
Michael Morris
IRR head of media Michael Morris was a newspaper journalist from 1979 to 2017, covering, among other things, the international campaign against apartheid, from London, and, as a political correspondent in Cape Town, South Africa’s transition to democracy. He has written three books, the last being Apartheid, An Illustrated History, and has an MA in Creative Writing from UCT. He writes a fortnightly column in Business Day.
- Total Post (107)
- Comments (22)
Articles By This Author

Wanting too little, getting less
- By Michael Morris
- . Oct 24, 2021
Politics in South Africa seemed set for a welcome spell of uncertainty in 2008 when ANC dissidents broke away to form a new opposition movement.

The hurdle of uncertainty – a reprise
- By Michael Morris
- . Oct 10, 2021
Last Sunday, I cautioned against the temptation to underestimate the uncertainty in millions of voters’ minds about choosing a different future for want of sufficient

The hurdle of uncertainty
- By Michael Morris
- . Oct 3, 2021
Instinctively, I’ve always thought it mistaken to think that voters are foolish even when it seems obvious that their political choices do them harm instead

Freedom vs fanaticism
- By Michael Morris
- . Sep 12, 2021
Over a coffee and a pre-editorial conference cigarette, I was doing a crossword in the smoking room on the fourth floor of Newspaper House in

Time to focus on what we are ‘for’
- By Michael Morris
- . Sep 5, 2021
There is no doubt that the battle for a better South Africa is intensifying, and that resistance to deficient policy and failing governance – and

Crisis? Let’s hope so
- By Michael Morris
- . Aug 29, 2021
‘The South African economy is experiencing an economic crisis manifested in the collapse of investment and economic growth, as well as the further deterioration of

The grammar of freedom and possibility
- By Michael Morris
- . Aug 22, 2021
It’s a little over an hour-and-a-half long, but if you can find the time for it, I assure you the rewards of watching Stephen Fry’s

Beating bigotry
- By Michael Morris
- . Aug 15, 2021
‘(There) is … in the world at large an increasing inclination to stretch unduly the powers of society over the individual, both by the force

Guns, principles, and SA’s uncivilised condition
- By Michael Morris
- . Jul 25, 2021
The challenge confronting people – and, to be honest, I am one of them – who are unsettled by the notion that the right to

Overblown, ironic and wrong – a reply to the Brookes grandchildren
- By Michael Morris
- . Jul 22, 2021
At the very start of South Africa’s lockdown just over 480 days ago, I described a discomforting insight that has a direct bearing on the