The windows remain broken, and Ramaphosa seems to be signalling that he will keep looking the other way
state capture
Posted inNews/Politics
Why we still care about Zuma, and why we must get over him
Zuma has become symbol of South Africa’s deep-seated problems but, if we are to move on, we must lose our obsession with him
Posted inNews/Politics
uBaba’s not ageing out of crime: what is his game?
Jacob Zuma’s relentless attack on the judiciary had a setback when the constitutional court sentenced him to 15 months for contempt. But will this achieve its purpose?
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Peacemaking criminology as ubuntu: A reply to Thuli Madonsela
If the rich and powerful are afforded amnesty, then so too must the poor who are often pushed into lives of crime
Posted inNews/Politics
The Zumas vs Zondo: a family drama?
The framing of Jacob Zuma’s attempts to have Raymond Zondo recuse himself because of a tenuous family connection can distract us from the state capture commission’s main objective: uncovering the truth about corruption
Posted inNews/Politics
My criticism of Thabo Mbeki’s OR Tambo lecture
By Zukiswa Mqolomba Former President Thabo Mbeki’s OR Tambo lecture is indeed most welcome as it is a timely call to action to save the African National Congress (ANC) from a burgeoning trend of greed, avarice and an insatiable appetite to amass personal wealth, while millions of South Africans continue to live in wide-spread poverty […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Zuma-Concourt saga: Constitutionalism (Episode IV)
The widespread use of the phrase “a victory of democracy”, when referring to the Constitutional Court Nkandla ruling, is a disservice to South Africa. Words have the power to shine light on a meaning. Words have the power to marginalise. The choice of the word democracy in this instance is not a trivial matter because […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Zuma-Concourt saga: National question (Episode II)
Thabo Mbeki for a long time used to set and drive the public socio-political discourse agenda in South Africa. Journalists would excitedly wait for his regular newsletter and general musings. After Mbeki was dethroned, we entered an interregnum where political discourse largely oscillated between affairs concerning the person of Jacob Zuma and an extended obituary […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Zuma-Concourt saga: Monopoly capital (Episode I)
The resignation or non-resignation of President Jacob Zuma has become conflated with the fight against white monopoly capital. White monopoly capital has been reported to be engaged in remote-control politics and acting as external decision-making bodies in the political realm, a realm that is the preserve of ANC structures. The refusal (or inability of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
It’s not about capture but control
Catchphrases quickly move from being nifty idioms that ignite thought to clichés that stifle it. Such is the likely fate of “state capture”, a phrase that features in virtually every media account of President Jacob Zuma’s controversial relationship with the Gupta family. But what has been happening in the past weeks is not about state […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is there a ‘reasonable person’ in charge of SA?
This week President Jacob Zuma went to Parliament to account to the people, as constitutionally a president periodically perforce must. The key issue was the role that his political benefactors, the Gupta clan, allegedly play in ministerial appointments. What a nation agog over a series of revelations from within African National Congress ranks had hoped […]