A DISHONEST ANC? with Tony Leon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqRvKQGP9Xs
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SA’s regional supremacy, once unquestioned, is dented – perhaps irreparably GallerySA’s regional supremacy, once unquestioned, is dented – perhaps irreparably
African National Congress (ANC), American Politics, Donald Trump, Gwede Mantashe, International Politics, Israel, South African Politics, US elections, World Politics
SA’s regional supremacy, once unquestioned, is dented – perhaps irreparably
"Trump derangement syndrome" is a political condition whose etymology is traced to the late conservative commentator and psychiatrist Charles Krauthammer. He defined it, first in respect of another Republican president, George W. Bush, as "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency - nay – the very [...]
Will Trump buy what Rasool is selling?
"Retrospective clairvoyance" was the arch phrase of Clive James for the miraculous ability of pundits (me included) to deduce this week an event that was "inevitable" last week, though it was not actually seen as likely at the time. Thus, the sweeping win of Donald Trump last Tuesday has birthed endless analyses of why it [...]
Suzman wouldn’t have deplatformed Imitiaz Sooliman, but she would have called him out
On Tuesday, Adriaan Basson, editor in chief of News 24, expressed "renewed gratitude that in South Africa the ‘rights of journalists, authors and artists to write, say and sing what they like’ is an established right in 'our maturing democracy'." Basson is correct, too, that we should "never ever take our open democratic spaces and [...]
Mashatile’s London show: unity abroad, contradictions at home
Last week in London, I had the opportunity to view the extraordinary Vincent van Gogh exhibition "Poets and Lovers" at the National Gallery. The Dutch master's magnificence, from showstoppers such as "Starry Night over the Rhône" and "Sunflowers", were on dazzling display alongside less familiar works - all testament to his creative and troubled genius. [...]
Ubuntu in question: South Africa’s silence on Sudan and Ethiopia’s crises
A search of South African government websites for an expression of sympathy on the weekend assassination of six civilian hostages, who were killed by Hamas under the tunnels of Rafah in Gaza, yields a nil return. Cogent explanations for the dearth of empathy - or its partial application - must go beyond the normal claims of [...]
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SA undertakes critical mission in Washington amid US’ distracted political landscape GallerySA undertakes critical mission in Washington amid US’ distracted political landscape
African National Congress (ANC), American Politics, Biden, Elections, International Politics, Israel, South African Politics, Trump, World Politics
SA undertakes critical mission in Washington amid US’ distracted political landscape
Timing in life and politics is everything. So, spare a thought for new Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau. He arrived on Tuesday in Washington DC, as head of a government-business delegation seeking to engage Congress and the White House on retaining our Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) privileges and mitigating the fallout from [...]
ANC’s foreign policy: A misguided quest for global peace leadership
For a good dose of inflated rhetoric, dodgy statistics and magical thinking, check out the ANC's 2024 election manifesto. The last section of the document, dealing with international relations, takes grandiosity to new heights, even as South Africa plunges to new lows of foreign interest. Recently, former finance minister Trevor Manuel underlined how far we [...]
Chameleon Cyril adopts different colours over NHI
The death last week of pioneering sociologist Professor Edward Webster occasioned distant memories of my 20-year-old self as a student in his industrial sociology class at Wits University. Eddie as he was universally called, was a Marxist academic, as were many in the faculty - but you did not need to drink his ideological Kool-Aid [...]
The ANC’s moral blindness when it comes to Hamas
Recently in Parliament, in answer to a question by DA MP GR Krumbock, Naledi Pandor, minister of international relations and co-operation, stated that "South Africa does not consider Hamas" - perpetrator of the mass slaughter of civilians in Israel on 7 October, "as a terrorist organisation". In her answer, Pandor claimed that SA’s stance is [...]