kameraad mhambi

South Africa might really be a gansters’s paradise. Glen Anglioti’s evidence before Justice Joffe in the Gauteng supreme court has been fascinating and makes for grand political theatre. How boring British politics seem by comparison.
“…Agliotti has mostly been composed and eloquent, speaking in the same controlled tone about the murder of Brett Kebble and his [...]

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Mark Gevisser signing, originally uploaded by BOOKphotoSA.
Four of the most eloquent, interesting and analytical South African writers are in my humble opinion, Rian Malan, Xolela Mangcu, Jonny Steinberg and Mark Gevisser.
Of these I have only met the enigmatic wild child Rian Malan. So I was very excited last night when I had the opportunity to [...]

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Kameraad Mhambi is not alone in his opinion that the South Africa middle-classes, the press and the mink set, underestimate Jacob Zuma. Jeremy Gordin published an excellent article, titled: Its time to take Zuma seriously.
He was as amused as I by the opposition parties’ and press’s response to Zuma’s opening adres to parliament.

Why was this?
Why [...]

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This is an exciting election.
So says Jacob Zuma on the eve of the South African election.

Watching Zuma field questions is very different from watching Mbeki do the same. To qoute Alec Russell from the Financial Times:
“When I interviewed him after his election as ANC leader, he answered 30 questions in an hour – five times [...]

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There has been heated debate about Jacob Zuma in and outside of South Africa.
The most sober assessment I could find has been that of the Financial Times.
It says that Zuma could be a Ronald Reagan. A popular man of the people. But as with many others doubts linger for the FT as well…
If South [...]

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You hear this question all the time. The country is a mess. Corrupt to the core and its the poor bearing the brunt. It’s the ANC’s fault. Zuma himself is corrupt. Yet why the hell do they – the poor balck masses – still vote for the man?
There is a subtext: They can’t think for [...]

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You don’t have to look long or hard to get more than a bit worried. Worried that many in the Zuma ANC will behave like Mr. Mbeki’s ANC.
It’s just too easy to be pessimistic – Carl Niehaus’s hiring as ANC spokesmen in spite of the fact that the ANC knew of his propensity to lie, [...]

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