Newsday: The man who created the DA and took the party from 338,000 to 2.9 million votes
https://newsday.co.za/south-africa/28858/the-man-who-created-the-da-and-took-the-party-from-338000-to-2-9-million-votes/
Newsday interview: ANC is in a death spiral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-gDZ7_zl_4 Tony Leon, former Democratic Alliance leader, diplomat and author, joins Newsday’s Antowan Nothling for a candid conversation about the ANC’s decline, the DA’s prospects and South Africa’s strained relationship with the United States. Leon explains why he believes the ANC is in a “death spiral” and warns that winning the most votes will not [...]
The lessons SA’s leaders don’t want to learn
While Cyril Ramaphosa traded shame and fury in Parliament over SA’s jobs catastrophe, three of the world’s foremost historians gathered in Franschhoek to offer the kind of honest reckoning our leaders refuse to have with themselves, writes Tony Leon. Two sobering insights were offered last week on the state of SA Inc. Last Tuesday, the Quarterly [...]
From Westminster to Phala Phala: Two leaders, one fight for survival GalleryFrom Westminster to Phala Phala: Two leaders, one fight for survival
African National Congress (ANC), British politics, Corruption, Cyril Ramaphosa, Democratic Alliance, International Politics, Parliament, Phala Phala, Sir Keir Starmer, South African Politics, UK Politics, Westminister
From Westminster to Phala Phala: Two leaders, one fight for survival
Two leaders, two continents, one embattled defiance – Keir Starmer and Cyril Ramaphosa are clinging to power, but while Britain’s crisis is political, South Africa’s cuts far deeper, writes Tony Leon. “When the herd moves, it moves,” Boris Johnson ruefully remarked when his Conservative Party forced his exit as UK prime minister in July 2022, just two [...]
Canary in the Constitution: What future of SA Jews tells us about our democracy GalleryCanary in the Constitution: What future of SA Jews tells us about our democracy
African National Congress (ANC), Antisemitism, International Politics, Israel, Jacob Zuma, Jewish, MK, Sooliman, South African Politics, Zionists
Canary in the Constitution: What future of SA Jews tells us about our democracy
On the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s Constitution, a UCT lecture reflecting on the country’s dwindling Jewish minority offers a telling measure of whether the constitutional promise of minority rights – made in Parliament on 8 May 1996 – is being honoured for all South Africans, writes Tony Leon. In places and events, both obvious and [...]
Meyer’s challenge: Playing high stakes roulette in Trump’s casino GalleryMeyer’s challenge: Playing high stakes roulette in Trump’s casino
African National Congress (ANC), British politics, Cabinet, Cyril Ramaphosa, Donald Trump, International Politics, Iran, Mandelson, South African Politics, Starmer, UK Politics, World Politics
Meyer’s challenge: Playing high stakes roulette in Trump’s casino
Tony Leon examines how newly appointed South African ambassador Roelf Meyer faces the near-impossible task of reconciling South Africa’s racial transformation policies with Donald Trump’s administration’s fierce opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programmes. Consequences will follow the appointment of Roelf Meyer by President Cyril Ramaphosa as SA ambassador to the US. Though one of them [...]
Israel’s dark turn and Iran’s death penalty machine
Israel’s journey from David Ben-Gurion’s founding vision of being a “light to the nations” to Itamar Ben-Gvir’s controversial death penalty bill targeting Palestinians has sparked unprecedented opposition from Jewish diaspora communities who fear the country’s democratic foundations are being eroded by extremist politics, writes Tony Leon. David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of the State of [...]
The R500bn lesson: What Kirsh’s success reveals about real investment vs pledges GalleryThe R500bn lesson: What Kirsh’s success reveals about real investment vs pledges
African National Congress (ANC), American Politics, Cyril Ramaphosa, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, International Politics, Kirsh, South African Politics, Trump, United States, US President, World Politics
The R500bn lesson: What Kirsh’s success reveals about real investment vs pledges
While R1.5 trillion has been promised at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s investment conference, South Africa’s actual capital formation has plummeted from 20 to 14% of GDP, suggesting that real investment – like Natie Kirsh’s R500 billion business empire built in America – requires genuine structural reforms and competitive markets, not just pledges, writes Tony Leon. “Cyril loves [...]
The dangerous comfort of ANC mythology in an age of hard choices
The ANC’s rose-tinted view of its struggle-era alliances is preventing South Africa from learning the hard lessons that could actually liberate its people from unemployment and institutional decay, writes Tony Leon. For devout Hindus, the waters of the River Ganges cleanse believers of sin and help achieve liberation (moksha). In the secular South African realm, the [...]
Demarche to Dirco: ANC recipe for diplomatic decline
South Africa’s foreign ministry has squandered the diplomatic capital built during the Mandela era, replacing strategic thinking with impulsive gestures and transforming the country from a respected global mediator into an increasingly isolated fringe player, writes Tony Leon. It’s a stretch to use words and phrases such as “thoughtful” or “long-term strategy” or even “principled consistency” [...]