Navi Pillay’s Nobel Prize and the question of impartiality
Navi Pillay's contribution to international justice deserves recognition. But the Nobel Committee's praise for her independence invites closer examination of the UN commission she chaired.
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South Africa has to earn the title of middle power
On 14 October India’s foreign minister, S Jaishankar, said that India is uncomfortable with the label “middle power”. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, he pointed to the world’s largest population, an economy of about $4
Make America great again
Is the idea that Americans who value free markets and small government should vote Republican still valid?
SAPS showed Parliament the “wrong conviction rate”, leaving thousands of unsolved murders unaccounted for
Across South Africa, dedicated detectives and police officers are fighting tooth and nail against violent crime. Many carry crushing caseloads, work under enormous pressure and put their lives at risk to protect communities. They want to arrest dangerous criminals, build
Rake back loot first
Martin Schonteich is a consultant with the Institute for Security Studies, a former SA prosecutor and a well-respected expert on countering the corrupt. He has opined for Polity on this thorny topic and Legalbrief Today has conveniently summarised his views
Will recipients of Ramaphosa’s land deal be real owners, or just tenants?
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) says President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of the release of state land into the hands of new farmers is to be welcome, but remains perturbed about whether “the goal is to create owners or merely
The BEE delusion: why South Africans are ready for true transformation
Criticisms of black economic empowerment (BEE) intensified in 2026, spurred on by evidence in a recently surfaced 2015 report that some 60% of the net value redistributed by pre-2014 ownership deals in mining had gone to around 46 BEE companies
Health department PR spend is sobering in light of anti-tobacco work
In a “blink and you’ll miss it” flash in the pan late in September, it was reported that the health department had spent some R182 million on health “communications” and events, before the news cycle rotated onwards.
What’s with Peter Thiel and the Antichrist?
Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist, technology entrepreneur and political powerbroker (and one of the mega-tech-bro cabal), has developed a weird preoccupation, even an obsession. It is the Antichrist. So disturbed is Thiel by him (it?) that he now frequently