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Browsing All posts tagged under »ANC«

A tangled web in the nascent underground

September 18, 2020

(Also available at: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-09-18-reflections-of-a-wayward-boy-a-tangled-web-in-the-nascent-underground/) Were it not for the seriousness of the matters on the ground, the situation among the ANC supporting opposition in Johannesburg in 1962 could have provided material for a slapstick comedy. There were police spies, SA Communist Party and secret Trotskyist cell members all belonging to the same organisation. Linked to […]

Echos of Hani & the Broederbond haunt ANC

August 31, 2020

By elevating the tactic of principled unity to the sole principle of unity at all costs, South Africa's governing ANC created the malaise that is destroying the party.

Hairybacks, ‘souties’ & an accidental ANC member

July 13, 2020

Available online at Daily Maverick: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-07-13-reflections-of-a-wayward-boy-hairybacks-soutpiele-and-an-accidental-member-of-the-anc/amp/ Reflections of a wayward boy (4) My life changed during that single day in early 1961 when I returned to the Germiston Advocate newspaper office after attending a Group Areas Board hearing and making my first visit to a township where I met and interviewed people who were about […]

Land & outlandish promises in SA

April 24, 2019

Land and its expropriation remains a common theme, along with the need to amend Section 25 of the Bill of Rights, as South Africa heads toward its sixth non-racial parliamentary election. But this is flawed sloganising: Section 25 allows for the expropriation of ANY PROPERTY, provided it is "in the public interest", for "a public purpose" and to provide "equitable access to the country's natural resources". Property, the section notes, "is not limited to land". The only proviso is that expropriation should be "just and equitable".

Let’s ditch myths about ANC’s glorious past

April 15, 2019

Accusations about the manipulation of ANC election lists are nothing new. Nor, for that matter, is evidence of corruption, nepotism and the existence of patronage networks. Because the "broad church" of this liberation movement made unity of the good, the bad and the ugly the priority. Continuing to cling to, and propagate, myths may only ensure that the disasters of the past will continue to be repeated.

Marikana — and the wheels keep coming off

August 18, 2018

In 2010, as he was reaching the end of his days, Henry Makgothi, former South African treason trialist and former deputy secretary general of the ANC, confided sadly: “I fear the wheels are coming off.” He was referring to the apparent inability of the vehicle of government to act fairly and decisively as nepotism and […]

Nelson Mandela’s views in 1993

July 18, 2018

In the first internationally published commentary, written for, and approved by, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandea in January 1993, he outlined his views about current events and the future. These seem pertinent today, on the centenary of his birth, when his legacy is being debated and various groups and individuals attempt to lay claim to it.

So much talk, so little sense

May 4, 2018

South Africa has experienced a veritable cascade of words from public platforms over recent weeks — not least on May Day — that seemed to reveal that, while so much has been said it has all contributed very little to any real understanding. A lack of honest, open, discussion seems to have reached crisis proportions.