part of no part

If the right and the left can find sufficient common ground to coalesce around a single issue, as they are apparently doing with the Unite Against Corruption (UAC) march, then one would surely be forgiven if one were to come the conclusion that the centre is rotten to the core. Enough so to bring together disparate forces against a single contradiction that looms so overwhelmingly in the public conscience that they could put aside their own natural oppositions to unite in opposition to the rotten core.  But does the convergence of the left and the right provide an alternative? Well yes and no. No, because such a convergence is not manageable in the long term and can only be short-lived and tactical. It`s politically a non-starter. Yet this tactic has been employed in various forms and in varying degrees of success across the history of time. And Yes, because it brings people on to the streets. Change does not come about in the luxury of our armchairs and the st...

This is My Perspective: There is little doubt in my mind today that Joe had been the kernel force that gathered the momentum of the legend that Bonteheuwel has become in ANC political folklore. Bonteheuwel`s rich history of activism found its Shangri-La in the shadows of Joe`s presence. The 1980`s were turbulent times. The energy that surged through black civil society had reached breakout point and young people all across the country were swept up in the urgency and promise of the moment. I entered the feared streets of Bonteheuwel as a 15 year old fresh from leading a student rebellion at a Mitchells Plain School. Our efforts led to the election of an SRC and our school joining others in defying the Apartheid regime.  Through a twist of fate my family got the opportunity to move from Tafelsig to Bonteheuwel just as the police were closing in on me. So there I was, a stranger in strange world. But it wasn’t long before the student leadership of Bonteheuwel ...

With the community of Ga-Mapela, who are affected by the AngloPlats Mogalakwena mine, in a state of uprising, the temptation to accept ready made answers to a decades long reality of dispossession and exclusion is somewhat understandable but wholly inadequate. The response from Anglo Platinum to the outpouring of rage and anger by the youth of the surrounding villages, has been to narrow the focus of news reports and public dialogue to one of divisions within the community and unreasonable demands of the youth. The reality is far more complex and has a history which stretches back to 1991 when Anglo first established an operation in the area. This particular mine has since stood out more for its record profitability than its impact on the local community. From the outset, the communities, which today surround the most profitable platinum mine in the world, were in conflict with the mine. In 2003 seven thousand residents of Ga-Pila were forcibly removed to make way for t...

If the intention of the Mining Industry Growth and Development Task Team was to save jobs, or heaven forbid, create jobs, then the Tripartite Agreement reached between the exclusive club of the Chamber of Mines, Government and NUM has failed on all accounts. A couple of weeks ago I warned that the current “crises” imposed on us, while certainly part of the global cyclical downturn, will more likely be used as leverage to further protect the profits of shareholders while transferring the social costs to the South African public. The Ten Point Plan has certainly not produced any evidence to suggest that this analysis is unwarranted. In fact it confirms that the measures introduced with much fanfare, and trumpeted in the Media as a “welcome” attempt to “save” the industry, is little less than an expensive effort to hoodwink the public. Despite a few contrarian views, most economists, based on the Keynesian models of full employment, will agree that the path to job creation...