Opinion Archives - Page 9 of 13

Gunboat Diplomacy, De-Dollarisation and the Strait of Hormuz

23Mar

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Gunboat Diplomacy, De-Dollarisation and the Strait of Hormuz

By Charles Matseke: US President Donald Trump (Image: Facebook) As the Trump moment deepens into what can only be described as a sustained departure from both international law and conventional presidential conduct, global partners are increasingly forced to navigate an environment defined by both coercion and choice. What began as an “America First” recalibration has evolved into a foreign policy doctrine marked by unilateralism, executive improvisation and institutional disengagement. One that, as earlier analyses suggest, has already inflicted lasting damage on U.S. credibility and global leadership. In its current form, this approach, captured in what some have termed a revival of “gunboat diplomacy” or even the emerging “Donroe Doctrine” prioritises press...

Rights Are Not Enough: Towards a South Africa Where People Truly Flourish

21Mar

By News SANo Comments

Lifestyle, Opinion

Rights Are Not Enough: Towards a South Africa Where People Truly Flourish

By Prof. Narnia Bohler-Muller: On 21 March 1960, sixty-nine people were killed at Sharpeville for daring to assert their humanity. Sixty-six years later, we pause to honour that moment and to take stock of the constitutional democracy emerging from its ashes. Our Constitution is a remarkable document. It enshrines justiciable socioeconomic rights, commits the state to transformation, and opens with a founding value that has no equivalent in any other constitutional order: human dignity. And yet, for the majority of South Africans, the distance between the rights they hold on paper and the lives they are able to live remains vast, stubborn, and morally intolerable. This Human Rights Day, I want to suggest that the problem is not only one of implementati...

WAR OF ATTRITION: Iran’s Battle Game Plan Shocks US, Devastates Israel

18Mar

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

WAR OF ATTRITION: Iran’s Battle Game Plan Shocks US, Devastates Israel

By Nelvis Qekema: There will be very few people in the world who would not cheer Iran up for daring to stand up to the psychopathic Trump and oil-thirsty US imperialism. AZAPO is part of those political forces that stand with Iran against this imperialist aggression. A unipolar world is undesirable. Substantive multilateralism is the way to go. Though they would ideologically support the bombing and destruction of Iran by the US and Israel, even the NATO countries are embarrassed and distancing themselves from Trump's illegal war against Iran. Sanctions Fail to Drain Russia’s Strong Power Trump treated these European countries like rubbish during the Russo-Ukraine conflict, from which the US profited by selling arms, and hoping that the con...

Justice Cannot Wait: What CSW70 Means for Africa in an Age of Gender Backlash

15Mar

By News SANo Comments

International, Opinion

Justice Cannot Wait: What CSW70 Means for Africa in an Age of Gender Backlash

By Professor Narnia Bohler-Muller: The gender equality agenda does not reset every year with a new host country, but it accumulates, or it erodes, says the writer. (Image: Freepik) When the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) opened at United Nations headquarters in New York on 9 March, the world witnessed something unprecedented in seven decades of multilateral gender diplomacy. The Agreed Conclusions, which have traditionally been adopted by consensus, were instead passed by recorded vote: 37 in favour, 1 against (the United States), with 6 abstentions. The applause that erupted in the General Assembly Hall was a political declaration. For those of us working on gender equality from the Global South, that moment crystallised some...

Bombs in the Gulf, Billions on the Move: Will Cape Town Benefit from the Conflict?

15Mar

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Bombs in the Gulf, Billions on the Move: Will Cape Town Benefit from the Conflict?

As missiles fly between Iran, Israel and the United States, the real battle may be unfolding in oil markets, investor confidence, and the global flow of capital—from the Strait of Hormuz to cities as far away as Cape Town. By Zola Pinda: Mansour Shakib Mehr, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to South Africa, making a statement on the recent attacks by Israeli and U.S. regimes against Iran during the press conference held in Pretoria, South Africa, on 4 March 2026 While bombs rain across the Strait of Hormuz, investors are already fleeing, luxury capital is on the move, and cities like Cape Town are quietly positioning themselves as the world’s next safe havens. Two weeks into the war between Iran and the coalition led by the United States and Israel, m...

ROADS, RESOURCES AND RENEWAL: The Northern Cape is Open for Business

7Mar

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

ROADS, RESOURCES AND RENEWAL: The Northern Cape is Open for Business

By Zandisile Luphahla: Roads are a top priority in the Northern Cape as arteries that facilitate the flow of the economy. (Image: Supplied by Department) Dr Saul's 2026 State of the Province Address and President Ramaphosa's SONA are not simply aligned - they are two parts of the same bold national project. As the Department of Roads and Public Works, we are proud to be at the centre of delivering that project for the people of the Northern Cape. There are moments in governance when everything comes into alignment - when a national vision and a provincial plan speak in the same language, point in the same direction, and call upon the same institutions to deliver. The 2026 State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the 2026 State of the Province Addres...

Robert Mangaliso Sobukhwe University: Reclaiming Our African Identity and Depicting Our Heroes’ Resilience and Resistance

6Mar

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Robert Mangaliso Sobukhwe University: Reclaiming Our African Identity and Depicting Our Heroes’ Resilience and Resistance

By George Tsibani: University of Fort Hare at Alice (Image: Fort Hare website) Renaming heritage sites, towns, streets, and universities is a significant step in reclaiming African identity and acknowledging the resilience and resistance of our heroes and heroines. This process is not merely about changing names, but about reclaiming our lost identity and moving away from colonial narratives and the related lie of 1652, retribalisation and tribalism disguised under the current neoliberalism. Dr. JJ Klaas KaNcilashe aptly articulates the rationale behind renaming, emphasizing the importance of honouring those who fought for freedom and justice. Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, a prominent anti-apartheid leader and founder of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), is a...

When Regulation Fails, People Die.-Joburg’s Building Collapse is a National Wake-Up Call

5Mar

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

When Regulation Fails, People Die.-Joburg’s Building Collapse is a National Wake-Up Call

By Lungelo Dlamini: The building that collapsed in Ormonde. (Image: SABC) The tragic collapse of a building in Ormonde, Johannesburg, which claimed the lives of six construction workers and left others missing, has revealed a chilling truth about governance, regulation, and accountability in our cities. According to the municipal manager, no approved plans were found for the structure that fell, raising disturbing questions about how buildings are authorised, constructed, and monitored in South Africa’s largest metropolis. What should have been a routine construction site tragically turned into a death trap because the most basic regulatory safeguard, approved architectural and structural plans, appears to be absent or unaccounted for. This is more than an administrati...

Budget 2026: Budgets allocate money. Accountability delivers results.

2Mar

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

Budget 2026: Budgets allocate money. Accountability delivers results.

By Lungelo Dlamini: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivering the budget speech. (Image: Parliament) The 2026 Budget Speech painted a picture of recovery, reform, and renewed discipline. From health and education to infrastructure, policing, social grants, and economic growth, the government set out ambitious plans for the year ahead. Billions have been allocated across departments. Yet for many South Africans citizen, daily life still feels marked by overcrowded hospitals, struggling schools, unreliable infrastructure, rising crime, and limited economic opportunity. The central question is no longer what is promised. It is whether those promises are matched by visible accountability and measurable results. In health, more than R280 billion has been all...

28Feb

By News SANo Comments

Opinion

ANC must reject racial theories

By George Tsibani: ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula and National Chair, Gwede Mantashe. (Image: MyANC /Fikile Mbalula Facebook page) 1. Purpose The purpose of this analysis is to critically examine the African National Congress's (ANC) trajectory and its implications for South Africa's future, with a focus on the persistence of colonial narratives and racial capitalism. 2. Introduction and Background The ANC, once a champion of non-racialism and non-sexism, appears to have deviated from its foundational ethos, values, and principles. The party's shift towards regionalism, cronyism, factionalism, greed, corruption, and male chauvinism is reminiscent of Nkrumah's National Liberation Political Party in Ghana. This trend risks vindicating colonial narrat...