Few will seriously doubt that the criminal charges brought against former party youth leader Julius Malema are part of a calculated African National Congress strategy to neuter President Jacob Zuma’s bête noire. And so what? The issue is not whether the process of bringing charges is politically motivated. It is whether the charges are political. […]
Julius Malema
Posted inNews/Politics
To Mangaung and beyond
So what happens after Mangaung? What happens to the main role-players whose names are being bandied about in the media and their supporters? How will the results affect the contesting leaders, the ANC itself and most importantly how will it affect SA? There are only two results that can emerge out of Mangaung if the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
After 33 years of stability, the labour landscape shudders
The tragic shootings at Lonmin’s Marikana mine is a wake-up call to South Africans who imagined that the hard yards had ended with the advent of democracy. It is also a seismic shock to a labour-relations system that has weathered more than three decades. At the very least, the shooting to death of 34 miners […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema soap opera II
ANC Youth League deputy secretary general Kenetswe Mosenogi today shattered my utmost fantasy. I have always fantasised about her as an intelligent, beautiful, sexy, articulate, sassy and all round attractive young woman. This was shattered all at once (except maybe beautiful) when I heard her on SAfm this afternoon being interviewed by Tshepiso Makwetla. She […]
Posted inGeneral
A crisis of moral leadership
By Gregory Solik The struggle against apartheid produced a long tradition of exemplary leaders. This tradition continued through the negotiations post 1994 during the years of transition. Yet despite this strong tradition, we currently talk very often about the “crisis in leadership”. Julius Malema’s recent expulsion from the ANC has been upheld and this marks […]
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Frank Chikane’s cautionary tale
Thabo Mbeki “looked like a soldier who was ready to die, if he had to, for the sake of his country; a lamb to be slaughtered for a cause”. This is Frank Chikane’s description of his leader waiting for word from the ANC on whether Mbeki was to step down from office. Chikane, who was […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Playing the victim: Malema’s survival strategy
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and company have the ruling party exactly where they want it to be – i.e. they have got the ANC to mete out the harshest punishment possible. To their credit, I’m sure the ANC itself knows exactly where Malema wants it to be. It has become clear that Malema […]
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A lesson in political brinkmanship
President Jacob Zuma’s biggest strength is simply that most of us, including embattled ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, underestimate him. We look so much at his blunders and gaffes that we forget that he has in fact been a leader in the ANC for decades and has vast experience in that regard. We also […]
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Is Motlanthe in the Eighteen Area?
If recent media speculations are anything to go by, it could be time to bring up to date a line in the song titled Shibobo by “celebrated South African musician” (read soccer player) Benedict McCarthy — a song co-produced with South African kwaito music group TKZee: “Kgalema in the 18 areaaa!” Eighteen yards from the […]
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South Africa needs a new national myth
I’ve been talking to a lot of people lately. The young tech entrepreneurs and artists I met at Culture Shift. The 40-something filmmaker, writer and consultant I first encountered at an idea orgy (where ideas mate to produce new ideas). The marketing guru inspired by the potential for technology to inspire new social movements. The […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Sharpeville: Shame on you, ANC
Moving the commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre from its historic base is nothing more than an insult to those who laid down their lives. For the past 21 years, Sharpeville Day, as the day was known, was celebrated in Sharpeville, the place where 69 people lost their lives fighting for the freedoms and liberties we […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema is out but his message is the in thing
I was at Mbare township’s netball complex on Saturday April 3 2010 for ANC Youth League president Julius Malema’s rally. Mbare is Zimbabwe’s oldest high-density suburb and is also one of the areas that suffered tremendously from the Robert Mugabe regime’s shameful Operation Murambatsvina or Operation Get Rid of Filth, which left thousands of Zimbabweans […]