Author Archives: nicborain

The Black Management Forum speaks from the heart of what it is

The Black Management Forum (BMF) is competing with the ANC Youth League to represent those who wish to gouge economic advantage from transformation and  bulldoze every law, institution, practice and idea that stands between them and the smorgasbord. Listen to the BMF president Jimmy Manyi at a recent conference hosted by his organisation as heContinue reading “The Black Management Forum speaks from the heart of what it is”

A church so broad belief is optional is not all bad

I have often pointed out that the ANC’s clever- clever populism allows it to be all things to all people. I have mostly meant that that is a bad thing. It is a legitimate question to ask: what are Julius Malema and  Barbara Hogan (to name two arbitrary ANC leaders) doing at the same table?Continue reading “A church so broad belief is optional is not all bad”

The ANC is (still) the prize

Why setting back Julius Malema is important Julius Malema has received a body blow and is reeling about the ring. I mostly want to discuss why this is important – beyond the obvious reasons that drive the obsessive media focus on the grandiose little ANC Youth League President. But first a bit of context: AsContinue reading “The ANC is (still) the prize”

London Calling

Herewith a note I wrote a week ago for a South African client concerning a recent whip around the London fund management industry Foreign fund managers perceptions of South African political risk I recently had an opportunity to interact with a few London-based global emerging market fund managers. These were generally from long-only equity funds,Continue reading “London Calling”

The fearful symmetry of Terre’Blanche and Malema

I don’t really have time for this, but the moment seems to insist. So: I awoke this morning to a world framed as if by an immortal hand or eye. The bludgeoning to death of Eugène Terre’Blanche together with the Zimbabwe public display by Julius Malema feels like a tableau arranged by a naughty godContinue reading “The fearful symmetry of Terre’Blanche and Malema”

Highly recommended …

Two very recent articles: The first by David Brooks from the New York Times entitled The Return of History (a dig at Francis Fukuyama’s deeply mistaken The End of History and the Last Man – 1992). He constructs the history of Economics as a play in 5 acts. Act I is about a  discipline thatContinue reading “Highly recommended …”

The Monsters Ball

Take a look-see at the names that are linked in Evelyn Groenink’s excellent story about IT billionaire Robert Gumede’s wedding to Dr Portia Mkhize in Nelspruit last weekend. Ignore if you can the author’s articulate disgust at the complacent and self-satisfied comrade billionaires and their squeezes grunting at the golden trough while Leandra burns. ThinkContinue reading “The Monsters Ball”

The hidden hand in service delivery protests

It is starting to be whispered that there is a “hidden hand” in the service delivery protests*. The problem (of the protests) is serious and threatening and government is starting to worry about high-profile violence during the World Cup. These protest share a strong crossover constituency and architecture with the xenophobic violence that occurred MayContinue reading “The hidden hand in service delivery protests”

The productive classes versus the unproductive classes

As promised another occasional slide that illustrates a major theme of the moment. I have put the meat into the caption – note the reversion to some traditional Marxist theory … fractions of capital and the working class fighting to wield the state?  Was that Althusser or Nicos Poulantzas … hmm, no, for them theContinue reading “The productive classes versus the unproductive classes”

The new songsheet of the Left

A quick run through documents and press statement emanating from the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party reveals the existence of a new ‘song sheet’ our crimson brethren have devised to help them sing in tune with each other. This is something more than a coordinated set of slogansContinue reading “The new songsheet of the Left”

Cosatu and the ANC: the fat’s in the fire

I have been sitting on this for a few days partly because Cosatu’s Central Executive Committee statement on Thursday last week and the ANC response are as harsh as we have seen – and that includes the tone of voice that accompanied Cosatu’s huge strike against ‘Mbeki’s privatisation’ in 2002. Cosatu has a long andContinue reading “Cosatu and the ANC: the fat’s in the fire”

Who can say what the future holds for Zuma?

Will Zuma serve a second term? Will he serve out his first term? Who dares give an answer to these questions? Oh, alight I will. I have burned myself before by being a little too sure and a lot too wrong about what the future holds. Analysts like myself are constantly encouraged to take aContinue reading “Who can say what the future holds for Zuma?”

Eskom, the ANC, government and public trust

The extreme nature of the reaction to the electricity price increase is about a number of things, perhaps most obviously: the public and institutional suspicion that the crisis in Eskom is due to cronyism at a management level and looting via tender abuse by a politically connected elite, and the Great Recession has left theContinue reading “Eskom, the ANC, government and public trust”

Stalin, Trotsky, Hitler, Malema, Cronin and FW

Aside from the most satisfying stitching up of the ANC Youth League president there were two other excellent bits floating up through the dross of the weekend news; both from the excellent http://www.timeslive.co.za. Firstly, Ray Hartley (editor of The Times and the Times Live website and author of the exceptional blog The Wild Frontier) interviewedContinue reading “Stalin, Trotsky, Hitler, Malema, Cronin and FW”