After the ANC defeats media freedom, then what?

I really love the quaint civil society assertion that they will somehow be able to defeat this most vulgar attack on our freedom of speech and constitutional dispensation being perpetrated at present by the ANC, both in their roles as the party of government and supposedly the party of freedom.
Talking to friends, whether they […]

Crying Wolf – Media Freedom and South Africa

As originally written for Feint and Margin:
It’s been a spicy few weeks for media freedom in South Africa. From the arrest of Wa Afrika, to the hearings on the Protection of Information Bill, as well as the Media Appeals Tribunal being supported by all manner of cadres – it cannot be said that there hasn’t […]

Probing the limits of public distrust

South Africa’s freedom to know what those, who we have entrusted with the powers of the State (namely the ANC) are doing,  with our common property,  is under siege. The ANC, which should be simply a caretaker of the government, has misunderstood its place in relation to the state, and the role it should play […]

Practical political tactics for the disruption of collective thinking in working class South African communities

South Africa has a political problem. It is the problem which many plural societies face – the one in which the majority lives a life of poverty and yet continue to return a small elite to power in mostly free and fair elections, resulting in a breakdown in democracy as the government no longer needs […]

Making the mistake about Chapter 9 Institutions

A few weeks ago I was having a quiet evening with friends, drinking some coffee and talking politics. I was asked what I thought of the toilet saga. Besides the horrible situation for the people on the ground which is beyond question – I thought from a political angle the Democratic Alliance through Dan Plato, […]

A friendly response to Achmat’s critique of the DA congress

Well known HIV and political activist Zackie Achmat explored yesterday his feelings about the Democratic Alliance congress yesterday on the Centre for Law and Social Justice blog, Writing Rights.
There is much I disagree with in Mr. Achmat’s analysis of the DA, it’s politics, it’s internal workings and philosophies as well as its true agenda. […]

The need for an alternative political narrative (and the World Cup is AWESOME!)

Can you guess that I wrote the title of this post before Bafana’s 3-0 drubbing by Uruguay? While the result was disappointing, I have to say that I remain very proud of our boys. Few countries with a national team that is going through a rough patch like ours, have had to suffer the indignity […]

Malema is the new Nongqawuse

In 1856 a young Xhosa girl made a prophecy. That prophecy resulted in the famine and destruction of a great people. By encouraging the Xhosa people to destroy their crops and livestock she set her entire people back for decades. Over 25 000 died from starvation. Hundreds of thousands of head of cattle were killed. […]

Separation makes the heart grow fonder

I’ve been out of Cape Town since mid-January, spending a few weeks in one of the world’s true Capital cities – London.
I’m so conflicted when I am in the London. It is such an incredible melting pot, a morass of people and cultures, languages and behaviours. And yet despite its many different people it […]

Planned Series of Pamphlets

Increasingly I am making links between the ANC of today, and the NP of the past. In the coming weeks I am going to be writing a series of articles on the present nature of the ANC and how the transformation of South Africa since Freedom has mirrored the transformation of the ANC.
The core […]

The unthought-of dangerous precedent vis-a-vis Zuma

Jacob Zuma’s first speech to the parliament on his election as State President, has the blogeratti bubbling along, full of hope that Zuma will walk the walk, as he has talked the talk quite well since the mandate was handed to the ANC, and thus him in the April elections.
Let me be honest, I […]

The Unafrican Trait

It seems we, the people of South Africa, lack an emotion. We lack it to such a degree that the absence of it in our hearts is distilled and purified in the halls of our nations power, the Union Buildings, the Parliament, the party National Committee and the halls of academia. We lack shame. We […]

Gaza + Israel = Murky Just Conflict

Last night I was telling a friend why I thought, on balance, Israel was justified in its actions in the Gaza strip, and that comparatively the death of 555 in 11 days of full on modern warfare, including several days of house to house street battles is a testament to the low casualties that the […]

The future

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Return

I’ve been very busy for the last couple of weeks, getting older (26??? why!!!), getting through a raft of work, and personal crap. Enough of the excuses, I try to avoid self-reference in blog posts; but I wanted to just say keep your browsers pointed towards the blog, I’m going to try get back up […]