Lessons of South Africa’s Transnet strike

First published on Fin24 and in City Press on 16/10/2022 After being out of the country for two months, I have returned to find, perhaps unsurprisingly, that nothing much has changed: the trade union movement has not fragmented, crippled state owned enterprises stagger on, prominent corruption accused retain their ;positions and major political arguments continue […]

Latest in the Wayward Boy series

Teetering along the brink of the abyss

(First published in Fin24 and in City Press, South Africa) The past few weeks have highlighted more clearly than ever, that the authority and the rule of law within South Africa’s constitutional parliamentary dispensation has gone beyond merely fraying at the edges. Also how confusion can be spread, with potentially dangerous consequences, by the manipulation […]

Worst case scenario for SA

(First published in Maverick 168 on 30 July, 2022) An “Arab Spring” threatens South Africa, former President Thabo Mbeki warned last week..  But he was wrong.  The threat the country faces is much more dangerous:  violent fragmentation fuelled by ethnic nationalisms — even potential civil war.   That is the worst case scenario, which, if […]

SA election battles get underway

(First published in City Press, Sunday, August 10) At first sight the sudden demise of the New Frame publication, a major conference of the Defend our Democracy (DoD) group and the ongoing crisis at Eskom have nothing in common apart from having made it into the news over the past week. Yet all are very […]

Reflections of a wayward boy

If you are interested, the latest in the series is available at: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-06-19-reflections-of-a-wayward-boy-the-bitter-battle-to-free-moses-mayekiso-after-27-years-in-exile/

Two strikes — several lessons

(First published on Fin24 11,06.2022) This month saw two lengthy strikes come to and end. In the process, there were several stark lessons for the labour movement and an explanation as to why workers, on strike for months, seem prepared to sacrifice what they do. The three-month long Sibanye-Stillwater strike by 25,000 mineworkers ended this […]