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/ 16 October 2007
This is no time for panic, or for manic depression of the sort that Xolela Mangcu displayed in a column last weekend. This is politics, not rugby — so the national state of mind should be governed by clear-headed questions, not by the hyperbole of triumph and disaster. We must keep a sense of perspective.
Columnists should generally resist the temptation to write about themselves. Unless purely comic, the column that begins "I want to tell you about my awful experience on the Guava Fruit Airline the other day" is a self-indulgent expropriation of a public space. But writing about the organisation that one has been employed by for 12 years is I hope forgiveable, especially if it seeks to make a broader point.
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/ 18 September 2007
Weak governments love to bitch and moan, blaming others for their own failings. One month the media, the next the judges. Strong governments get on with the business of governing, reserving their bile for those whose power permits them to frustrate government policy.
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/ 4 September 2007
The notion of having both a president and a prime minister is intriguing. It is also gathering some traction behind the scenes. The question, however, is whether it is attractive because it has genuine merit, or because it provides a way out of the appalling mire in which the African National Congress has immersed itself.
At the very moment when it should be offering a different approach to politics, the SACP has got itself into a right pickle on the money front. With Thabo Mbeki doing his very best King Lear impression — minus the truculent daughters, but replete with one-eyed errors of judgement — SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande is no less on the back foot.
It took the human species about one million years to reach a population of one billion. Nowadays, we add another billion at the rate of every 14 years. Whereas a century ago, only 10% of the population lived in cities, by 2050 it will be closer to 75%. Tens of thousands of people migrate to cities every day. New megacities are sprouting, many of them on coastlines.
Political diaries can be a damn good read — and they can also deepen our understanding of how power works. How nice by now to have had an insider’s account of the Mandela administration, or Mbeki’s. What a pity that someone like Pallo Jordan or Kader Asmal has not mustered the energy to produce a political memoir that sheds light on the choices made in the early years of democracy.
These are confusing times for freedom of expression. A national conversation is emerging, but it is as incoherent as it is at times immature. Both the government and the media are searching for a bit more nuance in their positions. Last weekend’s Cape Town Book Fair was a resounding celebration of both literary and intellectual freedom and endeavour.
Alongside the Oscar-winning performance by Helen Mirren, The Queen included cameo performances depicting the relationship between Tony Blair and his then-trusted lieutenant, Alastair Campbell. Unlike Mirren’s character, they were hopelessly implausible for one simple reason — the conspicuous absence of any profanity.
Most opposition leaders can enjoy the luxury of opposition: they can promise the world, free of the responsibility to deliver it. The new leader of the DA, Helen Zille, is in an unusual position. Wisely, she has decided to remain mayor of Cape Town. She is betting that the opportunity to match words with deeds outweighs the risk that her term as mayor will expose her utterances for empty rhetoric.