History Matters

The brutal ousting of South African President Thabo Mbeki by the 88-member national executive committee of the ruling African National Congress has unleashed political and economic turmoil, but it has also finally forced open the space to focus on how to bring fresh ideas, imagination and leadership to bear to renew a faltering democracy, mend [...]

The die has been cast and President Zuma has since Polokwane been presiding over a party that has  been experiencing a loss of credibility and direction. The centre is not holding and the Stalinist style purges of the Mbeki faction has led to the possibility of a sizeable group of people breaking away from the [...]

If you were taken aback by Sunday’s news headlines of ‘Tutu won’t vote’ then please read the transcript of the full interview here. Newspapers thrive on sensationalism and enjoy cutting out half the story so that you can buy their paper to read the rest, so read the full interview here: tutu-transcript

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 ZACKIE ACHMAT: COMMENT – Published in the M&G Sep 27 2008 00:00 On September 20 2008, as South Africa’s newly acquired Gripen fighter jets took off from a local air show to parade across Cape Town skies, residents would awaken to one of the most remarkable days in the [...]

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 By Patrick Laurence A speech by Nobel Peace prize laureate Desmond Tutu at the University of Stellenbosch last week invokes thoughts of the birth and death, and the rise and fall, of political parties. In his speech, delivered in memory of Beyers Naude, the Afrikaner anti-apartheid activist, Tutu reflected [...]

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason. – T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral By Zubeida Jaffer* The rifts run deep. Half of Thabo Mbeki’s cabinet have chosen to follow him out of the door leaving the country in a [...]

President Mbeki made a dignified resignation speech. He used the opportunity to spell out the points of his Presidency for which he wishes to be remembered, and to differ with the opinion expressed by Judge Chris Nicholson in the judgment of 12 September 2008. This judgment gave the Jacob Zuma faction the reason it had [...]

How can the ANC push out Mbeki? A South African president can be removed if two-thirds of Parliament supports a vote outlining he was guilty of a serious violation of the constitution or laws. He can also be deposed through a vote of no-confidence which needs just a majority. But the process is more simple [...]

Fellow South Africans, I have no doubt that you are aware of the announcement made yesterday by the National Executive Committee of the ANC with regard to the position of the President of the Republic. Accordingly, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the nation that today I handed a letter to the [...]