Citizens have voted out well-entrenched leaders in a democratic surge in part of the continent, writes Tony Leon To update Pliny the Elder’s well-worn phrase in my imperfect schoolboy Latin, perhaps it is now apt to write Ex Africa Occidens aliquid novi — Out of West Africa always something new. This modernisation is due to [...]
LAST Friday, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the signing of South Africa‘s constitution, I was, physically and metaphorically confronted by a version of my much younger self. The view was not entirely reassuring. The event was a reunion, of sorts, in Cape Town: former staff members of the Constitutional Assembly — the [...]
Tony Leon finds parallels in literature ranging from Superman to Tacitus to ‘Catch-22’ for the plight of the president and his party. Several notables are cited as originators of the famous formula, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you." Among the claimants is Joseph Heller, author of the iconic 20th-century satirical novel [...]
