Background This is a summary of my analysis of the news from of the weekend press (August 19) – and radio and TV commentary – concerning the events in which 34 striking miners were killed by police last Thursday (August 16) at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in Northwest Province. (Written Sunday night, so some new factsContinue reading “Marikana – ways of seeing”
Category Archives: populism
My growing worries about the ANC’s plans for economic intervention
Remember kaleidoscopes? Basically a tube that you held up towards a light and peered through as if it was a telescope? But unlike kid’s telescopes – which, like kid’s microscopes, were blurry and disappointing and stupid – the kaleidoscope was a device of astonishing power and beauty. The point for my six-year-old self who received his first kaleidoscope for a birthday, probably,Continue reading “My growing worries about the ANC’s plans for economic intervention”
Zuma was to Polokwane what Malema hopes to be to Mangaung
Doesn’t the Julius Malema saga feel so familiar? Remember how the Jacob Zuma campaign seemed to transform each new obstacle placed in his path into fuel for his political train that eventually steamed triumphant into Polokwane in December 2007? The fact that he was known far and wide as hopelessly incapable of moderating his sexualContinue reading “Zuma was to Polokwane what Malema hopes to be to Mangaung”
Beat the dog till the owner comes out
Tokyo comes out to defend Julius Malema in the disciplinary hearing? To be followed by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Tony Yengeni? It is an almost too perfect reversal of Julius Malema’s own metaphor after his victory at the Eastern Cape provincial conference of the ANC Youth League in August 2010: “We will never surrender to Blade.Continue reading “Beat the dog till the owner comes out”
Game of Thrones in the ANC
A good friend of mine in New York* recently put me on to “A Song of Ice and Fire” – a seemingly endless series of swords and sorcery novels by George R R Martin. This is the crack cocaine of fantasy fiction but it is also a surprisingly brilliant study of politics and power vacuums.Continue reading “Game of Thrones in the ANC”
Nationalisation revisited revisited … if you know what I mean
In case anyone was wondering if I had disappeared into the ether: I have been seriously busy and have had no time to post on the blog. If you were paying extra attention, you may have noticed that a post reviewing the nationalisation of mines debate appeared and disappeared a few weeks ago. My mistakeContinue reading “Nationalisation revisited revisited … if you know what I mean”
Julius Malema and predicting the future you want
The déjà vu is washing over me like the phantom symptoms of a late winter bout of hypochondria. I remember the lead-up to Polokwane. The thuggish crowds outside Jacob Zuma’s court appearances. The man we had known was in Shaik’s pockets since 1993, he who famously couldn’t keep it in his pants, the rape accusedContinue reading “Julius Malema and predicting the future you want”
‘Economic Freedom’ debate rescued from hijackers
Two brief thoughts – on a rainy Cape Town Sunday: Firstly – a by-product of Malema’s (possible) retreat I have a feeling that debates ranging from mine nationalisation, land distribution and continued white economic dominance in the South African economy have just been saved from the gangsters in the ANC Youth League who have beenContinue reading “‘Economic Freedom’ debate rescued from hijackers”
Of course Cosatu wants to nationalise the mines!
Wouldn’t you want to have a job for life as a public servant, with guaranteed medical and benefits in a parastatal company that government would push up borrowing and taxation to keep afloat no matter what? Of course you would – any of us would … just like the Greeks did up until very recently.Continue reading “Of course Cosatu wants to nationalise the mines!”
Neither the best nor worst of all possible worlds
Arrived late last night in New York from London (and Edinburgh and Frankfurt) and the lag means I am only going to want to fall asleep at exactly the time it will be most unsuitable to do so. I have been travelling (for Indian owned Religare Capital Markets, where I have a new berth) withContinue reading “Neither the best nor worst of all possible worlds”
The communists have got this right
Here’s something important to read and understand. From a South African Communist Party Central Committee statement released today – I just caught it on Politicsweb here. You can disagree with the communists about a range of points of strategy and of principle, but they accurately and urgently identify populism as exemplified by the ANC YouthContinue reading “The communists have got this right”
Nic Borain 