South Africa. Whether you are in need an electrician or a lawyer, your options are few, right through to mid-January. Deprived of public interest, even politicians go into […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
How to show leadership
I have often stated that organisational success is only possible if four critical factors in the strategic framework are in harmony and aligned: purpose, vision, strategy and leadership. The state is no exception to this requirement. I have also cautioned that context is the first and most critical constraint or limiting factor to defining and […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Tech
The aeronautics behind SAA’s unprofitability
Let me just say it straight up — neither President Jacob Zuma nor SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni are to be blamed for the operational unprofitability of SAA. South Africans are currently rallying together in the #ZumaMustFall campaign, which was in part triggered by the removal of Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister, allegedly due to […]
Posted inEnvironment, News/Politics
Nene, nukes and Zuma’s timing
By Alex Lenferna Many have been confounded by the recent actions of our president: sacking Nhlanhla Nene from the post of finance minister, giving a weekend-long appointment to the relatively unknown David van Rooyen, and then kicking out Van Rooyen and finally rehiring Pravin Gordhan as finance minister. While much ink has been spilled trying […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
‘White land’ must fall, after Zuma
I know what you’re thinking — another irritating piece about “white monopoly capital”. This is not about the Economic Freedom Fighters and their policy of redress through wholesale re-disenfranchisement and nationalisation. South Africa is more nuanced than the high politics of the day. The outcry of the last week is testament to the vibrancy of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The unravelling of President Jacob Zuma
President Jacob Zuma’s firing of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, after barely 18 months in the job, is one of those rare events that can leave even consummately slick political opponents spluttering for words. Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane’s flummoxed immediate response on Twitter was to state the blindingly obvious: “What we need now is a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Axing Nene: Give us the reasons
One of my most powerful insights during the height of the #feesmustfall protests was that the media has its own agenda and bias. Nuance, the sympathetic depiction of all sides, fair coverage of silent constituencies: these are all niceties in the hurly-burly of a reporting frenzy. So with the axing of Nhlanhla Nene sending the […]