Analysts have, by and large, fallen into two misguided camps: those who have breathlessly proclaimed a "sea change" or "watershed” election.
The results of the May 18 elections will indicate whether the Democratic Alliance can continue to grow.
South Africa should take advantage of international initiatives to ensure transparency, writes <b>Richard Calland</b>.
The antics of Arsenal’s eccentric manager echo the behaviour of our former president — both are stubborn, with King Lear-like blind spots.
A judiciary in transition requires the leadership of Sandile Ngcobo, writes <b>Richard Calland</b>.
Trevor Manuel has a giant task ahead of the Durban climate change talks and he seems sufficiently angry to take on powerful interest groups.
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/ 25 February 2011
For Jacob Zuma a possible dilemma presents itself. Zuma visited the Libyan tyrant at least once and presumably it wasn’t to drink tea.
This may be the year in which, on the corruption front, South Africa faces its "TRC moment" writes <b>Richard Calland</b>
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/ 8 December 2010
Wikileaks is a symptom of the recalibration of global power relations.
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/ 19 November 2010
Perhaps it is Fifa World Cup syndrome — a combination of complacency and a blasé attitude — or just South Africans’ tendency to wake up late to big things, but at the moment there is absolutely no apparent recognition of the importance, scale and intensity of the event that South Africa will be hosting in a year’s time.
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/ 22 October 2010
<strong>Richard Calland</strong> says: "Something potentially very remarkable, and very significant, is happening to civil society in South Africa"
The ‘liberal’ media isn’t responsible for any of our social ills and attacking it won’t solve them.
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/ 28 September 2010
Helen Zille, like the nincompoop ANC Youth League leader, should keep her eye firmly on 2019, argues <b>Richard Calland</b>.
Mongrel political organisations are always likely to yield mongrel politics and policy, says <b>Richard Calland</b>.
Having read them all, I am none the wiser as to the role that the ruling party sees for the state, writes <b>Richard Calland</b>.
Were we acting? Was it just an act? It was a Zimbabwean who put the right question with such precision, writes <b>Richard Calland</b>.
To have lost 3-0 would have been better, far better, than this. Sport, mirroring life, can be cruel. Very cruel, writes <b>Richard Calland</b>.
I now realise that the vuvuzela is to these World Cup blogs what Julius Malema is to my political columns, writes <b>Richard Calland</b>.
Business is now waking up to the fact that its preoccupation with the "left" was misplaced; the real dangers come from the "right".
The assumption in many quarters is that the core business of Trevor Manuel’s National Planning Commission will be "smart growth".
SA’s democracy is suffering from the absence of transparency and a complete lack of regulation of private funding, argues two analysts.
<b>Richard Calland</b>: People must stop waiting and become active citizens in their demands for fairness and equality and accountable governance.
selling South Africa has become a very difficult task since January. Something happened that tipped the balance, turned market opinion.
The failure to comply with the law and to make a timely disclosure of his outside financial interests is symptomatic of this institutional malaise.
The ANC’s enthusiasm for Zuma has dropped to such depths that some are already saying he should go, and go now.
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/ 5 February 2010
The State of the Nation speech Jacob Zuma will not be giving on Thursday February 11.
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/ 30 October 2009
The new finance minister’s common-sense tone has introduced a subtle shift in power relations within government.
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/ 21 September 2009
Richard Calland’s open letter to the minister in the presidency: national planning, Trevor Manuel.
There is a "glasnost" emanating from the higher reaches of the Zuma government that is as refreshing as it is welcome.
The opening, last week, of the nominations process for the four upcoming vacancies at the Constitutional Court was a welcome relief.
We have moved not from a "Thabo Mbeki government" to a "Jacob Zuma"
He may not be a bad man; and his government may do good things. But the long-term impact is as simple as it is severe.