The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Ibrahim Steyn -
Protagonists of Jacob Zuma describe the ANC’s 52nd National Conference in Polokwane as an historic moment in the life of the organisation intended to hand back power to the masses over its body politic. Democracy inside the ANC had to be extricated from the strictures of the authoritarian bureaucratic style of politics personified by Thabo Mbeki.
However, as already observed by many analysts, the recent political parlance and practice of the high ups in the Zuma camp have cast...
John Reynolds -
Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20 vision. I’m sure that if the present leadership of the ANC could have predicted the fall-out of its recall of President Thabo Mbeki, it would have hesitated long enough to maybe, just maybe, not go through with it.
But such was the heady brew of power and retribution at the time that zeal trumped reason – where, to paraphrase the philosopher Robert C Solomon, a sense of injustice became wholly obsessed with resentment and a preoccupation for...
Glenn Ashton -
So we have had a change in the guard in South Africa, engineered on shaky precepts but carried out smoothly and seamlessly, at least from a political perspective. However, the real issues have been obscured by the haste of the transition and the relentless blather of the chattering classes. Perhaps the time is ripe to draft some perspective on what really happened.
It was common knowledge Thabo Mbeki was toast. As John Carlin pointed out a week after his departure, Mbeki should never...
Russell Ally -
It's very difficult for anyone to make complete sense of what is presently happening in the ANC or to offer any definitive answers to what will happen in the future. All those who claim anything to the contrary, including the dominant group within the ANC, are either being foolhardy or disingenuous.
Everything is in flux, shifting before our eyes on an almost continuous basis, giving tangible meaning to that old adage, 'the only constant thing in life is change'. So while we may not...
Saliem Fakir -
The dismissal of Thabo Mbeki and the walkout by eleven ministers and some deputies indicates that a severe split exists within the African National Congress (ANC), despite claims to the contrary.
The fissure began in 2005 when Zuma was fired by Mbeki and persisted well beyond the Polokwane Congress in December 2007. Frantic efforts have been made to keep the fight within the ANC and restore unity --seemingly without avail.
Crises are usually fertile ground for fear, panic and opportunity --...
Many South Africans may be pondering this question, as we interrogate the political events of the past week, wondering whether these were in the public's best interests. Why Democracy taps into the debate about the power of the individual voter, putting the question, "Why bother to vote?", to a wide range of thinkers and public figures. The debate captures the views of those both in favour and against voting, highlighting interesting food for thought.
