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Why lowering the temperature is important

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Anyone thinking that making the multi-party government work would be simple, would have been disabused by the events of the past few weeks. Leaked correspondence,

A National Dialogue: don’t mistake mythology for capacity

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Forming a Government of National Unity has been hailed as a significant achievement, a herald of the “better angels” of our nature.  The travails around

What’s in a word? A great deal and not much at all

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In my piece following the election, I referred to the Economic Freedom Fighters and uMkhonto weSizwe as “the left”.  I received some pushback on this

Making a co-operative government work

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Last month’s election delivered South Africa to a vastly different reality from what had existed before. Between this writing and your reading, the circumstances may

Consolidating an uncertain future – remarks to a post-election webinar held with UFS

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I chose to give my talk the title ‘Consolidating an uncertain future’ in deference to the idea of democratic consolidation. This is the process by

What I’m thinking after an election

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I’m writing this on Wednesday, 29 May, after having cast an early morning vote. It went smoothly, and the whole process, from joining the queue

A question of fate: an ANC-EFF coalition in 2024?

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The prospect of the African National Congress (ANC) losing its majority has caused much speculation about its post-election government.  South Africa is on the cusp

A valuable pen? Well, an expensive one anyway

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Signing the National Health Insurance Bill into law, Cyril Ramaphosa dramatically announced that he had found the pen he was looking for earlier in the

Beware First Age nostalgia

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There is a great deal of nostalgia around former President Thabo Mbeki. For millions of South Africans, he embodies post-transition South Africa’s good years. Polling

MK’s manifesto: classic populism

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About a year ago, I wrote a review of a book entitled ‘In the Name of the People: How Populism is Rewiring the World’. A