A view from Washington, DC

While walking from one briefing to the next in Washington, DC, last week, I received a notification from South Africa’s favourite app. EskomSePush told me loadshedding stage 2 had been implemented. In places such as Washington, a narrative that doing

Debt, debt, and more debt

Chris Hattingh and Nicholas Lorimer discuss the staggering amount of money municipalities owe to Eskom. They also talk about income tax bracket creep and the new US ambassador. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoGnxybL1nw

Wakeup call

ANC: How does it back down to save SA from a full-blown crisis?

Two big issues are now front and centre in our politics, and both point to the divided and weakened state of the ANC. Neither issue can be resolved without a public and humiliating back-down by the ANC. The first issue

The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming!

The relentless waves of political news coming from the US have had an interesting side effect. All of us, even those with only a glancing interest in these matters, now know the names of numerous important characters swirling around US

No one to judge

Nicholas Lorimer and Marius Roodt discuss the Gauteng court draft directive to seek mediation before coming to court. They also discuss ANC budget woes and an old Zuma defender who has changed his tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHQFxxePvC4

First success hatches from Trump’s tariff war

America’s tariff war has produced its first success, clamping down on dangerous contraband smuggled across the border into the US. The War on Drugs gets all the press.  It’s glitzy and prestigious. It appeals to news journalists who publish glamour

The colour of the hand submitting the tender

I was never one of those extraordinary kids who grew up deeply engaged in politics or current affairs, and if I passed Nomvula Mokonyane on the street, I would probably keep walking without a flicker of recognition. Politics crept up