part of no part

While the public is treated to displays of economic patriotism and talk of investor confidence, a much darker truth lies buried beneath South Africa’s mineral wealth, one more corrosive than acid mine drainage or declining commodity prices. It is a truth masked by three-course dinners, glossy stakeholder reports, and an unholy alliance between corporate mining giants and political elites. That truth is greed . Greed is not just a moral failing; it is the most significant and immediate risk facing South Africa’s mining sector today. The Elite Consensus: Feeding at the Table While the Country Starves In the past weeks, we’ve seen an almost farcical performance play out. At the very moment when mining-affected communities are calling for justice, transparency, and accountability, the Minerals Council of South Africa, with the full support of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR), hosts a high-profile dinner in Cape Town, inviting selected stakeholders to wine and di...

  South Africans watched with mixed emotions this week as the Democratic Alliance (DA) erupted in righteous indignation over Minister Nobuhle Nkabane’s handling of the Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) board appointments. With television cameras rolling and social media abuzz, the DA declared its intent to lay criminal charges against the Minister for allegedly lying to Parliament, manipulating processes to benefit politically connected individuals, and undermining public accountability. Their call for her resignation was loud, their outrage carefully packaged for public consumption. As someone deeply involved in the struggle to amplify the voices of marginalised and affected communities across the country, I must say: I welcome this sudden crisis of conscience. I welcome any genuine effort to hold power accountable, to demand ethical conduct, and to call out the abuse of public office. But I also lament the crushing hypocrisy that cloaks this display. Because for ...

South Africa stands at another historic crossroads. The announcement of a new Five Hundred Million Rand National Dialogue has been presented by President Cyril Ramaphosa as a renewal of the spirit that guided the early 1990s negotiations. Those original dialogues were painful but focused, and they helped dismantle the legal framework of apartheid and establish formal democracy. However, a retrospective analysis of that transition makes clear that while the political system of racial rule by a minority was ended, the economic and social foundations of apartheid, namely inequality, landlessness, and extraction, were left untouched. The 1990’s negotiated settlement was an elite pact at best, and one would be hard pressed to be more charitable without being ahistorical. In its final analysis, it was an agreement between anti-apartheid political leaders and economic power holders that political power could be transferred so long as economic power remained intact. The result was democracy ...