These entries are posted in the cause of encouraging debate and discussion and, hopefully, providing information that might not always be readily available in the mainstream media. All items may be freely distributed by individuals and non-profit groups. In the case of commercial publication, standard fees applicable to the publication are required and may be negotiated with the author.
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Cape Town, South Africa-based journalist commentator and author specialising in political and economic analysis and labour matters. 
Terry Bell Writes 
Lazarus Joseph
January 1, 2011
Thanks for providing access to a Very informative and balanced perspective
alan
August 12, 2011
Techno wiz that I am I just signed up. Thanks Terry
Terry Bell
August 12, 2011
you are most welcome, Alan.
Simon Riekert
August 19, 2011
Dear Mr Bell,
May I congratulate you on an excellent, well balanced article entitled ” A strike that should never have happend” dated 19 August 2011.
Permission is sought from you to publish the artcle on our website, please.
Kind regards
Simon Riekert
Media Manager IMATU
Terry Bell
August 30, 2011
Sorry about the delay Simon. Please feel free to use any of my material: all of it is available free to trade unions and non-profits. And please keep in touch as I don’t hear enoough about — and from — Imatu.
Terry Bell
August 20, 2011
The same goes for you Lazarus. Don’t know why no comment came up at the time. I just wish that what I write could trigger more debate about our present situation and the way forward.
Henry Arendse
September 25, 2011
Hi Terry
What is your take on the ‘Zuma power purge’ as headlined in today’s (25 Sept) City Press? If true, then we’re in for some very interesting times between now and Mangaung 2012.
Terry Bell
October 9, 2011
Sorry about the delay in responding, but havew been flat out lately. I think City Press got it fairly right — and we’re in for some tumultuous (and very interesting) times.
Ilan Strauss
June 18, 2012
Hi Terry,
What is your e-mail address please? I would like to e-mail you an article which I think you may find of interest (not written by me).
Kind regards,
Ilan Strauss
Terry Bell
September 8, 2012
belnews@telkomsa.net
Robert Laine
September 20, 2012
Hi Terry,
I just discovered your blog a few days ago and am so happy I did. I have been looking for something like this for a while. Balanced, reflective analysis. Just wanted to say thank you for putting in the time and effort to maintain something like this. We need more journalists like you in South Africa.
Terry Bell
September 21, 2012
Thanks Robert. Much appreciated. I’ll try to maintain the standard.
Joseph Bheki Gumbi
April 10, 2020
Hi Terry I wholeheartedly agree with your proposal for this government to introduce universal income grant. In fact, this is a call all South Africans should be rallying around more than ever before. It virtually boggles the mind as to why this free market system is coy towards this as clearly it would put more disposable income to a lot of people and, indeed stimulate our economy.
Neilwe
October 25, 2012
Dear Mr Bell
My name is Neilwe Mashigo and I am with publishing company, Jacana Media. Considering your busy schedule, I am hoping you could make time to attend and be a discussant at the launch of Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor Saleem Badat’s book titled The Forgotten People: Political Banishments Under Apartheid at Book Lounge on 6 November 2012. Our request is for you to please be in conversation with Dr Badat regarding issues discussed in the book such as: How many people were banished; who was banished and why; for how long were people banished; what were the origins of this repressive measure; why was it utilized given the availability of other repressive measures; from which localities and to which areas were people banished; what were the effects on the communities from which people were banished; what were the responses of communities, and banished individuals themselves, to banishment; what were the life experiences of those who were banished; what were conditions like in banishment? (I will send you a copy of the book).
Please see press release attached:
“An extremely impressive manuscript on an aspect of political repression that has previously received scant academic attention. For both the definitive study of banishment and the valuable overview of rural struggles in the apartheid era, this book will be welcomed by the scholarly community as an important contribution to knowledge.”
Colin Bundy for the European co-publisher Brill
Saleem Badat writes as one who while not banished was detained and restricted under apartheid and was deemed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to have had his human rights violated. He is the author of Black Student Politics, Higher Education and Apartheid: From SASO to SANSCO, 1968-1990 and Black Man, You Are on Your Own, co-author of National Policy and a Regional Response in South African Higher Education, and co-editor of Apartheid Education and Popular Struggle in South Africa.
We would definitely appreciate you joining us on this particular evening. I am look forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Terry Bell
October 25, 2012
Dear Neilwe Mashego,
I am currently in London, but will be returning to Cape Town on November 1. If you could get the book to me then, I should have the time to read it before November 6. I will gladly be the discussant at the Book Loounge.
Regards
Terry
Liam Slattery
October 30, 2012
Hi Terry,
As a british journalist over to south Africa for the first time (for the power reporting conference at Wits university), your blog has been invaluable for insightful commentary about South Africa.
Thanks
Liam Slattery
Terry Bell
October 31, 2012
Thanks Liam. All comments — especially lauditory ones — are always most welcome. If you do manage to get down to Cape Town (I arrived back this evening) do give me a call and we could share a jar or two. BTW: the craic down here also tends to be raher better than is generally available up there.
Sally Heaven
October 31, 2012
Dear Terry,
I’m a researcher for BBC Radio 4, currently working on a programme about the 1982 bombing of the ANC offices in London, and, more generally, the climate around that time.I wondered if it would be possible to have a chat with you? I can be reached at sally.heaven.01(at)bbc.co.uk
I look forward to hearing from you,
All the best,
Sally Heaven
Terry Bell
October 31, 2012
Returned to Cape Town — and email connectivity — this evening. Will send you a message in the morning. Glad t give whatever help I can.
Al the best,
Terry
Sean Bezuidenhout
February 20, 2013
Hi Terry
I am studying at the UCT GSB and would like to ask you about your sources for your articles. I am researching the tension between the unions specifically around Markiana and your articles are very insightful.
thank you
Sean
Terry Bell
February 20, 2013
With pleasure, Sean. My sources where not quoted, are either an amalgam of the common comments of several individuals and, in some cases are from people who would prefer not to be named. Most, however — especially regarding Marikana — come from NUM/Cosatu, Amcu/Nactu and people associated with the Benchmarks Foundation. I also sourced some information from Numsa and Uasa.
Sean Bezuidenhout
February 25, 2013
Thanks Terry. I am trying to put together a list of websites / reference sites to keep track of happenings but I am going to use your feed as a guide. You seem to be plugged into all the right places.
florence donarber austria
March 29, 2013
Dear Mr.Bell.
Greetings.I am Florence Donarber Austria,married and from the Philippines.I was just wondering if you are from Australia.I have been looking for my friend who has the same name as yours.Please pardon me for posting in ur comment box.
Thanks for time and understanding.
God Bless,
Florence
Terry Bell
March 29, 2013
Dear Florence,
Sorry. Wrong Terry Bell. I am in Cape Town and have only visited Australia briefly.
MARK WHELAN'S LITERARY BLOG
May 7, 2013
Dear Mr Bell.
Just thought I’d let you know that I am now following your blog. Previously (the habit probably won’t change for a while) I have been an old-fashioned reader, purchasing a copy of my daily, dailly. I look forward to Fridays as it’s to Terry Bell’s Column we turn. I have gained invaluably over the years from your knowledgeable and balanced reports.
Hope I haven’t flattered you too much.
Nevertheless, I’m setting up my own blogs, and think that a side column, provisionally entitled The Gloves Are Off, may be of interest to you. I am currently venting my spleen at the ongoing strikes in Cape Town. Over time, my register will probably improve.
Should you decide to follow me as well, I trust that you will from time to time, when a suitable post is made, enhance both myself and other readers with your expert analogies on the labour movements.
Will be very much obliged,
Mark
Terry Bell
May 7, 2013
Thank you Mark. Compliments/flattery are always welcome. And I shall certainly keep an eye on your blog.
Debate, discussion and occasional spleen venting are what we need for a healthy society.
All the best,
Terry
Mary Edwards
July 6, 2013
Dear Terry,
I am wondering if you are going to be in London this November and if so, would you be free to join a panel discussion on International Solidarity against Austerity at our local Lambeth People’s Assembly (I noted in one of the above posts that you were in the UK last year in November and so my enquiry on the off chance you may be here again).
Lat night, following on the National People’s Assembly against Austerity (thepeoplesassembly.org.uk), held on June 22nd, in Westminster Hall, Parliament Square, London, UK, we held our local organising meeting for a borough-wide Lambeth People’s Assembly which will take place on the 2nd Nov, 2013 in Brixton Town Hall. I elected to organise the International Solidarity session and today have begun to research suitable candidates for the panel – people who can bring to the discussion an in-depth knowledge of their regions within the context of the global events that are reshaping our planet and the price people are paying in resisting these forces.
I am going to a South East London’s Peoples Assembly (Deptford, Lewisham, etc) organising meeting on Monday where they may be organising another borough-wide Assembly meeting around this time, as well as that other assemblies are being formed across London – East, North and West, all in their nascent stages. No fixed plans have been published to date as to what is happening in these areas but once known, it is likely that there will be other meetings to attend, and then, it may be that funding will be possible. This will become apparent. But for now, all I have to go on is the possibility of coincidence.
The next national Assembly will be in Manchester next year by which time we hope to have as many participants as at the inaugural meeting in London on 22nd June, with each delegate to this representing active Assemblies that are now springing up across the country.
If you are not going to be in the UK in time for the Lambeth People’s Assembly, that is, 2nd November, could you please suggest someone else from South Africa who may be able to be here and who could contribute to a lively discussion on international solidarity in the struggle to create an alternative to what we now have – governments controlled by market-driven forces and global corporations and what lengths they go to to maintain this power across the planet.
My hope is that you will be in a position to be a part of this and so be able to share with us what is happening in South Africa on this front.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Mary Edwards
Yes, I am Irish! Not Swedish!
Terry Bell
July 6, 2013
Gratefully acknowledged. Have replied by email.
Dominique
July 17, 2013
Hello everyone, it’s my first pay a quick visit at this web site, and paragraph is really fruitful designed for me, keep up posting these types of posts.
Terry Bell
July 17, 2013
I intend to continue. Thank you.
Janet
July 29, 2013
Hi Terry, how does one get hold of you with regard to news articles?
Terry Bell
July 29, 2013
I am contactable via email @ belnews@telkomsa.net
Carlinha Fernandes
December 3, 2013
Dear Mr. Bell
Out of curiosity, I “googled up” Nigel Barnett and was in shock when I found your article. Unfortunately Google didnt exist in the late 80s / early 90s, when I had a SPY living in my house in Maputo for about 3 years! So I must congratulate you for your blog and all your work on research. This story is like comming out of a movie for me! I must admit I found him wierd at the time, and short after he left my house and rented an aprartment, I read in the pappers that he was arrested, that is why I now remembered to search him online after all these yeas. Is there any further investigation on him? Is he still alive? In prison? This is actually exciting for me… 🙂
Terry Bell
December 4, 2013
I would be most interested in your impressions and in any information you may have about him (for example, what name was he using then?). As far as I am aware, he is still around, perhaps somewhere in the Western Cape. He returned to SA and was, I understand, emplpyed for aperiod by the National Intelligence Agency (as it then was). The last information I had, came from a contact of his who said he had become “a sad case” and was fighting for a pension he felt was his due.
Heather
January 29, 2014
HI Terry
I would be interested in running your Inside Labour column at The Herald newspaper in PE where as you know we have a big unionised audience, particulalry from the automotive and components sector.. Please email me at robertsonh@timesmedia.co.za
Kind regards
Heather Robertson
Ken
March 5, 2014
Hi Terry,
Just subscribed. Don’t buy the Cape Times much now as I have a distaste for the egomaniac owner. And you are not there, as he is there. Your perspective and insights make your writings interesting. Thank goodness for the web and your blog. Strength!
طبیعت گردی
January 21, 2015
Excellent article! We are linking to this great article on our website.
Keep up the great writing.
Terry Bell
January 22, 2015
Thank you
Matt
February 14, 2017
St Valentine probably didn’t exist? Let’s just scrap and ignore historical consensus and replace it with what makes sense to me right? Right.
Terry Bell
February 14, 2017
Whatever floats your boat.
Matt
February 14, 2017
I laud you for your witty and thought-provoking response.
News Update 24 (@newsupdate_24)
July 17, 2018
https://www.fin24.com/Economy/real-growth-might-mean-a-race-to-the-bottom-20180713
There’s no hope for South Africa under your Communist leadership. Our production is at a 70 year low and still you and the unions hope to see the poor suffer even further. The capitalist world is still the wealthiest, most successful on earth with China that has a 84% private economy, only 16% government spending in its own economy, driving world growth. The world is being driven by the private sector of China, 84% of the Chinese economy and via the US, with India now overtaking the UK as one of the largest economies.
But where is South Africa? Alcoholism and unemployment at an all time high. What you are doing to this country is a crime 100 times worse than apartheid. The homelessness, the unemployment, you feel nothing for those people. You fund alcoholism with welfare. You don’t even have the self-respect to say Marx was wrong! Capitalism for all its failings is still producing R1.2 m incomes per person in Singapore with low debt levels there. You have completely destroyed this country and now you know why our people died on the borders – to stop this from happening as it did in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Venezuela.
You can clearly see Terry that the problem is savings – the savings rate is too low, the investment rate is too low. Why is savings too low? Because the government taxes the hell out of South Africans. Business taxes is 21% in the US and 26% in China. South Africa’s municipal taxes keep rising at 10%, electricity costs at 10%, water at the same pace. If you think that is normal Terry, the economy is growing at 0%!!!!
Partially privatize all those LOSS MAKING SOEs and list them on the JSE and let COMPETITION DRIVE DOWN PRICES AND NATURALLY INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY – COMPETITION AND INVESTMENT. There’s 350 Eskom like companies in the US – listed on their stock exchanges, receiving funding from trillions of dollars of investment funds and investors across the globe. FOR GOD’s SAKE TERRY WAKE UP! Stop believing in an IDEOLOGY.
Raise taxes on the wealthy, but don’t discard capitalism, it’s our only productive and investment hope!
Start using your FIN24 column to call for a manufacturing revival !
Terry Bell
November 16, 2019
I have approved this comment in order to show how shallow is the analysis of those who support the existing system. Also how casually the term communist — undefined — is used in a pejorative sense.
John Carneson
October 18, 2018
Response to you piece on re-imagining education
Terry, the Netflix “The New Capitalism”, has a story about a Brazilian platform that has put millions of high school “failures” into university. The government has now adopted it. South Africa needs many such platforms, but part of building a leaning, knowledge-based society where there are many forms of connected and networked learning. In the 4th IR government must create enabling environments and let things evolve from the ground up. The Doors of Learning and of Culture are truly opening.
Kids want and need to know technology, the use of data and how to be entrepreneurs. And be plugged into social, creative and learning network that are global. They will start businesses, do gigs, produce shared socially responsive value and get contracts and many jobs. They need ethics and philosophy. All routine manual and intellectual work will go to AI. The simple notion of a worker is dying but the struggle will be over the control of data and software platforms, the use of value generated, the shared economy and the social environments and rights – including to privacy. We do not want to turn ONE solution into a fad that is fuelled by anti-government sentiments and that will isolate rather than connect many kids, depending on the whims of their parents. Kids must also be protected from that, just as the state must protect out resources so we can have a glass of water.
I am well aware that our society and state needs de-colonising and am making my humble contribution in a context where climate change and the lack of social justice threatens our survival as a nation – and globally even as a species.
There is nothing that is more exciting than the new educational forms that are evolving!
John Carneson
Terry Bell
November 16, 2019
Unfortunately, our educational system remains a shanbles,m with many earlier hopoes having been squandered.
Ken
June 20, 2019
Why Should Immigrants ‘Respect Our Borders’? The West Never Respected Theirs https://nyti.ms/2ZcOAMe
Neil
November 28, 2019
Great to find you on twitter and here. Ahead of you in getting some red wine at the McBride discussion yesterday I found myself thinking what a pleasure it would be to read more from you. Thank you and much respect. Neil
Anna Majavu
December 12, 2019
Hi Terry, please could you contact me? The dismissed VW workers from 20 years ago are looking to make contact with you. They are still fighting for justice. I want to send you their phone numbers. My email is annamajavu@gmail.com…Many thanks
Glenda Nevill
January 14, 2022
Terry, Glenda Nevill here. I can’t seem to find a phone number for you. I’m working part time on Cape Town TV’s new news/current affairs/arts show, Cape Town Daily. I was hoping you would be open to being interviewed on what’s going on at Clover. We have footage of a demo at Pick n Pay in Observatory, and the involvement of BDS.
Terry Bell
November 10, 2022
Very late response. For which apologies. For future ref, my phopne number (and on WhatsApp, which I do check regularly, is 082 257 7783
Iqbal Shaikh
March 22, 2022
Hi. Please can I have your email address. I may want to write u casually or formally. I’m an ex MK member and encouraged by your Amin Cajee book.
Perhaps there is a story I think you can better tell. Or perhaps just to informally write you.
My name is Mohammed Iqbal Shaikh. Unit Dolphin. Active 1982 to 1994… My commander Aboobaker Ismail.
If such reference is helpful in any way.
Regards.
Terry Bell
November 10, 2022
Apologies for the late reply, but have been having problems with my syste,. My email: terrybellwrites@gmail.com