Privatisation talk in South Africa shows how state owned enterprises are being used as tools for enrichment by the connected and less as key elements of development.
It would be no surprise if Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s claims of the state spying on him turn out to be true. After all, state spy agencies have been abused before in ANC factional battles.
South Africa’s Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, claims the intelligence services are being used to discredit him and prevent him becoming the country’s next leader.
South African President Jacob Zuma, should be worried about the outcome of the no confidence vote in him. His legitimacy in the ANC and the country has plummeted.
After tiptoeing around the idea of contesting state power South Africa’s Communist Party is looking to strengthen its position now that the ANC is no longer the dominant force it used to be.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority has failed to pursue members of the executive. But a separate prosecuting body assigned only political cases could be the answer.
South Africa’s Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane has touched on two highly contentious issues: the unresolved bailout for a local bank three decades ago. And the role of the country’s Reserve Bank.
In the new introduction to his prison memoir South African anti-apartheid stalwart Raymond Suttner uses the word ‘betrayal’ to explain his break from the ANC.
Populist movements are on the rise. Their supporters distrust the establishment, elites, authority and official sources. The post-truth world is a post-expert world.
Phrases like “knowledge production” conceal the fact that knowledge answers to something beyond itself and beyond us. To produce knowledge is to find out about something.
There’s no doubt South African universities need to undergo a real shift. But are the country’s current intellectual and academic forces up to the task?
The ANC should draw the lesson that South Africans are unlikely to tolerate the ongoing descent of their politics into the gutter without strident resistance - in the streets, if necessary.
Dlamini-Zuma is an ambiguous, ambitious figure, an operator and bureaucrat with good credentials. But, she offers nothing new and can’t shake off claims that she’s just a shoe-in for her ex-husband.
SADC’s credibility is at stake. Its lack of political will in acting decisively against despots is at odds with the African Union’s goal of promoting legitimate governance on the continent.
South Africa’s decision to leave the ICC suggests that its foreign policy is caught in a dilemma between lofty ideas, an unsettled identity crisis, and shifting priorities in a complex world.
Cyril Ramaphosa is in pole position to become president of South Africa’s ruling ANC, 20 years after he lost the position by Thabo Mbeki. But, it won’t be easy. Neither will rebuilding the party.
The fallout at the meeting of South Africa’s governing ANC clearly exposed how the party’s factionalism has spilled over into government. This is likely to paralyse governance even further.
A revolt within the African National Congress against South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has reached new heights. He has survived, but the repercussions will be felt for some time to come.