Again Patricia De Lille has left her political home and has once again established a new political party. I think back to 2003, when I was an intern floating about the Parliamentary Precinct, doing nonsensical things; and Patricia De Lille left the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and established the Independent Democrats (ID). Resplendent […]
NUMSA
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
The tripartite alliance was not designed to govern
Alliances are usually structured by different organisations that are motivated by a common purpose to achieve a shared objective. For such an arrangement to be sustainable, it must also be mutually re-enforcing in order to serve their different interests. It was therefore logical for the labour movement to collaborate with the ANC for the purpose […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Media, News/Politics
Numsa: Is this the left’s moment?
The announcement that Numsa would form its own socialist party should come as no surprise. Numsa’s battles within Cosatu (most notably with its historical rival, the Jacob Zuma-aligned NUM) and the ruling alliance (particularly with the Zuma faction, ostensibly on questions of ideology) have served as a generous forewarning that this was coming. Further, in […]
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
Thou shalt worship no other ANC
Scripture reads that there once was a prisoner who went to a president and told him: let my people go. The hypocrite that was the president, a man lacking in compassion, a leader of his people, rebuffed: don’t push us too far. Over the course of time, after a series of small fires in the […]
Posted inGeneral
So let’s rewrite the Constitution
According to Thomas Jefferson, we have four years to go. He wrote to James Madison in 1789: “Every constitution then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years.” He had some funny ideas; let’s leave it at that. Constitution writing has improved since the days of America’s “founding fathers”, the process described in […]
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The unions: For whom do they speak?
When it comes to the Tripartite Alliance, Oscar Wilde’s observation that the proper basis for a marriage is a mutual misunderstanding seems rather apt. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has himself used the matrimonial metaphor. When Zuma invites the unions to join the national executive council (as he did this past week), he is extending […]