Why there’s not much hope for Cope

This op-ed was written on the eve of South Africa’s elections in April.
When Mosiuoa ‘Terror’ Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa announced they were “serving divorce papers” on the African National Congress (ANC), their political home, there was a frenzy of speculation that this would result in a tectonic shift in South Africa’s political and electoral [...]

Debunking the Daily Mail’s doomsayer

On Sunday 29 March, a devastating article by Peter Hitchens on Jacob Zuma and South Africa’s future was published in Britain’s Daily Mail. Couched in a sickening, sensationalist discourse swirling with racist and colonialist undertones, the story employed gross misrepresentation, selective truth-telling, distortion and stereotyping to depict South Africa as about to collapse into the [...]

The poephol shall govern!

Short of an Mbeki groupie’s assassination attempt on ANC leader Jacob Zuma (which is unlikely to happen considering the R1 million of taxpayer’s money spent each month for protection), come April, the great man will be state president.
Rumours abound that South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority is set to drop the case against old JZ. He [...]

Mbeki’s ousting backfires

Ouch. Just when the post-Polokwane mob thought they were invincible the “counter-revolutionary” judiciary dared to turn the tables. Although we will only know on 12 January whether the Nicholson ruling is to be overturned, Friday’s performance in Bloemfontein indicates there is a definite likelihood that it will be.
The judges were simply scathing about Chris Nicholson’s [...]

Why Zuma allows Malema to show democracy the finger

Isn’t it astounding? That a man who incites people to murder and violence, who uses hate speech and insults senior members of his party is still around and playing a prominent political role in the ruling party, nogal?
Indeed, most people can’t seem to fathom what lies behind Jacob Zuma’s limp excuses for the outrageous, undemocratic [...]

Firing Mbeki ensures imminence of ANC split

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Zuma’s coterie, drunk on power, might think they’ve got the upper hand in their battle against Mbeki. But by ignominiously firing a man well known for his pride, they are simply hastening the demise of the ANC as we know it. They have provided the impetus required for the inevitable wrenching of [...]

Hitting the right note with the electorate

The official opposition has called for the upcoming general elections to be scrapped and for them to be replaced with Politics Idols – a singing competition with one singer participating from each political party. This comes after Helen Zille’s stirring performance (accompanied with spirited boogieing) of Never give up, the DA’s new anticrime song, outside [...]

Umshinis could kill our democracy

In February, a University of Limpopo student was beaten up and killed by three senior Sasco members for refusing to sing a “struggle” song.
In need of a lift back to their campus, the Sasco members boarded a Student Christian Organisation-only minibus after a protest march in Pretoria. They aggressively ordered the students to stop singing [...]

Our president’s arms deal bribe

For years I’ve suspected that the president was implicated in the arms deal’s corruption scandal. Ducking and diving, the president has clearly had much to hide. Today, however, we have more than conjecture (and an incriminating encrypted fax the DA has been in possession of) to go on. The Sunday Times bravely broke the story [...]

I am a counter-revolutionary too, Mr Mantashe

Dear Gwede
You seem to have a habit of attacking anything that poses a threat to your lord-and-master’s accession to power. First it was the Scorpions; now the judiciary. Of course I can’t really blame you — a lot is riding on the gravy train that departed from Polokwane last December, and I dare say you’re [...]