

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.
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- Comments (20)
Articles By This Author

Monumental questions: history, and what we’re doing about it
- By Michael Morris
- . Jun 21, 2020
When President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a virtual National Assembly exchange this week that ‘our people’ had been waiting ‘forever and a day’ for what

When the rage subsides
- By Michael Morris
- . Jun 14, 2020
When the global rage over the death in the United States of George Floyd subsides, as it will when life goes back to ‘normal’, it

The next crisis: SA’s choice
- By Michael Morris
- . Jun 7, 2020
From the word go, the Covid-19 crisis was always going to be about the future, if only because its biggest impact – the economic one

Lives and lucre: where the real vulnerability lies
- By Michael Morris
- . May 31, 2020
I wrote a column many years ago about growing up with the distinct impression that there was something unpleasant about money. Going on holiday as

The mask slips: why you use the jackboot
- By Michael Morris
- . May 17, 2020
I’m sure I’m not the only one worrying about the company Bheki Cele keeps. Some don’t have much choice, but all are at risk. It’s

ANC’s truth or consequences: aren’t we devils?
- By Michael Morris
- . May 10, 2020
Seldom before has a South African administration confronted so pressing a challenge to lead the country boldly towards a genuinely fresh and hopeful start, based

Race and the ANC: indifference and contempt
- By Michael Morris
- . May 3, 2020
I have never been convinced by the argument that contemporary race-based measures intended to empower and affirm black South Africans amount to ‘apartheid in reverse’,

Dangers that loom when a state reaches its limits
- By Michael Morris
- . Apr 26, 2020
Two things this week brought home to South Africans the potential reach of the state in defining the condition of national life – the government’s

Is the ANC losing its grip on the crisis?
- By Michael Morris
- . Apr 19, 2020
Sensible South Africans were dumbstruck on Friday by the news that a leading mining executive had been hauled before a court and made to pay

The crisis, and the recovery: what we can count on
- By Michael Morris
- . Apr 12, 2020
Policymakers in South Africa should be made to frame a 125-word passage from near the end of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s televised address on Friday evening