Opinion Archives - Page 2 of 13

THE DEMOCRACY MANGCU WANTS MUST RECKON WITH THE INSTITUTIONS WE DISMANTLED

18Aug

By News SA1 Comment

Opinion

THE DEMOCRACY MANGCU WANTS MUST RECKON WITH THE INSTITUTIONS WE DISMANTLED

Professor Mangcu is right that South Africa needs a more capable democracy. But capability, merit and institutional integrity require us to confront the political choices that weakened the state in the first place. BY ZOLA PINDA: Former s National Assembly Speaker, Baleka Mbete, who presided over the parliamentary session where the ANC decision to dissolve the Scorpions was translated into legislation. (Image: IOL) Professor Xolela Mangcu has posed an important question: what kind of democracy can survive when the institutions of the democratic state lose competence, integrity and public trust? His recent argument for a “meritocratic democracy” is provocative precisely because it challenges the comfortable assumption that elections, p...

17Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Word of the Week: PODIUM

BY SELLO HATANG: Every athlete dreams of standing on the podium: the medal around their neck, the national anthem playing and the crowd applauding. It is the moment the world sees. Yet nobody begins on the podium. Before the podium come the early mornings, exhausting training sessions, painful defeats, discipline, sacrifice and countless hours of work when nobody is watching. There are injuries to overcome, doubts to silence and disappointments that test whether the dream is strong enough to survive. The medal may be won in seconds, but the journey towards it often takes years. The podium is therefore not simply a platform for celebrating victory. It is a monument to preparation. It reminds us that success is rarely an event. ...

Tokoza and Phola Park Veterans: A Call for Recognition, Accountability, Peace and Dignity for the Communities

17Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Tokoza and Phola Park Veterans: A Call for Recognition, Accountability, Peace and Dignity for the Communities

BY NDZIPO THEMBANI KALIPA: 'No Peace' sign symbolises the past wars at Tokoza township's Khumalo Street. Photo taken shortly before South Africa's first democratic elections in April 1994.(Image: by Joao Silva/DigitalJournalist/Digitalfilmmaker) The veterans of Tokoza and Phola Park, including former ANC-aligned Liberation Peace Corps members, have expressed deep frustration about the neglect of their communities and the failure to recognise the contribution they made during the political violence and township struggles of the 1990s. These veterans and residents believe that since 1994, their constituencies have not received the level of service delivery, recognition, and leadership they deserve. In response to this frustration, the communit...

A BROTHERS’ COVENANT OF BLOOD: ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.’

16Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

A BROTHERS’ COVENANT OF BLOOD: ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.’

The blood of the womb furnished me with a family. The blood of the covenant, however, bestowed upon me brothers who have endured the test of time. BY MBANGWA XABA Mbangwa Xaba, the writer I have spent the better part of my life wrestling with the true meaning of family. As a boy, I subscribed to the conventional wisdom: family was a birthright, sealed by blood, etched into a surname, and anchored to the roof under which you were raised. I assumed, as most children do, that those bound to you by lineage would be the very ones to shield you when the world turned hostile. Sometimes, the people who rescue you are not those who share your DNA. Sometimes, kinship is not bestowed at birth—it is forged in the crucible of hardship. It i...

THE SAMA’S EMPTY SEATS: When a national awards show forgot to sell itself

16Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

THE SAMA’S EMPTY SEATS: When a national awards show forgot to sell itself

BY KATLEGO RAMMUSA: There is something deeply painful about walking into an awards ceremony that was once the pride of the North West and seeing empty seats staring back at the stage. The South African Music Awards (SAMA’s) returned to the North West for a homecoming edition, but instead of witnessing the electricity, glamour and excitement that once defined the ceremony, what stood out was the absence of people. Empty seats. Missing nominees. Missing winners. And, perhaps most painfully, an audience that seemed unaware that the biggest music awards ceremony in the country was even happening. That should worry everyone. A week before the SAMAs, a friend called me and casually told me that he did not even know the aw...

WHEN LEGACY BECOMES INHERITANCE: MADLANGA, FORT HARE AND THE STUDENTS WHO WILL WRITE WHAT COMES NEXT

13Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

WHEN LEGACY BECOMES INHERITANCE: MADLANGA, FORT HARE AND THE STUDENTS WHO WILL WRITE WHAT COMES NEXT

The Moot offers more than a tribute to a jurist, it offers a platform for intellectual succession. BY ZOLA PINDA: Professor Mzukisi Njotini and the students' photograph, argues the writer, captures the relationship of a jurist representing accumulated legal experience, the Dean representing academic stewardship and the students representing the future. Beyond the Ceremony On 7 August 2026, at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga stood before a generation of young law students whose professional lives may extend well into the second half of this century. The occasion was the launch of the Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga International Moot Court Competition, an initiative of Fort Hare’s Faculty ...

Africa Shows Interest In China’s Latest Planning Model

11Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Africa Shows Interest In China’s Latest Planning Model

By Thobile Jiwulane: There is an ongoing discussion among experts and decision-makers in Africa regarding whether China's development planning and implementation model should be applied to address Africa's development challenges. The debate is not about whether the Chinese model is suitable or not; it is about how it should adopted and remodelled to suit Africa's needs and circumstances, considering the continent's challenges of underdevelopment and stagnant growth. There is consensus about the need to act with urgency and consistency, if the continent is to be rescued from its quagmire An estimated 100 people comprising academics, senior politicians from the majority African National Congress party, state functionaries, Universi...

9Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Word of the Week: INVESTMENT

By Sello Hatang: We often think of investment in the language of money: deposits, interest, returns, assets and growth. We think about what we put away today so that it may become more tomorrow. But some of life’s greatest investments will never appear on a balance sheet, earn interest in a bank account or be measured by a financial statement. Every day, whether we realise it or not, we are investing something. We invest our time in people. We invest our energy in dreams. We invest our trust in relationships. We invest knowledge in the next generation. We invest love in our families and friendships. Sometimes, we invest hope in possibilities for which there is absolutely no guarantee of a return. The question, therefore, is not...

Prestige on the World Stage, Confusion in the Township

6Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Prestige on the World Stage, Confusion in the Township

South Africa is preparing to host BRICS Business Forum in Sandton while its own black entrepreneurs remain unfunded, unprotected and structurally peripheral to the very opportunity being celebrated By Zola Phila : Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams. Image: SABC I have worked inside government. I have written ministerial performance reports, strategic plans and budget vote inputs. I have prepared parliamentary questions alongside technical officials and directors-general who were custodians of public funds — where ministers presented political direction but had no authority to interfere with procurement, programme design or financial accountability. I know what functional government looks like from the ...

Fort Hare Is the Latest Crisis — A National Question About University Governance and Accountability

5Aug

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Fort Hare Is the Latest Crisis — A National Question About University Governance and Accountability

I have written on Fort Hare on several occasions because I believe its challenges represent more than an individual institutional difficulty. They raise broader questions about governance, accountability and the ability of our public institutions to correct themselves when they experience serious challenges. This article seeks to move the discussion beyond personalities and immediate disputes. It applies an approach often associated with President Thabo Mbeki’s public policy thinking: before prescribing solutions, there must first be a deeper understanding of the nature of the problem, its historical causes and the conditions that allow challenges to persist. The purpose of this contribution is not to prejudge ongoing processes, investigations or individuals. It is to encourage a serious n...