From Reagan’s Hollywood charm to Nixon’s strategic depth, America’s most effective presidents surrounded themselves with brilliant advisors - a lesson Paul Mashatile, the likely next ANC president, would do well to heed as his party’s grip on national power continues to weaken, writes Tony Leon. Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, who served [...]
In a rare moment of political honesty that sent shockwaves through the ANC, President Cyril Ramaphosa told his councillors to learn from DA municipalities - only to quickly retreat when the uncomfortable truth about his party’s failures sparked internal fury and opposition glee, writes Tony Leon There is evidence to suggest that most South Africans believe the [...]
It is too soon to reckon the consequences in America and the world after last week’s events. Except for the obvious conclusion that the boundaries in which normal political events and discourse are bordered have been stretched ever further, writes Tony Leon. George Bernard Shaw’s mordant line that “assassination is the extreme form of censorship” got [...]
It is not easy or comfortable dealing with the mercurial US administration, but as the fate of lot of communities in many places in SA will soon realise, it is an obvious necessity, writes Tony Leon. The South African government can, with honour, award itself an OBE – in this case, diplomatic shorthand for “overtaken by [...]
Our constitutional promises and its premises have been flattened into a single unadorned and unqualified concept: the pursuit of “transformation”, writes Tony Leon. With debate raging and court challenges looming on the government’s version of “transformation”, you could be forgiven for thinking that the SA Constitution consists of just one section. On 9 June, President Cyril Ramaphosa [...]
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent encounter at the White House revealed that South Africans have all succumbed to “Trump derangement syndrome” in varying different degrees, writes Tony Leon. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa went to the White House on a “working visit” to meet the US president and nothing much happened. No one in the world, least [...]
Tony Leon explores the unpredictable dynamics and potential outcomes of Wednesday’s high-stakes Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa, examining political tensions, personal chemistry, and the challenges both leaders bring to the table. The great question for Wednesday is which Donald J Trump will show up for his meeting with Cyril Ramaphosa? The second [...]
As Colin Eglin's centenary passes unnoticed, Paul Mashatile employs Trumpian tactics to undermine institutions others built. The contrast is stark, writes Tony Leon, from principled constitutional craftsmanship to power-hungry opportunism masquerading as progress. Monday, 14 April 2025, marked the centenary of the birth of Colin Eglin. Both this anniversary and the man himself are mostly [...]
Logan Roy was the magnificent and monstrous patriarch at the centre of the satirical television masterpiece Succession. In the second episode of its final season in 2023, Roy delivered a killer line to his dysfunctional children, "I love you, but you are not serious people". Absent any amity, indeed amid high levels of acrimony, "you [...]
How does an ambassador navigate his way when sent to a country led by a protocol-busting, hard-charging populist and protectionist who ransacks state institutions, tears up international trade agreements and announces, at their inauguration, "we must not import a single nail"? This was precisely the situation I found myself in circa 2009 when I was [...]
