Watergate set the trend. Since then we have locally had Muldergate, Travelgate, Guptagate and now Nkandlagate. There are others, quickly forgotten as new political outrages displace the old more swiftly than one can keep track. The gate suffix is now so ubiquitous through journalistic overuse as to be meaningless. Especially given what separates the first […]
Nkandlagate
Posted inNews/Politics
Buti Manamela’s moment of truth: Luthuli House rules
Buti Manamela, ANC MP and leader of the Young Communist League, caused a stir in Parliament this week when he stated bluntly that he acts on orders from Luthuli House, the ANC’s headquarters. He was speaking at the meeting where the ANC used its parliamentary majority to shut down the ad hoc committee tasked with […]
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Bribery, the real costs
By Anthea Paelo The other day the taxi I was riding in was stopped by a policeman. Not an unusual event in itself. Neither was the exchange of money that happened afterwards. What was strange, at least for me, was the policeman’s method of request. Upon stopping the taxi, he did not bother to pretend […]
Posted inNews/Politics
White men in black hats teach black men in white hats
White South Africans might scoff and fume but President Jacob Zuma is absolutely right. It’s the fault of apartheid. No, not every social ill – from poverty to child rape – that the president lays at the ancien regime‘s door. After all, with a moderately honest and diligent government these could be overcome, albeit gradually. […]