To suggest, in the current highly charged political atmosphere, that South Africans should become serious about engagement, would be regarded by some as outright dangerous. But the causes of the current tensions within the ruling alliance, between the governing coalition and opposition parties, and between the coalition and many civil society organisations, are precisely the reasons why we have to become serious about engagement.
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/ 27 September 2003
As UN Secretary General Kofi Annan pointed out in his speech to the General Assembly last week: while the organisation brings legitimacy, credibility and collective solidarity to international affairs, its role continues to be questioned by some of the world’s most powerful states.
After getting over the constant embarrassment that is referring to the person you sleep with as your ”boyfriend” (too teenage?), your ”partner” (too gay?) or your ”other half” (too liable to make people throw up?), the next stage in many relationships is the corniest of all: getting engaged.