For 29 days in June, South Africa was gripped by a political drama. eNCA goes behind closed doors to uncover the make-or-break moments that forged the government of national unity. https://www.enca.com/shows/29-days-june-annika-larsen-special-report
The late Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, who led the official opposition in Parliament from 1979 until his resignation in 1986, was critical of my term of office in the same position. At the time of my own resignation, years later in 2007, he suggested that my political and parliamentary style was "pure Westminster". The debate on what [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnimqiRSxgs
Might the ancient Greek myth of Tantalus offer a modern warning to the warring tribes in the ranks of SA's opposition parties? Tantalus, readers might recall, was punished by the gods for sacrificing his son for a feast and was doomed to stand for the rest of his life in a pool of water beneath [...]
A millennium or so ago, sometime between the first and second centuries, the Roman poet Juvenal asked a question that resonates now in troubled SA. “Quis custodiet Ipsos custodes?” or “Who will guard the guards themselves?” remains key, especially for a country which, on the one hand, celebrates its constitution and, on the other, finds [...]
Tolstoy, observing a tree, reminds us that “the leaves enchant us more than the roots”. In the gale of commentary that gusted after the DA’s recent policy reset, the party appears to have caught some high winds of disapproval. This is surprising for at least two obvious reasons. Neither of these were articulated in the [...]
In the furies of social media, it is worth a reminder that obituary writers declaring the death of political parties often turn out to be premature. Or even dead wrong. In 1994, at the dawn of our democracy, many death notices were penned for the Democratic Party, which had a dreadful election on the back [...]
By wisely turning away from the baubles of premiership, the DA leader avoided splitting the party leadership Last week in London I attended a dinner with some starring members of the British political establishment. The entire menu of conversations covered Brexit, and that was a day before Theresa May was ambushed by the European Union [...]
Jerry Brown, enjoys many distinctions in political life. He is both the oldest (at 80) Governor of California and, 44 years ago, was also one of the youngest incumbents (aged then 36). The gap between his last stint which ended in 1983 and his current tenure which concludes at year end, allowed him to contemplate [...]
The late business leadership expert Warren Bennis offered a dystopian assessment of what automation and artificial intelligence will do to the world of work. “The factory of the future will have only two employees,” he wrote, “ a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog and the dog will [...]
