By Michelle October Last night, did anybody else hear that laugh? It was a long, satisfied, deep-throated chuckle. Just moments before, half of the parliamentarians elected to govern the country alongside Jacob Zuma and his party had rose up against him, in a last resounding, powerless attempt to make him see reason. The renegades in […]
State of the Nation
Posted inNews/Politics
MPs’ behaviour eating away at Parliament’s credibility
By Mukoni Ratshitanga The debate on the State of the Nation address in the national assembly last week illustrated concerns and evinced valuable lessons and reminders which our public representatives across the party political divide ought to be attentive. The endless points of order, genuine and some not, interjections and heckles clearly intended to stop […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cry (wolf racism) the beloved country
There is probably nothing as tiresome, irritating and reactionary in contemporary South African discourse as the knee-jerk accusation of racism in response to anything critical of the ANC government, of any black person or of any institution that happens to be managed by black people (in the broadest, Biko-esque sense of “black”). Ironically, this knee-jerk, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Oscar Pistorius and the State of the Nation
In a recent conversation with a cartoonist friend, he suggested that his daily work had changed from providing insights into our lived reality through over-the-top images, to toning down our over-the-top reality for a baffled and battered citizenry, through light relief. Artists, cartoonists and writers often use metaphors to provide insights into the state of […]
Posted inGeneral
An industrial revolution for whom?
By Alex Lenferna As a person who is going to live quite a bit longer than President Zuma, (or so I hope, although perhaps six wives supported by the state is the key to longevity) the State of the Nation address (SONA) was worrying. Not only did Zuma spark a rather ironic note by swearing […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A reinvigorated Zuma does the Sona shuffle
Despite always being cloaked in the fine threads of statesmanship, the State of the Nation address (Sona) is actually party political workwear. It exists to advance the narrow interests — the year ahead — of the leader concerned. That’s true whether the leader is Jacob Zuma, Barack Obama, or David Cameron using the queen as […]