Open letter: why do US companies enforce racial preference laws in SA?
If the United States truly stands against racial discrimination in law and policy, a glaring contradiction demands attention; hundreds of American companies operate successfully in South Africa while actively complying with – and thereby reinforcing – Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) and Employment Equity rules.
What’s to learn from racism in America?
Racism has become an increasingly salient issue around the world.
A sojourn among the journos
This is the second time in successive weeks that I have considered the life and times of journalists. I worry.
Litigation financing needs more transparency
The ongoing legal battle between financier Errol Elsdon and Nkosana Makate over the funding of the “Please Call Me” litigation raises crucial questions about the state of litigation financing in South Africa.
Whose family, whose values?
An anti-gay, anti-sex-ed conference supported by the American religious right is coming to Cape Town next year. It will be as awful as you’d imagine.
Let’s get over our Africa fatigue and be courageous Africans instead
A week ago today, I flew to Accra, capital of Ghana, with colleague Hermann Pretorius, head of Strategic Communications at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), to attend Atlas Network’s 2026 Africa Liberty Forum, and present a case study of a project in South Africa supported by Atlas’s Champions for Growth initiative.
I love democracy
I love democracy. I love the excitement and energy of election day, the lines at the polling station, the feel of the pen in my hand as I mark the ballot, the counting of the ballots. The fun doesn’t end there; I love the sleepless nights as I impatiently wait for the results to come in, I love the maps, and the gradual filling in of the blank spaces with all the colours of the different parties.
The greatest political writer
‘We thought we liked this new way we were, these new deregulated humans, fearful of nothing. But I think we have deluded ourselves. We have filled our boots, and deluded ourselves’.
AfriForum is clearly right about political interference in school sports
I sometimes have to pinch myself and remember that in 2026 there are still South Africans who have somehow missed that state race regulation remains a living part of our public life. The persistence of this denialism speaks to the difficulty of meaningful reform, as we are not even able to perceive the same objective reality.
This column was written by AI… wait, no, it wasn’t, was it?
I have been writing professionally for 15 years, starting with a novel in 2011. AI-assisted writing only arrived somewhere around 2023, but it took off in 2025 as the LLMs got pretty good at it. I was not interested in using it; I have been writing (and enjoying the process) without AI for so long that I have no desire to hand off what is an energising and creative activity. It is rarely drudgery and I never suffer from writer’s block.