By Rudolph Jansen Land reform received a fair amount of attention in President Jacob Zuma’s 2013 State of the Nation Address. Sceptics will say “we’ve heard it all before, now show us that something will happen” and the pessimists will say “there is no virtue in admitting failure and government still doesn’t understand the fundamental […]
Sona
Posted inGeneral
A revolution of restitution
By Sharlene Swartz In President Zuma’s February State of the Nation address, he mentioned nine programmes dealing with restitution and redress that were to receive attention in the coming two to three years. Among these were (1) housing subsidies for those earning under R13000pa; (2) a retooling of the land reform process; (3) a new […]
Posted inGeneral
An industrial revolution for whom?
By Alex Lenferna As a person who is going to live quite a bit longer than President Zuma, (or so I hope, although perhaps six wives supported by the state is the key to longevity) the State of the Nation address (SONA) was worrying. Not only did Zuma spark a rather ironic note by swearing […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Zuma’s best laid economic schemes for 2012
With my dangling laptop bag bumping rhythmically against my well-cushioned behind, I sprint from the parking lot at OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg), up and down the stairs and through the crowd of baggage-wielding travellers. After tossing my laptop plus all the earthly belongings in my pockets onto the conveyer belt for security scanning, I […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A reinvigorated Zuma does the Sona shuffle
Despite always being cloaked in the fine threads of statesmanship, the State of the Nation address (Sona) is actually party political workwear. It exists to advance the narrow interests — the year ahead — of the leader concerned. That’s true whether the leader is Jacob Zuma, Barack Obama, or David Cameron using the queen as […]