Posted inNews/Politics

Something stirs behind the dull eyes and zombie shuffle

Just occasionally one glimpses, behind the dull eyes and zombie-like shuffle of President Jacob Zuma’s disengaged administration, the values that sustained the African National Congress in the struggle years. It’s a briefly cheering reminder that all is not yet lost. This week Kgalema Motlanthe, in an uncommonly frank Business Day interview, skewered the movement to […]

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 […]

Posted inGeneral

Motlanthe not power hungry

In very strange ways Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has been chastised for his reluctance to accept the poisoned chalice of the ANC leadership. In fact he has been unjustifiably condemned as indecisive and, in not so many words, called a coward for not stating whether he will run against President Jacob Zuma for the number […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Why Motlanthe?

The road to Mangaung has revealed a lot, not only about South African politics but our society as a whole. Many seem to be looking outside themselves for solutions to our problems — waiting for a saviour to “fix” things. It’s almost as if we fear being a part of the solution. Or rather, we […]

Posted inGeneralNews/Politics

Nkosazana good for AU, good for SA

As Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma prepared to take over her responsibilities as the new and first female leader of the African Union Commission, the reaction back home was somewhat bitter-sweet. Many said the former foreign affairs minister was being sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. They argued SA was losing one of its finest. That she […]

Posted inNews/Politics

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 […]

Posted inGeneralNews/Politics

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 […]

Posted inGeneral

The days of our politicians’ lives

By Gosiame Legoale I have a president who has an affinity for showers and an appetite for women, matched only by my imagination when boastfully declaring to any who would care to listen exactly how many skirts I’ve accounted for. I have a deputy president who has no official deputy first lady to utilise as […]